Forewarned

In two days, Steve and I will celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary. Someday we hope to celebrate it in a big way. We had planned to do so this year with a trip to three beautiful old world cities in Europe. But alas. Plans changed when the Lord directed our steps differently. “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9.) The Lord’s plans are always for our good. 

I’m still thinking about this milestone - it’s not 50 years, but it is a thing - and am wanting to acknowledge it in some way. What I have decided to do is to write a short recommendation for four of the books that the two of us have read together during the last 45 years. A trip down memory land for me, and hopefully an encouragement for others. 

Steve and I went to different high schools 22 miles apart in San Diego County. We met a year after graduating in 1976. This was also the year Joni Eareckson wrote her first book, Joni. It was the story of her diving accident that left her a quadriplegic and the subsequent work of God in her heart and life. We were in college when the movie of her life was released and had the privilege of hearing her speak in chapel. Her life and writings have pointed us to truth time and time again.

Joni rewrote the story of her life in 2003 in a book titled, The God I Love. I read it - no I gobbled it up. When I swallowed the last chapter, unable to keep back happy, joyful sobs, Steve picked it up to read. “You have to start at the beginning.” That is what I tell everyone I recommend this book to. The last four pages are priceless. But you have to read the whole book to appreciate them.

Joni writes beautifully, painting stories and weaving together truths and themes with words just as she has learned to paint pictures with a brush between her teeth. Her story is well known. This telling of it is from her perspective thirty plus years later. The book is long, but it is an easy read. It’s a great story well told. It’s a great summer book. A great “next to your bed fall asleep reading book.”

Reading it feels like we are taking the thirty year journey with her. Thirty years of seeing God’s faithfulness as He sovereignly controls circumstances. Thirty years of painful lessons where we see joy can be found in suffering. Thirty years of surprising ministry opportunities. Thirty years of wisdom learned and relationships formed. Thirty years of trusting Jesus. We really do get an intimate look inside her “lifetime of walking with Jesus.” 

The end is a beautiful description of the longing of a believer who desires to love God and find Him to be her greatest treasure. Joni knows that longing. Her pain has been the vehicle through which I have received a tremendous amount of encouragement and challenge.

A few years ago we had a reading group read her book together. Steve led the discussion. At various points in the evening he had us listen to a recording of Joni reading her own words. It was beautiful. (Have you ever heard her sing? She is always singing - and she does so on the tape recording of her book.) By this time, I had read through the book twice. I was sure that I would make it through the last pages without a tear. Or at least if I started tearing up, others would be joining me.

Nope.

I closed my eyes and for the first time heard Johi saying the words she wrote. 

“In the long shadow cast by my wheelchair - the thirty-six years of my paralysis - I’d now been granted the privilege of living at such a time. . . . [I was given] a gift  - to witness the unfolding plan of a gracious God who draws near to the weak, stays close to the afflicted, and always seems bigger to those who need him most.”  

And then the end. . . .  I started to tear up. I wiped away tears. And wiped away more. Then came the snuffles. I had lost it again. And in front of a room full of folks wondering what was the matter with me!  

But I have forewarned you.