Meg Johnson

So at my church we had this special devotional thing on Wednesday. A lot of speakers came and talked to us, and the theme was about remodeling our spirits. My favorite speaker's name was Meg Johnson. She has been in a wheel chair since 2004 because she is paralyzed from the waist down, and both of her hands are paralyzed too. She told us that the reason she is paralyzed is because she was hiking in St. George and she was jumping on rocks when she fell off of a cliff. I think that if that happened to me, I wouldn't have a very good attitude about it. The reason she was so inspirational was because she had an amazing attitude. She always smiled, even when you could tell she felt sad about something she was still smiling. She told us about how she hates when people ask her, "How can you still smile?" when the unspoken question is, "How can you still smile when your life obviously couldn't hold any joy?" She was just so positive about everything. She talks about how when she woke up in a hospital room with tubes all over her, she started looking around and praying that she could feel love for everything in that room. Instead of focusing on all the things in her life she could be unhappy about, she thinks about the things in her life that are good and that she enjoys. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, since her accident Meg has entered in the Ms. Wheelchair USA pageant, and she started and directs the Ms. Wheelchair Utah pageant. She even played wheelchair rugby on the Utah Scorpions team. I just love how she moves on with her life and does as much as she possibly can to make the most of her life. I also thought it was cool that her husband was there with her recording her talking. I think they're both still in their twenties. She told us that he likes to tease her because one of her hands is always in a fist, and the other looks kind of like a fish. So she has a fist hand and a fish hand. Even with her hands like that, she has still learned how to draw, eat, put on makeup, brush her teeth, and do her hair. I like how she didn't let her turn into someone that couldn't do anything for herself. I think mostly she inspired all of us because of how happy she was. Even though she goes through some really hard things she can still enjoy and appreciate life. Her favorite message to share is G.A.P.S. (What you need to fill in the gaps in your life so you don't fall off of a cliff) It stands for Gratitude, Attitude, Prayer, and Service. I think she was a perfect example to share how all of those can help you in your life, and I feel like life has been a little better for me since I heard her talk. If any of you have time you should go to www.megjohnsonspeaks.com and look at some of her videos and some of the information about her. She was amazing! Here is one of her drawings that she did a couple years after her accident: