A week ago today I watched a video that I'd linked to from Facebook about a young woman named Lizzie. Lizzie used flash cards which cover her face during the video to tell her story. She told of her diagnosis with a syndrome that was so rare it was unnamed. It distorted her facial features and interfered with her ability to gain weight. Lizzie looks dramatically different than most people. She tells the story of being in high school and someone taking an 8 second video of her, putting it on YouTube, and titling it "World's Ugliest Woman." She explains how some of the comments on the video would say "Do the world a favor and kill yourself" and how it hurt her, but instead of getting revenge, she got even. Lizzie set goals for herself to prove that she is an amazing person, and she accomplished all of those goals, such as graduating college and having a family. At the end of the video Lizzie removes the flash cards and you get to see her face. Personally, I thought she was beautiful!

This video inspired me so much because I can relate to knowing how it feels to look different. It may not be me that looks different, but the stares at my son hurt no less than if they were at me. I thought about how devastated I would be if someone said something to my Christian like they said to Lizzie, that the world would be better without him in it.

So I decided that I have a story to tell, too. And a plan began hatching in my head. I sat down right there at work on my lunch break and wrote out the note cards on cut up pieces of notebook paper. The plan rolled around in my head for the rest of the day, and when I got home that night, I sat down at my computer and ran through a practice video once. Then I grabbed my Christian and we made the video that I posted!

I posted it to YouTube that night and got about 600 views. Then someone suggested I upload it to GodTube, so I did. Two days later I got a call at 7:30 in the morning from a friend. She wanted to tell me that she had gotten an e-mail from GodTube and my face was plastered right at the top of the e-mail! My video had been chosen as the highlighted video of the day!

Before midnight that night, my video had received over 20,000 hits! In the next 4 days, that number has doubled to over 40,000 hits! The video has received almost 200 comments, all of which have been encouraging and so sweet! I have received countless Facebook friend requests in the last few days, and so many encouraging comments.

I am absolutely blown away by the response that the video has had. I never imagined it would be this big, but I have definitely learned a lesson in not underestimating God's ability to use people.

 I am humbled and awestruck with the fact that God is using my son to fulfill His purpose! I just can't wait to see how He uses Christian in the future!

So below is the link to the video on GodTube just in case anyone hasn't seen it yet! Thank you so much to everyone who is supporting us in our journey!!

The Right Choice - Christian's Story