It took time and wrestling with God, but Sue Thomas finally realized she is special
By Dave Mast
May 6, 2013
1532
Secrets. Everyones got them, and the whole point of having secrets is to be tight-lipped about sharing them.
So heres a bit of advice: Dont go telling your secrets to someone when Sue Thomas is around.
Thomas, a former FBI agent who was recruited by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for her ability to read lips, was at Chestnut Ridge Elementary recently to share her incredible life journey, which included being labeled an outcast and a loser, being called dumb, snickered at, told she was useless, and then discovering a true gift through the FBI.
However, her journey didnt really get exciting until she began wrestling with God.
After years of being trod upon, verbally abused and shunned by classmates, Thomas was brought into the FBI to perform her very specialized gift of reading lips, where she managed to help apprehend some of the worlds most notorious bad guys.
Thomas was able to share her personal story with about two dozen deaf people from Amish Country at a luncheon, before speaking to the entire Chestnut Ridge student body in the afternoon.
There, she shared her inspirational story and challenged the students to never give up when facing a world that can be very critical and downright brutal at times.
Who wants to be friends with a dummy? Thomas said to the students. In school, nobody wanted to have anything to do with me. I was different. I was weird. I hated my life.
That all changed when the FBI came courting her as she grew into adulthood.
They saw in her a secret weapon, a weapon that could hear words being spoken privately by heinous criminals out in the world that the hearing FBI agents couldnt hear.
She became an instant success story, and a bit of a celebrity, getting to dine with the likes of director Steven Spielberg.
Still, she found she wasnt satisfied.
Something wasnt right.
She was still mad.
Mad at God.
I oftentimes get asked why I quit the FBI, said Thomas. Well, Ill tell you. I was 35 years old and I was still mad at God. I had to have answers as to why God made me like this. I left the FBI to find God and have it out with Him. I had an agenda to make him confess that He screwed up when He made me. He made a mistake when He made me.
So Thomas and God wrestled.
Not surprisingly, God won.
Thomas found out that deafness is only a detriment if you let it be so.
In wrestling with God, she found herself, and suddenly she liked herself a whole lot more, and her growth has allowed her to travel the nation and speak to youth about being young people of character.
I now have perfect peace, said Thomas. God will teach us if we let him. He taught me I had a gift, and have things to share to help others. I now know that I grow each time I reach out and share, and help make anothers life better. I am now Gods greatest party animal.
In her grade-school years, Thomas said she remembers vividly five young men who made her life miserable. They teased, they snickered, they pushed and taunted. They were easy to remember, for all the wrong reasons.
Thomas said that thanks to her faith, those five guys and others like them cant touch her anymore.
Now, Thomas is a walking, talking billboard for self-confidence and self esteem for students who may be struggling as she did.
I look in your faces, I see great potential, said Thomas to the students. You are all winners. Losers are only the guys that think that they are the winners in life. They spend their time tearing down those around them.
Winners dont do that. Winners build each other up. Those are the people who will ultimately be remembered.
As an added bonus to her message to the students, she also introduced Rodney, her hearing dog with the uncanny ability to retrieve anything she asks of him.
He is a true friend, one who never questions her disability, who never makes fun of her, sneers at her or belittles her. He is there, always loving, always caring.
That is exactly how Thomas believes people should be to one another.
If a dog can do all this, how much more can we do as people, said Thomas. I dont know any of you, but I can tell you this one thing. You will be remembered for the things you do in life. It is your choice.
Sue Thomas wrestled with humankind and fell behind. Then she wrestled with God and came out on top.
She is living proof that just because you cant hear the music, it doesnt mean you cant dance.
