A Columbia International University alumna is helping the nationally-known ministry Joni and Friends kick off a new phase of its blog dedicated to missionaries with disabilities.

Natalie Flickner writes about her experiences in missions despite a disability that she has had to overcome since childhood. Flickner, who has mild cerebral palsy, earned a bachelor’s degree in Intercultural Studies and Bible from CIU in 2003 and a Master of Arts degree in Pastoral Counseling and Spiritual Formation from CIU’s Columbia Biblical Seminary in 2009.

In her blog post “A Fellowship Never Broken,” Flickner describes her work with Crisis Care Training International as a curriculum developer, and how she tested her materials on a life-changing trip to Kenya. There, she shared her work with staff at CURE International Hospital for children with disabilities, and had the opportunity to personally minister to a family with a disabled son.  

“So many times before, I had worried about how God could use me as a missionary with all my physical limitations,” Flickner writes in the blog. “But the fact is that God in His wisdom and grace chose to use me in the exact area that I thought limited me from missionary service.”

Read Flickner’s blog post “A Fellowship Never Broken,” and learn about Joni and Friends, founded and led by quadriplegic, Joni Eareckson Tada.

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