Carried To The Table

When you’re in bed for a long time, you need people to carry you.          

And that’s so true. Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and when I was going through COVID, the hardest part was having to stay in bed. I didn’t want to be in bed. I wanted to be sitting up in my wheelchair so that I could breathe more easily. It was risky for me to be in bed because of my frail lungs. But the fact was, Ken was sicker than I was, and finding caregivers was nearly impossible. I had no one to get me bathed, do my routines, strap on my corset, get me dressed, sit me up in my wheelchair. And so for a few days, I stayed in bed. And there, I depended on a different “helper,” as it were. At night in bed and in the dark, God reminded me of his words in Isaiah chapter 46. Get this, he said: “I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Wow. I clung to that promise. In my heart, I held onto it for life and literal breath. And with every breath, I kept asking, “Lord Jesus, carry me. Just carry me through this. Just help me reach the other side, whether it is home with you in heaven, or whether I am to stay here and continue your work. Just carry me.”

For a quadriplegic like me, it’s a heartwarming assurance; it’s a wonderful feeling to know that somebody’s gonna carry you. And right now, I’m thinking back on another decade when I had to be in bed for a long time healing pressure sores. My husband back then could see that I was struggling – emotionally, spiritually – and so he surprised me with a most amazing gift – he rented a hospital gurney. He lifted me out of bed and carried me over to it, got me comfortable on it, and then wheeled me to our dining table for a fabulous dinner. It wasn’t a big fancy meal; not fabulous in that way. But after being in bed so long, it felt pretty fabulous to join my friends for a meal out in the dining room – even if I had to lie flat. Even if someone had to feed me. It was humbling, but that was okay; my heart was so grateful. Ken inasmuch “carried” me to the table.

And in Luke 14 Jesus talks about carrying people with disabilities to a different table. Taking them by the elbow, lifting them from their beds, pushing their wheelchairs, steadying their weak knees and feeble hands, carrying them to the table for a fabulous dinner. “Invite the disabled,” it says. “The lame and the blind,” Jesus says. People who cannot get there by themselves; people who, like me, need help. Wow, it’s a beautiful image, and it’s portrayed beautifully in a powerful video set to a lovely song called “Carried to the Table.” So go to my radio page after this, at joniradio.org, and I mean it, just be blessed, be encouraged, be carried by the words to this wonderful song, as well as by the images. My good friends at Faith Church in Dyer, Indiana created this stirring video set to a new song called “Carried to the Table.” You can see it today at joniradio.org, and please share it with your friends. But I warn you. Have a tissue ready, and be ready to thank the Lord for how he has carried you to his table. God does that. He does it all the time. He says so through the prophet Isaiah: “I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Wow, uplifting words for you today, right? So relax into the everlasting arms that will carry you through this week. And be grateful. And we’ll see you later at joniradio.org.

© Joni and Friends