If you feel like you’ve been dying in the darkness, trust in your Savior because he will give you hope.
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I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and I thrive, I live on hope.
And it’s why I’ve memorized Romans 15:13. It goes: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Oh, friend, to live a life overflowing with hope! Because you know that there are times when life plunges you into one long, dark night. Maybe it’s a deep grief that lingers, a botched surgery that turns chronic, or a heart-stabbing rejection you can’t shake. And I know the feeling that comes with that long, dark night, as well. After I was paralyzed? Sitting by the farmhouse window in my wheelchair and longing to run outside? Watching my sisters race out the back door and I couldn’t follow them? Or always being a bridesmaid in other peoples’ weddings. Not to mention infections, pressure sores that kept me in a bed for weeks. I’d put on a smile for my friends and family, but inside my heart was dark.
One day as I was aimlessly flipping through my Bible [with a mouth stick], I stumbled across Isaiah 50:10: “Let he who walks in darkness and has not a single ray of light, let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.” It described exactly how I felt – groping in the dark, unable to find the light. Yet Isaiah 50:10 also gave me direction. Start trusting God, Joni; not just talking about trusting him, but doing it! And so as I reached out in the dark for God’s hand, trusting that he would be there, then and only then did I sense the faint stirrings of hope. Like a magnet, like a hint of hope kept pulling me closer to God. And soon, I found myself waking up from that long, dark, dreary night.
And once I woke up, those stirrings of hope became a trail that led me to Romans 15:13. And there, the God of all hope guaranteed me all joy and peace, if, if I would but trust him. No matter how deep the darkness in your life, you’ll only be able to find the light if you trust God. It begins with that total reliance on the Lord Jesus and his promise. Because every promise in the Bible finds its yes and Amen in Jesus Christ. Every morning God stands ready to pour out his mercy and grace – that's a promise. Every morning God is ready to lead you into a day filled with purpose – that’s a promise as well. Every morning God is ready to show you more of his Son, Jesus – it’s a promise. And every morning brings you one day closer to heaven where what we hope for will become reality – a life with no more night, or tears, death, pain or sorrow. With promises like these, how could we not have hope? Hope is everything. It keeps you moving forward. Hope makes life worth living. But! It all starts with trusting Jesus and every one of his Bible promises.
And now, after many decades of paralysis and pain, I can say that I may be one of the most hopeful people you’ll ever meet, and I shout the words of 1 Peter 1:3: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope.” Oh, friend, it’s alive. And I want you to experience that living hope. Resurrection hope. For as the line in the old movie goes, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.” So, if all looks dark, get busy living. Trust in your Savior because you need hope. You’ve been dying long enough in that darkness.
© Joni and Friends