Daniel Ritchie, a man who was born without arms, had almost completely lost his self-esteem because of how strangers treated him. However, he has testified that after reading the word of God, he began to see the true value of his life and realized that he is "fearfully and wonderfully made."
In a recent op-ed for Fox News, Ritchie shared how people had looked down on him because of his disability. He recounted that people in restaurants had referred to him as a "weirdo" and a "freak" because he is forced to eat with his feet.
Ritchie noted that he does everything with his feet, but he believes he is not very different to anybody else, and he is not limited by his disability.
However, the insults began to affect him while growing up as a teenager and it changed how he perceived himself.
He recalled a time when he went home crying after a trip to the grocery store with his mother because a stranger insulted him. In another incident, he and his parents were asked to leave a restaurant because he was eating with his feet.
Ritchie said that he eventually felt like "damaged goods" and he started to hate himself and other people. But during his isolation, he came across a verse in the Bible book of Psalms that made him change how he perceived life and his own value.
"It was Psalm 139, where King David praises God for forming him while he was still in his mother's womb. In verse 14, he says, 'I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well,'" he wrote.
"I sat in my room and let that verse wash over me. Wonderful are your works God. You have taken your time to make me just like I am. I am not an accident or a genetic mutation. I am, by all accounts, different by design," he continued.
He said that the verse made him realize that God had created him according to a plan, and that was the time that his sense of self-worth and identity changed. "I was no longer who people said I was. I was who God said I was," he asserted.
Ritchie noted that he also experienced a radical change in how he perceived other people. He said that he began to see others as "wonderful" regardless of their ethnicity or their political views.
He now encourages people to see others the way God sees them and approach people who are different with love and understanding when trying to engage them in dialogue.
Ritchie has been serving in ministry for over a decade and has shared his testimony and experiences in his blog. Additionally, he has also written a book titled "My Affliction for His Glory" in which he uses his life story to help others to find their identity in Christ.
