As we get ready for a new year, I'm taking a close look at a few habits.
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and most of the new habits I want to cultivate have to do with my health. I’ve got to take care of my bones, especially since I sit in this wheelchair so much. For me, osteoporosis is a dangerous thing.
Well, earlier this year, I got some healthy advice from my girlfriend, Jean Swenson, who is also a quadriplegic. She looks great, even though she’s been paralyzed for almost 30 years, and so I asked her, “Jean, you look so good; what is your secret?” She smiled and this is what she said, “Joni, by God’s grace, I have a cheerful heart, I have a tranquil mind, I am not wise in my own eyes, I fear the Lord, and I turn away from evil; and this is healing to my flesh and medicine to my bones.”
Well, the first time Jean said this to me, I replied, “That’s it? I mean, that’s all you do?”
“Joni,” she explained, “I can take all the Citracal, all the vitamin D, magnesium, and calcium I can swallow in a day, but it’s to no avail unless I remember that my health in this wheelchair is a gift from the Lord. And so it’s why I start every single morning” (and she really does do this) – “before I even get out of bed – I start my morning by meditating on that phrase, as well as the Scriptures to back it up.”
Well, of course, I had to ask her to please write those Scriptures down for me and so she did. Proverbs 17:22 could be a good remedy for osteoporosis because it says, “A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.” Another Scripture about our bones is Proverbs 14:30, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” Okay, so far we’ve got depression drying up our bones and envy weakening them, but the most encouraging verse Jean gave me is from Proverbs 3:7-8, “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”
Now exactly what the correlation is – the exact scientific proof – of how a cheerful heart, lack of envy, humility, holiness, and the fear of the Lord… how those things literally have an impact on our literal bones is beyond me. And I'll be the first one to say that I have known many godly saints who live exemplary lives yet must battle constantly with their health. Nevertheless, I'm not one to doubt those Proverbs and I don’t think the writer is playing around with literary license when he speaks about bones. All I can say is, there’s something about my Christian friend Jean Swenson – despite years of complete and total paralysis, her countenance in Christ really does seem to have a bearing on her physical well being. So as I look down on my own paralyzed legs, I think in the New Year I'm going to go for the cheerful heart and fear of the Lord… because it can’t help but refresh every bone in my body.
That day I left my friend, Jean Swenson, so encouraged – she wakes up in the morning meditating on Scripture, she smiles in her wheelchair, in short, she perseveres. She is in it for the long haul and she’s trusting God every mile in the journey until she wheels across that finish line. It’s why I sent her a copy of a wonderful sermon on perseverance that my friend, Steve Estes, pastor of Community Evangelical Free Church of Elverson, Pennsylvania delivered not long ago. It has blessed me so much and I’ve given tons of copies to so many friends. And as we get ready for a new year, heaven-sent perseverance might refresh your tired bones, too. So visit me today at joniandfriendsradio.org and ask for the free CD on perseverance by my friend and my spiritual mentor, Steve Estes. Or you can always call 888-522-5664. Because I know you’ll be hugely blessed by this very special sermon by my good friend, Steve.
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