The Disabled Man with the Message

His speech was a little garbled from the disability that had stuck him in the motorized wheelchair the man drove through the park, but his message could not have been more clear. I had a little trouble understanding his words at first, but the joy that lit up his slightly distorted face said it all. I do not recall if I asked how the man was, or if he simply decided to tell me. What he said should have been astonishing to me as he sat contentedly in his wheelchair, but deep in my heart I understood completely.

“I am blessed,” he told me. “Because of Jesus. I have everything I need.”

photo courtesy of openclips via pixabay.com

I have complained more in my lifetime than I thought it possible for a human to complain, and only now in my mid-forties have I finally come to understand just how blessed I am. But like the man in the wheelchair, I have learned that the love and peace and joy and hope and satisfaction deep inside my heart have nothing to do with circumstances. They have everything to do with Jesus Christ.

I have had a pretty challenging life, but my challenges are absolutely nothing in comparison with the challenges of so many people in this world. I have spent far too much of my life bemoaning my troubles, and have only in the fourth decade of my life learned to be thankful at just how blessed I am. But as grateful as I am for my physical blessings like shelter, food, and clothing, like my health, money to pay the bills, etc., and as thankful as I am for the people I love, both friends and strangers, my greatest blessings are not physical at all. For through my faith in Jesus Christ, I have come to appreciate more than anything at all my relationship with God and all His countless spiritual blessings. Like faith, hope, trust, peace, and so very much more.

When the man in the wheelchair drove himself away, and when I walked off in my own direction, this stranger and I who had crossed paths for just minutes were in total agreement.

There is nothing greater, nothing more important, nothing more meaningful, nothing more satisfying, nothing richer, nothing more fulfilling, no greater joy, nothing more wonderful, nothing more magnificent than the Lord.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him… Ephesians 3:1-3 NASB

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