It was August of 2013. Summer Johnson was sitting behind third base in California watching her brother, Kel, doing what he loves dearly. As she was sitting in the stands, a foul ball , going faster than 90 miles per hour, hit her in the left eye. Immediately, she was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Multiple bones were shattered in her face and she could barely see out of her left eye. Even with a swollen black eye and life threatening injuries, Summer returned home, only six days after the accident, determined she was going to play softball again. Multiple surgeries followed, after her flight home, including a surgery that installed a metal plate in her socket to lift her eye. Her strong faith in God kept her positive through every trial and tribulation that came her way. Not long after the accident, Summer posted a picture of her eye on Instagram with this verse, "For I know the plans I have of you," declares The Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. Below this she included the hashtags #livingbythis and also #lifeverse with a smiley face beside them. Today, Summer's vision is not well enough to play softball, but instead she has decided to tackle on volleyball. Summer truly has stayed positive through her adversity.
Bethany Hamilton loved to surf. One day she went out surfing with her best friend Alana, her brother, and dad. Then Bethany's world turned upside down. A shark jumped out of the blue water and attacked, severing her arm. Alana and her family rushed her to the shore and called for an ambulance. Frantically, they called the thirteen- year - old's mom who also rushed to the hospital. It looked like Bethany would never be able to surf again. Adjusting to having only one arm was hard for her. Even through the seemingly insurmountable obstacles before her, Bethany refused to let the loss of one arm stop her surfing. Not very long after the attack Bethany grabbed her surf board and headed out to the water. It was hard at first, but after many tries she stood up on her board with all her friends and family watching. After months of more practice, her dad conceived an idea to connect a piece of rope to the top of the board so she could dive under the waves. Despite the hurdles before her, she started competing and won many medals. Today she is a pro surfer living happily with her husband Adam. Bethany is such and inspiration and Jesus definitely shines through her.
Truett Cathy is the owner of the multi-million dollar business Chick-fil-A. When he was a child his family struggled to even survive. They moved to Atlanta when he was three and the family with six children shared one bathroom. Because of the poverty levels the family lived within, the family had only two meals a day. Since he turned eight he the family entrepreneur, selling whatever he could get his hands on. He would set up a soda stand in his families back yard. When he turned eleven he helped a friend with the newspaper route. While doing the newspaper route he met Jeannette McNeil, whom he would later marry. At the age of twelve he did his own newspaper route. Truett said, "My success with the paper route convinced me that I would one day open a business of my own, most likely a service station, grocery store, or restaurant." He was moved around to many different homes and wasn't very good at school but he still kept going. After he graduated high school he went to the United States Civil Service and eventually got drafted into the army. Before his ship could take off to the South Pacific where they were going to fight, he got a skin allergy and could no longer be in the army. Truett and his brother Ben started a restaurant that we now know as Chick-fil-A. They are always closed on Sundays (no matter what the critics say) and have many other branches of the restaurant. Truett kept his faith in Christ and is now extremely successful.
