Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I’d love to tell you my story …
It’s the story of how I came to Christ. And I want to share it with you because this year marks a very personal anniversary for me. It was 50 years ago that I prayed to receive Christ as my Savior. Now we’re going back in 1964, and I just turned 15 years old and was a sophomore in high school. I’d been invited to go on a weekend retreat with a group called Young Life. Well, a lot of my friends were going, and I heard we’d be playing softball and basketball, there were going to be some cute guys at this weekend camp, so I signed up, threw a couple of pairs of jeans in my suitcase, grabbed my softball glove, and climbed on board the bus. And you know what, I was not disappointed. That weekend was so much fun; I made so many new friends, and the games we played were great. But I’ll never forget on Saturday evening sitting on the floor listening to the camp speaker talk to us about Jesus.
Now I had heard about Jesus all my life. And I regularly attended a good church with my family, and it was, in fact, a Gospel-preaching church. But for some reason, this time, it was as though the speaker were talking directly to me, like no one else was in the room. And as he challenged us kids to measure our lives up against the Ten Commandments, I suddenly was aware of my need for a Savior. After his message was over, he challenged us to go outside, find a quiet place, and reflect on all that Christ had done for us by dying on the cross. And that night, sitting on a rock under the stars, I opened my heart to the Lord.
But my testimony doesn’t end there — far from it. Because although the Gospel took root in my heart that night, something happened nearly 3 years later that threatened to undo everything. It occurred just a few weeks after my high school graduation when I went swimming in the Chesapeake Bay with my sister. I took a dive into (what ended up being) very shallow water. My head hit the bottom, it snapped my neck back, and my spinal cord was crushed. Immediately I was paralyzed. Oh, I sank into depression and, yes, the Gospel was nearly uprooted, but thankfully, Christian friends were praying and these same friends carried me through some of the darkest, most difficult days of my life. And what I learned back then about the Lord Jesus and his fellowship of sufferings, helped sink the roots of the Gospel far deeper into my heart than I could’ve ever experienced (had I not become paralyzed). And now, 50 years later, I still live to tell the story. My wheelchair (more than anything else) has become the theology textbook that has shown me so much about the sustaining grace of God.
And you know I hope this speaks to you in your own suffering today. If so, I want to share so much more with you and I’ve done this on a special video in which I tell my testimony. In this video I have a chance to elaborate just a bit more on those portions of God’s word which lifted me up out of depression. So if you know someone who is struggling with discouragement — or if you are in need of an encouraging word — please, after this, go to my radio page at joniandfriends.org and take a moment to watch my testimony video. Share it with a friend who is experiencing brokenness. And when you do, tell them I resonate. I understand. And I pray that they, too, will discover how sustaining God’s grace can be in their life, as well. Do it today … It’ll be one way you can celebrate with me on this special anniversary — 50 years of knowing Jesus. And I hope my story today helps you to celebrate what Christ has done in your life as well.
© Joni and Friends
Used by permission of Joni and Friends
P.O. Box 3333, Agoura Hills, CA 91376