A Soul Surfer Finds Grace

I'm looking forward to seeing the Bethany Hamilton bio-pic "Soul Surfer" now in theaters.  One reason is that I wrote about her in my book How Healed Do You Want to Be?   I quote from the chapter below.  Enjoy! - and, thanks, Bethany for the gift of faith and steadfastness of spirit you share through your life.


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“But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when
you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22: 32).

            Bethany Hamilton was thirteen years old when she lost her left arm during a Tiger Shark attack off of the North Shore of Kaui, Hawaii.  At that time, Bethany was already becoming known in the world of amateur surf competition as a true up-and-comer.  The road (or shall we say wave) ahead looked golden for the young woman whose parents, Tom and Cheri Hamilton, had her on surfboards from the time she could walk.  But on Halloween Day, 2003, the attack Bethany endured from an aggressive fourteen foot shark threatened to crush her dreams forever. 

            After multiple surgeries, the young surfer successfully recovered from the physical damage of the attack.  Next, she would have to face the question of whether she would, or even could, surf again.  Less than a month after her ordeal, Bethany was back in the water.  She was determined to develop a new technique for herself that would allow her to compete in the surfing world again.  It wouldn’t be easy, but Bethany was determined to get back in the game. 

            Throughout her childhood, the young surfer had nurtured a strong personal faith in Jesus Christ.  Her maturing faith inspired Bethany to treat the shark attack as something God allowed her to go through—something that could be turned for His glory.  Of course, news of her attack placed her in the worldwide media spotlight.  But somehow Bethany seemed ready.

As her story became known, her indomitable spirit and positive “can do” attitude began to inspire people everywhere.  "I don't pretend to have all the answers to why bad things happen to good people,” she later wrote.  “But I do know that God knows all those answers, and sometimes He lets you know in this life, and sometimes He asks you to wait so that you can have a face-to-face talk about it”.  Such characteristic honesty endeared Bethany to a host of people around the world who had become aware of her challenges.  Could a young person like her really make a comeback from such devastating circumstances?

            As it turned out, Bethany’s comeback was stunning.  After only a few months, she began to win and place in prestigious surfing competitions in spite of her lack of a left arm.  Over the next several years her amazing accomplishments and personal testimony opened doors for her to communicate her story to millions of people.  Along with newspapers and magazines, Bethany’s story was also being featured on television news segments and talk shows.  “I guess they see me as a symbol of courage and inspiration”, she said.  “One thing hasn’t changed—and that’s how I feel when I ‘m riding a wave.  It’s like, here I am.  I’m still here.  It’s still me and my board in God’s ocean.”

            Ever since the attack first took place, Bethany has continued to turn her tragedy into a triumph.  She was appointed chairwoman of Beating the Odds Foundation and has served as a spokesperson for the international compassion ministry of World Vision.  Her autobiography, Soul Surfer, was published as well as Christian devotional books for teens.  A film version of Bethany’s story is also in the works. Speaking of his daughter’s outstanding example of faith, Tom Hamilton observes: “Somehow God gave Bethany an amazing amount of grace in this.  I am in awe.  She never says, “Why me?”’  For Bethany, the “whys and wherefores” are simple: “This was God’s plan for my life and I’m going to go with it.”

Messes into Messages

            Bethany Hamilton’s story is a great illustration of redemption; the fourth component of our five-dimensional healing model.  What is redemption?  One dictionary defines the word “redeem” as “to buy back, repurchase, to get or win back” (1).  This could mean many things.  For example, while Bethany will never get her arm back, her hopes, dreams and vision for living have returned—and then some!  In the long run, her losses have been mightily redeemed for higher purposes than competitive success.  They have provided Bethany with a way to bear witness to Christ and inspire others, having been “bought back” from disaster to bring blessing instead of despair.  This phenomenon is not new.  God has a long history of turning our messes into messages, our trials into triumphs and our tests into testimonies!  How does He do this?  By the power of something the Bible calls grace.  

(Is There) Shame on You?

"Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood" (Isaiah 54: 4)

"Shame on you".  Few words pack such a sting.  To put shame on someone is to assign humiliation to them and utterly dismiss them.  In some cultures, "shame is worse than death" (that phrase, in fact, is a Russian proverb).  But what, exactly, is the nature of shame?  How does it affect us?  What is the remedy?

Although guilt and shame share some of the same moral and spiritual characteristics, some have drawn a distinction between the two.  Guilt, they say, is the conviction that something you have done is bad.  Shame, by contrast, is the conviction that you are bad.  The normal cure for guilt is to make ammends for what you have done beginning with an apology or a confession.  This can go a long way towards relieving guilt's persistent pangs.  But how do you apologize for what you are?  

Forgiven, But Still Ashamed?

It has been my experience that we can experience forgiveness from guilt - the guilt of our sinful actions, attitudes and behaviors - without experience total release from shame.  Many Christians know what I am talking about.  If you ask them if they believe or feel that God has forgiven them for what they have done, they will say: "yes!".  But if you ask them if they are at peace with who they are inside - if that mercy from above has penetrated to the way they see themselves within - they will struggle to answer in the affirmative for, although forgiven, they still feel their shame.  This is not only unnecessary but it diminishes what is available in the finished work of Christ as expressed in His gospel.

Transformed Through Worship

In the Bible, shame is connected with idolatry.  To worship false gods is to empower a shame-based life.  These gods may stand in for actual demonic principalities and powers or they may be projections of self-worship.  In either case idolatry is a degrading endeavor that sets us up to experience an ever-deepening sense of shame.  

By contrast, the Bible portrays the worship of the true and living God as ennobling, life-giving, and liberating.  God is not the one who changes as we worship Him "in Spirit and in truth" - it is we who are changed "with ever increasing glory":

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever‑increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3: 18, NIV).

Therefore, one of the key ways to experience release from the grip of shame is to worship God from our hearts and, in so doing, allow Him to affirm our place at His table as fully-adopted sons and daughters.  

The Cure

The cure for shame is not only to accept forgiveness for sins, but to be renewed within by the grace of God.  It is to see ourselves the way He sees us.  It is to be transformed in our essential self-image by the gift of His holy acceptance of us through Christ.  

The passage in Isaiah 53 that describes the devastating humiliation of the Suffering Servant Messiah demonstrates that He not only took the punishment for our guilt upon Himself, but also the root of shame and rejection of the self that our fallen nature has produced.  From His humiliation comes our exaltation - not in vanity, but in saving grace!  

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8: 9).  ng grace!  

As we approach Good Friday and Easter Sunday, let's make sure and praise God for not only the forgiveness of sins, but the release from shame His gift of Grace provides!