By India McCarty
Bethany Hamilton is reminding us that, with the help of God, we can always “overcome” life’s challenges.
“There is so often a comment that I get from people ‘feeling bad’ for me still to this day….When my life clearly says the opposite!” she captioned an Instagram post. “Life is what you make. You don’t have to be a victim to the not so good circumstances life throws at you! You can overcome. You can make the most of what you’ve got!”
Hamilton added, “For me I know that God has taken the worst parts of my life and made them beautiful! I hope as I continue to challenges the same story will be written. Beauty out of the tough stuff. Cheering y’all on!”
“Omg I feel so bad for her! I would never go back in the water!” the text on an Instagram video of Hamilton reads.
The video then shifts to a montage of Hamilton’s life, from surfing to spending time with her husband and children.
“Life is what you make of it!” the former professional surfer wrote over the clips. “Keep going! Always hope! God’s grace is sufficient for you!”
Hamilton, who lost her left arm in a shark attack at age 13, often shares messages of encouragement with her followers.
In one Instagram post, she wrote, “We can adapt and overcome! Just because I have one arm doesn’t mean I can’t kick it!”
“Thankful to God for leading me through some tough times! Thankful I’ve been able to adapt and overcome! Thankful God has taking something so awful and turned it into something so beautiful!” Hamilton concluded.
It’s a theme she expanded on in a recent speaking engagement at Liberty University.
“This was not the plan I had for my life,” she said of the shark attack. “There’s likely going to be things in your life that aren’t a part of your plan. So how can we turn this chaos and overwhelm into peace? How can we face adversity with resilience? How can we adapt when life gets crazy and super hard?”
Hamilton continued, “One thing that can bring peace amongst all the chaos is knowing God’s grace, His forgiveness, His peace, His love. That is what will change you to face the adversity with a whole new level of appreciation.”
“When I lost my arm, my life could have gone in so many different directions, but because I chose to adapt…and this changed the trajectory of my life,” she explained, adding that “the ripple effect” it had in her life “turned into something so beautiful.”
Hamilton said, “While I believe the Lord orchestrated it, I still had to be willing to show up and do the hard work.”
“The cool thing is it’s not about me at the end of the day,” she concluded. “It’s not about my success but more about what the Lord is doing through my life, through my willingness to adapt, to make the most of what I’ve got, to work through that five-wave set that feels unbearable at times. I want to encourage you to know that you too can adapt, you too can have a ripple effect, you too can allow God to work through your life and to make it something so beautiful and celebrate-worthy.”
Read Next: Bethany Hamilton On Overcoming Fear: ‘God Has Overcome It All’
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