‘Soul Surfer’ Bethany Hamilton continues to inspire young girls and her own daughter

The story of surfer Bethany Hamilton’s miraculous recovery from losing an arm at age 13 in a shark attack was told in the popular movie “Soul Surfer.” Rather than giving up the sport she loved, she adapted, returned to the water and eventually competed professionally.

Now, she is focused on raising her young daughter, Alaya.

“Raising a daughter is such a beautiful responsibility,” Hamilton recently wrote on social media, according to “Beliefnet.” “I want her to grow up knowing she doesn’t have to fit anyone else’s idea of what she should look like, be or become. I want her to take care of her body, be grateful for what it can do, try hard things, face her fears and know that it’s OK to fall and start again.”

Above all, Hamilton wants her daughter to understand where her worth comes from. She said she wants Alaya to know that God created and loves her, and that her value does not depend on what the world says about her. She recently brought that message to younger girls through a partnership with Faith Friends Co. on a special-edition doll modeled after her. Like Hamilton, the doll has one arm and a partial arm.

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“Bethany has built her life around the truth that with God, all things are possible,” the company said. “We couldn’t imagine a better woman to help Faith Friends remind girls that their circumstances don’t define what God can do through their lives.”

Hamilton said girls have sent her photos for years of dolls they altered themselves by removing an arm. Now, she hopes the Bethany doll can send a larger message.

“Now she is here, a doll that encourages girls to overcome, to adapt, and try again no matter how hard things get,” she wrote. “Life has its challenges. Darkness can creep in. Don’t allow the dark to win. With Jesus all things are possible!. You can overcome.”

Speaking at Colgate University earlier this year, Hamilton said she now sees even the loss of her arm through the lens of what God has done with it. “Most people would see this as such a horrible thing,” she said, “but I see all the meaning that God has brought out of it.”

–Lee Hartman | Metro Voice

PHOTO: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons