Foreword
Foreword
I have always had the deepest respect for Joni Eareckson Tada even though I have never met her in person. I have heard her talk, listened to her on the radio, purchased her artwork—actually it was my wife—and read her books. She has lived with a disability for over forty years and has done it with faith and hope. She is one remarkable person! Ten years ago I went from respecting her to becoming a fellow pilgrim with her. Ten years ago I was diagnosed with ALS—also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is an incurable and fatal disease. The doctors gave me two to five years to live and most of that would be in a disabled condition. The disease robs the nerves of their ability to work and so the muscles quit working. The future is about wheelchairs, feeding tubes, and breathing assistance. Like Joni, I have outlived the doctor’s predictions. So I was excited to read A Place of Healing.
I could not put this book down. The questions Joni asks and the struggles she shares were as if she was reading my mind. I have the same questions and struggles. I cried as I read, and occasionally I laughed. It was as if she was writing for me. I like the fact that Joni is writing in the midst of her terrible pain. I am generally not happy with people who have never walked “through the valley of the shadow of death.” I want to hear from people who are currently walking through that valley. They offer me more encouragement and hope. And this book is filled with encouragement and hope.
Joni is honest about her pain. Even though I do not have pain with my disease, I felt she was talking to me—heart to heart and soul to soul. She is honest about the subject of healing. I have never known anyone who has been healed of ALS. I know God is capable—just as He is capable of healing Joni. But most of all she is honest about how you deal with pain, struggles, and suffering. She tells stories from her own life and the lives of others, and fills the book with quotations from the Bible (this is the best part of the book). This is a must-read for anyone who, like me, struggles each day and those who help and care for those who struggle. I can summarize the book in one word: brilliant. Or maybe encouraging. Or maybe biblical. Or maybe honest. Okay—it cannot be summed up in one word. It is the story of one person dealing with pain and struggles who, in the telling it, offers hope to to the rest of us who struggle.
Ed Dobson,
author of The Year of Living Like Jesus and Prayers and Promises When Facing a Life-Threatening Illness