Commitment. The word is not a popular one today, even where marriages are concerned. The word “commitment” is associated – almost unpleasantly – with dreary drudgery… almost like a life sentence rather than a happy declaration of devotion.
Well, not long ago when we were delivering wheelchairs and Bibles in Thailand, we saw an example of real commitment, a real declaration of happy devotion. It was a love story so inspiring that our entire Wheels for the World team was buzzing about it all day. You see, our whole team ached with tenderness as they watched this little elderly couple named Udong and Anong Pongkoisang (that’s the language of Thai and I can’t pronounce it very well, but there you go).Two years ago, the husband, Udong, suffered a massive stroke that left him paralyzed on the left side of his body and unable to speak. Ever since then, his wife, 70-year-old Anong, has been caring for him single-handedly – lifting him, carrying, bathing, feeding, and toileting her husband, all with no help, no respite, no time off… and no complaint. Plus, Anong did it all without a wheelchair or any kind of adaptive device. She said softly to one of our physical therapists, “My husband, Udong, is my life. He is mine to love.”
And love she does! Throughout the hours it took our seating specialists to modify a reclining wheelchair for Udong, that woman never left his side as he lay on a padded floor mat. And Anong kneeled beside him for hours. She fed him, rested his head in her lap, stroked his arm, whispered to him, held a glass to his lips, all the while keeping an eye on the wheelchair being prepared for him and making certain that his needs were known by the physical therapists. Our seating specialists, at one point, apologized to the couple that it was taking so long to adapt his reclining wheelchair, but Anong replied, “It doesn’t matter how long I have to wait for his chair. I’d sleep on the floor here all night if I had to. I can endure the wait.” (I love that, “I can endure the wait.”)
Love like that it pretty incredible, and it’s little wonder that Udong and Anong readily received their new Bible in the Thai language, as well as the Joni book in Thai. Finally, they had the amazing opportunity to grasp for the first time who the author of love and commitment really is – for the first time, they heard about Jesus Christ who gave His life as a glad declaration of devotion to the Father.
Hey, I’d love to show you a couple of photos of this darling elderly couple from Thailand, as well as tell you more about their story – the whole spread is in our current newsletter from Joni and Friends. Read it and I think you, too, will be encouraged by this incredible story of true Christ-like commitment – love that can endure the wait.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends