One of the most important things in this life is to be like Jesus.
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What Does Depression Mean for My Faith? – What should Christians think about clinical depression? How can church leaders respond lovingly to those who face this dark, unsettling, and sometimes baffling dilemma? In this book, author and physician Kathryn Butler addresses common misconceptions about mental illness in the church. She offers grace, relief, and practical help to Christians who feel shame, and she equips church leaders with the tools they need to extend Christ’s love to the vulnerable.
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Joni Eareckson Tada is celebrating her milestone 75th birthday on October 15, and you can help honor Joni in a special way.
Thank you for celebrating with Joni!
SHAUNA: You’re listening to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Today we’re going to travel back in time with Joni.
JONI: Take a moment, would you? To return with me to those early days when I earnestly, even desperately, “Oh, gee I just want to get out of my wheelchair.” I mean, there I was, just a 17-year-old kid, an athlete, a hiker, a tennis player, a swimmer, a runner, and doctors told me my legs and hands would never work again?! I was a quadriplegic. If you had been there with me, if you had visited me in the hospital with your Bible, I would’ve bombarded you with questions. That’s what I did back then. I asked every Christian who came into my room with a Bible. I said, “What in the world is God doing?” As you can imagine, I was barraged with a Heinz-57 variety of theological “answers.” I tuned into Christian television, Christian radio. And the more I did, the more I watched and listened and read, I kept hearing about God’s promises.
As I poured over Scripture, I was impressed with the way Jesus answered prayers with promises. And he never seemed to pass up anybody. He showed concern for the suffering by opening the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf. He even raised the paralyzed up on their feet. I was also struck by the number of Bible verses that indicated I could ask whatever would be in God’s will and Jesus would do it. Naturally I figured that if Jesus responded to people’s prayers back then, he’d want to raise me up now. Why shouldn’t answering the pleas of a suffering teenage girl be perfectly consistent with his will?
So, I tenaciously clung to that extraordinary promise from the Gospel of John. John 16 starting with verse 23, where Jesus says, “In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”
Oh, my goodness, what an awesome promise! And so, in the powerful and wonderful name of Jesus, I asked God to lift me up out of my wheelchair. But as often as I asked, I never got healed. At least not the sort of healing I wanted. Not until years later did I grasp a keen perspective of all that John 16 implied. Because there Jesus does make a big deal about asking for things in his name. And to pray for anything in Jesus’s name is to ask God to work in our lives in such a way as to make us more like Christ, giving us qualities that are consistent with the name of Jesus. What could I expect to receive that was consistent with Jesus’s name? Well, I prayed for healing, but God gave me something more precious, something even closer to what his name is all about: God gave me a love, a love for his Son. He gave me endurance and perseverance and long-suffering. He gave me trust in the Father’s will, and compassion toward others whose afflictions were far greater than mine!
And slowly, slowly over time, I began to see that basically, to pray in Jesus’s name is to ask to be made selfless. I did not learn to walk, but I learned to wait. I did not get back my hands, but I found God's heart. I was not given the ability to run, but God gave me rest. God answered my prayer in a way that fully, and I mean fully, represented the name of Christ. Because you see [and please hear me on this], there are more important things in life than walking. There are more important things in life than having use of your hands; more important than holding and even hugging. What could be more important? Well, the deeper healing is to be like Jesus. And you can do that just fine from a wheelchair.
© Joni and Friends