A Sign
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I invite you to sing this beautiful hymn with me.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
I do love that hymn; I love anything that talks of God’s blessings, because my friends who are quadriplegics like me, well…I tell you what, they are blessings to me personally. I look at their experiences living with quadriplegia (most of them having suffered spinal cord injuries), I look at what they go through and I tell you it just, helps; it’s such a blessing. Their lives remind me of God’s blessings, that I can do it, too.
And boy did I receive a blessing the other day, I gotta tell you this. I heard from the wife of my quadriplegic friend, Bob. Now, listen closely here; Bob had lived as a quad for 23 years and he went through so many valleys, so many hard times. And all the way his dear wife was his faithful friend and caregiver, she was; well, she hung in there with him. Well, when Bob passed away his wife wrote me and described exactly what happened that moment he left for heaven and oh, did it encourage me. This is what she wrote (I’ve got it here):
“Joni, Bob was curled up in bed at home in a fetal position and in a coma. The doctor had told us it would only be a matter of hours. Suddenly, with my son and I standing by his bedside and watching (I had been praying God would give my 27– year– old unbelieving son a ‘sign,’) [as we were standing there] in the blink of an eye, Bob rolled over, straightened himself and his long legs out and then raised his arms upward. With a look on his face that seemed to say, ‘I see you, take me!’ He was gone. He had been healed, seconds before he was carried home!”
Wow! Now friend I want to tell you something here, Bob is a quadriplegic and mind you, this quad of 23 years had never “rolled himself over” before nor was he ever able to stretch out his arms, especially upward. And it wasn’t a spasm or some kind of jerky, nervous reaction; no, Bob’s wife described this was different; this was real. Just at the instant Bob went to heaven, somehow, someway, in some miraculous moment, the Lord brought my quadriplegic friend out of a coma and healed him “just” enough so he could turn on his back and reach out toward heaven with his paralyzed arms. He didn’t say anything, he just had this bright look on his face and then he was gone. To me, that was such a blessing to hear, and it reminded me that during the day-to-day difficulties we all of us face, it’s so good to remember I Peter 5 where it says our sufferings are only “for a little while.“ Friend, one day we are going to join Bob and enter that rich reward in heaven. So hang in there and keep investing in heaven as you persevere down here on earth. Remember, this earth is just for a little while. And may that thought from scripture be to you a huge blessing today. See you later friend – until next time on Joni and Friends.
Originally aired on 7/6/10 as program #7352.
Song: Come Thou Fount; Written by Robert Robinson 1757; Public Domain
© Joni and Friends
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