If you are struggling in difficult circumstances, hold fast to the lifeline of God’s Word. He promises that you will see his goodness and you will be all right in the end.
Never would I have survived without the lifeline of God’s Word.
Coming up soon on July 30, I’ll be marking 55 years that I’ve lived in my wheelchair. 55 years ago, I took that dive into shallow water and broke my neck. And when I think of how I have survived, well, I made it by clinging to my lifeline, the Word of God. I mean, without the encouragement and perspective of Scripture, I honestly do not know how I would have made it, all these years in my chair. Like a strong lifeline, the Bible has kept me from drowning, even in the beginning, way back when I had my accident and was in the hospital. Back then, several of those lifeline verses were from a single chapter in the book of Lamentations. In chapter 3, Jeremiah wrote: “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” Well, back in the hospital, what else did I have to do but wait? And the long, lonely hours in the middle of the night were only bearable because of that promise. If I would but wait; if I would but keep seeking God, the Lord would show me his goodness. “So Joni? Keep waiting, keep seeking, because God promises you’ll be okay, you’ll be all right in the end.”
Then, there was another amazing lifeline I found in Lamentations 3. It says, “It is good that one should wait [patiently] for the salvation of the Lord.” Wow. If I would but wait quietly and patiently, with an uncomplaining spirit, I would see not only the goodness, but the salvation of the Lord. In other words, I’d experience his rescue, his deliverance. I’d be saved out of my fear and misery. And back then, believe me, I was miserable! But I had this promise, right there in black and white, that my rescue, my deliverance would surely come. Then, in the next verse, Jeremiah says: “It is good for a person to bear the yoke when he is young.” You know, I was still a teenager back then, and somehow I instinctively knew that I was probably at the best age to handle such a big, life-altering change, because some things are just harder to learn when you get older. You know, we’ve “seen it all,” we think, and there is nothing new to learn. But when you’re young, when your heart is still tender, you are still hammering out your core beliefs. And so, I stepped into that great unknown and, by sheer faith, trusted that it was good to bear such a heavy yoke of disability in my youth. But, of course, the best lifeline in Lamentations 3 was in verses 31 and 32: “For the Lord will not cast off forever. He causes grief, [but] he will show compassion to the multitude of his mercies.”
Wow. That verse was like the light at the end of the tunnel: to know that things wouldn’t be like this forever; to know that although God had his hand in my injury, he would also show compassion. He would help me through the long nights. He’d be with me during the long days of adjusting to my chair. And 55 years later, I can say he’s been with me every step of the way. And so as I sit here, ready to mark off more than half a century of quadriplegia, I have experienced the salvation, the deliverance, the rescue of God. All because of the lifeline of his Word. And I share all this to assure you that there’s a lifeline for you, too. If you’re struggling in miserable circumstances, hold fast to God’s lifeline. Hold fast to his Word. Grab on to it as never before. Because he promises you’ll see his goodness, you’ll be okay, and you’ll be all right in the end. That is a great lifeline to hold on to.
© Joni and Friends