You may be struggling in some hardship wondering, “what’s the purpose?” Well, there is a purpose. And most often, God allows your hardships to open a way for you to bless others.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a Family Retreat memory.
It was back in 1992 and I was at our Joni and Friends Family Retreat held in Spruce Lake Pennsylvania. It had been a busy morning, and so to relax, I went wheeling down the dirt road and into the woods behind the camp. I guess I was about half a mile into the deep, dark forest, and the batteries on my power wheelchair ran out. I was stuck and there was no one within shouting distance. Thankfully, about ten minutes later, a couple of volunteers on a break came up the dirt road and they stumbled upon this disabled woman in distress. And I was not easy to push back to camp in my big power wheelchair. But they were young, and we finally made it. That Spruce Lake Camp was one of our first Family Retreats and, oh, have those retreats grown.
I remember about ten years later when we were able to hold three Family Retreats at Spruce Lake. It meant three times the number of families and volunteers needed. It was a big deal. And it was at that particular Retreat when my mother, Lindy Eareckson, volunteered. The team put her right to work in the kitchen, and my mom was so happy to serve so many kids and adults with disabilities and their family members. And I recall during break time at that Retreat, showing my mother the dirt road where I had been stranded only ten years earlier. As we meandered along the path in the woods, she stopped and turned to me and said with amazement [as though something incredible had just dawned], she said, “So this is why you broke your neck! All these families, these disabled people; this is what God had in mind! God is really using your disability.” I will never forget that moment, and I tell it often. Because it’s not just my story, or my mother’s; it’s the story of every mother, every disabled child or sibling [and that’s right, my sister Kathy helped serve that week as well]; it’s what every family who struggles under the weight of disability; it’s what they all experience at a Family Retreat or at one of our Getaways. They experience the dawning of hope, the awareness that, oh my goodness, God does have a purpose in a disability; they experience a connection, a community, and an understanding that they’re not alone. Best yet, they experience the love of Jesus Christ that enables them to look at their disability and say, “So this is what God had in mind; so this is his purpose!”
And you know what? It happens not just at a Joni and Friends event or to me or to my mother. It can happen to you. Because you may feel disabled in a difficult marriage or handicapped by your singleness or crippled by your lack of skills. You may be struggling in some hardship wondering, “what’s the purpose?” Well, there is a purpose. And most often, God allows your hardships to open a way for you to bless others. For others to be convicted by your uncomplaining spirit. That God has allowed hardships for your faith to be refined and deepened. Or your prayer life to be enhanced. Or your confidence in God’s Word to grow stronger. And then you can look at your hardships and say, “So this is what God had in mind.”
And you know what, that amazing realization is happening at 46 Family Retreats all across the country this summer. And lots of Getaways for warriors and for married couples as well. So pray for the many people with disabilities and their families who will find purpose in their lives. May Christ help them say and for you to say, “So this is what God had in mind!” God bless you today and thanks for listening!
© Joni and Friends