Imperfectly Perfect – Sarah Stump

Today’s Inspirational Tuesday is brought to you by an incredible girl who I have met in real life through our local Fair Queen pageant. Sarah Stump was born without part of her left arm. Here is her incredible story and inspiring message of “Imperfectly Perfect!”

Welcome to Inspirational Tuesday! A while ago on Facebook, I posted the story of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat who saved 6,000+ Jews during the Holocaust. Many of you commented you had never heard of him, and it got me thinking: You know the Adam Lanza’s, the evil people of the world. Yet often, for some weird reason, the good people often go overlooked. I decided to balance this out by showcasing a courageous and inspiring person. Feel free to comment your requests.

“Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love… true love never dies.” -Hub, Secondhand Lions

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Think about for a second of being pregnant and all you want is that perfect child you see on the cover of a magazine. Then you find out that the child you soon will have is no longer going to be what society believes as perfect. No longer would that child have ten fingers or maybe ten toes. Your child will be different, they will live in a world where people will stare, ask questions, judge, and that child will question “why me?” I am that child.
My mum was twenty weeks pregnant when she and my dad found out that their baby girl would be missing her left arm. I do not know what exactly they went through, but I know it was challenging. My whole life, I grew up replaying things in my head that my parents told me such as, “you are perfect just as God has made you, always try your best, and never give up.” These are words that I will forever live by thanks to my parents. They gave me the courage to always do my best. As a child I never really questioned why God had made me with only one hand. I sometimes even forgot that I was “different.”
Everyone at school accepted me for who I was and I am very blessed to live in a community that did accept it and not look at me any differently. At the age of eight is where the questioning started, I wondered why me? Why was I made differently? I would watch girls at school jump rope, play on the monkey bars, and put up their hair, these all being things I could not yet accomplish. I felt alone in a world of two handed people. I suddenly needed to find someone like me, someone to go through the pain with me and not alone. That is when I got ahold of my best friend Paige, who lives in New Zealand.
I am feeling lead to tell you different stories in my life. I am seventeen years old today and no longer do I have to go through things alone. You may ask, how did you find the strength in all of this? The answer is my faith. I found strength through God and going to him everyday with anything I felt troubled by.

Although I am fully confident in who God has created me to be, there are always days when I do question why I can’t do something or why I was made this way. I think that it is perfectly okay to have moments where you break down and cry because you question things. It is all part of life and we just need to constantly remind ourselves that God has a plan for each and everyone of our lives and we must put full faith in him and trust his plan that he will lead and direct us where we need to go.
We also need to remember that no one is perfect in todays world, we all try to live up to that so called “perfect” person that we see on the covers of magazines and on TV. That person does not exist because no one is perfect. We are all ImperfectlyPerfect. Be proud of your flaws and insecurities because they are what make us who we are. If we were all the same, today’s society would be boring! JUST BE YOU! YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! Never forget that.
Two Bible verses that have always helped me are..

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

To follow along Sarah’s journey or find out more about her, you can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and her blog.