Guest Timmy Stauffer- Part 2-  I’m so blessed and honored to share Tim’s perspective with you. God has hidden treasure in the most surprising places. 🙂

Cerebral Palsy is not ALL of who I am, but it is part of who I am.

I don’t think I’ve ever consciously questioned God about why I was given this gift, that’s right, gift.  Life with Cerebral Palsy is the only way of life I’ve ever lived.  I know God gave me this gift for a reason, so living without it is only at the back of my mind.  Another friend with Cerebral Palsy said it like this, “The Cerebral Palsy is not all of who I am but it is a part of who I am.”  Ok, so I can’t do everything that others can but because I can’t do all of those things, whatever they are, I have time to do other things that most people wouldn’t or couldn’t take the time to do. 

And because I have to think about such things as how to just get around, I end up thinking about the needs of others like me and not just my own.

I think the term “physically challenged” best fits me simply because “disability” is relative to me. 

Each of us can do certain things that others can’t.  One person’s “ability” then becomes another’s “disability” but not all of us live with the same day to day challenges.  For example, for some, the hardest thing about getting out of bed in the morning is simply the will to do so.  But for people like me, the hardest thing about getting out of bed in the morning is simply getting out of bed . . . I couldn’t do it without help.  But even so, I will not ask God for physical healing.  My Cerebral Palsy is a part of who I am in such a way that I can’t imagine what life would be like without it.

I can’t help wondering if I didn’t HAVE to think of my special needs,  I might eventually forget other people’s special  needs & I don’t want to forget.  In my lifetime I have come to care for those who are like me in a way I never dreamed I could and to be aware of each person’s needs.

The life that I live is like that of a coin.

On one side of the coin I live life here with physical challenges and in that way I have the chance to reach out to others who live with similar challenges, but my hope lies on the flip side of the coin when I am called home to The Golden City.  On that day I will enter the gates of the city and go before its King in a new body to proclaim Him as Lord with a new tongue and bend a new knee to Him. Then when the time is right, I will rise from the feet of my King and walk in The Golden City with all those that I loved in life and those who were like me in this life.

It is this hope that gives me the strength to press on in life with God at my side through anything that comes my way.

In closing, these are the things in and about my life that are “Only Known,” to me, not always understood or perfectly clear in my mind, but truth still and “Only Known!” because by every way of being sure of anything I am brought to these same answers.

Timmy Stauffer is 28 and lives in Friendswood, TX, south of Houston. He is active in the Bay Area Christian Church prayer ministry and has led Bible studies there. He loves DVRing his favorite TV shows, surfing the internet, and watching the little anole lizards out his window. Timmy is a home school graduate who is also thoroughly schooled in Life as a result of being born with spastic quadripegia cerebral palsy. Once he is in his electric wheelchair, watch out world! Timmy is on a mission.

Join us Friday to hear from Timmy’s Dad, Wayne!

Surprising Treasure: Words from Timmy:  I ask you also to look at whatever it is that you are going through and try to find others that are going through the same thing, as I hope to do for others like me who don’t know Christ and the hope that I have.  Do not be afraid to allow God to use whatever past experiences you have endured as well as current ones. People are more likely to listen to others who know what they are going through than someone who has very little idea.