If you have nowhere else to go, Jesus is the only one who can help.
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SHAUNA: I’m Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope with a story and a poem from Joni to encourage you.
JONI: Some time ago, I was so blessed when a listener on KVIP in Redding, California sent me a beautiful book of poems. It was written by her great Aunt Zuella who developed severe arthritis when she was a teenager. Zuella lived way back in the early 1900's – not a lot of help back then for people dealing with arthritis. Even though Aunt Zuella spent years in a wheelchair, she was a prayer warrior and left the family a treasure of handwritten poems, like this one. She wrote:
I cannot walk as others do, O’er earth’s grass tufted sod; But oh, in spirit I can walk As Enoch did, with God. I cannot run through field and lane, Or shaded woodland dim; But oh, with patience I can run, The race of life with him. I cannot scale as others do, Your mountain’s lofty height; But I can soar above the world, By faith, to realms of light. I cannot sail to distant lands, To serve my Savior there; But from my wheelchair I can hold, The heathen up in prayer. I shall not weep nor mourn my loss, Nor try to understand; But smiling, I’ll lift my face to God, And do the things I can.
Isn’t it fascinating how words written over a hundred years ago can still have fresh meaning and application for us? Because I read that poem, and I think: “That’s me! I can’t walk or run either. But I will not weep over the things I cannot do; no, I’m going to focus on the things that I can do in my wheelchair, knowing God will bless the effort!” Aunt Zuella’s poem has ministered to me, and so I decided to share it with my Pain Pals [I have a group of people I pray for who deal daily with chronic pain and a lot of their pain, like Zuella’s, is due to severe arthritis].
Believe me, this group thrives on Christian encouragement, we are always emailing each other verses from Scripture, favorite quotations, articles, and poems like this one by Aunt Zuella. The other day, Nancy, one of the Pals [who also deals with painful arthritis throughout her back and hips], Nancy wrote that she’d come to her wit’s end. No pain medication, no position in bed, no homeopathic treatment, no surgery had helped. And when I sent her this poem, it blessed her just like it did me. Nancy read those words: “I cannot run through field and lane, Or shaded woodland dim; But oh, with patience I can run, The race of life with him.”
And what was true for Aunt Zuella back in the early 1900’s, is true for my Pain Pals, and it’s true for you. Please, if you think you are in a dead-end situation; if pain has ambushed your life; if you, like Aunt Zuella or some of my Pain Pals like Nancy, are in a wheelchair or even bedridden, do not run away from God. Do not turn your back on him. Remember what Peter said to Jesus in John 6:68, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Simply put, friend, you have nowhere else to go. Jesus is the only one who can help.
SHAUNA: And friend, we want to give you a copy of this beautiful poem by Aunt Zuella. You could put it up on your refrigerator or tack it on your corkboard and let this poem remind you, too, that Jesus has the words of eternal life. Just go to joniradio.org today and download your free copy. And then why not share it on your Facebook page or share it with a friend like Nancy, my pain pal. Because Christian encouragement only works when you pass it along!
© Joni and Friends