Meet Ivanka

 

 

Ivanka is the second woman I interviewed who lives at the center where we were doing ministry this month.  God has really worked in her life and her testimony is a good reminder that God can work through all of our life experiences good and bad.

 

 

 

Ivanka Vidaèiæ was born in Podgoraè, Croatia. She is an only child. Sadly, her mother left her when she was only 40 days old so she grew up with her father and her grandmother. When she was 10 months old, she was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. The doctors told her that there was no medicine to cure this disease, but that exercise can slow down the progression of the illness.

 

As a child Ivanka learned to walk but she could only take a few steps at a time and needed furniture or objects to hold onto to help hold her up. Once she was school age, her father took her to a special institution for her first year of schooling. Unfortunately, it was far away so she had to live at the institution and not at home. This was a very difficult time for her being away from her family and it was very expensive. As a result, after only one year at the institution she returned home to live with her father and grandmother. 

 

The next year she went to a local public school in her hometown. She started using a wheelchair for school even though she was able to take some steps. But by age 11, she was completely dependent on her wheelchair. Unfortunately, this was detrimental to her ability to continue her education. Unlike many places in the United States, her school was not handicap accessible and did not have wheelchair access. Sadly, she had to stop going to school completely after grade 5 because it became too difficult for her father to carry her up and down multiple flights of stairs for school everyday.

 

After Ivanka stopped attending school, she just stayed home. She was not able to leave the house because of her physical limitations. For years, she was confined to the house and mostly only saw her father and grandmother. At one point during her childhood, her neighbors knew where her mother was living and offered to take her to visit. Unfortunately, it was devastating when she arrived at her mother’s house and her mother did not even want to see her daughter and she refused to come out of the house. 

 

Finally when Ivanka was 18, they had a family discussion. Her father felt that it had become too difficult for him to take care of her. He loved her, but he did not know how to raise her. Following the discussion, the three of them decided that Ivanka would be able to receive better care and have more opportunities if she left home and moved into an institution called Jezerèica in another town.

 

This was a very difficult transition for Ivanka. It was hard to be away from her family and surrounded by new people that she did not know. Ivanka says that her father is not educated and he works on the land. She felt that he should have stopped what he was doing to take care of her, but that he was not interested and simply did not want to do that. When she first moved into the institution, her father helped to pay for her to be there while the government paid for the rest. After a few years, he no longer had money to help pay for her stay and stopped financially supporting her. However, despite the challenges during the transition, Ivanka determined that living at Jezerèica was better for her because she was able to do much more than should could at home.

 

Ivanka lived at Jezerèica for three years before she transferred to an institution called Centar za Rehabilitaciyu Varaždin where she has been living for the past 7 years and is currently a resident. During this 10 year period while she has been living in an institution away from home, she has tried to maintain her relationship with her family. In the beginning, she would talk to her father on the phone, he would send her money every other month, and she would go home to live with her family for one month every summer. Unfortunately, she no longer goes home for summer visits, he is no longer able to send her money, and they rarely talk on the phone. He does not come to visit either. The last time she saw her father was five years ago when she had gone home during the summer for a visit.

 

Despite the many discouraging times and circumstances that Ivanka has faced in her life, she is very religious. She grew up Catholic, but lost hope in her faith when she suffered with depression at age 20. Aside from that difficult time, she has always believed and placed her faith in God. In Phillipians 4:13 it says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Like this scripture, Ivanka believes “God will help her and she can do anything with the help of God.”

 

When she came here to the Centar za Rehabilitaciyu Varaždin, she realized that for the first time there were people here who love her and accept her just as she is. One day while she was out in Varaždin, she met a few Jehovah’s Witnesses in the street who gave her a couple magazines about Jesus and biblical topics. This perked her interest in reading the Bible. As she was studying the Bible, she made the decision to put her faith in Jesus Christ. She concluded that the problems of the world are not God’s fault and she became a Christian and began to serve God. Every Tuesday since then, she has visitors come from the Jehovah’s Witness church to pray and have Bible study with her.

 

Since serving God, Ivanka has found peace. She also has a new hope that she will not be in a wheelchair forever. She believes that God will not heal her right now, but that God will help her and give her the strength to wait until that happens.

 

When she came to the center in Varaždin, she met a guy that she genuinely believes God sent into her life. He is also a resident where she lives and he has helped her significantly. He helps her to reach things that she is not able to, he drives her, repositions her, washes her face, and helps to do things that she is not able to do because of her limitations. The two of them have been dating now for six years and hope to get married one day.

 

Ivanka truly believes that it is God’s plan that she lives at the center in Varaždin. She also believes and has experienced that God helps us through the good people that he puts into our lives. She is happy to be living where she is because the people who work there are very good, helpful, and full of understanding. Before living there, Ivanka had never before met or even imagined people like this. Ivanka is currently 28 years old and has had a life full of obstacles and challenging circumstances. Despite this, she is full of faith, abundant joy, hope and peace. She says, “The Bible says that we should tell God all our worries and pains. We should give them to him in prayer and he will help us. God loves us and wishes us well.” 

 

Meeting both Brankica and Ivanka are such a blessing to me. Their hope and joy despite their circumstances of living with progressive disabilities is inspiring. Their testimonies of how God has transformed their lives have touched my heart. At the beginning of this month, I really felt God telling me “share your story.” What I realized since being here in Croatia is that he does not want me to simply share my story, but also give a voice to others so that they can share their stories as well.