Isolated, by itself, what is a minute? Merely a measurement of time. There are 60 in an hour, 1,440 in a day. At seventeen, I had already ticked off more than 9,000,000 of them in my life.
Yet, in some cosmic plan, this single minute was isolated. Into these particular sixty seconds was compressed more significance than all the millions of minutes marking my life prior to this instant.
So many actions, sensations, thoughts, and feelings were crowded into that fragment of time. How can I describe them? How can I begin to catalog them?
I recall so clearly the details of those few dozen seconds—seconds destined to change my life forever. And there was no warning or premonition.
What happened on July 30, 1967, was the beginning of an incredible adventure that I feel compelled to share because of what I have learned.
Oscar Wilde wrote: “In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” To rephrase his thought, I suggest there are likewise only two joys. One is having God answer all your prayers; the other is not receiving the answer to all your prayers. I believe this because I have found that God knows my needs infinitely better than I know them. And He is utterly dependable, no matter which direction our circumstances take us.
Joni Eareckson, 1976