If something or someone is lacking in your life, humble yourself before the Lord and he will take care of your needs.
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Pain and Providence - Pain and chronic illness can erode your joy like acid and can lead you to question God and his power. Join Joni in taking a close look at what the Bible says about pain and the sovereign providence of God.
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SHAUNA: Hi, I’m Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Joni, don’t you just love it when God puts things into perspective?
JONI: I sure do. For me, it was last weekend. I’ve got this really wonderful caregiver, but she told me that she couldn’t help me anymore. Sure, she felt pretty bad about it, and I did too. She had been helping me get up every morning for a long time and, well, it was a little like your good friend saying to you, “You know, I just can’t be around for you anymore.” It hit me hard. I would miss her terribly and not only that, she left a pretty sizable gap. I don’t have many people who know how to do my bath routine, toileting, flush the catheter, put on the leg bag, get me dressed, sit me up, adjust my corset, and everything else. Caregiving help – good caregivers – are hard to find. Ask anyone with a disability. Well, I immediately put the need to prayer, and I approached a few other friends to ask God to help me find another good caregiver. The prospect of having to stay in bed because of no help made me slightly nervous.
That Monday morning, I drove to work knowing that part of the time I would have to be on the phone, calling around to find help. And I could tell my soul was getting downcast in my heart, I was getting discouraged. I was almost tempted to feel sorry for myself. But then, when I went through the front door of Joni and Friends and wheeled by the huge Luke 14 mural that we have in the lobby, I stopped. It’s a massive painting of Jesus at a table, serving the poor, disabled and the blind and lame of the world. As I sat in front of it and saw all those people with disabilities there at the table – people from Africa, Asia, South America, Middle East – God spoke to me. He reminded me of Jimly, a young man with cerebral palsy in the Philippines, who for 22 years has laid on a mat [until we gave him a wheelchair]. God reminded me that Jimly hardly had any caregiving help, except for his ailing mother. And then God reminded me of Maria, a paraplegic woman in El Salvador who only has her aging sister to help her get up in the morning and go to bed at night. And Dadina in Eastern Europe; she doesn’t have any caregivers at all and must depend on neighbors who can once in a while offer a hand. And then there’s my friend Tom who is a quadriplegic like me – he lives in Orange County, California, and he and his wife are desperate for caregiving help. I thought of all these people and the disabled kids and adults in the painting as I stared at our Luke 14 mural.
And it hit me [as it so often does] that 80% of the world’s 1.3 billion people with disabilities live in poverty where they cannot even afford a caregiver. They depend on family members. And most of them are aging, or bone weary from not having help themselves. And the whole thing humbled me. I mean really humbled me before the Lord. No wonder he had me stop by that mural. And I felt ashamed for being so nervous about my caregiver leaving. God will meet my needs. And my needs are nothing compared to the most disabled people around the world. They lack so much. And I have so much. So, I learned quite a lesson from the Gospel of Luke: “Fear not, little flock, the Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.” And if my heavenly Father gives me the kingdom, including salvation in Christ and a rich eternal inheritance? Then he can find a caregiver. It’s a good reminder for you today, too, if something – or someone – is lacking in your life. Humble yourself before the Lord and he will take care of your needs
© Joni and Friends