Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a great story about my friend Katy.
Katy always wanted to be a missionary, always wanted to serve the Lord where the needs were most desperate, wanting to make a difference for the Gospel in places where no one else was going. Katy is bright, articulate, and passionate about social issues, but most of all, this young woman loves the Lord Jesus. So, serving the Lord on the field, that was her big dream.
The only trouble is Katy is in a wheelchair. Not only that, she has limited use of her hands. (Go over to my radio page at joniandfriends.org and take a look at this remarkable girl in her wheelchair). But here’s the deal: with Katy’s limitations, how was this dream of being a missionary going to work? How was serving overseas going to happen? To be honest, a lot of mission agencies aren’t real keen on the idea of sponsoring people with physical disabilities; in fact, if you’re able-bodied and become a paraplegic on the mission field, then you may well be sent home. Katy knew all this, but she kept praying.
And that’s when she learned about our Cause4Life internships here at Joni and Friends. Serving overseas? Well, that’s what our internships are all about. Going where no one else is going (like, for instance, into the back bedrooms where disabled people are hidden and sequestered away)—again, that’s what our global missions internships are all about. And the neat thing is we welcome people with disabilities who want to serve as interns. We believe that God's power shows up best in weakness and that His grace is poured out on Christians with physical limitations. The apostle Paul is the best example of this, and he even wrote about it. It is through our weakness that God's strength is best displayed. And the Lord delights in choosing people like Katy in her wheelchair to serve among others like her in places where the world is bleeding out of control.
When Katy went on our Cause4Life page on our Joni and Friends website, she learned all about different opportunities here in the States and abroad to serve as an intern. She has a real heart for children, and so when she contacted us, we knew that God was going to use her in a powerful way. And you know what? He sure did. Katy went to Uganda as an intern with our Cause4Life team and, oh, what a powerful impact she had on those Ugandans with disabilities. Because here was someone just like them, only worse off physically (remember, Katy has limited use of her fingers). The children and adults with disabilities that Katy ministered to in Uganda really resonated with her. They connected. They identified. They knew that she understood their plight – and that made her message to them about Jesus Christ all the more potent.
So, friend, if you know a young person who might be interested in serving with “Joni and Friends” as a Cause4Life intern, then please point them to our radio page today at joniandfriends.org. I just posted the most wonderful video of another one of our interns, named Jenny, who served with us in Haiti earlier this year. You’ll get to see firsthand the difference Jenny and the other interns (like her and Katy) are making in all sorts of different developing countries. So please, click on the video on my radio page at joniandfriends.org, and then go over to our Cause4Life page and take a look at the schedule of internship opportunities. They are all posted for next year. Encourage a young person you know to check it out. It could be your granddaughter or a college student at your church who has a heart for the disabled. Tell them to watch this wonderful video at joniandfriends.org and consider serving with us as an intern with us in 2014.
© Joni and Friends, 2013
Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376