Joni: Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with some very special guests. Katherine Wolf is a beautiful woman –after she married and graduated from college; she and her husband Jay moved to Malibu where she pursued a career in modeling and acting. Jay began law school at Pepperdine University, and a couple of years later, Katherine gave birth to their handsome little son, James. Well, what happened next is stunning, and my friends Katherine and Jay are here to talk about it … welcome guys.
Katherine & Jay: Hi! Thanks for having us.
Joni: I’m so glad you could be here. Katherine, what happened after James was born?
Katherine: Six months after James was born out of nowhere I suffered a massive brain stem stroke and nearly died. I was subsequently in hospitals and hospital-like settings for two years before being able to transition home again.
Joni: Wow! And UCLA pretty much saved your life, didn’t they?
Katherine: Absolutely! I was very, very near death; in fact, they consider it a miracle that I lived.
Joni: Katherine, anybody who meets you is struck with how unselfconscious you seem to be. Where do you gain your incredible self-confidence?
Katherine: Well, I cannot ever pretend that things are perfect in that regard. Identity issues plague us all on earth. However, I will tell you that my identity was never based in anything a modeling agent tells me and will never be based on anything anyone on earth tells me. It’s all about what the Father thinks of how I look, which is perfect. I’m not concerned with anything external when it comes down to it. This is my “earth suit.” This is temporary. What is lasting has nothing to do with this vessel that doesn’t work too well. I think you know a thing or two about that!
Joni: I do and boy do I draw inspiration from you when it comes to that. Well, Jay, you had married this stunning, stunningly beautiful woman and all of a sudden it’s a different story. Katherine doesn’t look like she once looked. She can’t do what she once did. How did that impact you?
Jay: I think that transition was a gift from God, because I think for me it was a head-spinning change in my life. From one day to the next to have this beautiful, vibrant bride—mother of my child—be hanging on to just a shred of life. And yet I think God gave me this little spark of hope that Katherine would be okay again and that He was going to show us Himself through this suffering, through these changes, through all this hurt and pain. And that fueled me to go ahead and do things I never thought I would have to do at 26 years old.
Joni: You guys have a ministry called “Hope Heals.” Tell us what all that’s about.
Jay: Well, we have been trying to figure out how to leverage this lot that we have been given in our lives and what does that look like to use this story to the best and highest use for the glory of God. And so “Hope Heals” was this idea of this word “hope” resonating across borders and languages and religions and people just want this purpose in their life and it’s fueled by “hope.” We want to express that “hope” heals not necessarily your body but your soul where we need it the most, where it’s the most broken and hurt.
Joni: Now no doubt there are some husbands listening whose wives just got the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis or maybe their wife just suffered a stroke. What counsel would you give them?
Jay: I think this opportunity that we have as married people to do life with this person in a sacrificial way, to commune with Jesus Christ in this area is a unique and a holy burden. It’s a challenge every day and yet to see Christ modeled through what we can give our spouses when they need it the most is a huge, huge privilege.
Joni: Absolutely! Friend listening, if you would like to know more about this incredible couple and the outreach they have, then you have to go to my radio page right now at joniandfriends.org where we have a link to their ministry “Hope Heals” and an amazing video about their story. Share it on Facebook; spread the word that hope in Christ always heals, right Katherine and Jay?
Jay: Right!
Katherine: Absolutely!
© Joni and Friends, 2013
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