Hi, I’m Joni reminding you that inspiration is closer than you think.
There are lots of messages that arrive in my email in-box, but the ones I really, really enjoy opening often come from people who read my daily e-devotionals. You see, many years ago I wrote three different daily devotional books. One was called Diamonds in the Dust, the second was, More Precious than Silver, and the last one was called Pearls of Great Price. Well, I made certain that each page on each of these devotional books focused on some insight from God's Word that really, really blessed me these many years in my wheelchair. And when you think of three books each with 366 daily devotionals, that’s well over 1,000 vignettes.
Now those books did well for awhile. But eventually they went the way of most books — they were popular for a bit, and then readers turn to other things — which is okay. But I kept thinking, Wow, I know there are new people, new readers God could be blessing through the biblical insights in these books! How can I make these vignettes accessible to a new generation of readers? Well, duh, we have a website at “Joni and Friends”, why not put them on the website? And that’s what we did — and the team at Joni and Friends provided a link where people could easily sign up at joniandfriends.org. Okay, all this to say, that the other day I opened my emails and I noticed one from a woman whom I know. Her name is Katherine and some time ago, she suffered a brain stem injury. She has a wonderful love for Jesus and a beautiful spirit—even though Katherine is facially disfigured and walks with great difficulty—she is a loving wife and raising her young son with her husband, and she subscribes to my daily e-devotionals.
Anyway, this is what she wrote to me and her friends. At the top of her email she stated, “From Joni and Friends devotional this morning, ‘Satan schemed that a seventeen-year-old girl named Joni would break her neck, hoping to ruin her life; God sent the broken neck in answer to her prayer for a closer walk with Him.’” And then Katherine wrote “Now here is my version: ‘Satan schemed that a 26-year-old girl named Katherine would have a massive, near-fatal stroke and subsequently become severely handicapped, hoping to ruin her life and steal her joy, but God sent the brain-stem stroke and the handicapped body in answer to her prayer for a closer walk with Him.’”
Now, I don’t know how to describe what I felt when I read Katherine’s words, but it touched me so deeply. Yes, it’s true: when I was 17 years old, I prayed that God would draw me closer to Him and then shortly thereafter, I broke my neck. At first I didn’t like the idea that quadriplegia could be an answer to that prayer. But years later, after having to lean hard on God and His Word, I realized it was true; my broken neck was an answer to my prayer for a closer walk with Jesus. However, never, ever would I have dreamed that my story would inspire others, especially people like Katherine who is now severely disabled as a result of this stroke. Praise the Lord, she believes her stroke was God's answer to her prayer for a closer walk with Him, too. Wow! I thank God that my daily e-devotionals bless so many people like Katherine. If you’d like to sign up, just go to our home page at joniandfriends.org and click on the daily devotional tab; up will pop today’s devotional reading, as well as a place for you to sign up to receive my devotionals every morning in your email in-box. And while you’re there, sign up for our blog contest, as well, all the details are for you at joniandfriends.org.
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