The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has responded with tremendous grace to a tweet which suggested his disability was caused by God.
In 1984, Abbott was paralyzed from the waist down after being struck by a falling tree as he was jogging. He has been in a wheelchair ever since and has required undergone rehabilitative treatment.
A committed Christian, Abbott speaks openly about his faith on a regular basis. But it was his response to an ignorant tweet about his physical condition that has caused many to reflect on the way in which they view their lives.
The exchange began when Abbott tweeted out a video of a wheelchair-bound man scaling a climbing wall using nothing but his upper body.
“Never quit
Never give up
Overcome any challenge,” Greg wrote.
In response, one person replied to the tweet with the morbid message: “So great to see but if I ever end up in a wheelchair I’m just ending it.”
Abbott spotted this and replied with a faith-filled message of inspiration.
“That’s what I thought before I ended up in a wheelchair,” he wrote. “I’ve done more AFTER the accident that left me paralyzed than before that accident. With God all things are possible.”
The replies then became even more sinister, with another man writing, “God put you in a wheelchair Greg.”
Abbott, unashamed of his Christian faith, replied with assertiveness.
“God didn’t cause the accident that left me paralyzed, but He did help me persevere over that enormous challenge,” the governor declared. “I’m a testament that the glory of God is revealed by a young man’s back being broken in half and still rising up to be Governor of Texas. With God all is possible.”
We applaud Gov. Abbott for his steely determination and faithfulness to the Lord!