Scotty Smiley is a hero who bravely served his country, but an injury that he sustained in Iraq at the hands of a suicide bomber threatened to completely derail his faith — and his life.
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Smiley shared his harrowing and inspirational story on Thursday morning at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., explaining how a suicide bombing in 2005 left him partially paralyzed and permanently blind, and how he nearly lost hope.
Watch their powerful story:
“I remember waking up … blind the rest of my life, not just losing both my eyes, but also partially paralyzed,” he said. “I truly felt worthless … and I began to believe some of the words that were being spread around the hospital.”
Those words he was referring to were comments he heard others make about how he was once a good soldier, but would now likely never walk or serve again. Those statements and proclamations further impacted his mindset amid the trauma he faced.
“I began to lose my purpose in life, and, more importantly, I began to lose my faith in God,” Smiley said, noting that he had started to question Philippians 4:13, one of his favorite verses. That scripture reads, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
In time, though, Smiley said that the love of Christ and the devotion of his wife, Tiffany, kept him grounded.
Watch Smiley explain his incredible journey below (at the 7:00-minute mark):
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He began to come back to his faith and, before long, was defying the odds. Not only did Smiley walk again, but he’s gone on to partake in some insanely athletic endeavors.
Smiley’s bio only scratches the surface of what he’s accomplished: “He is an avid adventurer and has completed the Coeur d’Alene Iron Man, climbed Mt Rainer, gone skydiving, surfing and is always looking for his next chance to try something new.”
But it wasn’t just physical endurance that Smiley mastered; he also reenlisted and became the first blind active-duty military officer in U.S. history. In the end, he said it was the “love of God” and his family that once again helped him to believe in the fullness of Philippians 4:13.
“I began to understand that we are not fighting in a world that is seen, but in a world that is unseen,” he said.