I am thankful for...

     On Monday morning, Dr. Beal encouraged us students to pray about what God would have us praise Him for in our praise chapel service today at school. When I prayed and asked God what I should share, He told me "You've never thanked Me for your disability." For you guys, it may seem strange for me to be thankful for my Arthrogryposis but, I am. I am thankful for my Arthrogryposis. Yes, I have always accepted the fact that I am disabled...it is my norm...I do not know anything else (and I am just gonna be honest, if I woke up some morning and all my joints and muscles worked and nothing hurt, I would think something was wrong), but I have never before thanked God for giving me Arthrogryposis.

     Now I am gonna confess something that I do not think I have ever told anybody. When I was younger, I used to pray and ask God to miraculously heal me from my Arthrogryposis. I had dreams of one day walking and all the sudden being able to bend my knees but alas, I am still disabled. I have always been ok with being disabled but there has always been that little voice in the back of my mind that reminded me from time to time how cool it would be for God to perform a miracle in my life. And yes, while that would be cool, it is not God's will to heal me from my Arthrogryposis.

     It was not until my teenage years that I fully understood why I was born disabled. Daddy was preaching one Sunday from John chapter nine - the story where Jesus heals the blind man. In verse two, the Disciples asked Jesus:

"...Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?"

Jesus replied in verse three by saying: 

"...Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: 

but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." 

When Daddy read that verse, it was like the light bulb came on! God created me, Arthrogryposis and all, so that He could be glorified and others could see Him through me. 

     Something that I have noticed in my twenty years of being disabled is that many people who are disabled just sit around and have pity parties all day because they feel sorry for themselves. This is how the world thinks disabled people should be. The world sees no value in the life of a disabled person. But, how am I going to show Christ in how I live if all I do is sit around and have pity parties for myself? I will not be able to show Him in my life if that is all I do! 

     Thinking through this makes me feel honored to be disabled. Because of my disability, I have come into contact with many people that I probably would have never met if it were not for the Arthrogryposis. I cannot count how many times I have been able to encourage others by sharing my testimony as a result of being disabled. 

     Another reason why I believe God created me disabled is to keep me humble and solely dependent on Him. In 2 Corinthians twelve verse seven, Paul says: 

"And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, 

there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, 

the messenger of Satan to buffet me, 

lest I should be exalted above measure." 

Paul saw his thorn in the flesh as God's way of keeping him humble in the midst of the fact that God gave Paul the privilege of recording portions of the inspired Word of God. Then in verse ten, Paul states: 

"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, 

in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,

 in distresses for Christ's sake: 

for when I am weak, 

then am I strong." 

     Paul made a choice to let God use his life despite his thorn in the flesh. Never in Scripture do we see where Paul had a pity party because he was "disabled". (I am using the term "disabled" as a shortened form of the phrase "thorn in the flesh". We are not really sure what Paul's thorn in the flesh was but it very well could have been a physical disability of some sort.) Paul spent his life serving God and letting God use this "disability" for His will and glory.  

     So, while it has taken me twenty years to go beyond just accepting my disability to being thankful for it, I really truly am thankful for my disability. It has been so cool to see God use it and give me opportunities to encourage others because of the Arthrogryposis. I cannot wait to see how God is going to use it in the next twenty years and Lord willing, many years beyond that. 

    What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? 

~ Ruby James Mikula

Why does God use balls of dirt?

Have you ever wondered why an infinite God would use a finite human being? Really, a ball of dirt that He breathed life into? If you sit back and try to wrap your brain around why God would chose to use you, 1) you will be humbled and 2) this is something our finite minds will not be able to fully comprehend until we get to Heaven.

I have been awed over and over again by this. Most recently, God's used Job 28:9-11 to awe me along this line.

Job 28:9-11 

"He putteth forth his hand upon the rock:

he overturneth the mountains by the roots. 

He cutteth out rivers among the rocks:

and his eye seeth every precious thing.

He bindeth the floods from overflowing:

and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light."

God can overturn the mountains and rocks with His finger. 

God can cut a river into the side of the mountain. 

God sees everything. 

God's hands and His power is what keeps the rivers, seas and oceans from flooding the earth. 

He wrote the Bible and preserved it for generations to come! 

You know, God created this beautiful world. In Romans 1:20, the Bible says: 

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, 

being understood by the things that are made, 

even his eternal power and Godhead: 

so that they are without excuse." 

God is revealed through creation so man is without excuse. When you realize God's power, He could have used the animals to do His Will. Or really, since He's the Creator of all and He's over all, He could use the plants to do His Will. But no, He decided to make man. Not only did He make man but, He made us in His image. God created Adam and Eve even though He knew they were gonna sin!

This brings us back to the question: why would God use balls of dirt? The only answer for that is out of His agape love. God created me knowing how many times I would fail Him but yet every time I fall, He picks my pieces up, puts them back together and then allows me to use Him as my Rock.

I pray that we would never cease to be in awe of this Truth. May we always be humbled by the fact that God uses balls of dirt. 

~ Ruby James Mikula  

Isaiah 55:8

Isaiah 55:8

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 

neither are your ways my ways, 

saith the Lord."

     Over the last few weeks I have been meditating on this verse and how God has worked in my life over the last 3 years. I have come to the conclusion that I am extremely thankful that God's ways are not my ways. If I would have known all the health struggles - the pain, the surgeries, the doctor visits, the hospital visits and stays, the medications and all the emotional and spiritual breaking - that I was going to go through my junior and senior years of high school, I would not have had that 17th surgery. But, if I would not have gone through those surgeries, I would not be the person I am today. 

     Before God broke me, I had my life all planned. Going into that first surgery, I had it all planned that I would be 6 weeks non-weight bearing, 6 weeks partial-weight bearing and then I would be full-weight bearing in time to work at camp. Well, after we found out my foot was infected, my plans crumbled. Eventually, I trusted God to get me back on my feet but once the end of summer rolled around, I had my life all planned out...again. I got a job and did the math. I had it all figured out how many hours per week I needed to work and what percentage of each paycheck needed to be put away in order to go to college. But, again, it was my plan and not God's plan. So again, God had to break me. I sincerely believe that if I would have trusted God to plan out my life, I would not have had to have surgeries #20 and #21. 

     It took 5 surgeries for me to finally break and see that God has a perfect plan for my life. Since God is the Creator of the earth and He created me, He has every right to do whatever He needs to do to get ahold of you. For me it took 5 surgeries. I pray that you do not have to go through trials to realize that you cannot plan your life out. Realize that God is God and you are not and let God plan out and direct your life. 

     This post has been long in the making but this summer I finally realized what God taught me. I cannot thank God enough for all He taught me during my junior and senior years of highschool. It was not until this summer that I actually stopped and thought about what God taught me. I think I can honestly say that I am thankful for those two years and how God broke me. 

Creation Museum: The Fall, The Curse and The First Murder

Eve giving Adam the fruit. 

 The first blood sacrifice. 

Work became laborious as a result of the fall.  

Cain and Abel

Creation Museum: The 6 Days of Creation

We got to walk back in time back to when God created the world.

 My favorite part of the walk...walking through the tunnel of stars!

6 days of creation video. 

 Garden of Eden 

Creation Museum: Authority of the Scriptures

 I'm in the middle of taking General Bible Introduction and walking through this display solidified everything that I've learned this semester. 

The Prophet Isaiah  

 Moses holding the Ten Commandments

David playing his harp. 

 Peter and John looking in the tomb where Jesus used to lay.

The Apostle Paul  

 Martin Luther nailing his thesis to the door.

 Codex Vaticanus

 Old Testament Scrolls

 Replica of the Gutenburg Press. 

 Sad but true for our world today.

Creation Museum: Fossils and Dinosaurs

Digging up a fossil.  

All of us kids took a selfie with the dinosaur!  

 The face of the ape with different hair and skin color. 

How to accurately sum up...

As I sit here thinking about how to to accurately sum up the year 2016, the first thing that comes to mind is God's patience. Truly though, the theme "God's Patience" has summed up my life since my first surgery on my foot on December 10, 2014.

As many of you know, on December 10, 2014 my doctor placed hardware in my foot to try and fuse the foot because of some pain I had been having. The plan was to be non-weight-bearing for 6 weeks, then go to partial-weight-bearing for 6 weeks and then finally be full-weight-bearing. 

So, *I* had it all planned that *I* would be back on my feet right in time to work at camp and then on the weekends, *I* would look for a job and get one all lined up for after camp. Then *I* would work through my senior year of high school and save money so *I* could pay for college.

But...if you hadn't noticed, there are a lot of "*I*s" in that last paragraph and no mention of doing anything through God's strength. Don't ever do that...I know from experience that that doesn't work and it's painful. 

I'm going to be blatantly honest here. From December 10, 2014 til this last summer, spiritually I was not ok. I was ok on the outside but on the inside, I was a mess. Most of the time I did my devotions and was active in my church because I knew that that was the right thing to do...that's how I was raised. I wasn't doing it because I had a desire to draw closer to God. My mindset was: "Yeah, I'm saved but...I can handle this...I don't need God's constant guidance." Now, if I would have realized what it was going to take to change my mindset, I would have changed my mind right then and there but...it took five surgeries, almost a year's worth of time in a wheelchair/on crutches and many spiritual wake up calls before I realized what I was doing and that I needed to turn back to God. 

I'm so thankful for the patience that God has had with me over the last two years. I don't know where I would be today if it wasn't for His constant care and mercy. Even throughout the time when I wasn't focused on God, He provided the money for my first year of college and through that I have grown and learned so much more of Him. I can't thank God even for being patient with this rebellious lump of clay. 

I pray that through being blatantly honest in this post, that this will encourage some of you and maybe even prevent someone from turning their focus away from God. It is when we go through the darkest times in our lives that we need God the most. Don't do what I did and turn away from God in the midst of trials. Run to Him and see what He is going to do through the trial. 

~ Ruby James