Be a Light to God and the whole world.
Being able to turn to Jesus after the shark attack kept me alive.
Being creative on the waves is challenging, but we each create art in our own way.
Compassion can drive us to do amazing things and give us perspecitve.
Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.
Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.
God did have something bigger planned for me. What we all needed to do was trust… and believe.
God gave us strength and unity to push through all this stuff that we never knew would happen.
Going out in public is a bit different; I’m even more noticed, but my heart is in surfing and it always will be.
I am so stoked on my life. I have been through a lot and have learned a lot. I feel very blessed with everything that I’m able to do – especially being able to surf. I try to keep it simple and just be the best person I can be, and if it makes a difference in other people’s lives, that’s great!
I believe in God. I don’t mean that I believe in Him like a person might believe in, say, gravity or the sun coming up in the morning. Those are just facts that don’t mean anything. I mean I really believe in God.
I could never have embraced this many people with two arms.
I don’t know what other girls do before they go out in a heat, but for me the routine is pretty simple: I pray. I pray for safety for everyone and I pray for wisdom in my wave selection and ability to be at the right place at the right time.
I don’t pretend to have all the answers to why bad things happen to good people, but I do know that God knows all those answers, and sometimes He lets you know in this life…
I don’t really want people looking to me for inspiration. I just want to be a sign along the way that points toward Heaven.
I don’t want easy, just possible.
I have this thought every second of my life – Why me? Not negatively, like ‘Why did this terrible thing happen to me’? But more like ‘Why did God choose me and what does He have in mind for me?’
I see that God is able to use my story to help others. Once a girl came up and told me that she had had cancer. When she learned my story it made her realize that she didn’t need to give up.
I think that if I can help other people find hope in God, then that is worth losing my arm for.
I wouldn’t change what happened to me because then I wouldn’t have this chance, in front of all of you, to embrace more people than I ever could have with two arms.
I’m happy with the way that I look and I don’t need an arm to be beautiful.
I’m just a surfer.
I’m looking forward to seeing what comes my way.
In the end, my love for surfing helped me overcome my fear of sharks.
It is all about the message – believe in your dreams.
It was a terrible thing that happened to me, but so many good things have come out of it that it has turned into a beautiful thing.
It’s been amazing to touch people’s lives.
It’s hard for me to describe the joy I felt after I stood up and rode wave in for the first time after the attack. I was incredibly thankful and happy inside. The tiny bit of doubt that would sometimes tell me you’ll never surf again was gone in one wave.
I’ve learned life is a lot like surfing. When you get caught in the impact zone, you need to get right back up, because you never know what’s over the next wave… and if you have faith, anything is possible, anything at all.
Knowing I can make a difference helps me push myself harder.
Love is bigger then a tsunami, stronger then any fear.
My friend Sarah says that I get to be the voice of God. I usually roll my eyes when she says it, because if I were God, I would never have chosen me of all people to speak for him.
My only real fear was that I would not be able to surf again because I was concerned that I would not physically be able to do it. I knew that if I wasn’t able to surf then my life would really change.
My passion for surfing was more than my fear of sharks.
My strength came from my relationship with Christ and from the love and encouragement of my family and friends.
Our country is pretty out of control when it comes to making unhealthy choices and we rarely think about all the artificial sweeteners, trans fats, bad salts, overload of sugar and all processed foods we put it into our bodies on a daily basis. I think that the best way to combat our national health crisis is proper education.
People can do whatever they want if they just set their heart to it, and just never give up, and just go out there and do it.
The author describes how impressed she was with the detailed storyboards that outlined her movie – ‘not just sketches, but real art’. She then describes a Hawaiian sunset as, ‘God painting His storyboard on the sky’.
The paramedic whispered in my ear ‘God will never leave you or forsake you.’
Were all not perfect we all have something that we think is wrong with us but all it takes is a little love.
When people ask me what my faith in Christ means to me, I usually answer in just one word – everything! This was true before and after the shark attack.
You fall off the horse and you get back on.
Your looks do not define who you are.
