The last person you expect to hear a message from on the power of positive confession is a bloke who was almost paralysed in a quad-bike accident and then lost his own son in a car accident.

When Don McDonell tells you that the power of life and death is in the tongue, he’s speaking from experience.

The New Zealand pastor, who is on the Coast for a well-earned break after a year that most of us would never recover from, spoke at a men’s breakfast and then church on Sunday, determined to inspire others to believe that they can recover from life’s darkest moments.

And what an inspiration he is.

Don was riding a quad bike on a New Zealand beach about a year ago when it flipped, leaving him on the beach with the water coming in over him, unable to move or feel any part of his body from the neck down.

With no one around and darkness approaching, Don was basically left for dead – until a fisherman decided to give up his usual spot and travel 50km up the road to another spot, just near where Don was lying helpless.

After the fisherman spotted him and came to his aid, Don thought he was seeing an angel – even if it was one holding a can of beer in his hand.

He was no angel, but he was a trained paramedic, and he just happened to have a CB radio in his car in an area where there was no mobile reception. It was not long before Don was in a helicopter on his way to hospital.

His prognosis was not good.

Don had smashed several vertebrae in his spine, and doctors said he would never walk again, that he would remain paralysed and never have the use of one arm, which was basically left on the wrong side of his body after the accident.

For months, Don remained in hospital, unable to feed or clean himself, and facing the prospect of life in bed or a wheelchair.

But the Albany City Church pastor said he began to change what he focused on – turning from the expert medical opinion to his own beliefs, including the belief that God was bigger than all of his circumstances.

He told of how he began to see his big toe moving and kept telling others – who obviously thought he was crazy – that he had movement in his toes.

Little by little, he said, he regained the use of his body until after months and months he was walking and even using the arm the doctors had written off.

While the X-rays still show he has a smashed spine, Don says he walks not by what the doctors say, but rather what he sees himself as.

Even now, he is supposed to be wearing a neckbrace as doctors fear his spine may collapse any day. But Don doesn’t sound like the sort of bloke who can be told.

Just as things started to look a whole lot brighter for the Kiwi, his 31-year-old son was killed in a freak accident one month ago.

He was apparently reaching for his mobile phone when his car was run over by a truck – ending his life and, as Don put it, Don’s future heritage.

Don admits he spent four days howling in his office, completely shattered by the death of his son.

But he says that after googling the words to a song he remembered, he watched a YouTube version of Nicole Mullen’s inspirational song My Redeemer Lives and felt his shattered spirit being healed.

Just weeks later, he was asked by a girl at a coffee shop, who knew of his loss, how he could be smiling after losing his son. As he began to share his story, the girl broke down in tears as she related her own loss in a tragedy.

While it is only natural that Don will never truly get over losing his own son, his faith and positive outlook are something many who struggle with tragedy can take inspiration from.

It is easy for all of us to focus on the negative. Every day we are fed more of the negative than the positive.

But regardless of your own religious beliefs or spiritual outlook, there has to be benefit in focusing on the good rather than the bad.

While there is obviously danger in ignoring medical advice and putting all our hopes in one basket, there is benefit from being positive about medical treatment – and our hope for recovery.

Speaking of positives, it was heartening to watch the election night speeches of both John Howard and Kevin Rudd on Saturday.

John Howard exited political life with dignity, speaking of the great honour it had been to be prime minister of such a great country like Australia.

While many in Labor’s ranks might have wanted Kevin Rudd to be gloating over such a huge victory against Howard, Rudd showed great maturity and honour by paying respect to the great service that Howard had given his country.

Love him or hate him, John Howard should be remembered as a man who helped to turn Australia’s economy around, reduce our enormous debt, and deliver a nation that has enjoyed great prosperity in recent years.

We should remember the positives of his 11 years of leadership.