To celebrate Father’s Day this year, my niece asked her four-year-old son about his father’s qualities, habits, likes, and dislikes. This is a typical exercise to celebrate Dad. When I read his responses, there was one that stopped me in my tracks.
Question: What is Dad’s superpower?
Answer: He can eat food without putting it in his mouth.
The language here is significant: he CAN eat, not he HAS TO eat, but he CAN. What the world may think of as tragic, that little boy sees as a superpower.
Three years ago, my niece’s husband, Cory, had half of his tongue removed because of cancer. At that time he had a gastrostomy tube inserted directly into his stomach to offer nutritional sustenance without having to use his mouth. The hope was it would be temporary while his mouth healed.
After a grueling recovery which included a course of chemotherapy and radiation, the cancer returned. A year later, he had the other half of his tongue removed. At the same time, he had the gastrostomy tube permanently inserted directly into his stomach. Since that day, two years ago, Cory has not chewed his food. Throughout the day, he uses a high-powered blender to pulverize the foods that give him the best nutrients to insert into his G-tube.
For the past three years, anytime I share Cory’s story, inevitably the word “tragic” is used. Most of us can’t imagine a life without our tongue.
What hit me about Cory’s son’s response was the perspective shift. From “tragic” to “superpower.” Wow! It had me pondering what hindrances or handicaps I face in my own life that God might want to transform. What if, in the midst of my weakness or tragedy, God is giving me a superpower?
Cory chose the second surgery because it was his only chance of living beyond cancer. He sacrificed tasting, savoring flavor, and chewing food in order to thrive after cancer. Today, Cory is cancer free and is a shining example of living an overcoming life. He still faces huge challenges, but he lives a vibrant life with his family. Cory defied the enemy and chose life.
Isn’t that the very lesson the Resurrection story tells us? Listen in to the men walking to Emmaus on Easter Sunday:
And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. Luke 24:19-21
For three days those who followed Jesus must have experienced the full weight of grief, loss, and uncertainty as they tried to come to grips with the fact that Jesus had been crucified. They had suffered a tragic loss. Jesus however, took that tragedy and turned it into victory when He rose from the dead on Resurrection Day.
In that act of defying death, Jesus changed the narrative from tragedy to overcoming Resurrection power. He defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil. As a follower of Christ, you share in that victory. As the apostle Paul tells us:
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. Romans 6:5
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11
When you shift your mindset, you shift your focus from the tragic situation to the power to overcome. When you shift your mindset, you shift your paradigm and experience the abundant life Jesus promises in John 10:10. Like Jesus, you have the power to shift your narrative from victim to victor.
Where in your life can you shift your mindset from tragedy to abundant life, from victim to victor?
Allow God to transform the very thing that you are struggling with right now. Ask Him to show you His perspective. He promises that He works all things together for your good.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
All means all. There is not a thing that you face that God cannot transform into your superpower.
Choose abundant life.
Align your perspective with Heaven and discover your superpower.
The world is waiting for your story of victory over tragedy—there are people who need to hear it and no one can tell it like you can.
What’s your superpower?