Have you ever prayed for an unsaved loved one… prayed for years?
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and I'm sure that someone is listening to me right now who has been knocking on heaven’s door on behalf of the salvation of some husband or a son or a daughter… you’ve been praying for so long, you’re wondering if God will ever answer. Well, if you need a little encouragement, let me tell you the story of my friend, Joan.
Many decades ago when Joan was still an unbeliever, she married her boyfriend, John, without a hint of love in her heart. She was pregnant and she assumed it was the right thing to do. After she delivered her child, frustrations between Joan and John really began to mount. Joan found release at work hanging out with a male co-worker from another department. Those occasional work lunches led to an affair of the heart… but before long, there were secret rendezvous in a hotel. She was back to her old ways. "I want a divorce," she told John, and her husband yielded. But the guy that Joan was seeing lost interest in the relationship… so there she was: divorced with a young daughter and close to rock bottom. There were other relationships and the pain and frustration piled on.
Joan did hit rock-bottom in 1968. That’s when her cousin invited her to church. She had nothing better to do so she decided to go. Sitting in the red-cushioned pew, she heard the Gospel clearly that night for the first time and the Lord opened her heart. She went forward that evening, embracing Christ as her Savior. Almost immediately, under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, she knew what she must do. God was pressing hard on her conscience, and Joan knew she must re-marry her ex-husband, a man she did not love. She knew she must remarry him because of her love for God and her desire to obey Him. Well friend that was well over 40 years ago. And for those forty-some-odd long years, Joan has been diligently and daily praying for the salvation of her husband whom, by the way, she now loves very much. All of us pray alongside Joan who has now worked for Joni and Friends 20 years; in fact, she is one of my get-up girls who gets me up on Tuesday mornings and when we pray together before heading out my front door, we always pray for the salvation of her husband. Joan’s persistence is pretty inspirational, and her prayers remind me of the following poem by Amy Carmichael who wrote: Not in vain, the tedious toil, On an unresponsive soil, Travail, tears in secret shed, Over hopes that seem to lay as dead. All in vain, thy faint heart may cry. Not in vain, thy Lord replies: Nothing is too good to be; Then believe, believe to see.
I hope Joan’s testimony inspires you to keep praying for your loved one. And if you’d like a special Gospel booklet to give to your unsaved friend or loved one, I have a great little booklet published by the Pocket Testament League called “Set Free by Grace” – I’d like to send you three copies; for three people you know who need Jesus. Just go to my radio page when we’re done here and ask for “Set Free by Grace.” That’s at joniandfriends.org. Finally, please do not give up on praying for your loved ones! Some hearts are so resistant that, hey, it takes a mountain of prayer to break through. So may I join you right now in praying for that person? I'll pray here for John, Joan’s husband, but you just insert a different name: Lord Jesus, I lift up before you today my friend who does not know you as personal Savior and Lord. Rescue this dear one out of the kingdom of darkness, give him (or her) a spirit of repentance and a home in heaven. In Jesus name. Amen.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
© Joni and Friends