To Those Who Are Meeting Joni For The First Time
TO THOSE WHO ARE MEETING JONI FOR THE FIRST TIME
Because of its beautiful theology of suffering, if Diamonds in the Dust were the only accomplishment of Joni Eareckson Tada, it would be highly prized by its readers for the unique beatitude of the author’s soul. But when the reader remembers that these remarkably faith-filled devotionals radiated from the soul and heart and mind of a person who, though paralyzed from the shoulders down since 1967, ministers to others going through a period of pain or suffering in their lives, then her thoughts become singularly precious.
Joni is a successful artist, writer of several books and magazine articles, speaker, radio personality, wife, and founder of her own ministry to persons with disabilities, JAF Ministries (JONI AND FRIENDS), an organization accelerating Christian ministry in the disabled community. In addition to starring in a major motion picture about her life, she has also served as presidential appointee under Presidents Reagan and Bush on the National Council on Disability.
In 1967 Joni became a quadriplegic in a diving accident that in seconds changed her life from one of vigorous activity and independence to total helplessness and dependence on others for even the simplest of her needs. Overcoming bitterness, confusion, violent questioning, and tears, in her struggle to accept and adjust to her handicap, Joni has learned to trust a loving God with whom she has dialogued from her wheelchair in her pilgrimage toward the kingdom of heaven.
Words inadequately describe the almost supernatural courage of this inspiring Christian woman to glorify God through her sufferings. In Diamonds in the Dust Joni personally affirms that in losing something temporal we can grasp something eternal. As Philip Yancey stated: “Through her public example, Joni Eareckson Tada has done more to straighten out warped views of suffering than all the theologians put together. Her life is a triumph of—healing a healing of the spirit, the most difficult kind.”