ALSO BY NICK VUJICIC
Life Without Limits
UNSTOPPABLE
PUBLISHED BY WATERBROOK PRESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
This book is not intended to replace or substitute the diagnosis, evaluation, or advice of a health-care professional. Readers are advised to consult a physician, therapist, or other qualified health-care professional regarding diagnosis or treatment of their health problems. The author and publisher specifically disclaim liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use or application of any of the contents of this book.
Scripture quotations are taken or paraphrased from the following versions: King James Version. The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Italics in Scripture quotations reflect the author’s added emphasis.
Details in some anecdotes and stories have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved.
Copyright © 2012 by Nicholas James Vujicic
Cover design by Kristopher K. Orr; cover photography by Allen Mozo
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.
WATERBROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vujicic, Nick.
Unstoppable : the incredible power of faith in action / Nick Vujicic. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-73090-9
1. Faith. 2. Encouragement—Religious aspects—Christianity 3. Inspiration—Religious aspects—Christianity. 4. Success—Religious aspects—Christianity. I. Title.
BV4637.V625 2012
248.8’6—dc23
2012013071
v3.1
In loving memory of the father-in-law I’ll meet in heaven,
Kiyoshi Miyahara
I dedicate this book to my wife,
Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara,
my greatest gift and joy ever, after salvation itself.
CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction
ONE Faith in Action
TWO Rising from a Fall
THREE Matters of the Heart
FOUR A Life of Passion and Purpose
FIVE Body Weak, Spirit Strong
Photo Insert
SIX Winning the Battles Within
SEVEN Fighting Injustice
EIGHT Letting Go to Reach Higher
NINE Sow Good Seeds
TEN Living in Balance
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
WELCOME TO MY SECOND BOOK. MY NAME IS NICK VUJICIC (PRONOUNCED Voo-yi-chich). Even if you did not read my first book, Life Without Limits, you may have seen my videos on YouTube or attended one of my appearances around the world as an inspirational speaker and evangelist.
As you probably know or can see from my cover photograph, I was born without arms or legs. What you cannot see but might have sensed already is that my lack of limbs has not kept me from enjoying great adventures, a fulfilling and meaningful career, and loving relationships. In this book my goal is to share with you the unstoppable power of faith in action that has helped me create my own ridiculously good life, despite my disabilities.
Putting faith in action is about believing and achieving. It’s about having faith in yourself, your talents, your purpose, and, most of all, in God’s love and His divine plan for your life.
This book was inspired by the many people of all ages from around the world who’ve asked me for advice and guidance in dealing with specific challenges in their own lives. They know from my speeches that I have overcome adversities, including my youthful thoughts of suicide, concerns about being able to support myself and whether I’d ever find a woman to love me, my experiences with bullying, and other issues and insecurities that are not unique to me by any means.
The chapter topics address the most common questions and challenges people raise when they speak and write to me, including
• personal crises
• relationship issues
• career and job challenges
• health and disability concerns
• self-destructive thoughts, emotions, and addictions
• bullying, persecution, cruelty, and intolerance
• dealing with matters beyond our control
• how to reach out and serve others
• finding balance in body, mind, heart, and spirit
I hope that sharing my stories and those of others who have persevered through their own trials and hardships—many of them far greater than mine—will help and inspire you to overcome whatever challenges you face. I don’t have all the answers, of course. But I have benefitted from wonderful advice from many wise people as well as the love and blessings of my heavenly Father.
I think you will find the guidance in these pages practical as well as inspiring. It’s important to keep in mind as you read that you are never alone. Help is available from friends, family members, teachers, counselors, and clergy. Don’t think you have to handle your burdens by yourself.
Remember, too, that there are probably many others who’ve faced and met the same challenges you encounter. This book also will share the stories of people I know and stories from others who have written to me to share their experiences. In some cases I’ve changed their names, but the stories are authentic and always inspiring for the courage, faith, and perseverance they exhibit.
As a boy trying to come to terms with my disabilities, I made the mistake of thinking no one else hurt like I did and that my problems were insurmountable. I thought that my lack of limbs was proof that God did not love me and that my life had no purpose. I also felt that I could not share my burdens—even with those who loved and cared about me.
I was wrong on all counts. I was not alone in my suffering. In fact, many people have dealt with challenges that surpass mine. And God not only loves me, He created me for purposes that I never could have envisioned as a child. He uses me in ways that continue to surprise and amaze me each and every day.
Know that as long as you are on this earth, there is a purpose and a plan for you too. God loves you, and there are many people around you—loved ones and professionals—willing to help you with your challenges. The burdens you carry may seem daunting, but as you will see in the pages that follow, the power of faith in action is truly incredible.
To begin to understand this, simply keep in mind that this man with no arms and no legs travels the world, reaching out to millions of people, while blessed with joy and love beyond measure. I am as imperfect as anyone you will ever meet. I have good days and bad. Challenges rise up and knock me flat on occasion. Yet I know that where I am weak, God is strong, and when we put faith into action, we are unstoppable.
ONE
Faith
in Action
NEAR THE END OF MY 2011 SPEAKING TOUR IN MEXICO, AN OFFICIAL WITH the US embassy in Mexico City called to inform me that my US work visa had been put on hold for “a national security investigation.”
I live in the United States on that visa because I am a native of Australia. I could not return to my California home without it. Since my staff had scheduled an upcoming series of speaking engagements in the United States, this was a serious problem.
I scrambled to the US embassy with Richie, my caregiver, early the next morning to try to figure out how my visa had anything to do with national security. When we arrived, we found the large reception area packed with people dealing with their own issues. We had to take a number, like in a bakery. The wait was so long I had a nice nap before we finally were called to meet with an official.
When I’m nervous, I turn to humor. It doesn’t always work. “Is there a problem with my fingerprints on the visa?” I joked. The embassy person glared at me. Then he called his supervisor. (Maybe my sense of humor was posing a threat to American security?)
The supervisor arrived, also looking quite grim. Visions of being behind bars crept into my head.
“Your name has been tagged as part of an investigation,” the supervisor stated robotically. “You can’t return to the United States until this is cleared up, and that will take up to a month.”
The blood drained from my body. This cannot be happening!
Richie collapsed to the ground. At first I thought he’d fainted, but he had dropped to his knees in prayer in front of two hundred people. Yes, he’s a very caring caregiver. He raised his arms and his hands together, asking God for a miracle to get us home.
Everything around me seemed to be in fast-forward and slow motion at the same time. As my head whirled, the embassy official added that my name probably was flagged because I travel so much around the world.
Did they suspect me of being an international terrorist? an arms dealer with no arms? Honest, I hadn’t laid a hand on anyone. (See what happens when I’m nervous? Make me stop!)
“Come on, seriously, how dangerous could I be?” I asked the embassy official. “I’m meeting with Mexico’s president and his wife at the presidential house tomorrow for a Three Kings Day party, so obviously they don’t see me as a threat.”
The US official was not moved. “I don’t care if you’re meeting with President Obama, you aren’t reentering the United States until this investigation is completed,” he said.
The situation might have been funny if my schedule hadn’t been packed with a long list of speaking engagements back in the good old US of A. I had to get home.
I was not about to sit around and wait for someone to decide that Americans were safe with Nick in the house. I pleaded with the embassy official for several more minutes, explaining my obligations, dropping the names of important people, stressing that I had employees who counted on me and orphans who looked up to me.
He checked with someone higher in rank on the phone. “All they can do is try to expedite the process. It will still take at least two weeks,” he said.
I probably had a dozen appearances scheduled for those two weeks. But the embassy official was not sympathetic. All we could do at that point was return to our hotel, where I frantically began calling everyone I knew for help and prayers.
I was tapping into the power of faith in action.
To simply say “I believe” in something is not enough. If you want to have an impact in this world, you must put your beliefs and your faith into action. In this case I tapped into my belief in the power of prayer. I called our team at my nonprofit organization, Life Without Limbs (LWL), in California and asked them to start a prayer chain. “We’re moving up the chain of command—way up!” I told them.
The staff at LWL made a flurry of phone calls and sent out a flood of e-mails, tweets, and text messages. Within an hour, one hundred fifty people were praying for a quick resolution to my visa challenge. I also put out calls to friends and supporters who might have influence, relatives, neighbors, or former classmates in the US State Department.
Three hours later, someone from the embassy in Mexico called me. “I can’t believe this, but you’ve been cleared,” the official said. “The investigation is over. You can come pick up your renewed US visa tomorrow morning.”
That, my friend, is the power of faith in action! It can move mountains, and it can move Nick out of Mexico too.
ACTING IN FAITH
In my travels around the world, people faced with challenges ask me for my advice and my prayers. Often, they know what they need to do, but they are afraid to make a change or to take the first step by asking for help or trusting in God. You, too, may be facing challenges that have you feeling helpless, scared, stuck, paralyzed, uncertain, and unable to act. I understand. I’ve been there. When teens and young adults come to me and tell me they are being bullied, that they feel lost and alone in the world, or that they are scared because of disabilities, illness, or self-destructive thoughts, I know exactly where they are coming from.
My physical challenges are easy to see, yet people only have to talk to me or hear me speak for a few minutes to understand how much joy I have in spite of that. So they often ask me how I stay positive and where I find the strength to overcome my disabilities. My answer, always, is, “I pray for God’s help, and then I put my faith in action.” I have faith. I believe in certain things that I have no tangible proof of—things I cannot see, taste, touch, smell, or hear. Most of all, I have faith in God. Though I can’t see or touch Him, I believe He created me for a purpose, and I believe that when I put my faith and my beliefs into action, I put myself in a position for God’s blessings.
Will I always get what I want? No! But I will always get what God wants. The same is true for you. Whether you are a Christian or not, you must never think that simply believing in something is enough. You can believe in your dreams, but you have to take action to make them happen. You can believe in your talents and have faith in your abilities, but if you don’t develop them and put them to use, what good are they? You can believe that you are a good and caring person, but if you don’t treat others with goodness and care, where is the proof?
You have a choice. You can believe or not believe. But if you believe—whatever you believe—you must act upon it. Otherwise, why believe? You may have had challenges in your career, your relationships, or your health. Maybe you have been mistreated, abused, or discriminated against. All those things that have happened to you do define you or your life if you fail to take action to define yourself. You can believe in your talents. You can believe that you have love to give. You can believe that you can overcome your illness or disability. But that belief on its own won’t bring positive change in your life.
You must put it into action.
If you believe you can change your life for the better or make a positive mark in your town or your state or your world, act upon those beliefs. If you think you have a great idea for starting your own business, you must invest your time, money, and talents and make that business happen. Otherwise, what good is just having the idea? If you have identified someone whom you’d like to spend the rest of your life with, why not act upon that belief? What have you got to lose?
FAITH IN ACTION REWARDED
Having faith, beliefs, and convictions is a great thing, but your life is measured by the actions you take based upon them. You can build a great life around those things you believe and have faith in. I’ve built mine around my belief that I can inspire and bring hope to people facing challenges in their lives. That belief is rooted in my faith in God. I have faith that He put me on this earth to love, inspire, and encourage others and especially to help all who are willing to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. I believe that I can never earn my way to heaven, and by faith I accept the gift of the forgiveness of sins through Christ Jesus. However, there’s so much more than just “getting in” through the Pearly Gates. It is also abo
ut seeing others changed by the power of His Holy Spirit, having a close relationship with Jesus Christ throughout this life, and then being further rewarded in heaven.
Being born without arms and legs was not God’s way of punishing me. I know that now. I have come to realize that this “disability” would actually heighten my ability to serve His purpose as a speaker and evangelist. You might be tempted to think that I’m making a huge leap of faith to feel that way, since most people consider my lack of limbs a huge handicap. Instead, God has used my lack of limbs to draw people to me, especially others with disabilities, so I can inspire and encourage them with my messages of faith, hope, and love.
In the Bible, James said that our actions, not our words, are the proof of our faith. He wrote in James 2:18, “Now someone may argue, ‘Some people have faith; others have good deeds.’ But I say, ‘How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.’ ”
I’ve heard it said that our actions are to our faith and beliefs as our bodies are to our spirits. Your body is the housing of your spirit, the evidence of its existence. In the same way, your actions are the evidence of your faith and beliefs. You have no doubt heard the term “walking the talk.” Your family, friends, teachers, bosses, coworkers, customers, and clients all expect you to act and live in alignment with the beliefs and convictions that you claim to have. If you don’t, they will call you out, won’t they?
Our peers judge us not by what we say but by what we do. If you claim to be a good wife and mother, then you sometimes will have to put your family’s interests above your own. If you believe your purpose is to share your artistic talents with the world, then you will be judged on the works you produce, not on those you merely propose. You have to walk the talk; otherwise you have no credibility with others—or with yourself—because you, too, should demand that your actions match your words. If they don’t, you will never live in harmony and fulfillment.