It used to be that people in general considered life a sacred gift from God
and, after undergoing something traumatic, would feel that their life had been
spared for a reason, and that would give them hope. I think a lot of people in
such circumstances would initially wish they had died or could die, but after
time and adjustment and getting used to the idea of living with a dramatically
altered lifestyle, did come to feel that life was wirth living after all. I've
mentioned before Joni Eareckson Tada...I don't mean to sound like a one-woman
fan club, but I've recently re-read her biography and then read two of her
other books, "When Is It Right to Die?" and "When God Weeps" and found them
very helpful, as she has struggled with a lot of things I have also. When she
was first paralyzed after a diving accident, a nurse commented that if she had
broken her neck at just a little higher level, she would have died. When she
was alone, she thrashed her head around, trying to break her neck at that
higher level. Yet now, after 30 years in a wheelchair, she has had a vital
ministry to other disabled people and feels life is very much worth living. A
man named Charlie Wedemeyer gradually went downhill after being diagnosed with
Lou Gehrig's disease to the point that he was in the hospital on a ventilator.
Thr dr. counseled his wife that it was time to accept that he had a terminal
illness and to let him go. A nurse mentioned to her the possibility of a
portable ventilator, and, against the doctor's objections, they put him on one
and he was able to get out of the hospital and has had a very vibrant ministry
speaking to others. He comments on how ironic it was and on God's sense of
humor in giving a man who can no longer speak a public speaking ministry. I
mentioned just starting a book yesterday about a woman who contracted polio in
pre-vaccine days. She had the worst case of anyone else she knew of and had
uphill battles to face finshing school and going to college, then trying to be
hired as a teacher. She was told she'd be doing well to sell magazine
subscriptions over the phone from her home. Yet she finally persuaded the
school district to let her try teaching on a part time basis, and the next
year she went full-time and has been at it now for 20 years, even though she
is paralyzed and can only move one arm a little.
This is the message we need to get out. Quality of life is more an attitude
than a set of circumstances. Yes, the circumstances may be awful, yes, life
may be forever changed, and, yes, there is grief for all that is lost, but,
yes, there is purpose, and yes, with God's help, there is hope.
Barbara