Welcome to "Joni and Friends"; I'm Joni Eareckson Tada.
And I'm so grateful to the various girls who get up in the morning or lay down at night. I guess there are about 15 or 16 different girls who, on different nights or mornings, come to help me get up or get down out of this wheelchair. There’s one young woman – I'll call her Kimberly – Kim helps me lay down on Saturday and Sunday nights, and during that time, we like to talk… I think she sees it as a chance to get my perspective on some issues she’s dealing with. Like her boyfriend. She told me the other night, “Joni, he’s got such a strong personality; and I don’t. I sometimes feel overshadowed.” She was silent for a long moment, then added, “To be truthful, he kind of overwhelms me.” I knew what she was getting at, and so I replied, “Kimberly, your boyfriend may have a big personality, but you can have a big character, a strong character. And it’s the character of Christ in you which will, and which should, keep your boyfriend’s feet to the fire; keep him accountable, keep him on the straight and narrow. Changing your personality is not what’s at stake, I told her; it’s changing and refining and strengthening your moral fiber… partnering with God, agreeing with His Holy Spirit, working with Him to root out anything that might displease the Lord and replace it with the character of Christ. It’s something to work on; and something your boyfriend will respect and I know he’ll really appreciate!”
And it’s true. Kimberly’s personality doesn’t have to change – she’s a sweet young woman; but her character is worth changing. All of our characters are worth changing. It’s something God wants to transform in us. It’s not easy; it is, in fact, very hard. I mean, the world is so full of temptation; it’s full of hardship. "But it is also full of the overcoming of it," Helen Keller once said. Years in this wheelchair have taught me that you and I as Christians could never learn to be brave and patient; we could never learn to endure if things were always easy; we could never learn to be courageous if we didn't face fearful situations. Helen Keller who was both blind and deaf went on to say, "Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through the experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, can vision be cleared, can ambition be inspired, and success achieved.”
When Kimberly holds her boyfriend accountable for his actions… when she holds firm to her convictions and principles, that’s hard! But I tell you what it wins respect and admiration. It also changes you--changes Kimberly, because character is never developed in breezy, easy, relaxed relationships. It is honed and refined and shaped in the hardest of times and most difficult of temptations.
May I encourage you today to look at your sufferings from this perspective? Romans chapter 5 tells us that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, (get this) produces character! It's something worth living for. And for the sake of our Savior, it is something worth suffering for. By the way, today is your last day to go to my radio page at joniandfriends.org and ask for your free copy of “Bible Promises for Hope and Courage.” It’s a beautifully laminated 12-page foldout filled with promises like this one from Romans chapter 5. Because although the world is filled with suffering, it is also filled with people who are overcoming it, who are resisting temptation and restraining the flesh. It’s filled with people of character. And as we all know, character counts… it counts for eternity. Got a few thoughts on this? Got something you’d like to say or share? Then post it on my blog at joniandfriends.org.
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