Trust that God will never, ever give you a cross that is one ounce too heavy because he has hand-tailored your hardships. No suffering can touch you that hasn’t first been filtered through him.
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SHAUNA: Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Hi, I’m Shauna with a word from Joni about anxiety and pain.
JONI: You know, I was reading a report the other day about the record number of people who are now dealing with chronic pain; it was so alarming. Whether from a botched surgery, scoliosis, a football injury, or pain from any one of the many autoimmune disorders, oh my goodness, pain is hard. It’s relentless. It can wear you down. And all of that can lead to a lot of anxiety. Living with chronic pain as I do, I’ve come to see that our adversary, the devil, delights in using anxious feelings to rob us of joy, steal our contentment, and divert our focus from trusting God. Anxiety has become the devil’s most useful tool in discouraging us Christians.
I know that every day – and I mean every single day – I have to dismantle anxious thoughts and make them captive to Christ. Thoughts like, “Oh my goodness, what if this pain gets worse and I can’t sleep tonight?” Or “What if something happens to my husband Ken and he can’t take care of me?” And the really big hand grenade that the devil lobs: “What about the future? What If my pain gets worse?” How do I take those thoughts captive to Christ? Well, I take a deep breath, and I tell myself that when I signed up in the army of Christ, I vowed to keep the cross before me. Yep, it’s a vow. When we become a Christian, we follow Christ, and that means purposing, yes, promising to daily take up our cross and follow Jesus. I must leave every awful possibility on the table and face it—not fear it. Face the fact that if, indeed, I have to live a life in pain, so be it; God will be my ever-present help in that trouble. I have to face the awful possibility that, yes, I may very well one day succumb to pneumonia, like many of my quadriplegic friends have, but I’m not to fear it, I’m to face it. Because even in that God will rescue me, he will gloriously deliver me into the other side of eternity.
But I have discovered that anxiety is defanged, fear is declawed when we face, when we pick up, when we embrace our private crosses. But ours is not to wonder if, when, and why. Ours is to pick up the cross God has given us, trusting that he will never, ever give us a cross that is one ounce too heavy, or one inch too long because he has hand-tailored your hardships and mine, and no suffering can touch us that has not first been filtered through his fingers. So, ours is to fix our eyes on Jesus, lock them there, keep them there, and if we do that the devil will hightail it, taking with him all those fears and anxieties in his arsenal. Keep your mind on your Savior and his peace, which passes all human understanding, will safeguard you in Christ Jesus.
You know, these are hard things I’ve shared. But I’m convinced this is where so many of us live – whether you have a disability, a difficult marriage; you’re facing older age, a terminal illness, that’s life. And I trust what I’ve shared today has helped.
SHAUNA: Listening friend, I know Joni’s message has helped you just like it helps me, but if you need even more help, please go to joniradio.org where you’ll find a storehouse of Joni’s timeless wisdom and encouragement. And while you’re there, be sure to leave us your prayer request. Our Joni and Friends prayer team would love to cover you in prayer. So, go to joniradio.org and be blessed. Remember, that’s joniradio.org!
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