JONI: I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and it’s time for Joni and Friends. Hi, welcome to Joni and Friends and I always love it when I have a good friend sit down in front of a microphone next to me, and today is no exception. My friend TJ Addington who is the executive director of ReachGlobal, that’s the international mission arm of the Evangelical Free Church of America. Besides being a former pastor, the author of four leadership books, and your most recent one, Tim, is on the subject of suffering. You know something about that, don’t you?
TIM: Joni I do. The last three years I have walked through two very significant hospitalizations. The first was for 45 days with 35 of those in ICU with MSRA infection, pneumonia, a failed mitral valve, acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock and I could go on.
JONI: Oh, my goodness! Now you travel internationally. Is this something you picked up on the road?
TIM: Somewhere I picked up the worst strain they had seen of MRSA which was complicated by a lot of other issues.
JONI: Wow! So there you are in the hospital, it’s touch and go. Is this man going to live? Now I know your wife was a big prayer warrior at your side. Tell me about that.
TIM: You know about five days into the stay she was sitting by my bed and she just said, “Jesus how do I pray?” And it was like an audible voice spoke to her and said ‘It will be close, but TJ is going to make it.’ And because of that promise even though the doctors said there was no hope, they called family meetings to prepare for my death, she just insisted that we were going to pray for full recovery.
JONI: And here you are with a smile on your face, looking good and no evidence of MRSA to me. Good for God and good for your wife for praying you through it all.
TIM: And the amazing thing, Joni, was that God healed the mitral valve by prayer. My cardiologist said he had never seen a mitral valve healed before without surgery.
JONI: Amen! Good for prayer having that kind of impact.
TIM: But you know God is good all the time and God would have been good if He had chosen not to heal me as well.
JONI: And I’m sure those prayers were spiced with words like ‘if it be thy will’ and ‘what you would permit’. Well then you understand disability pretty intimately, huh?
TIM: You know I have been on a three-year journey of fighting for my health and learning what it is like to live with less than normal energy and all of the issues that one struggles with to get back to health. I have a lot more empathy today than I did before.
JONI: Well, thank you! As a person with a disability I thank you for that and I also thank you because I think that this empathy that you have gleaned from the struggles you have had with your own health issues has fostered this wonderful new partnership between Joni and Friends and the Evangelical Free Church of America. Do you want to talk about that?
TIM: We are very excited! On the international scene we are partnering with training and wheelchairs and helping nationals and missionaries to understand what it is to minister to people with disabilities. But on the national level, Joni, we want every one of our churches to understand that those who are disabled are often the hidden group that are not yet included in our ministries and we want to see every church become a church that ministers to all people.
JONI: I love that kind of language and look Tim, there is so much more to talk about. Do you think you can get together with me and we’ll discuss it more?
TIM: I would love it!
JONI: Okay.
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