The Value Of Life

Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and it’s Celebration of Life day.

And God bless the many people who treasure, prize and who do all they can to safeguard the lives of the most seemingly insignificant people. We saw it happen last year on our Wheels for the World outreach into Brazil. The story starts with a young, frightened Brazilian girl who discovered that she was pregnant. She wasn’t connected to the father who, incidentally, did not know anything about this pregnancy. But this frightened girl was scared to death. She was fearful that her own father would find out that she was with child. And so, the Brazilian girl did everything she could to get rid of that child – it being the unborn little baby in her womb – three times. She tried to abort her baby using what she thought were abortion pills. When that did not work, the girl tried to hide her pregnancy by tightly wrapping three leather belts around her waist. All this abuse caused the baby to be born prematurely. The mother, seeing this tiny infant covered with blood, she wrapped the baby in rags and was about to throw her into a trashcan, when a couple who happened to see this, they stopped her. They took the tiny infant in their arms and convinced the tearful mother to go with them to the hospital.

The doctor discovered that this brand-new little girl had many disabilities, including collapsed lungs, brain damage and deformed feet – probably as a result of the tight belts. The hospital urged this girl to call the biological father, which she did. He came to the hospital with a woman named Lucy, and immediately, a flood of tender compassion overcame Lucy as she held this newborn, cleaned, bandaged and wrapped-in-a-blanket little one. And as she rocked the child in her arms, Lucy shared the love of Christ with the mother. But still, this mother was more frightened of her own father than for the life of her baby. She refused the child. And so Lucy, a Christian who understands the value of life, took this little one home to her small village and adopted her, even with all her disabilities. Lucy named the child Lunna.

Now, that was three years ago, and at that time, it became clear to Lucy that Lunna would never walk. But that’s when she heard about our Wheels for the World outreach coming to a Brazilian city, many hours away from her village. Lucy knew she could not carry Lunna for much longer; the child was getting older and heavier. This kid needed a wheelchair! And so Lucy wrapped Lunna in a small blanket and traveled hours by train and taxicab to come to our outreach. When Lucy arrived with Lunna, our Wheels team immediately fell in love with this little girl, so sweet and talkative; so personable and energetic. And we found the perfect child-sized wheelchair for her – small enough that she could sort of push herself, yet flexible enough that it would grow with her. And Lucy was thrilled. So thrilled, that she jotted me – I can’t believe it – she wrote me a note in Portuguese, and it read, “Joni, God works in mysterious ways, and we do not always understand why things happen, but he has used your story as an inspiration to me and my daughter. Please note that this wheelchair gives me such hope for Lunna’s future. Thank you.” And she signed it, “Lucy.”

Friend, that’s a story fitting for Celebration of Life Day. Hey, I’ve got a photo of Lucy and Lunna posted on my radio page at joniradio.org. And be praying as we head back to Brazil in March with more wheelchairs and Bibles. Be praying as we give the Word of Life to more people like Lucy and Lunna. See you later at joniradio.org.

© Joni and Friends