Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and this week I am celebrating!
Welcome to Joni and Friends and welcome to our celebration, ’cause chemotherapy is well behind me and the initial tests show that, hey, I am cancer free! That is pretty exciting, especially after these last few very difficult months. When I first learned that I had cancer back in June, I researched to see if there were any other quadriplegics like me who had dealt with breast cancer, but nothing turned up on the internet. I’m sure there must be someone out there with breast cancer who is a quadriplegic, but I haven’t found her. And if you happen to know her, then connect her to me, would you please?
All this to say, dealing with quadriplegia and chemotherapy was not easy, and that’s why I want to thank you friends for your prayers – in the middle of chemotherapy there were so many times I thought, “Lord, this really is too much… this cross, this quadriplegia, this pain, this cancer and the rigors of chemo… God, are you sure you know what you’re doing, where you’re leading me, the path on which you’re taking me? Yet I know the answer – for who have I in heaven but you, and Lord, there is nothing on earth that I desire above you; where would I go? Where else would I turn? God, you are the one with the words of life; without you, I can do nothing. You’re the Bread of Heaven, you’re my Living Water.”
And I tell you what… when I would pray like that, God’s marvelous peace that passes all human understanding would safeguard me, and keep me from falling, from emotionally throwing in the towel. God was the one who preserved me – and that gives him double the glory! He is the one who caused me to stand. We Christians have been so infected by our culture of comfort that we forget that it is through many hardships that we must enter the kingdom of God. If Jesus bore a cross that was painful, should we expect less? Yet those are hard things to embrace when you’re going through a painful trial…
So I’m going to ask you today, friend – do you feel like God has piled on way too much? Do you feel overwhelmed by your problems, near the point of emotional defeat?Well, draw encouragement from a verse that inspired me through those weeks of chemotherapy. It’s Hebrews 10:35-37 and it says to anyone who is fainthearted, and maybe that’s you today, it says, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” I love that verse, and, oh, what he has promised – our sufferings in this world aren’t even worth comparing with the glories that lay right on heaven’s horizon. So don’t throw away your confidence; you will be richly rewarded! Persevere, hang in there and endure and pray with me, “Oh let my trembling soul be still, while darkness veils this mortal eye, and wait thy wise, thy holy will, wrapped yet in tears and mystery: I cannot, Lord, thy purpose see, yet all is well – since it is ruled by thee.”
That’s all we need to know. Our lives are ruled by thee, oh Lord… by the spirit of the living God. That’s all we need. So friend, hold on to that verse from Hebrews 10 today, would you? I share more about what God has been teaching me in the video we’ve posted on our radio page at joniandfriends.org and when you have a moment today, click on the video and join me in the celebration, right? All the encouragement, it’s right there all for you on our radio page at joniandfriends.org. Until next time, thanks for listening to Joni and Friends.
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