A Prisoner Of Hope
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I am a prisoner of hope. I am a slave to hope. I simply must hope; I can’t help but hope; my suffering makes it so. And listen, I can’t live any other way in this wheelchair. I am in as much need of hope as I am each breath I take. Oh, my goodness – a life of total paralysis? Believe me, I can’t live without hope; I thrive on it. People whose suffering forces them to hope are people of Zechariah chapter 9. That passage is all about the coming of the Lord Jesus. And listen to what the Savior says; He says: “Return to your stronghold, oh prisoners of hope; [because] today I declare that I will restore to you double.” One day God’s gonna give me back double for all this pain and all my hardships!?
Oh, friend, it’s why I delight in being a prisoner of the Lord Jesus. He’s the one who makes me a prisoner of hope. So, thank God for your sufferings – let them force you to hope all the more in Jesus Christ.
