More than Coincidence: Remembering Jesus Christ in Your Story

A Brother's Love with Sam

• Lily • Season 1 • Episode 4

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What if your greatest inspiration was someone who, by all physical standards, should have been the least capable of inspiring anyone? This episode takes you on a deeply personal journey with Sam, a high school track and field athlete, as he recounts how his physically disabled brother Aahan defied all odds with faith and determination that can only be described as divine.

Sam opens up about unforgettable moments with his brother, from miraculous movements during a medically induced coma to a valiant struggle to walk despite overwhelming physical challenges. This poignant narrative of faith and strength goes beyond the realm of family; it reveals Sam's spiritual journey, and how Aahan's relentless spirit has shaped his aspirations and outlook on life. Through Sam's tales of his brother's struggle, we explore how faith, hard work, personal responsibility, and scripture can shape one's resilience. As Sam looks forward to his senior year and beyond, he shares his hopes of carrying forward Aahan's legacy of unwavering faith and determination. This episode is a testament to the power of the human spirit and the transformative impact of love and faith, even in the face of tremendous adversity.

Please reach out to me if you are interested in sharing your story! I would LOVE to hear from you. :)

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**Transcripts available on website!

Lily:

Okay, so today we have Sam with us. How are you, Sam?

Sam:

I'm doing good. How are you?

Lily:

Fantastic. Thank you so much for being willing to share your stories with us. Do you want to introduce yourself a little bit?

Sam:

Sure, I'm Sam. I'm in high school and I do track and field. My favorite event is Shot Putt or the 100. And then my favorite hobby is going to the gym.

Lily:

Sweet. That's awesome. Well, Sam, let's just get right to it. What are your experiences or themes that have happened throughout your life that prick your heart and help you remember your Savior, Jesus Christ, in your life?

Sam:

Well, I think probably the main one would have to be when my brother Aahan was in the hospital right after we had gotten him. I hadn't been able to go up and visit him very often due to him being in very critical condition. So I was pretty young, I didn't know what was going on. But my mom decided to take me up there to go visit him and of course we did all the hospital things that they had for all the little kids, like making little hospital dolls that had the IVs in them, so that you could understand what was going on a little better and it wasn't as terrifying, because the hospital is a scary place. Then we went into his room and he was in the middle of this giant bed. Well, at least it felt giant as a little kid you know.

Lily:

Yeah, how old were you? You were probably, six, weren't you?

Sam:

I was about six.

Lily:

Yeah, that's why I thought okay.

Sam:

So we walk in, and he's in the bed. They had put him in a medically induced coma, but I had just been told that he was asleep, because you know, as a six-year-old, that would be pretty scary.

Lily:

Yeah you really don't understand what a coma is anyway.

Sam:

Yeah, if you had been told.

Lily:

It was a little scary yeah.

Sam:

If you'd been told as a kid hey, he's in a coma. The only time you ever see a coma is when people are crying and shows and stuff like that. So that'd make it worse than it already is. And I remember all the machines around him. There's a lot of cords, they were kind of like vines all over the place. But honestly, as a kid,

Sam:

The hospitals are not very kid-friendly. They are very terrifying, but seeing Aahan and that he's alive and okay is very comforting and we stayed with him. I think I read him a story before we left and as we were leaving, despite being in a medical coma and having cerebral palsy that prevented his left hand from moving at the time, really at all, he lifted only his left arm up and waved in the goodbye waving motion which to this day I don't think I've ever seen him wave like that. Usually the only time he moves his hand like that is when he's stemming. So it just really had to have been somebody else lifting up his hand to comfort me as I left the hospital and went back down the hospital halls.

Lily:

Yeah, because you feel like in that moment it was, you know, our savior being there for you and showing you that everything is going to be okay, or how did you, I don't know, how do you feel like you've kind of interpreted that?

Sam:

Yeah, I feel like at the time it could have been. We didn't know if it was like him saying goodbye for like the last time, because he was still really sick, not in the best condition, but now I knew it wasn't gonna be the final goodbye. It was just him expressing his love for me and saying that he enjoyed having me here.

Lily:

Goodbye.

Sam:

Yeah.

Lily:

Like, see it like-.

Sam:

Yeah, it was more of "see it later. And then, honestly, that's like if God wasn't looking out for us, I don't know if he would have lift up it Like he would have. I don't think he would have had the ability to lift up his left arm, which he already can't move very well while he's in a coma.

Lily:

So I know, before we started recording, you mentioned that there were a couple stories that you wanted to share with us today, so what would the next one be?

Sam:

Yes. So the next one. Funnily enough also, it kind of has to do with Aahan and really how it just feels like he was put into my life for a reason and he is the reason why I strive every day to be the most physically fit person I can ever be, because God has blessed all of us with our bodies and he has put special attention to each and every one. We all have our flaws, like things that we think "why do we have these? That some of them may prohibit you from doing certain things, some of them may be what you find not as attractive as somebody else's features, but God has given us our bodies for a reason.

Sam:

And Aahan, while unable to walk well, he was told he would never be able to walk. Through his hard work, he was able to walk, which was a blessing itself, and I think God knew that by showing me that hard work can really move mountains, and faith, because we had faith that Aahan would be able to walk eventually in life. I know that, like, whatever I do, if I have enough faith and put enough hard work into it, I'll be able to succeed in what I want to be able to do. I'll be able to lift the weights I wanna lift, I'll be able to run the speed at which I wanna run, the times I want and the throw and how far I want to throw, as long as I put in the effort. Every time I'm about to run, I think about Aahan and it just feels way better because I'm doing it for him, because I know if he had been born with the ability to walk and run, he'd be the fastest kid out there.

Lily:

He really would be, he would. I've seen him move.

Sam:

He moves fast for somebody who shouldn't walk.

Lily:

He really does.

Sam:

He would also probably be doing parkour.

Lily:

I'm not gonna lie, the way he climbs Aahan would be a parkour guy.

Sam:

He climbs everything. Anything he can climb he will climb on top of.

Lily:

Right. So not only was he told that he can't walk or be able to do any of these things, he is. Not only is he walking, but he's climbing and he's doing all these kinds of things.

Sam:

Yes, he also understands. It's hard to notice, but he understands what you say. He doesn't speak himself, he's non-verbal. But if you tell him no, he will look at you, smile and then do it again.

Lily:

He knows, he knows.

Sam:

And then the moment you get over there and tell him no again, he'll make a run for it with his little waddly motion as he tries to go to his room.

Lily:

because he knows he's in trouble.

Sam:

He knows he's in trouble Right off. Like he'll throw things like water, like we will hear a crash upstairs. "Oh, there's dues throwing the water or throwing whatever he can get a hold of.

Lily:

Yep. So you think about him whenever you go and do things, because you know "if Aahan could do it, then I can do it too. If God could empower and strengthen Ahan to be able to walk, to be able to climb, to be able to do all of the things that doctors for forever told us he could not do, you could do it too. That the Lord could empower you to do those things too.

Sam:

Yes, I fully believe with enough faith that if I wanted to, I could move mount Everest if I had enough faith and put enough effort into it. I know God has blessed us with certain talents and abilities. We just have to put our effort into them and unlock them and put faith that we will find them. Even he wants us here to cultivate ourselves and better ourselves every day, and every day we do that in the name of Jesus and Him. He's going to help us reach our goals, even at faster rates than we could ever expect. God knows our capability and he likes to amplify it, like putting music through a loud Bluetooth speaker. Alone, just by ourselves, we may be loud enough for people to hear, but are we really loud enough for a party to hear by itself? Because with God, we can be big enough and loud enough that all those around us can hear us.

Lily:

Yeah, he amplifies you. Huh, I don't really know how to phrase this question, but I just know when I was in high school I kind of thought that Christ and God was kind of this nebulous thing. I couldn't see Him, I couldn't really. I felt Him sometimes. I was still trying to learn what the Spirit felt like. But how do you feel like for you right now, having these memories? I don't know, I guess how do you just try and stay close to our Savior as a high schooler with all the crazy stuff that's going on right now? How do you hear Him and remember Him when everything else is blasting at you?

Sam:

Honestly, all you really have to do is just pick the right friends that aren't ever going to push you to do something you don't want to do or do something contrary to what you believe. Those are really helpful things to do because, honestly, it's usually the people around you that affect your opinion on things and you grow your opinion off of other people's opinions around you and all the little pieces you get from that you apply it to the giant puzzle you have. So if you surround yourself with people who are overly negative and then you're most likely going to be overly negative if you put yourself around people who often chase away the spirit, you're gonna start chasing away the spirit yourself. So you just really have to focus on your friends and then take Responsibility of yourself. Honestly, just reading the scriptures every day is one way to Increase your spirituality.

Sam:

It helps you Be a stronger person with the spirit as you go throughout your life. While the friends are really important, if you are not strong by yourself, there will be times where you won't be able to do what you need to do because you are spiritually weak.

Lily:

Yeah.

Sam:

It's the same way with If you're not reading your scriptures or not putting, for example, not putting the work in at the gym. You can't just go over to the bench and do 300. You got to work for it. Just like how, if you don't understand the principles, the moment somebody starts questioning those principles, you're gonna be confused yourself.

Lily:

Right, I agree, I totally agree with that, and I know that I've seen that in my life, even as an adult. I that's something that I still struggle with sometimes is really truly coming to understand what Jesus Christ, his atonement and his gospel means, the principles, the doctrine, and how it applies to me, because then everything else Kind of falls to the wayside a little bit. Well, so then, are there any other stories? I know we kind of took a little bit of a detour, but but I thought that was great and thank you for sharing that, because I feel like a lot of people, especially High schoolers, you know they don't want to listen to us Old adults.

Lily:

I am a little old. They want to listen to, You know people their same age about how they are able to, you know, have that relationship with their Savior, jesus Christ, and so thank you for sharing that. I really appreciate it, and I think you said that there was maybe one other story that you wanted to share.

Sam:

One way if you ever just want to feel closer to not only the Lord but also your ancestors, doing family search and family history is just. It's like a spiritual steroid as you go to the temple and you're taking those names that you've actually put effort into finding and not just Putting them into the Ordinance looker on family search and getting random names that you know nothing about. I testify that as you bring names that you actually know and actually did research in to, you'll feel a different type of spiritual experience than you would normally feel as you go to the temple.

Lily:

Yeah, because I think you you have a little bit of a unique experience because you're, adopted, right? Yeah, so a lot of the family history stuff, how much of it has been done actually on your side, do you know?

Sam:

so in terms of my father's side, I haven't been able to locate Pretty much anything because we're not quite sure which who like which person is, because he has a quite common name. But on my mother's side we actually have a lot more than I would have expected done. There's someone along the way that is probably a part of the church whose been doing things, but there's still a lot left to do. I've been filling in things on Ancestry and then transferring them over to family search and there's still a lot.

Lily:

Wow, that's really cool, and have you been able to actually find a name and then take that name to the temple?

Sam:

Yeah, it was on my mom's grandpa's side. It was, I think, about nine to 10 generations back and it was a person who I forget the name, but I remember that them and then their son both died around the same time.

Lily:

Oh.

Sam:

I think, from what I could pick up, because they were both sailors, they're probably out at sea. Yeah, that's most likely what happened.

Lily:

You found the father and the son.

Sam:

Yeah, so I was able to take the father. I think the son had already been done.

Lily:

Oh, that's cool. Yeah, maybe I guess you can try finding sealings and stuff to seal the son to the father next time too.

Sam:

Yeah.

Lily:

Or had that work already been done too?

Sam:

I'd have to double check.

Lily:

I did not look at that quite yet. yeah, you can't really do those quite often. Well thats really cool, sam. Do you have any other final thoughts and would you mind, if you feel comfortable, sharing just a brief testimony with us?

Sam:

Honestly, I believe that, as you're going throughout life, there are certain things that really connect with certain people and for me it's family search and doing the family history. It strengthened my testimony in ways that I wouldn't understand. I testify unto you that as you go throughout your life, you should look through the past and everything the church has to offer, because there's going to be something there for you that will help build your testimony and help be the foundation for it. Amen.

Lily:

Thank you, Sam. I really appreciate your time and I hope you have a really good senior year and everything goes well for you.

Sam:

Yeah, thank you for having me on.

Lily:

Thanks again for tuning into More Than Coincidence, Remembering Jesus Christ and your Story. Please follow us on social media or share us with a friend. If you have an experience you'd like to share, feel free to reach out to morethancoincidencerememberhimatgmailcom. I can't wait to hear all of the amazing memories you all have of our Savior. See you next time.