Seventeen and Invincible
On July 30, 1967, Joni Eareckson was a seventeen-year-old athlete spending the summer at Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. She was a horsewoman, a swimmer, a lacrosse player — strong, physical, and utterly at home outdoors. That afternoon, she dove into the shallow waters of the bay.
Her head struck a sandbar. She felt nothing below her neck. In a single moment, the young woman who had spent her life running through fields and riding horses became a quadriplegic.
The Outdoor God
The years that followed were devastating. Joni battled depression, suicidal thoughts, and the rage of a body that would no longer do what she asked of it. But gradually, something shifted. She began painting — holding a brush between her teeth — and the subjects she returned to again and again were landscapes: mountains, rivers, open skies.
"Creation is God's love letter," Joni later said. "It is the one thing that does not need translation."
Joni could no longer hike or ride, but she insisted on being outdoors as often as possible. Friends wheeled her through parks, along lakeshores, into gardens. She described these moments as some of her most profound encounters with God — not despite her disability, but in the middle of it. The beauty of nature became a constant reminder that the God who made all of this had not forgotten her.
A Global Ministry
Joni founded Joni and Friends International Disability Center, which has provided thousands of wheelchairs and served disabled communities in more than seventy countries. She has written more than fifty books. She has been painting for more than five decades.
And she still asks to be taken outside. The lake that broke her body did not break her connection to creation. If anything, it deepened it.
What This Means for You
You do not need a fully functioning body to encounter God in nature. Joni Eareckson Tada has demonstrated this for more than fifty years. A single tree outside a hospital window, the sound of rain, the feel of wind on your face — creation speaks to every body, in every condition. The outdoors does not require you to be strong. It only requires you to be present.