According to a news release from the Joni and Friends ministry, Internationally beloved advocate for people with disablities Joni Eareckson Tada is welcoming your prayers as she prepares for surgery next week after receiving a cancer diagnosis for the second time.

Tada, 69 is Founder and CEO of Joni and Friends in Agoura Hills, Calif. She is also an award winning artist, speaker and author of more than 50 books. Joni is no stranger to hardship in her health either, dealing with serious  issues such as enduring 51 years as a quadriplegic, chronic pain and a previous battle against stage three breast cancer eight years ago, which eventually  got her declared officially cancer free after a mastectomy and chemotherapy treatment.

This time, after biopsies, doctors discovered a small cancerous tumour within a nodule that developed over the site of her mastectomy.

Tada said, "When I received the unexpected news of cancer from my oncological surgeon, I relaxed and smiled, knowing that my sovereign God loves me dearly and holds me tightly in His hands. What good is it if we only trust the Lord when we understand His ways? That only guarantees a life filled with doubts."

Tada shared with her staff that she will undergo outpatient surgery to remove the cancer on Monday November 26 and said that she is inspired by the many valiant people with disablities and their families who they serve through the ministry Joni and Friends. She continued by saying that  they constantly persevere through personal crises. They do not doubt God's glorious purposes for their lives and said she won't either.

She invites friends and associates to share the news of her diagnosis, but only with one exception, that people be encouraged to pray that God be glorified through all of this, that He will be trusted, extolled and exalted, that this new challenge become a platform for showcasing His grace and the giving of the Gospel. Tada added, "And of course, that my surgeon shows great skill in surgery. After all, we want him to get it all."

Doug Mazza, President and COO of the Joni and Friends ministry urged Christians to stand with Joni and her husband Ken in prayer for God to advance His kingdom among those who need His hope and grace.

When asked her thoughts on a second cancer diagnosis, Tada added, "Jesus is ecstasy beyond compare and if new hardships draw us closer to Him, I'm more than content with it."