When trials crowd into our lives, realize that they come to test your faith and produce in you the quality of endurance. Embrace the chronic conditions in your life so that the only thing you will have is chronic joy!
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to Sharing Hope.
The other week I visited an elderly friend who, because of a broken hip, is in a long rehab at a convalescent center. She was only expecting a short stay, but there have been some complications. My friend was disappointed to learn that the problems related to her broken hip may well not go away. As you’d guess, it’s a real emotional setback for her, bless her heart. I mean nobody wants their medical condition to be labeled chronic. Believe me, I identify!
I will never forget the day (back when I was in the hospital) they moved me from "acute care" to "chronic care". They transferred me out of my familiar bed on the spinal cord injury floor and put me on a gurney. And as they wheeled my stretcher under the sign that said, “chronic care ward,” I got such a lump in my throat. It meant, "the doctors don't know what else to do with me; they can’t help me anymore, and I won't regain use of my body." Overnight, my perspective on my accident was totally altered. I wasn’t going to get better. My condition was chronic.
You don’t have to be like my elderly friend or even a quadriplegic, to understand. I mean all of us have hardships that never seem to go away. You pray and you plead until your knees are sore; yet the pinched nerve doesn't heal, the multiple sclerosis doesn't regress, the Alzheimer's doesn't stop, the marriage doesn't get better, the job promotion never comes, your prodigal son shows no sign of change, and the engagement ring never arrives. Well, after more than 4 ½ decades in a wheelchair, this is my conclusion about those chronic conditions that God doesn’t fix, heal, or solve. It took me a long time, but finally I realized that the core of God's plan is to rescue us; to rescue us from self-centeredness, worry, anxiety and distrust, in other words, sin. Suffering – especially the chronic kind – is God's choicest tool to accomplish his rescue mission in our lives. And it’s a longprocess. But because it all falls under God’s overarching decrees, it means you and I can not only accept, but fully embrace our problems if indeed they are chronic. When I broke my neck, it wasn't a jigsaw puzzle I had to solve fast; no, it wasn’t a quick jolt to get me back on track, no. It wasn’t my role to connect the dots or understand God’s blueprint. My paralyzing accident was the beginning of a lengthy process of becoming like Christ, a very hard process.
And so, I want to share with you some of my "chronic" Bible verses that, thankfully don't go away. James 1:2-4 (in the old JB Philips paraphrase) says: “When all kinds of trials crowd into your lives, my brothers, don't resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and produce in you the quality of endurance. Let that process go on until that endurance is fully developed.” And when that happens, the only thing that you will have will be chronic joy!
And so today, join me in embracing the chronic conditions in your life. Yes, it’s hard, I realize that, but I think both of us want endurance to be the hallmark of our walk with Christ, right? And, hey, we at Joni and Friends would like to pray for that chronic condition in your family that won’t go away. Come to our website at joniradio.org. Our morning prayer team at the ministry will start praying for you right away. Again that’s joniradio.org. We love to pray for chronic conditions!
© Joni and Friends