Finding Freedom in a Wheelchair
Can you imagine spending more than half of your life in a bedroom, unable to get out of bed or go outside?
This was the life of Didina, a Romanian gypsy. When at the age of 22 an unknown illness left Didina paralyzed, her husband and two children abandoned her—leaving Didina in the care of her mother.
For the next thirty years, Didina lay on her bed in a windowless room, isolated from her neighbors and community.
Day by day, her depression grew as it seemed there was no hope for her situation.
She began to think that her life was a prison and her only way out was suicide.
But God had other plans when he sent local pastors and our Wheels for the World team into Didina’s gypsy village to minister to people with disabilities. Even though her condition made most wheelchairs unsuitable for her, our team of volunteers and seating specialists found just the sort of wheelchair Didina needed!
At first, our team members were concerned about how Didina would handle the move from her bed to the open streets of the neighborhood and yet, Didina shared nothing but joy and gratitude.
“Thank you, God, for seeing the sky! Thank you, God,” she said.
You can see it all in the short video above featuring our team ministering to Didina’s gypsy village.
Didina’s story turned from sorrow to joy because—like so many stories in the Bible that begin with a nearly impossible situation—but God.
Second Samuel 14:14 (NLT) says, “All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.”
Friend, God is at work devising ways to bring people back to him, and he invites us to join him in this work.
It’s a privilege and an honor! Join in what God is doing through Wheels for the World to reach people like Didina with a wheelchair and the hope of the gospel!
–Joni Eareckson Tada
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