Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Disability and a Dynamic Life

No matter what life throws at us keep moving forward. Dr. Georgia L. McMurray was thrown Charcot-Marie-Tooth Atrophy, a neuromuscular, degenerative disease that left her completely paralyzed. She was physically disabled but not downcast in her outlook on life.
 
From her motorized wheelchair she continued her research as one of the nation's top educators and continued to advocate for families, children and the poor. She founded more than one organization over the course of her adult life. One such organization was the GLM Group which was a consulting firm that provided research, training and technical assistance to government and non-profit organizations working with families, children and the poor.
 
More than two decades ago Dr. McMurray founded Project Teen Aid to help teenage mothers and their babies excel in life. When Project Teen Aid was founded in 1966 teen moms where expelled from school because authorities thought this would help stem the spread of teenage motherhood. Dr. McCurray said that this practice would foster poverty, deny people the opportunity to connect behavior with outcomes and was discriminatory.
 
The devil tries to stop us with many things including disease. Dr. McMurray said often right up until her death at age 58, "I ask God for strength to continue the journey." Dr. McMurray was disabled, but she was not downcast and defeated. She took what God gave her and worked it for His glory. Acts 1:8 Amplified Bible says, "But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth."
 
Excellence should be an example that all Christians display. Dr. Derek Grier, who has battled severe illness in his life, writes in his book, 60 Minutes of Wisdom, "Actor Michael J. Fox made this statement, "I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business. The most anyone can ever do in life is his or her very best. Sometimes we find that our best is not enough and in such moments all that we can do is trust God.

The King James Version Bible says in Psalm 138:8, "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." I do not know what Michael J. Fox believes about God, but he stated a biblical truth. All of us must make peace with the fact that we are less than perfect. But we must daily wage war against any notion that we should settle for being anything less than excellent."

Dr. McMurray had a short life dying at age 58, but it was a dynamic life. Former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, who battled depression, said, "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." I imagine when Dr. McMurray met God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1 or like water which can be liquid, ice or steam) that He said something like Matthew 25:21 Amplified Bible which says, "His master said to him, Well done, you upright (honorable, admirable) and faithful servant! You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the blessedness) which your master enjoys." Please leave an on-line comment with simple ways to describe the Trinity.

Please also share an on-line comment regarding excellence in persons who are mentally and/or physically disabled. I would love to tweet with you. My Twitter name is "Michelelove30." Please also recommend this article on Google.

In the United States, India and many countries of the world females and the disabled are aborted because they are females and/or disabled. In the novel, Secret Daughter by Shilpi  Somaya Gowda, Kavita and Jasu are married. Shortly after Kavita gives birth to their first-born child, Jasu takes the child away and arranges to kill their baby girl through infanticide simply because the baby is a girl. When their second child is born Kavita conspires with her sister to defy Jasu and gives the girl to an orphanage. When Kavita is pregnant with their third child, Secret Daughter says, "A new medical clinic in the neighboring village offers ultrasounds to expectant mothers, ostensibly to check the health of the baby. But it is well known that those who go there do so to learn the gender of their unborn child. The procedure will cost two hundred rupees, a month's earnings from their crops, as well as a full day to make the journey. They will have to use all the money they've been saving for new farming tools, but despite the hardship, Kavita agrees. She knows if the test shows another girl growing in her womb, all of the possible outcomes are wrenching. Jasu can demand she have an abortion, right there at the clinic if they had the money. Or he could simply cast her out, forcing her to endure the shame of raising the child alone. She would be shunned, like the other beecharis in the village. But even this, becoming an outcast from her home and community, would not be as bad as the alternative. She cannot face the agony of giving birth, of holding her baby in her arms, only to have it taken away again. Kavita knows in her soul she simply will not survive that."
 
Please share an on-line comment about sex-selection abortion and abortion of the disabled.

Many babies are being aborted just because they have a disability, or two or more. With scientific progress perhaps many if not most of the disabilities that exist today will be healed in full in the future. Luke 1:37 Amplified Bible says, "For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment." In a test case in 2005 a man who had accidentally severed off his fingertip was able to regrow it entirely in four weeks! My son, Rafael Damani Fowler, has autism. We don't personally know of anyone who has been healed of autism, but maybe you do. Please leave an on-line comment about someone healed from autism or another disability.

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