I love gathering diamonds in the dust, don’t you?
Hi there, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and some years ago I wrote a daily devotional book called Diamonds in the Dust and, well… I love that title because it’s so true. When your shoulders feel slumped and your head is drooped, there you are looking down in the dirt of life and… what do you find at your feet? If you look real hard, you just might find a diamond in that dust: a sliver of Scripture you almost stumble over or a little piece of proverb… or an inspirational poem that, had you not been looking down, you might have missed.
God sometimes brings encouragement to us that way. Like what happened to me just the other afternoon. It was a little note – so small that I almost missed it – and it came in a dirty, crinkled envelope from an elderly pastor named Norman Carpenter. His handwriting was almost impossible to discern – it was just that there was scribbling on a slip of paper and on it he wrote, “Joni, my wife has been in a nursing home for four years and unable to stand on her feet because of arthritis. She writes poetry of which I am enclosing a sample,” and then he simply signed it, Norman J. Carpenter.
Well, the poem which was stapled to the little note was no bigger than the slip of paper itself, but the writing was so clear. Because Norman’s wife, Gladys Carpenter, wrote from her nursing home this:
Four walls do not a prison make! My mind and spirit soar
To heights that I could not attain – nor dream of heretofore!
By faith I also reach my hand – to One who dwells with me
And feel His caring, loving touch – though Him, I cannot see.
Within these walls, the world shut out – I have much time to pray
For those around me whom I love – and those so far away.
I am content to dwell confined – He brought me to this place!
And I wait until He calls me home – when I'll see Him face to face!
For me in this wheelchair, I’ll tell you the truth, sometimes it feels so confining… for me who occasionally must lie down in bed for awhile to heal a sore or whatever on my hip, well… a poem like that speaks to me. It is one of those little diamonds in the dust. Because you see I receive a lot of stuff here at Joni and Friends: packages, business-sized letters, large mail envelopes, things that crowd my mailbox because they’re so, well, big. I could have missed this small slip of a note in its crinkled little envelope. But thank the Lord, I spotted it on a day when I was looking down because I was feeling down. It was just the encouragement I needed from Gladys Carpenter in that nursing home. Her poem ended up being a real gem, something precious to lift my day, make me look up, and keep me moving forward.
Thank you, Gladys, for the encouragement. Your poem means a lot and your testimony in that nursing home means even more. And thanks to you, too, Norman, for thinking to send it along, this little diamond in the dust.
And hey, friend, I have a diamond in the dust I’d like to send you today. It’s something I wrote called “Trust and Obey.” In it I tell a story, an incident that happened long before my diving accident; it was a situation that occurred in my own life through which I learned how to trust and obey. And I’d like to pass this story onto you – just visit me today at joniandfriendsradio.org to ask for your free copy of “Trust and Obey.” And while you’re on my webpage, you might want to collect another diamond in the dust and download a copy of Gladys’ poem. Don’t forget, that’s joniandfriendsradio.org. And if you’re feeling a little low today, looking down, believe me, I’m your go-to girl. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
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JONI AND FRIENDS
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Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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