Angelica Ramirez

             AL:  We're pretty excited because today our Wheels for the World team heads out to Ghana, West Africa with 400 wheelchairs for disabled children and adults. Plus, we're giving the gift of Bibles in various tribal languages... and doing disability ministry training in churches.  So, friends, we're asking you today to be in prayer over each wheelchair given to each special needs person! And, Joni, a lot of these disabled people have been waiting a long, long time for a wheelchair, right?

            JONI:  Oh boy, that's so true.  Can you imagine waiting years, even up to 25 years for a wheelchair? When our Wheels for the World team was in Peru, we met Angelica Ramirez, a 25-year-old woman who had cerebral palsy and epilepsy since birth. For most of her life this woman laid in bed all day-her only entertainment was watching the shaft of sunlight move across her room. Well, on the morning of our wheelchair distribution, Angelica's mother wrapped her daughter in a white mattress so her brother could carry her down the mountain. They were hoping to make it to our distribution to get a wheelchair.

            Well, our team happened to have a recliner wheelchair with an extended headrest (that's not usually the kind of chair that highly-customized we take on our trips). As Angelica was placed in this particular chair, everyone gasped-I mean it was perfect. When our team gave her mother a Bible in the Spanish language, this woman just broke down and began sobbing. "Oh, God has answered my prayer!" she said through an interpreter. 

            AL:  My goodness!  That mother was obviously pretty happy to receive a Bible in her language!

            JONI:  That's right.  In fact, that's what one of our team members said to her.  But we learned real quickly that she was crying about something else.  The woman shook her head she explained, "I want you to understand that I have been praying twenty years for a wheelchair for my daughter and today-Gloria al Dios-God has answered my plea. Now I can take my daughter to church. I will not have to worry about-get this--carrying her!"

            AL:  Twenty years!  She waited that long for an answer?!

            JONI:  Can you believe it?  What a poignant lesson to all of us who put our prayers before God's throne.  Like if God answers your prayer immediately, be thankful; if it's denied-even for twenty years--be patient; if you wait, remain eager and expectant, it will come.  Angelica's story taught me something fresh about laying our requests before God: He invites us to have an expectant attitude when we pray.  He wants us to be hopeful and eager-even if the answer might be delayed for two decades!  I don't know why such a delay.  Only God knows, but I know this:  the Lord provided a perfect wheelchair hand-tailored for Angelica, and that Peruvian mother, her mom, experienced twenty times the joy. 

            AL:  And, Joni, we want disabled people in Ghana to experience that joy this week.

           JONI:  And next week when another Wheels for the World team heads out to Cuba-can you believe that--with another 400 wheelchairs and Bibles!  So friends listening, please be praying, because these chairs are given mainly so that we can have the chance to share the Good News of Jesus Christ... especially to people like Angelica who have been waiting in bed so very, very long.

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