Voice 1 Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Liz Waid. Voice 2 And I'm Joshua Leo. Spotlight uses a special English method of Broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1 Today's Spotlight is on Joni Earackson Tada. Voice 2 The date was July 30, 1967. Joni was 17 years old. She was a healthy girl who loved to play sports. It was a perfect warm day by the lake. The sun was shining on the cloudy water. Joni began a perfect dive into the lake. But in a moment her life would change forever. God had a plan for Joni that she did not know.
Voice 1 Joni took a dive into the water. But the water was not deep enough. She hit her head on the bottom of the lake. She heard a loud quick noise. Suddenly Joni was trapped under the water. She could not move. She thought she might be caught in a trap for fish.
Voice 2 Joni wanted to call for help. But she had to hold her breath or she would drown. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get up. She did not understand what was happening. She was trying as hard as she could to hold her breath. But she could not last much longer.
Voice 1 Finally her sister, Kathy, came to her. Kathy pulled Joni out of the water. Joni could finally breathe. But there was a big problem. Joni still could not move her arms or legs. An emergency vehicle came to bring Joni to the hospital. Joni was very frightened. She asked Kathy to hold her hand while they were waiting. Kathy told Joni that she was already holding her hand. Joni was surprised. She could not feel it.
Voice 2 At the hospital doctors discovered that Joni had broken a bone in her neck. She was now a quadriplegic. She could not move or feel anything on her body below her shoulders. Joni was disabled. This condition was permanent. Joni was in the hospital for a long time. Machines held her body still, and in place. She thought she would probably die. Joni did not die. But her life, as she knew it, was over.
Voice 1 For a long time Joni experienced intense depression. At first she could not accept what had happened to her. She thought it was unfair that she would never be normal again. She was angry that her life had changed so much. And she wanted to die. She wrote about her experiences: Voice 3 “I asked many of my friends to assist me in suicide. I wanted to find a final escape. I could not face the possibility of sitting down for the rest of my life without the use of my hands, without the use of my legs. All my hopes seemed destroyed.” Voice 2 But then Joni began to have different thoughts. Joni was a Christian. But before the accident she had felt like she was not living her life very well. She had prayed that God would change her. She wanted to be a better person. And now, after months of depression she had a new idea. Joni began to wonder if the accident might have been God's answer to her prayer. Voice 1 Two years after her accident she met Steve Estes. Steve became her good friend. Together they studied the Christian Bible. They tried to discover what God teaches about pain, suffering, and healing. Joni says: Voice 3 “My study of the Bible has not answered all of my questions. But it has taught me about the One who can understand all suffering. By studying the Bible I began to understand some of God's promises to me. I did not learn to walk. But I learned to wait. I was never able to run again. But God gave me rest.” Voice 2 Today Joni believes that her disability was the beginning of a long and difficult process. It was the process of becoming more like Jesus Christ. She believes that her accident was God's will for her life. Joni writes: Voice 3 “I learned that hard times can make us think less about our own lives. They make us depend only on God. They can also give us the ability to try and feel how others around us might feel. We can try to understand and help people who are hurt.” “God used this injury to develop in me patience and endurance and tolerance and self-control and steadfastness and sensitivity and love and joy. Those things did not matter much to me when I was on my feet. But, oh boy, they began to matter after I began living in a wheelchair.” Voice 1 Today, Joni still cannot move her arms and her legs. She cannot feel anything below her shoulders. But she is an instrument of hope. She is a helper to many people with disabilities. She shows God's grace. Voice 2 Joni prayed for God to fix her body. She wanted him to take her disability away. God answered her prayers. But he did not answer them how Joni thought he would answer them. Instead of healing Joni's body, God healed her soul. Voice 1 Joni recognized that her worth did not depend on being able to move her body. Instead she could use her situation to help people who were dealing with suffering. She could use her gifts to share her story with people all over the world.
Voice 2 Today Joni is a painter, a speaker, a writer, an actor, a wife, and a friend to disabled people all across the world. People all over the world know her. And she is the president of a group called Joni and Friends. It is a group that helps disabled people in many countries.
Voice 1 Every day Joni broadcasts a short radio program for Joni and Friends. Her program is broadcast in many different countries. She tries to help people understand pain and suffering. She helps people understand how to help disabled people. Her courage and wisdom encourage many people who have disabilities.
Voice 2 All kinds of people hear Joni's story. She has written more than thirty books for people of all ages. She has also won awards. Joni has worked with government officials to pass laws that help disabled people. She is active in sharing God's message with everyone. Joni believes that sometimes God has purposes that people on earth cannot understand. She says: Voice 3 “I have discovered that God can heal. He does heal. But he is not REQUIRED to heal... He has shown me that my suffering is part of a better plan.” Voice 1 Joni Earackson Tada knows suffering. But God has made Joni a powerful instrument of his love. This is how he answered her prayer for healing.
Voice 2 The writer of today's program was Liz Waid. All quotes have been adapted for this program, and come from Joni's books and writings. Computer users can hear more Spotlight programs on our website at http://www.radio.english.net. This program is called "Joni: Broken, but Healed". Voice 1 If you have a question about this program, you can email us! Our email address is radio @ english . net. We hope you can join us again next time for Spotlight. Goodbye!
