Monday, January 6, 2014

MY NEPHEW TRAVIS ASHTON THE INSPIRATIONAL GOLFER





MY THOUGHTS: Hello world, Its blogger time again, its a new year and a new beginning. I am excited for this new year. I just know it will be a great one! I hope you are excited about your life. I hope you are doing what your passionate about and loving life. As you know my motto is BE ALL YOU CAN BE AS A TRUE SOLDIER IN GOD'S ARMY...STAY TRUE...STAY STRONG...STAY POSITIVE...STAY SOBER...LOVE LIFE!!!
I am loving my new sober lifestyle. It can be kinda boring sometimes, but I have learned to appreciate the peace and quiet. I love living a drama free lifestyle. It is amazing how many life problems go away just by staying clean and sober. I am so thankful for my second chance at life. I was so lost in my addiction that I was headed to death, prison or both!!! I feel soooo blessed to be free and alive and sober!! God is so much involved in the very details of our lives. He (God) will put you in a position to become sober. It might be prison, jail, rehab, or even death but at some point you will get sober! You might as well choose recovery today!  I believe that ALL THINGS DENOTE THAT GOD IS REAL, THE SUN, THE MOON, THE STARS. So many facts testify that God is real, human life is a true miracle. YOU ARE A MIRACLE...NEVER FORGET THAT..YOU ARE ONE OF A KIND...THEIR WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER YOU...YOU ARE A MIRACLE!!! My message to you today is keep on pressing forward with hope. Keep on pressing forward with a positive attitude. YOUR ATTITUDE WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOU!!!  

Today's blog post is all about my nephew Travis Ashton. My sister tells his whole story in detail on her blog http://thenotsoordinaryangels.blogspot.com  I highly recommend that you read and follow her blog. Travis' story is so inspiring! I just want to share today a little of Travis' story and how it relates to addiction and recovery in general. Travis' story is a powerful story of recovery! Here is the short version of Travis' story.....I was out serving a full time mission for my church from 2000-2002 and just before my mission was complete, my sister’s oldest son Travis was in a terrible car accident that caused a very severe traumatic brain injury. His accident left him in a coma and unconscious for many weeks. Once he awoke he was unable to use any part of his body. He could not hold his head up, sit up or move his arms or legs. He could not move his eyes or blink at will. He had a feeding tube, wore diapers, had a shunt in his head and was confined to a wheel chair. Through Travis’ determination, faith, hard work and countless hours of therapy, he has been blessed to overcome all of those things. Although he has an unusual gift to communicate with his spirit, his speech has yet to return. His right arm has had some movement come back, but he cannot use it functionally. Travis is a true soldier in God’s army and living proof that through hard work and dedication we can recover from just about anything! He has had to learn to do everything over again. Before his accident he was an all star baseball player, football player, basketball player, he was even a gifted pianist! Travis has had to relearn to walk and eat and use his left arm for everything even though he is right handed. Today Travis plays golf with me often and he hits the ball great using only his left arm!!!Travis stays positive and upbeat almost all of the time AND HE DOES IT WITHOUT ANY DRUGS OR ALCOHOL!!! He is an inspiration to us all. I figure if he can go through life sober than I dang sure can!!!
Here is a pic of Travis a few days before his accident
This is a few days after his accident.

I would like to propose a question to you. IS A HANDICAP A CURSE OR A BLESSING? I had to think about that for a moment, but I must tell you that Travis has been so much of a blessing in my life that I choose to say its a blessing.
I believe that their are many ways that we can be handicapped and addiction is definitely one of them. A lot of us become handicapped and get in the attitude of poor me, I'm a victim, I can never be the same. A lot of us will become bitter and angry and feel justified because life is just so dang hard. Travis' motto from the beginning has been "Whats Wrong with Hard?" It might be a long road to recovery but I'm thankful for the road! How many of us Have become bitter at life? We have a clear choice, we can become bitter or better! Travis inspires us all because he chooses to become better. Travis chooses to stay upbeat and positive even though he has every reason to be bitter and upset. Travis chooses to be a victor not a victim. He chooses to stay positive and appreciate what life has to offer, and I will mention again HE DOES IT ALL CLEAN AND SOBER!!! Travis is a TRUE SOLDIER IN GOD'S ARMY! He is a great example to all of us to keep on keeping on and never give up hope. Never think that you do not have the opportunity to change your attitude and change your life. WE DO RECOVER!! I choose to believe that we are not always addicts, we do recover!

My question to you today is are you a victim? Or are you a victor?  Are you choosing to have a bitter attitude towards the challenges you face in life or are you becoming better and stronger because of them? We can use the adversity in our lives as stepping stones to success. We can choose to be resilient and bounce back quickly when we fall down. I am inspired by Travis each and every day to be thankful for the blessings in my life. Travis helps me to realize that I should be thankful for my ability to speak and to walk and run and smell and hear and touch and feel! Travis helps me to appreciate many of the blessings in life that are so many times overlooked and under-appreciated.



 We are children of God and we all have great potential. Our souls are of great worth to our Father in Heaven. He loves us even when we are living in our addictions. He is rooting for us to choose recovery and tap into the power that comes from following Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has the power to restore you to complete spiritual health. He will restore you to complete spiritual health as you choose to humble yourself and follow Him. This life is a spiritual battle and Satan desires to kill steal and destroy our happiness and eternal reward. He uses drugs and all types of addiction as a powerful tool to drag us down to misery and hell. Once we realize that this spiritual battle is real we can choose to stay strong and stand firm in our sobriety. We can choose to exercise in every way each day to get stronger. When we are healthy we are happy and able to maintain a sober lifestyle much easier. It is my hope that today you are inspired on many different levels by TRAVIS ASHTON THE INSPIRATIONAL GOLFER.
Click HERE to watch Travis play golf:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWxlO2hpuG4







We would love to share your comments with Travis, so please comment here or on Facebook. Please like and share this post. You can always send me a private message by email danielisatruesoldier@aol.com   You can follow me on twitter @beatruesoldier  I also have a Facebook page called "Be a True Soldier in God's Army". Please go "like" the page and you can follow my blog that way also.  Thank you for reading and following my blog. I wish God's richest of blessings for you and your family!!! BE ALL YOU CAN BE AS A TRUE SOLDIER IN GOD'S ARMY...STAY TRUE...STAY POSITIVE...STAY STRONG...STAY SOBER...LOVE LIFE!!!  

1 comment:

  1. Please tell Travis that he is a miracle and an inspiration to many. His positive attitude and courage gives me strength to get through my trials. I believe that God gives us trials in life to help us be a better person; more humble, caring, giving, more Christ-like and to help others. Thank you for sharing his story.

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