God promises that his power will work best in your weakness so learn how to trust God in a new season of life. With God and his grace? It’s always more than okay.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and I’m one to take my own advice.
Especially when it has to do with my own hardships. Like, okay, I’ve been a quadriplegic, right? For decades and, for the most part, I’ve kind of got this thing figured out. I know my quadriplegic limitations and I’ve gotten used to them over the years. I have accepted what I cannot do, and I celebrate what I can do like, feed myself. For a quadriplegic like me, that’s huge. You see, I wear a leather arm-splint on my right hand that has a little cuff that can hold the handle of a spoon. The spoon is bent to accommodate my weak shoulder muscles. I don’t have a lot of strength. But with those few muscles, I can drag the spoon across my plate and lift food to my mouth. It’s not very pretty, but it’s something I can do. And I celebrate that.
Well, recently I injured my right arm. I don’t know how I did it or when, but I’ve lost what little muscle strength I had. And I cannot raise my arm to my mouth. And it means I cannot feed myself. And that is a big deal. For all the years we’ve been together, my husband hasn’t had to feed me [unless it’s a big hamburger]. When Ken and I have dinner together at the table, he’s usually able to enjoy his meal, while I feed myself mine. But now, our dinnertime routine has totally changed. Ken has to feed himself and me. And it is just so hard to make this adjustment. For us both. I mean, just when we are getting used to other challenges of aging with quadriplegia, something more is added to the mix. Something really hard.
But God encouraged me the other day with these words by Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon wrote, “Our tribulations sometimes change; and a new cross is generally a very heavy one. The old cross [that we’ve carried] fits the back, and we can carry it better than we could at the first; but a new cross galls the shoulders that have not yet grown used to it; but the Lord your God will help you in your new tribulations as well as in your old ones; and if they come thick and threefold – tribulation upon tribulation, trouble upon trouble – still, as your days, so shall your strength be." And you know what? I swallowed that advice; it’s the kind of advice I’ve given often to you in our times together here. But with this new cross? Not being able to feed myself? God will help me in my new tribulation, just as he has in my old ones. As my days, so shall my strength be. That’s a promise God has proven for years and years of my paralysis and there’s no reason why he won’t do it in the years to come.
Even though you’re not a quadriplegic; even though you probably handle a knife, fork, and spoon quite easily, I bet you identify with my recent setback. You probably can imagine how hard it would be for you to lose the ability to feed yourself a meal. But all of us get to a point when some new affliction, some new difficult change that upsets a routine creates a crisis. And the adjustment can be so hard. But, are we going to collapse into discouragement? Are we going to sigh and give up? Or will we, with the grace of God, adapt and move forward? The Bible tells us to press on, forgetting what lies behind. And it is exactly what I am doing with my new limitations in my shoulder. And it’s okay. God promises that his power will work best in my weakness, and so, Ken and I are learning how to trust God in a new season of life. And it’s okay. With God and his grace? It’s always, always more than okay.
© Joni and Friends