Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and when I want to comfort my soul, I remember this old favorite and it becomes my song:
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus
Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true;
I would tell you how He changed my life completely,
He did something that no other friend could do.
No one ever cared for me like Jesus,
There’s no other friend so kind as He;
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me
O how much He cares for me.
When I was in the hospital many years ago, Jesus took such good care of me. He gave me His personal tender loving care and, He borrowed the hands of people to do it. He borrowed the hands of volunteers who held books for me. He worked through the hands of the nurses. The Lord touched my cheek, stood by my side, and spoke up on my behalf, and He did it all using people. Funny thing at the time, I never recognized that it was the Lord Jesus using the hands … and the time and the energy of other folks. To me, it was just my mother who stood by my hospital bedside and held books so I could read them. It was just my high school girlfriends who made sure my hair got washed on Saturdays. It was just my daddy who fashioned a tilted mirror on my bed stand so whenever I was lying on my side, I could see the television. Back then, it was just people who did these things. But now, so many years later, I understand that it was the Lord, it was Jesus, who was working through my mother and father, my girlfriends, and the volunteers and nurses and advocates. Jesus, through them, took very good care of me.
And, I guess it underscores that people with disabilities, like me … we need the loving touch of the Savior—we really do. And because our disabling conditions sometimes make it difficult for us to reach out and hold and hug (like me; I'm a quadriplegic and I can’t feel) … so you know how much people like me appreciate physical touch. With people with disabilities, the touch of the Lord is needed all the more. Children with disabilities, men and women who are deaf or physically disabled—nobody cares for these people quite like Jesus.
And His personal touch is best felt when you offer your hands to help those who hurt. You—yes, you—can be the hands of the Lord Jesus. Isn’t that awesome—in the life of somebody with a disability? You can offer your time to volunteer at a nursing home, a place where so many people need to feel the Lord up close and personal. You can give of your time at a local rehabilitation center. You can run errands for a neighbor who has multiple sclerosis or, you and some friends at church can offer respite to a mom and dad of a disabled child. Perhaps, there’s an elderly friend in your neighborhood who needs some housecleaning help, or maybe some shopping.
Friend, the point is no one cares for people with disabilities quite like the Lord, but He needs your hands to give that loving touch. So today, please … would you offer up your hands, your time, your talent, your abilities, your gifts and treasure to a friend who hurts?
© Joni and Friends, 2012
Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376