Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to "Joni and Friends".
My next-door neighbor, Diane, is a most remarkable woman. Forty years ago, she accepted Christ as her Savior, but now many decades later Diane is struggling with a genetic disease that has virtually shut down her kidneys. She sent me an email about it, and I just have to tell you what she said. In fact, I’m just going to read from the email. Diane writes, “As I write this, I am sitting in a reclining chair in West Valley Dialysis Center hooked up to a metal machine with two tubes protruding from the right side of my chest, put there by a vascular surgeon. Words like ‘final stage renal disease’ now define my life-walk. I look at that machine and watch the first tube pour out my blood: down it goes and into the machine. After a few seconds, here comes my blood again, cleaner, coming back up the other tube and into my chest! For most of you, the same thing happens in your body, blood silently going through the machines that are your kidneys!
“I look at this machine and think, ‘Lord, this must be a picture of something bigger, something you want to show me. Is this a picture of your salvation, the washing of the blood of the Lamb of God?’” Then, as if in an answer to prayer, she writes, “No, Diane. My Son died for your sin, once and for all. This machine is a picture of My Word and your daily walk. Your life needs to be filtered and cleansed through my Word – regularly, washed through and through. Your dialysis is three times a week, but you have a daily cleansing appointment with the Word of God.”
Then she goes on to say, “As for my life situation, believe me, some of my good attitude is just plain denial! Our brain does that for some reason. The other part of my attitude is wrapped in Jesus’ arms. Whatever I have to suffer in this life, it's not as much as Jesus suffered for me! Whatever the reason for my suffering, will it soften my unbelieving husband’s heart toward the Lord? If that's the reason, count me in! Is it teaching me lessons? Oh, yes, indeed. Is it humbling? Yes! Is it too much to bear? No, not with my Lord Jesus! So please pray that I will continue to be a light to those I meet in the West Valley Dialysis Center as I share the love of Jesus with them.” And then she signs it off. Can you now see why I was so blessed by this email from my next-door neighbor, Diane? Its stories like these that inspire me to keep going, despite my quadriplegia. Stories like Diane’s help me learn their lessons, the most important of which is, all our suffering only has meaning in Jesus Christ. He suffered greatly so that we might suffer graciously.
And I’m inspired by Diane’s vision of that dialysis center being a mission field—a wheat field white unto harvest. She’s making the most of her situation as it concerns sharing the Gospel. And friend, I want you to do the same. So whatever situation you find yourself in, take Diane’s lead and use it as a platform to talk about God's amazing grace in your life. And to help you do that, I’d like to send you three Gospel tracts for you to share with people you know… people who don’t know Jesus. Just something you can tuck in a letter or leave with a tip — I have three Gospel tracts and you can get your free copies today by going to joniandfriends.org and clicking on my radio page. Finally, let this quotation from Charles Spurgeon spur you on today, as it has Diane, for he once wrote, “Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you're not saved yourself, be sure of that!” Wow, strong but good words. Oh, and should the Spirit nudge, thank you for praying for my next-door neighbor, Diane.
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