The Catholic Writers Guild

Have you ever felt like God is leading you down a path where you aren’t making any progress at all? That is what I feel lately. Before I get into my situation, let me introduce myself. I am Chris Lenart. I have Cerebral Palsy and am nonverbal. I got my degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and worked at HSBC for fourteen years until 2009. Due to the economy, I was let go among thousands of people.

I decided to move out on my own which was the best thing I have done. God gave me the courage to do this by hiring people to help me with daily activities. During the last eight years, I hired a lot of personal care assistants – some awesome ones and good ones. God gave me the strength to press through the rough times.

In 2013, one of my friends asked me if I wanted to write a book about our lives with Cerebral Palsy and I said Hey Yeah. I had something to work on during the day and which put purpose back in my life. It took us two years to write it. At that time, I hated writing, and my writing was really poor to say the least. That’s why it took us so long.

After it was done, we gave a few talks at conferences and sold our book. I felt that I had more to say so I started a YouTube channel and a website for disability awareness. I did the YouTube channel for three or four years, but I was not getting views because I talk with an iPad. People started to make fun of me. I dropped the YouTube thing this year to focus on the website.

Some of you know if you don’t have SEO skills, your website will not be found. I know really little about SEO and that is why the website is getting a few hundred visitors a month. I feel like God is saying just do it and they will come. That is what I am doing, but after a certain amount of time, you should stop trying. I am not there yet but it is getting close though.

When we did talks together, it gave me a rush to see people moved by the talks which got me pumped up. I want to do more talks by myself because I feel that society, as a whole really doesn’t understand people with disabilities well. Many people just think that those with disabilities are useless, which we aren’t. We have so many gifts to share and I have to try to change the world.

I don’t want money to get the website working correctly. What I am longing for is to do talks and sell the book. I want to stay busy and would like to be able to say no to someone because I can’t handle the work. People tell me that my message needs to be heard by more people. This is what God is telling me also and I will not say no to God.

If you feel that you don’t know what God wants you to do in your life, just pray about it. I mean really pray about it and let God work through you. God does things on His time so you have to be patient with Him. Trust me – I know it is hard to do, but you can do it.

If you are interested in more information please contact me at clenart@comcast.net.

copyright Chris Lenart 2018