Popular Christian author and speaker Joni Eareckson Tada has announced she has tested positive for coronavirus. She is currently receiving monoclonal antibodies treatment.
In a Facebook post in Joni and Friends, a disability ministry she founded, she said “It has been a long hard day, but I know people are praying because Ken’s and my spirits are bright.”
The author’s medical background makes her part of the of the vulnerable group as she just recovered from breast cancer for the second time last year. She was first diagnosed in 2010 and then 2018.
In her latest update about how her coronavirus treatment is going, she wrote on Facebook: “What Covid meant for evil, Christ meant for good,” adding that her lungs are responding well to the treatment.Joni’s approach to prayer for health is to focus 80 per cent on trusting in God’s goodness, and 20 per cent on the physical restoration of the body.
“It shows in that 80% / 20% way you’ve been praying for me – my faith has widened, my hopes are higher, my love for Jesus has skyrocketed, my appreciation for others has deepened, and God’s promises are cemented further into my soul.
“And yes, the 20% (praying for physical things) is working, too: my lungs are clear and my temperature is down,” she wrote on Facebook.
She continued: “One more thing. While I was in that ER receiving top-notch care from a hospital that doesn’t “know Joni,” I kept shaking my head, thinking of the untold numbers of people with disabilities here in the US and around the world who lack access to medical help. It humbled me greatly and so, sitting there hooked up to an IV, I kept praying for Joni and Friends’ expanding domestic and international outreach.”
Joni and Friends is a Christian ministry focused on people with disabilities. Joni herself has been in a wheelchair since the age of 17 after a diving accident left her quadriplegic and has spoken extensively about suffering and assisted suicide.
The ministry also trains people with disabilities to develop their leadership gifts.
