Access to God - Joni and Friends

Joni Eareckson Tada,
a quadriplegic from a diving
accident at the age of 17, does not
consider her disability a liability. Joni is an
internationally known mouth-artist, an author,
and Founder/CEO of Joni and Friends, an
outreach which accelerates Christian ministry in
the worldwide disability community.
Joni is Senior Associate on Disability Concerns
for the Lausanne Committee on World
Evangelization. Along with the staff and
volunteers of Joni and Friends, she is
spearheading a global effort to give the Gospel
to people with disabilities, as well as train
churches to embrace families affected by
disability. Joni and her husband Ken reside in
Southern California.
access to
God
For more information on how your church can
open its arms to more families affected by
disability, please contact:
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
ACCESS
818.707.5664
www.joniandfriends.org
08/08
Joni Eareckson Tada
ACCESS TO GOD
by
Joni Eareckson Tada
© 2008 Joni and Friends. All rights reserved.
All art by Joni Eareckson Tada.
Excerpt from Glorious Intruder (out of print).
Dear Friend,
Y was reduced to the basics. Hospitalized for almost two years, I
ears ago when I became paralyzed in a diving accident, my world
did little more than eat and sleep. I had all the time in the world to ask
questions of God.
Maybe I was being too philosophical. But most people weren’t faced
with the larger-than-life questions that were plaguing me, like, “What is
the meaning to life?” Haunted and hurting, I knew there had to be more
to life than just existing.
That’s when I came face to face with the God of the Bible. I knew it
was better to go to Him with my questions rather than shrug my shoulders
and turn away. My time in the hospital was like one long question-andanswer session.
The result is this booklet, Access to God. From my personal search
I’ve shared my questions and the crystal-clear answers I received from
God's Word. Nothing written is trite —the questions and the Scriptures
are straight from the heart.
I have no idea what your condition is, but if you’re like me, your
limitations keep pushing you up against a spiritual wall. So as you read
this account of our “Everyman with a disability,” I hope you, too, will find
the God of the Bible to be the answer to your deepest longings.
A fellow seeker,
T wheelchair. Certain questions had been needling him, and
he young paraplegic gripped the hand rims of his sporty
now he had a chance to find answers. He wasn’t looking for opinions or
commentaries. He just wanted to hear what the Bible had to say. He took
a deep breath and began, “I’ve heard that God is a loving God. If so, then
who’s responsible for this?” He gestured to his paralyzed legs.
The Lord said to him, ‘Who gave man his mouth? Who makes
him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it
not I, the Lord?’ (Exodus 4:11)
“Whoa, time out,” the young man said as he leaned back. “God, you
mean you're saying you take responsibility? You’re saying you could have
prevented this, but chose not to? Aren’t you being unfair?”
Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a
potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to
the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'He has no
hands'? (Isaiah 45:9)
Then the Lord answered… ‘Brace yourself like a man; I will
question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I
laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand…Have you
ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its
place…Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.’ (Job 38:3-4, 12, 18)
Joni Eareckson Tada
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Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond
tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has
been his counselor?’ (Romans 11:33-34)
The man in the wheelchair folded his arms and shook his head.
“Well, I asked for straight answers and I guess I got them. But I don’t see
any reason to go on with this ‘question and answer’ thing. God, it’s like
you’re on another planet. You seem so high and mighty; how can you
understand where I'm coming from?”
Jesus wept. (John 11:35)
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize
with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in
every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on
his afflicted ones. (Isaiah 49:13)
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
(1 Peter 5:7)
…And I pray that you…may have power…to grasp how wide and
long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that
surpasses knowledge…(Ephesians 3:17-19)
He shifted his position in his wheelchair, intrigued that God seemed
both beyond his understanding and yet close and compassionate. “So,
what’s the plan, what's the purpose?”
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I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
(John 10:10)
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your
joy may be complete. (John 15:10-12)
“That’s it? That’s the answer to ‘man’s search for meaning’? God wants
us to be full of joy? I tell you what would give me joy: being on my feet,
getting up a game of football and catching a 20-yard pass,” he half-laughed.
“That doesn’t look possible, as I see it, so what’s this ‘full life’ all about?
‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’
(Jeremiah 29:11)
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed
rejoice. (Psalm 51:8)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…. (Galatians 5:22-23)
…Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in
all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases
the Lord. (Ephesians 5:8-10)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16)
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son
of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)
He laughed skeptically, and shook his head. “Belief. Eternal life. What
good is believing in eternal life going to do for me now… right now?”
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the
everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow
tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives
strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even
youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but
those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar
on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will
walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:3)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who
love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
“Let me get this straight – eternal life is knowing Jesus,” he said as
he scratched his head. “Maybe it’s because of my disability, but I’ve
always had a problem believing in Jesus. He feels awfully far away. Why
is that?”
The young man slowly moved his wheelchair back and forth. He was
thinking. “Joy. Patience. Nice virtues, but is there more than that?”
…That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives
grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the
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devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will
come near to you. (James 4:6-8)
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
(Romans 3:23)
“Sin?!” He locked the brakes of his wheelchair. “Now that’s a word
I hear thrown around a lot. Will someone once and for all explain that
one to me?”
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world
— the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of
what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world.
The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of
God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
“Yeah, I admit I want to run my life the way I see fit. But me? Sin? I’ve
always been basically a good person. Doesn’t that count with God?”
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads
to death. (Proverbs 14:12)
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our
righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and
like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we
were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
…For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
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world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him
is not condemned… (John 3:17-18)
more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of
God. Therefore we do not lose heart… (2 Corinthians 4:8-10, 15-16)
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus… (1 Timothy 2:5)
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are
crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but
the Lord delivers him from them all. (Psalm 34:18-19)
“It’s getting clearer. God reached out to me. Are you saying that it all
comes down to who we believe Jesus is and what we do with him, right?”
That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
(Romans 10:9)
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my
voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he
with me. (Revelation 3:20)
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped
out… (Acts 3:19)
“So, if I believe his Son died for my sins, and if I rely on his power to
help me live a life that pleases him, I'll be assured I'm going to heaven.
But what about right now? I still have to live in this disabled body of mine.
So, I repeat… will God help me?”
For the first time, he began to smile as though hope were on the
horizon. “I'm close to believing, closer than I’ve ever been, but I’ve got
to know one thing: Will I ever have a body that works?”
When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just
a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a
body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its
own body…So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The
body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown
in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised
in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body…
(1 Corinthians 15:37-38, 42-44)
“I haven’t looked at that many religions, but what few I have don’t
offer hope like this. A new body? Wow,” he smiled. “So you’re saying that
sometime in the future, disabilities will be a thing of the past, right?!”
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed,
but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down,
but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of
Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body...All
this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say
to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will
come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will
come to save you.’ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the
ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and
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the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert. (Isaiah 35:3-6)
He clasped his hands as if he were ready to pray. “I asked for straight
answers and I got them. I guess now the decision is up to me. Do I give
my life to Christ, or do I live life my own way?” He paused for a moment
and then added, “I can’t wheel away from all this. I'm ready.”
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive
us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
(Romans 10:13)
…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone,
the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
“God, I'm going to put this in my own words. I realize I’ve
lived my life far from you, and I see now that I need you. I’ve
disobeyed you. I’ve turned my back on you. And I don’t want to
live that way anymore. Please come into my life — my heart
and mind and spirit — and make me the person you want me to
be. I want to experience the life you have promised. And forgive
me for being so distant, so calloused toward you in the past. Help
me to turn from my ways to your ways. I invite you to be the Lord
of my life. Thank you for the difference you will make. Amen.”
And you can pray the same prayer, too.
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Because…
If you are paralyzed, you can still
walk with God.
If you are deaf, you are still able to
hear the Word of God.
If you are blind, you are nevertheless
able to see the Light.
And even if you are mentally handicapped,
you can have the Mind of Christ.
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