The hardships you face today are not in vain—they are the very path God uses to shape your character, unite you with Christ, and prepare you for the glorious crown that awaits.
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God’s Hand in Hardship – How can a loving God allow suffering? Why do good people suffer? Can any good come from our suffering? Joni Eareckson Tada addresses these and other challenging questions in the 14-page pamphlet “God’s Hand in Our Hardship.” Having searched for answers to her own suffering, Joni offers the reader hope and strength from God’s Word.
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SHAUNA: Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Today Joni has a great lesson from Matthew 20.
JONI: And you know the story well. It’s the story of James and John when they came to Jesus with their mother, asking if He would give them the best place in the kingdom. We read that the Lord did not refuse their request, but He told them it would be given to them if they could do His work, drink His cup, and be baptized with His baptism – the baptism of a very hard and difficult death.
You know, whenever I read this story, I’m reminded that hardship is the price we pay for the most glorious crown in heaven. I don’t know why, but often the greatest things are always surrounded by the hardest things. As someone once said, “Triumphal victory arches are not built out of rose blossoms and silken cords, but of hard blows and bloody scars.” Hardship is the price we pay for coronation. And so, the very suffering that you are enduring today is given to you by the master for the explicit purpose of enabling you to win your crown.
I sense that for myself. After decades of living in this wheelchair, I can say for sure that the greatest things are always hedged by the most painful things. And when my corset digs into my side, or I get tired of holding up my head on these paralyzed shoulders, when the wheelchair begins to feel a little overwhelming, I remember James and John and their conversation with Jesus. I remember that this is the price of glory. No one enters Christ's heaven without sharing in Christ's sufferings – that’s just a fact of the Christian life, friend.
But here’s the encouraging word: You do not have to wait for some far-off hardship in the future or some romantic difficulty or some far-away emergency. No, thankfully, you don’t have to be in a wheelchair like me, no. Today, you can rise to meet the actual hardships that God has placed you in right now. Your crown of glory is secretly embedded in the very heart of these difficult things – and you know what those hardships and trials are, that are pressing you this very hour, or this week of your life. All I can say is, please do not resist that difficult thing. Receive every inward and outward trouble; every disappointment and discouragement as the blessed opportunity to die to yourself and be better united with the heart of your Savior and prepare yourself for that glorious coronation. Therein lies your crown. Like the saying goes, “It matters not how the battle goes, or the day how long; Faint not! Fight on! For tomorrow comes the song.”
SHAUNA: And friend, I don’t think I need to tell you that at Joni and Friends, we serve many special needs families and people with disabilities who are fainting not and fighting on. Day in and day out, they’re sharing in the cup of Christ. They’re doing the hard work of obedience in the midst of great suffering. And although a crown awaits them in the future, they need encouragement right now. Bottom line: they need your prayers. So, what Joni and I are asking you to do is to make time today to pray for people with disabilities. Pray for special needs moms and dads, for the siblings of disabled children, and for people of all ages struggling under the strain of disability and poverty. Then go to joniradio.org and look for ways to serve families living with disability right in your own community. And as you do, remember, the price of your own suffering may feel great, but a crown awaits you!
© Joni and Friends