Joni shares about an amazing story of the power of radio all the way in Mexico. Through the radio program, Joni and Friends gained a new employee.
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The gospel of Christ is really reaching into Mexico!
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and this amazing story begins in Monterrey, Mexico with Vianey, a Christian woman who survived a horrific car accident, leaving her with a disability and chronic pain. Vianey and her husband looked to their church for help, but the people viewed Vianey’s problems with pain as evidence that she lacked faith. She was so dismayed, and that’s when she turned to Joni and Friends and found this broadcast on our website. And it was on this program,“Sharing Hope,” where Vianey learned that God had a purpose for her pain and disability. Romans 8:28 assured her that the Lord would turn the tragedy of her car accident into a triumph for her and her family. But little did she know it would reach many more people than she could imagine.
Vianey decided to contact our radio page to learn more about Joni and Friends. She let us know that she wanted to make a difference for Christ by helping other people with disabilities in her country of Mexico. So, our Response Team prayed with Vianey, provided her with resources, and invited her to a Wheels for the World outreach that was coming to her area. Praise the Lord, she arrived at our outreach where she received a much-needed wheelchair. She was so excited. And it was clear to us that, with all her pain and disability, this woman still was heaven bent on spreading the gospel in her wheelchair. So, the relationship that began through this radio program kept developing; and in time, Joni and Friends awarded Vianey a scholarship to complete our online Beyond Suffering course in Spanish.
It was through this course that she learned about the sovereignty of God over all pain and affliction. Vianey realized that this biblical doctrine needed to be shared. So many disabled Mexicans simply didn’t have a biblical perspective on disability and suffering. So, she wasted no time in pursuing her studies with us so that she could serve as an instructor in Mexico for our Beyond Suffering study. And what a great job she’s done, teaching hundreds of students. It’s why in 2022, Vianey became our country coordinator for all of Mexico. And word has spread throughout Central America. And now, she is responsible for overseeing our online Spanish Beyond Suffering trainings. In the last few years, she’s become a trainer of trainers, mentoring other instructors and guiding each online course to completion. She tells her testimony everywhere she goes and Mexican families who are struggling with disability – they are coming to Christ.
Vianey can look back to the time when, long ago, she got her first wheelchair and first understood the beauty of God’s sovereignty in Romans 8:28. It’s a terrible, yet wonderful mystery how God used her tragic car accident to bring the gospel to thousands of hurting people in Mexico. And to think that it all began with this radio program. Friends today is World Radio Day and Vianey’s story shines a bright light on the global power of Christian radio, even our Joni and Friends radio ministry – not just in the U.S. but in Mexico and around the world. So, tell your international friends that they can listen to “Sharing Hope” every day; they can simply subscribe on their favorite podcast platform. And thank you for praying for Vianey. She still suffers with pain, and she’s still in a wheelchair, yet this woman is moving forward into life and ministering to fellow Mexicans in the name of the Lord Jesus.
© Joni and Friends