Advice for Chloe
Do you ever feel like God is piling on just a little too much?
Well hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and I sure have felt that way. And so has my friend, Chloe. Her disability does not have her in a wheelchair, but due to a tough battle against cancer in her throat and face, Chloe has a difficult time speaking. Plus her jaw and mouth are very disfigured, and she struggles so with pain. Recently she shared, “Joni, I’m just feeling the need to send out an S.0.S. right now. You know that I trusted the Lord through all of this, but lately I’m so discouraged. My voice is so mutated that people cannot understand me and it makes me feel so different, so separated from everyone else. Sometimes I feel like I just can’t take it anymore. I just needed an encouraging word from a fellow soldier in the trenches. So, I’m praying for you, too, Joni. I know it’s getting harder and harder for you to breathe and you are in a bunch of pain. So, I lift you up before the throne of grace today, also.”
I know Chloe well, and I am fully convinced this young woman is a real champion for Christ. But no matter how valiantly we fight the good fight, we all get weary; we all need an encouraging word now and then. And so, I replied to my friend. I said, “Chloe, I am so very sorry to learn that the encroachments of your disability are affecting your speech more! Being able to communicate is so key; many of my nonverbal friends who have cerebral palsy, they say the same. Believe me, Chloe, I know what you mean when you say: ‘You just can’t take it anymore.’ It happens to me when pain in my hip and back drive me to the edge, and then, God often allows some other difficulty that’ll push me off that edge! It makes me feel so helpless.
“But time and again when I feel as though I am falling backward, tumbling over and over, down-for-the-count and decimated, I feel the everlasting arms of Jesus catch me, just like it says in Deuteronomy, Chapter 33: ‘The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.’ Oh Chloe, aren’t you glad for that? Whoever said that ‘God will never give you more than you can bear’ had it completely wrong. God WILL give you more than you can bear, all to the end that you might even collapse and fall against Christ, casting ourselves upon Him, utterly lacking an ounce of strength to go on. What happens next is a quiet assurance (what do you know?), you will make it. His strength becomes yours, and lo and behold, you are even enjoying a more intimate fellowship of suffering with your Savior.”
Friend, that’s what I shared with Chloe, and I share it with you today. But if, if you feel like God is unjust piling on more than you can bear, well I have a great little booklet I want to send you today. It’s my gift to you, and it’s called “When God Seems Unjust.” Honestly, I can understand those feelings, when you can’t take anymore. And I would love to send you this great little booklet. Just go to joniandfriends.org/radio and ask for your free copy of “When God Seems Unjust.”
Finally, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by trials, remember what Jesus said in Matthew, Chapter 24: “He who endures to the end shall be saved.” So, friend, keep enduring. Keep persevering. And if you feel pushed over the edge, oh, fall into the everlasting arms of your Savior because He’s there to catch you, and He will never let you go. He will hold on and see you all the way to the end. Hey friend, at Joni and Friends we’d like to pray for you. So share with us your thoughts and your prayer needs at joniandfriends.org.
© Joni and Friends
