“God created the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the waves for our enjoyment. Surfing is just my way of worshipping Him.”

My strength came from my relationship with Christ and from the love and encouragement of my family and friends.

I wouldn’t change what happened to me because then I wouldn’t have this chance, in front of all of you, to embrace more people than I ever could have with two arms.

I believe in Jesus Christ, and I believe He gave me the passion and determination to continue surfing. You fall off the horse, and you get back on. I had to go for it.

Life is full of what-ifs. You can’t let it hold you back. If you do, you’re not really living at all… just kind of going through the motions with no meaning

To lose your everyday life of surfing and being creative on waves, enjoying the ocean – that’s scary to me. It was essential to at least try surfing again and get out there and see how it went.

God will give us the strength to be able to handle things. I mean, you can try to do it on your own, and sometimes you can pull off some stuff, but in the long run, it’s much easier with Him by our side.

Compassion can drive us to do amazing things and give us perspective.

Like, with one arm I know I can surf, but competitive surfing can be really frustrating, and sometimes you don’t do as well as you want to. It can be discouraging at times. But whenever I do get frustrated, I just focus on God.

It’s hard for me to describe the joy I felt after I stood up and rode wave in for the first time after the attack. I was incredibly thankful and happy inside. The tiny bit of doubt that would sometimes tell me you’ll never surf again was gone in one wave.

It’s been amazing to touch people’s lives.

My favorite thing [about surfing] is being creative on waves; it’s like an art form. You can do whatever you want on that wave if you work hard at it and just have fun out there.

Your looks do not define who you are.

Losing an arm is kinda lame at one point, but at the same time, so much good has come out of it.

The author describes how impressed she was with the detailed storyboards that outlined her movie – “not just sketches, but real art”. She then describes a Hawaiian sunset as, “God painting His storyboard on the sky”.

You don’t need easy, you just need possible.

Surfing for me is more than my lifestyle; it’s my passion, my love and it’s a part of me.

All my songs were solo voices. Just me singing. In fact, that was the gimmick – no gimmick. Just singing straight with not too much background.

I have had national security background, 10 years on the Intelligence Committee, the last two years as chair.

Like, with one arm I know I can surf, but competitive surfing can be really frustrating, and sometimes you don’t do as well as you want to. It can be discouraging at times. But whenever I do get frustrated, I just focus on God.

Surfing for me is more than my lifestyle; it’s my passion, my love and it’s a part of me.

Life is a lot like surfing… When you get caught in the impact zone, you’ve got to just get back up. Because you never know what may be over the next wave.

In the end, my love for surfing helped me overcome my fear of sharks.

Both of my parents are surfers, of course, so they understood where my passion for surfing was at and I guess they saw the talent that I had.

I’ve had the same core group of friends that I’ve always had. We’re surfing, so that definitely keeps you grounded.