While in Los Angeles recently, I was allowed to “test drive” a new type of virtual reality game at Digital Domain, which creates holograms and other visual effects for television and movies, including Titanic, Iron Man 3, the Transformers series, Ender’s Game and more than 100 other movies.
When I put on the virtual reality headset, I entered an entirely new world. I was stunned at how realistic the game’s graphics seemed initially. Then my mind was blown when I looked down and, for the first time in my life, I saw that I had arms and legs!
It was crazy! I knew that it was just part of the virtual reality game, of course, but my heart nearly sprang from my chest. This was my “avatar,” a virtual version of me and thanks to the advanced technology, it felt for a moment like my dreams of miraculously receiving the arms and legs I lacked at birth had really happened.
Even though I am now in my 33rd year of living without limbs, I still hold onto my hope for a miracle one day. Many people have flying dreams, and I’ve had them as well, but I also have running dreams. I would love to know what it feels like to run on the soccer field, or through the woods. Most people take that experience for granted, but for me it would be a miracle.
I do still keep a pair of shoes in my closet just in case God ever gives me the miracle of limbs, but the truth is that I’ve benefited from many miracles in my life so far. First of all, there is the miracle of discovering God’s purpose for my life. As you may know during my elementary school years I despaired over the many “normal” things I could not do like other kids. I worried also that I’d never find a woman who would marry me and have a family with me. I grew depressed and, one day, I made an attempt at suicide in the bathtub, but the thought of burdening my parents with my suicide made me abandon that plan and my self-pity.
Over time, I saw that I could still have a fulfilling life if I focused on helping others rather than helping myself. A few years later, I saw the Bible story about the blind man whom Jesus said God had created for a purpose—so that others might come to believe in Him after Jesus gave the blind man the miracle of sight. After thinking about that Bible story, I realized that God had a purpose for me too, and that my lack of limbs somehow fit into His plan, even though I did not know what it was. When I came out of my shell and reached out to other people as a speaker and evangelist, they embraced me, and thanked me for inspiring them.
Some said I’d changed their lives, and they in turn changed mine. Certainly that is a miracle, don’t you think?
Then came my greatest miracle, a beautiful and wise young woman guided by God to stand before me in a Dallas meeting. He brought my Japanese-Mexican (I lovingly call her a “Jaxican.”) miracle, to love and be loved by me. All my life I had worried that no woman would want a man without arms to hold her. Yet Kanae said she saw beyond all that I lacked. Instead, she fell in love with all that God had made me to be.
Then miracle upon miracle occurred. A year and a day after we were married, God delivered our son Kiyoshi to us! Now my “running” dreams are about my son running to me and wrapping his arms around me, filling my heart with joy.
I once thought that miracles were a rare event on this earth, but my perspective on that has changed. Now I see miracles every day, not only in my life but also in the world around us. God has opened my eyes to this, and He has given me an even greater gift in allowing me to be His miracle for others.
Like the blind man healed by Jesus, I know my God-given purpose is to serve as God’s witness to the power of faith, to encourage others to never give up, and to know that where we are weak, God is strong.
Yes, I believe in miracles, and I encourage you to be one for others, so that many more will come to understand and embrace the power of faith and God’s love for us all.
Nick Vujicic shares more about his love story with his wife, Kanae, in Love Without Limits: A Remarkable Story of True Love Conquering All (WaterBrook Press). Nick is a motivational speaker, New York Times best-selling author, evangelist and the director of Life Without Limbs.
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