Joni Eareckson Tada's Wedding

Joni Eareckson Tada, who since a diving accident as a teenager has lived from a wheelchair, wrote about the day of her wedding: “I felt awkward as my girlfriends strained to shift my paralyzed body into a cumbersome wedding gown. No amount of corseting and binding my body gave me a good shape. The dress just didn’t fit. Then, as I was wheeling into the church, I glanced down and noticed that I’d accidentally run over the hem of the dress, leaving a greasy tire mark. My paralyzed hands couldn’t hold the bouquet of daisies that lay off center on my lap. And my chair, though decorated for the wedding, was still a big, clunky gray machine with belts, gears, and ball bearings. I certainly didn’t feel like the picture perfect bride in a bridal magazine. I inched my chair closer to the last pew to catch a glimpse of Ken in front. There he was, standing tall and stately in his formal attire. I saw him looking for me, craning his neck to look up the aisle. My face flushed, and I suddenly couldn’t wait to be with him. I had seen my beloved. The love in Ken’s face had washed away all my feelings of unworthiness. I was his ‘radiant’ bride. How easy for us to think that we’re utterly unlovely- especially to someone as lovely as Christ. But he loves us with the bright eyes of a Bridegroom’s love and cannot wait for the day we are united with him forever.”