Healing doesn’t always come in ways we expect – sometimes it even comes in the form of a wheelchair offering greater mobility! Through Joni and Friends, God is saving those who are crushed in spirit. We not only bring wheelchairs to those who need them, but we also bring the hope of the Gospel. Join the movement today at joniradio.org.
Imagine being the mother of a disabled little girl and praying this…
“God, please heal my daughter, but if you choose not to, here she is. She’d be better in your presence. Or… [would you] give us the strength to see her through much suffering.” Wow. You know, friend, with Mother’s Day just behind us, this mother’s prayer – Margarita is her name – her prayer hits me all the harder. I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and let me share with you Margarita’s story.
She lives in El Salvador and her seven year-old daughter Victoria has multiple disabilities. Even when Victoria was just a baby, she’d have as many as 15 seizures a day. Margarita could only hold Victoria and try to protect her from worse injuries. She was powerless to stop the seizures, powerless to get Victoria the medical help she needed. They saved all they could to purchase expensive medication, but it didn’t make a difference. Plus, Margarita doesn’t have the resources to secure the kind of treatment recommended for her daughter. It was from this place of desperation that Margarita cried out. “God,” she prayed, “if my daughter cannot be healed, [then take her], take her! Or… give us strength to raise her.” And you know what? God heard Margarita’s prayer. Because our God is the one described in Psalm 34, “[he] is near to the brokenhearted and [he] saves the crushed in spirit.”
Now, to be sure, Victoria did not receive a miraculous healing. But she received the next best thing to having legs that walk – through Wheels for the World, we were able to fit Victoria with a junior-sized pink little wheelchair with side supports and a harness to keep her sitting upright. And once sitting upright, Victoria could not stop smiling. For her mother, it was proof positive that God had not forgotten them. Margarita was so relieved that she didn’t have to carry her seven-year-old on her back anymore. And this wonderful little wheelchair with the chest harness and head support provided safety and security against Victoria’s seizure disorder. And that alone was a huge relief to her mother, who was always worrying about her little girl injuring herself. But now, Victoria can sit up safely, comfortably, and securely as she watches her mother in the kitchen preparing meals. And although the pink specialized wheelchair would be considered far more expensive than even prescription medication, it was a gift. And that’s what really convinced Margarita that God was close to her broken heart. He had not forgotten her. He had not only given her something of enormous value – this specialized, child-sized wheelchair – God not only gave this mother a winning smile on the face of little Victoria, her daughter, but God gave her His Word: a Bible in the Spanish language, as well as the chance to be embraced by a caring, local, evangelical church.
Oh, friend, there are countless thousands of mothers like Margarita; mothers who only want the best for their disabled children. And God is hearing their cries through our ministry and through friends like you. Through you, God is saving those who are crushed in spirit. And I want you to see how it’s happening today by visiting Joniradio.org where I’ve provided a video link so you can see little Victoria, her winning smile, and her super-duper little pink wheelchair. Get involved with families like hers. Get engaged. Join the movement and be inspired. Be the hands through which God saves those who are crushed in spirit. Get started at Joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends