AL: Joni, you have a knack for making your wheelchair look so easy, but I know it's not always that way. I've watched you... I know it's hard for you...
JONI: Oh boy, you're right, it's hard, Al.
AL: Our friends listening today go through hard times too, and I know it would be an encouragement to hear how you get through days when it's toughest.
JONI: Oh, Al, is there any day when it's not tough?!
AL: Now that's something I can identify with, especially as I get older!
JONI: Come to think of it, as I get older, sometimes – not all the times – but occasionally, my wheelchair feels like a prison. Or maybe it's my quadriplegia, my paralysis, as I get older, it’s feeling like a jail. I feel like I'm trapped behind bars.... like I can't "get out." I think partly that’s because of the pain, the increasing levels of discomfort. Believe me, if not discouraging, occasionally it can get frightening.
But the other day I came across a verse that gave me such freedom, such peace in the middle of my circumstances. It was Colossians 4:2-3 where the apostle Paul wrote, "Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. Don't forget to pray for us, that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ, even while I'm locked up in this jail."
AL: Now there's good advice from someone trapped behind bars!
JONI: Yeah, he didn't just feel like he was in prison, he was in prison.
AL: and his words are applicable...
JONI: ...and very specific...
AL: ...for any of us who feel locked up in our circumstances.
JONI: That's so true. Because whenever my wheelchair, whenever my paralysis causes those trapped feelings, I’ve got to remember to "pray diligently... stay alert...” Don't get fogged out with anguish and depression. Keep your spiritual eyes open, so you can see what God is doing---and He is working something mighty in and through you. And even though neither you nor anyone else can figure out why you should be suffering, pray that Christ will somehow be revealed through what you endure – that His beauty and wonder and power and fragrance will somehow be released through the most captive of circumstances.
AL: I'm going to remember that next time...
JONI: And I'm going to remember it right now as we go off the air. I’ve often said that my wheelchair is the prison that has set me free. Four decades of paralysis should not change that. What was true in the past is true now that I’m getting older. So friend, if you feel locked up in your circumstances – like the apostle Paul – then join me in praying diligently and in staying alert. God is working something mighty in and through you – and it’s my prayer that His beauty, His wonder, His power and fragrance will be released through you today.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends