Reflections by Mary Ellen Zent:

In my own life, the Lord had to teach me that He wanted to USE my disability.  I grew up believing that if I could somehow make my disability disappear, I just MIGHT be worth something to the Lord and everyone else . . . . so I spent all my time concentrating on ignoring it and pretending that I didn't have it.
 
Then one day I was reading Psalm 139, where I learned for the very first time that God created my disability on purpose for a purpose and that He never intended for me to throw it on the garbage dump.  (I had always seen Psalm 139 as a wonderful pro-life chapter, but having nothing whatsoever to do with my birth.  Even the truth of Romans 8:28 had been totally lost on me.  To me, it only meant that  God had "whoopsed" with me and that He needed a way of correcting His mistake!)  What a revelation!  For the first time, I began to realize that my disability was actually a gift, of sorts,  that I was supposed to let God use.
 
I came here to the Christian League (now Inspiration Ministries) 27 years ago, as a direct result of the lessons the Lord had been teaching me.  I'll confess that I don't always want to use the "gift" of the disability God has given me.  Sometimes, I want to just have a good old-fashioned pity party, but then, how do I stay in a pity party, surrounded by loved ones who joyfully live with disabilities much more severe than mine?!