Look at the detours of your life as a main highway. Yes, those highways are hard, but they are God’s pathways to know Jesus much, much better.
SHAUNA: Hi I’m Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada Sharing Hope. Joni, you know, suffering can take us on such a detour and it’s never easy. I’d love to hear how you handle those detours?
JONI: Well, not always easy, I will confess Shauna. In fact, last year, God took me on a really big detour when I had to be in the hospital two different times because of double pneumonia. When I healed up and was sent home, I was put on a rigorous therapy for my damaged lungs [even still, today]. Twice a day, I must wear a tight vest which, for 15 minutes, violently vibrates my chest as I inhale steroids through a nebulizer. The whole routine, both in the morning and the late afternoon, takes a big chunk of my day. And so, back in December of last year when I went to my pulmonologist for a check-up, I said to him, “How long do I have to keep this stuff up?” “Indefinitely,” he replied, “…if you want to live.” I was numb. And so when I went back home, you know, did the routine – I tried to ignore it; this terrible jackhammering of the vest-machine, as well as the pungent vapors from the nebulizer. I viewed it as an unpleasant detour, an inconvenient interruption until I could get back on the main road of life. But I heard the Spirit whisper, “Oh Joni, this is your life.” And you know what? I can’t complain having heard that.
Because a complaining spirit abuses the kindness of Christ. “For God raised us up with Christ… in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” That’s from Ephesians 2:6-7. And basically, it’s saying that God will one day raise us up to showcase the riches and kindness of his grace through us. And I dare not diminish that glorious moment with a negative, complaining tongue. A grumbling spirit would only prove in heaven that I viewed his kindness as sorely lacking to me on earth. Also a complaining spirit reveals a warped understanding of God’s ways with suffering. I mean, through the years, Christ has used my quadriplegia to wrench my heart off of this world and affix it to his own. Jesus has captured my heart, totally ruining me for worldly delights. And without a love for this world, I have less tendency to complain. Complaining would lessen the eternal reward my suffering might have gained me, and I definitely don’t want to shrink my heavenly inheritance.
Also a complaining spirit weakens our confidence in God’s promises. Psalm 106:24-25 says that [and this is speaking of God’s people in the desert], “They despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise. They murmured in their tents and did not obey the voice of the Lord.” The Christian who wallows in complaining is tempted to believe that God may well leave him. That God isn’t always helpful in times of trouble, or that divine grace is lacking for every need. He cannot be convinced that God’s Word is always trustworthy. He feels that suffering is not worth what little eternal benefit it earns.
So that chest-percussion therapy at home? It was a kick in the right direction. I used that time I decided, to memorize Scripture. My husband opens the white three-ring binder containing passages I’ve memorized in the past and he places that binder on my bed where I can see it. And while the nebulizer hisses, and the vest rattles my chest, I have memorized a batch of Scriptures. Ephesians 1 and part of 2, have become my inoculation against any thought of murmuring. And I’ve memorized Psalms 84 and 121. So, friend, I encourage you to look at the detours of your life as the main highway. Yep, those highways are hard, but they are God’s pathways to know Jesus much, much better.
© Joni and Friends