It’s not what I lost. It’s what I’ve found.
I was only seventeen, just a girl, when God asked me for everything I had … my health, my hopes, my independence, my dreams, my freedom, and my mobility. He took it all. I was so angry with Him that I tried to push Him away. God relentlessly held me more closely.
Looking back, forty years later, I understand that God has changed and healed me—my heart and my mind—in the most unexpected ways, giving me rubies of His wisdom about an unbending faith and an experience of His mercy I can now tell you about.
Was it a fair exchange, my freedom and no wheelchair for the rubies of wisdom I’ve been given? Absolutely. In this I have learned at the feet of the Lord Jesus, embracing the way that God heals us, even when we rage at Him in anger, fear, and despair.
This book is not about what I lost in that diving accident so long ago. It’s about the wisdom He’s given me to live life victoriously in the face of disappointments and challenges that we all face.
Joni Eareckson Tada, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Joni and Friends, is an international advocate for people with disabilities.
A diving accident in 1967 left Joni Eareckson, then 17, a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, unable to use her hands. After two years of rehabilitation, she emerged with new skills and a fresh determination to help others in similar situations.
During her rehabilitation, Joni spent long months learning how to paint with a brush between her teeth. Her high-detail fine art paintings and prints are sought-after and collected.
Her best-selling autobiography "Joni" and the feature film of the same name have been translated into many languages, introducing her to people around the world. She also has visited more than 45 countries.
She has served on the National Council on Disability and the Disability Advisory Committee to the U.S. State Department.
She is Senior Associate for Disability Concerns for the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and serves in an advisory capacity to the American Leprosy Mission, the National Institute on Learning Disabilities, Love and Action and Christian Blind Mission International, as well as on the Board of Reference for the Christian Writers Guild, New Europe Communications and the Christian Medical and Dental Society.
After being the first woman honored by the National Association of Evangelicals as its "Layperson of the Year" in 1986, Joni was named "Churchwoman of the Year" in 1993 by the Religious Heritage Foundation.
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