Bits and Pieces of my Family

Today I want to tell you some about my family. Family is so important! And even though I have not personally met all of my family members, I love them all very much. I am so blessed with all my brothers and sisters who challenge me, encourage me, and help me grow. And so allow me to share with you about a couple of these special people.

My one brother is Nick Vujacic. I've never met him personally. To tell the truth, there's not a lot of him to meet, physically. He was born without arms or legs, but with enough attitude to make up for it—attitudes of gratitude, action, empathy and forgiveness. His fun-loving spirit, passion for God, and joyful abandon have encouraged me to see past my circumstances and dare to dream big. He is an older brother who challenges me and encourages me to live for God without limits!

I have another older brother, with all his limbs but without his freedom. His name is Youcef Nadarkhani and he is in an Iranian prison. There he is pressured to recant his Christian faith and tortured for protesting Iranian laws which required my nephews, his sons, to study the Quran in school. His wife has also been imprisoned several times. My heart hurts for him, his wife, and his sons, and yet I feel honored that my brother remains firm in his convictions. I pray that God will give him strength to continue!

Then I have a sister, Somchi. Right now she is living in a small village in Laos. We look very little alike on the outside, but I hope that my heart will be forgiving like hers when I grow up. Her neighbors make fun of her, and one day when she was not home they came into her house and burned her Bible. But she never gives up-- “It's the world's right to hate us or love us,” she says. “But for me, I will follow Jesus.” I am blessed and encouraged by her dedicated heart and forgiving spirit.

I have another sister, Yubelina. I hear from her very infrequently, but I hope that she is alright. She lives on Halmahera Island, Indonesia, and a little while ago her village was attacked by militant Muslims. Her face, chest and hand are very badly burned, and it looks like she can no longer see out of her one eye. Her features are badly scarred from the burns, but she can still smile. And the reason that she can still smile is because, though she is burned by hatred and distrust, she has a hope in God that will never rust, mildew or incinerate. Though I don't know when or if I will be able to see her and tell her that I am thinking about and praying for her, our love for Christ still keeps us close in this difficult time.

As for my sister, Joni Tada, she looks a bit more like me with her blonde hair. Yet while she does have her limbs, she can't use them. When she was only three years younger than I am now, she was paralyzed by a diving accident and is now a paraplegic. Yet she has been more places than I have! She has encouraged countless people in hard times, written books (someday I might be an author, just like her!), and helped provide wheelchairs for countless other people who are paralyzed through her organization Joni and Friends. She is another amazing sister who challenges me to aim high and keep perspective when it seems that life is kaputz.

These are just a couple members of my big family. I can't rightly even tell you how many siblings I have, but I know that one day I will meet them all in my Father's house. And there we'll be able to meet each other face-to-face, praise our glorious heavenly Father together, and share all our stories and how God has led our lives. I hope that you will have the privilege of meeting some of them someday. And who knows, maybe we're related too. If we are, I look forward to meeting you someday as well!

Jesus said: “For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother.” Mark 3:35

Information taken from persecution.net, Voice of the Martyr's Newsletter special edition volume 2 (2011), and Nick Vujacic's book “Life without Limits (2010).