Joanna – From 1991 to 1993

Joanna came to the Headquarters dur­ing the year that we were prepar­ing to send a large team to Russia, and to oth­er na­tions. She trav­eled with the group to these na­tions. Joanna was very dili­gent and com­pe­tent in her re­spon­si­bil­i­ties and was well liked by the rest of the staff. Her ded­i­ca­tion to the Lord was a qual­i­ty that caught the at­ten­tion of a staff fel­low who lat­er be­came her hus­band. God has giv­en them eight sons and daugh­ters.

Several months ago Joanna ex­plained a phys­i­cal prob­lem that she had been ex­pe­ri­enc­ing for many years. Here is her let­ter:

Dear Mr. Gothard,

Since 1990 I have had pain at var­i­ous times in my jaw. Last fall it be­came in­tense de­spite sev­er­al reme­dies that the den­tist tried. I bought a de­vise that I could bite on to re­lieve the pain. After I bought all that I could find in town, the store own­er told me that they had been dis­con­tin­ued. I was on my last stash when I called you.

I had been tak­ing Advil every day to get through the home­school­ing. I bit on the plas­tic de­vise con­stant­ly. I stopped us­ing my right hand for typ­ing or the phone be­cause the pain went all the way up to my ear and jaw, and down to my shoul­der. I was just think­ing that this pain would be for­ev­er. I had my hus­band rub my neck all the time, and I used a heat­ing pad at night for re­lief.

So when you asked me how I was, and I told you about my con­di­tion, you prayed that God would heal me. The next day, I re­al­ized that the pain was gone, I even cried out in my house: “Hey, I’m not us­ing my bite thing, and I don’t have pain! My jaw isn’t tight.” So, what hap­pened is that God com­plete­ly set my jaw in line to where the prob­lem is gone!

So, thank you for pray­ing and for not giv­ing up all these years. I know af­ter be­ing there with you for 2 years right next to your of­fice, sit­ting by you on planes, at meals, and fix­ing din­ner for you at night, you nev­er did any­thing that was in­ap­pro­pri­ate. You loved every­one and want­ed to en­cour­age them with smiles and kind­ness. You nev­er made me feel weird at all. I was 20. You were old­er than my own dad. I felt like you cared about my life. You helped me so much. I could go on for­ev­er and maybe one day I can write more, but I love you and so does my fam­i­ly. We will see you one day soon I hope.

Blessings,

Joanna.