Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to Joni and Friends. I bet you know this contemporary praise favorite, so join me in worshipping the Lord by singing…
I’m forgiven because You were forsaken
I’m accepted; You were condemned
I’m alive and well; Your spirit lives within me
Because You died and You rose again.
Amazing love, how can it be
That You, my King, should die for me
Amazing love, I know it’s true
It’s my joy to honor You, in all I do I honor You.
Oh, God’s amazing love. I'm seeing that a lot these days, just in response, just in simple praise and adoration for all that the Lord Jesus is doing. He never ceases to amaze me -- like the way he worked in lives when we were down in Peru, recently. We were in the little town of Trujillo and early during the distribution of our wheelchairs and Bibles, there, coming up the dirt road, was a man driving a small cart pulled by a little horse. It was a humble cart made of wood with old, worn-out automobile tires for wheels. The horse looked tired and it was obvious this man had come a long way. When our team members drew close, we saw that this man had brought his two daughters, both of them young women with disabilities. It seems the three of them had journeyed all the way down from a mountain village. News had spread that he could find help for his daughters who, although they worked hard to help earn a living for the family, were unable to walk because of their genetic disabilities. So, when this little family heard about the arrival of our Wheels for the World team, their father (early in the morning) hitched up the horse, gathered his daughters in his arms, placed them in the wooden cart, and began the long journey down the rugged dirt road to Trujillo.
They arrived with very humble hopes... they were hoping to get at least one wheelchair, if not two. They were not to be disappointed that day. God's amazing love came to them through the touch of a physical therapist who tenderly cared for the needs of those two young disabled women -- and while their daddy looked on, his heart was gripped with emotion. His daughters would, after all, both receive a wheelchair. Amazing love... how could that be! Little wonder the hearts of all three in that humble little family gladly opened to the saving love of Jesus that afternoon. And there was no more beautiful, more lovely, there was no sweeter sight that afternoon, than to watch the physical therapists help that father lift his two daughters back into the wooden cart... and then, fold and lift their two new wheelchairs into the cart as well. More than a few tears were shed as we watched the small family disappear down the dirt road, happily waving goodbye and sharing their smiles until they disappeared out of sight.
To me, that's why I love what I do at our ministry. To see God's amazing love touch people like these -- people who, for the most part, the world has forgotten about, but Jesus hasn't forgotten them. And this week we will be sending more wheelchairs and Bibles to Cameroon and Ghana and Brazil. We will encounter the same kinds of families, so be praying.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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