Mama Kat Thursday: Living With Purpose

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The Mama Kat writing prompt today is to write a post inspired by the word, "purpose."


     Let's face it. Everyone needs a sense of purpose, a way to feel useful.
     Are you acquainted with Joni Eareckson Tada? She's been a quadraplegic since 1967 and well known for her art that she paints by holding a paint-brush in her mouth as well as her Joni & Friends ministry to others with disabilities in the Christian community. Also an author, I read one of Joni's devotional books some years ago. It was filled with stories of insights from her life experiences and one especially memorable story I recall is one relating in particular to the idea of having "purpose."
    I'm retelling it from memory, but the gist of it was this:
    One day, Joni and another handicapped friend, as part of her encouraging ministry, drove out to visit another handicapped lady in her home, whom I'm going to call Mary for clarity. Mary was severely handicapped--- so much so, she can't do anything for herself. She can't walk, can't dress herself, can't feed herself, can't do anything without the assistance of a care-taker. 
     In view on the wall just above Mary's bed, where she can see it, is a large bulletin board covered with tons of photos of peopleand every morning, before her care-taker comes in to do their morning routine, Mary spends an hour, her eyes moving from picture to picture, her lips silently moving as she prays for each one. After that, her day begins as the care-takers comes in to bath, dress and feed her.
     This is the lady Joni and her friend came to encourage; instead they were the ones who left encouraged, inspired by Mary's example. Even though her body was useless to her, Mary still had a mind and used it to do the one thing she could still do and that was to pray for others.
     She had purpose.    
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     Jesus said, "If you ask Me anything in My Name, I will do it."   John 14:14        
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You can view Joni's art at her Pinterest board here.

Thanks for Visiting

Comments

Kim@StormsAndStardust said…
Oh, wow. I read about people like this and am just amazed by them and feel like such a slacker. Especially as I still haven't figured out what my own purpose is!

<a href="https://stormsandstardust.net'>Kim</a>
Dec 5, 2019, 5:40:00 PM
John Holton said…
That's pretty amazing. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.
Dec 6, 2019, 10:35:00 AM
Paula Kiger said…
That's incredible; thank you for sharing it.
Dec 8, 2019, 7:19:00 PM

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