Hi, I'm Nick Vujicic, CEO of the international
ministry, Life Without Limbs.
[NICK] You know, we have a saying at the Life Without Limbs office, "Be taffy."
It may seem a little bit silly to have an encouragement about us being a type of candy,
but actually, it's quite profound.
Have you ever thought how it would be to feel like taffy?
Like seriously, I know how it feels.
I think most of us do, but we've just never thought of it in candy terms before.
I want to introduce you to Amy.
Amy, tell us about how it really came about in Life Without Limbs.
Amy, tell us about how to be taffy and how that's on the lips of all of us right now.
[AMY] Yep, well during our morning devotionals, Zac was sharing how he had been feeling recently.
He was being stretched and pulled, and it just did not feel good at all.
He had this visual of a taffy machine.
I don't know if you've seen it, but taffy starts out as a lump that is hard and not
edible, and then the machine stretches the taffy, then puts it back together.
But when it's stretched the taffy looks like it's going to break, but it never does.
He needed that encouragement because he was feeling so stretched that he was at his breaking point.
[NICK] What an awesome visual!
You know how God stretches us for our own growth and His glory, and I want to get into
it a little bit deeper, and I’d like you, Amy, just to share about, like how does that
feel for us at times?
Like, expand that a little bit.
[AMY] Well, it's never fun, and it pretty much stinks.
It's getting you out of your comfort zone.
It's difficult.
It's hard, and a lot of times you want to feel like you give up, but in the end you're
able to grow and become a better version of who God made you to be.
So now we have the saying, “Be taffy,” as a reminder that when we're stretched to
look for the growth and the lesson that's to be learned through the experience.
[NICK] That's awesome!
I know how that feels right now.
I’ve been going through a period of "stretched" with cancellations of, you know, in-person
events and this pandemic and health crisis.
Being able to go out and do live outreach events has been a large part
of our ministry, and it's been incredibly tough to go through these changes without knowing
how long the unknowns will remain the unknowns.
The entire Life Without Limbs team has had to be taffy as we've all had
to work remote and all in-person outreaches have gone virtual.
But it's also fun to see that, even though it's difficult, that not only is God in control,
not only is He almost like forcing us to take a deeper inner self-awareness look in our
personal walk with God, but me as a husband, me as a father, me even taking time out just
to thank God in where He's brought the ministry this far.
And even though we don't know what's ahead, we know that God is faithful.
And that's what we want to encourage you as the church—as the body of believers—that
we know that many churches are in the same situation as our ministry,
and we want you to be encouraged to be taffy when you get stretched and challenged.
Be open to where God is growing you and understand that His faithfulness never changes.
That way in the end you'll end up being taffy and not stuck in the yuck or be stuck as a
lump.
I want you to know that this is not the end of anything but a beginning of a new chapter
in season for you, your family, your leadership, your team, and your church.
Amen?
I’d love to just close off with an encouraging prayer.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord God, we thank you for all the leadership of the churches and the ministries, and we
thank you, Lord, that you are growing us.
You're causing us to stop and grow first deeper with You, with our family, and in the ministry,
Lord, in our team, and our service for Your kingdom.
We thank You, Lord, that You're faithful.
You'll give us all that we need.
Give us the courage and strength to keep on going from glory to glory and strength to
strength as You lead us one day at a time.
Father, give us peace and teach us with discernment, knowledge, and understanding of Your Word,
and the leading of Your Holy Spirit that, in this season, for us to be nimble, to be
taffy, Lord God, but really in the end, to trust You, that no matter how thinly stretched
we feel or uncertainties may seem so daunting, we thank You, Lord, that You are a good God.
You're with us, and You'll pull us through, in Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.