You can learn more about helping people in need like Christina and her disabled brother by visiting joniradio.org. You may even feel called to serve on one of the Wheels for the World teams!
Join an outreach team to share the Gospel while hand-delivering and custom-fitting wheelchairs to people in less-resourced countries. Learn more here:
https://joniandfriends.org/wheels-for-the-world/volunteer-information/
SHAUNA: Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Hi, I’m Shauna and March is Disability Awareness Month! Listen in as Joni shares a story that will move your heart!
JONI: Our ‘Wheels for the World’ team was in Guatemala unpacking wheelchairs and lining them up to get ready for the people with disabilities and their families who would be soon arriving. Everything was abuzz when suddenly, we saw a young woman—oh, about 19 or 20 years old—she came walking into the distribution area carrying her 17-year-old brother on her back, yikes! Her name was Christina, and I was mistaken to say that she was walking. I mean, this girl was stumbling, she was struggling under the weight of her disabled brother, Geovani. Maybe she had only carried him from a cab or perhaps the bus on the corner. But no, Christina had been suffering under the weight of her teenaged brother for quite a long distance.
She was at the end of her strength when she arrived at our Wheels for the World Provision Site. It was clear from her expression that Christina’s back really hurt from carrying Geovani. She lowered him into a transport chair and then sat down exhausted next to him. And the story she told broke our hearts. After their father had passed away [he was the main breadwinner in the family], well, after he was gone, Christina knew her family could never afford a wheelchair for Geovani. And so, whenever he needed to go anywhere, Christina was the only one strong enough to carry him. Near tears, she shared that she was hopeless and exhausted. But she loved her brother, and that’s when our ‘Wheels for the World’ team went into action. Right away we did some measurements on Geovani, and this brother and sister duo watched as our Wheels Team began making adjustments on a really great wheelchair. After we lifted Geovani into his new chair, we turned and saw that Christina was already moved to tears. She was sobbing and saying, “Oh, my goodness, with this wheelchair, I can now take my brother wherever I go and not carry him on my back.” Geovani was ecstatic, and so was Christina. In fact, you’ve just got to go to my radio page today at joniandfriends.org; you’ve got to see this incredible photo of the two of them, right after Geovani got his wheelchair. It is the best photo I’ve ever seen of hope and happiness. What’s more, this brother and sister team received a Bible in Spanish, and they had a chance to hear the Gospel of Jesus. And then they got connected with a caring, local pastor who invited them to his church.
You know, that happens all the time on a ‘Wheels for the World’ outreach. And I’m so grateful, not only for our Wheels Team members making it happen on the ground, I’m so grateful for all the many people like you who pray and give. If you, friend listening; if you have ever cheered Wheels for the World on by donating a wheelchair or collecting wheelchairs or giving or praying, please know that Proverbs 14 was written for you. It says that he who is kind to the needy, honors God. Friend, thank you for caring; thank you for honoring God; thank you for being kind to needy people like Christina and her disabled brother. And I invite you to honor the Lord by helping those in need, just like those two young people in Guatemala.
SHAUNA: And listening friend, you can learn more about Wheels for the World by visiting joniradio.org. There you’ll find a list of all our upcoming trips and who knows, you might even feel called to serve on one of our teams. There are all sorts of ways to get involved. So, go to joniradio.org today. All the information – and all the inspiration you need, all of it; it’s right there for you on our Wheels for the World link at joniradio.org. Thanks for listening today on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope.
© Joni and Friends