Not a Tour Guide

Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and I so appreciate that Jesus is really with me in my pain. When I’m hurting badly; when it’s so bad I want to take a chainsaw to cut out that pain, Jesus empathizes; I know He gets it; He understands it. He probably felt the same way in Hebrews chapter 5 where we are told that, “During the days of His life on earth, Jesus offered up prayers and petitions … ” – now get this – “… with fervent cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death.” Yet, even though He was heard, Jesus still went through a painful death. Look, your Savior is not a tour guide who escorts you through life, telling you, “Okay, watch out, here comes a hardship; now, here’s how to handle it; here’s how to endure pain.” Uh, uh. No. He walks, He journeys with you through the valleys. “Yea though I walk through that valley, I will fear no evil …”  – now this is the part I love – “… for Thou art with me.” Yep, Jesus is your Emmanuel, God is with you in every suffering.

© Joni and Friends

The Scars That Have Shaped Me:

How God Meets Us in Suffering

Twenty-one surgeries by age thirteen. Years in the hospital. Verbal and physical bullying from schoolmates. Multiple miscarriages as a young wife. The death of a child. A debilitating progressive disease. Riveting pain. Abandonment. Unwanted divorce.

Vaneetha Rendall Risner begged God for grace that would deliver her. But God offered something better: his sustaining grace.

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