A Life Worth Living

My name is Ryan James Yellowlees. I want to share my story of finding extraordinary love, joy, fulfilment, meaning, purpose, and redemption, turning great adversity into a great victory, impossibility into possibility, hopelessness into hopefulness, sorrow into joy, and darkness into light. My story is a testimony that you can have a great life worth living no matter who you are and regardless of your circumstances. My story is also an example of how you can have a transformed, powerful life filled with purpose and meaning. I cannot deny that life has moments of heartache and pain, but we cannot experience joy without pain. Without sadness and sorrow, joy would have no meaning. Pain is a great teacher; it gives us knowledge and understanding that matures us into who we are. Sometimes, we find ourselves in seemingly impossible seasons, making us feel trapped and full of anxiety, despair, and hopelessness. I want to encourage you that there is hope in impossible situations. I have had more than my share of them that turned into great victories beyond my imagination. I was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a progressive genetic illness that causes all the muscles in the body to break down. It is eventually fatal. However, I can say that my life is full of purpose, meaning…a life worth living. Being born with this illness was a tragedy that turned into a blessing. If I could go back and choose to be born without this illness, I would not. This illness made me who I am, and with out it, I would not have gotten to know all the wonderful people in my life. Life is too short, so I want to live it to the fullest and die without regrets. I do not want to waste time on engaging in self-pity, feeling sorry for myself, or giving up in defeat. Life is a beautiful gift that we often take for granted or do not appreciate. Chapter 1: Stumbling in Darkness My life before I met Jesus, my Lord and personal Saviour and Friend, was the most painful season of my existence. My life without Jesus was not worth living, had no purpose, and was surrounded by unbearable darkness, but God did not want that for me. God gave me my middle name of James, which has great significance. James has the same meaning as Jacob, which means “a substitute, to replace, or may God protect.” Having the name James is a prophecy that illustrates the love of Jesus, who is our substitute for our sins when He died on the cross for us. More than that, my life shows we all can have a personal relationship with God. The other prophetic meaning of James is the blessing “may God protect,” which is exactly what happened to me. God protected me from the brink of death multiple times, a fact that continues to baffled many doctors.