Joni Eareckson Tada believes that God uses suffering for our good

Published: November 6, 2024

Why Joni Eareckson Tada believes God uses suffering for our good

By Movieguide® Contributor

Quadriplegic Joni Eareckson Tada explained how the Lord uses suffering to refine us so we can better understand how much we need Him.

While Eareckson Tada’s story isn’t something most people can specifically relate to – she was paralyzed after her senior year of high school in a diving accident – ​​her life of suffering and pain is something that many can understand. While some would see her situation as a curse, Eareckson Tada sees God’s blessing in it as she understands the need to rely on the Lord every day.

“I don’t expect everyone to go through the kind of deep suffering that I have — quadriplegia, a broken neck, paralysis — but I hope that our watching friends will manage well the suffering that God gives them,” she said at Liberty University. . “It could be a disappointment in the grades, it could be not getting the job you were hoping for, it could be an accident, it could be a botched operation, it could be a death in the family, it could be anything are. , but all things come to us, that we may manage them well.”

She believes that suffering is a tool that God uses to teach us and help us understand how broken we are and how dependent we should be on Him.

READ MORE: JONI EARECKSON TADA explains how God ‘had a purpose’ for her paralysis

“I think suffering is just something that God uses to teach us who we are inside and how much we need change and transformation through His spirit…Suffering sandblasts us to the core and shows us that we are not the paragons of virtue are who we think we think we are,” Eareckson Tada said. “And that all of us, including myself, need to change.”

Eareckson Tada also encouraged her audience to continue their devotion to God day in and day out, rather than putting Him in a box and turning only to Him in times of trouble.

“Not to become mediocre about your Christian life, all plain and simple. Never walk out your front door after your quiet time and say, “Okay God, we’ve done our little thing together, but I’ve been to enough Bible studies, I’ve memorized enough Bible verses, I know the language a little bit. the country from here. So I’ll tell you what God, I’ll take it from here. But I will contact you if I need you,” she said. “And then you switch on the automatic cruise control. God resists us when we are like this. He’s standing up to the proud people, you know, the proud people who think, “I’ve got this figured out.” I know God and what He will be like.” And so He resists the proud. But He gives grace to the humble, and all the humble are people who wake up every morning in desperate need of Jesus.”

READ MORE: HOW GOD TURNED JONI EARECKSON TADA’S ADVERSITY INTO LIFE’S GREATEST GIFT

Eareckson Tada continues to see how God uses her disability to advance His kingdom through her ministry Joni & Friends.

Their mission? “To glorify God as we communicate the Gospel and mobilize the global church to evangelize, disciple, and serve people with disabilities.”

The foundation uses social media to encourage its followers.

“His purpose in redeeming us is not to make our lives happy, healthy, or free from problems. His goal is to make you more like Jesus,” Tada said in a recent Instagram post.

“If Jesus learned obedience through suffering, we are certainly not above our Master. God designed us for trials to make us more like Him! So today be strengthened and encouraged in your faith, and never let your trials trouble you.”