Radio: Words to Sustain the Weary
It was the summer of 1981 and I had been confined to bed for weeks, trying to heal up a stubborn pressure sore. I heard a knock on my door and immediately I knew who it was. Top executives from Ambassador Agency had asked to meet with me (Ambassador Agency is a media group that works in Christian radio).
I couldn’t imagine why they wanted to meet with me.
Keeping in mind the realities of my pressure sore, I scheduled our appointment in my bedroom, where I could continue my strict bed rest. As you can imagine, the whole scenario felt awkward! But, well… ‘awkwardness’ often attends things surrounding a disability.
From my bed I welcomed in Al Sanders and Jon Campbell. Dressed in suits and ties, they pulled up their chairs close to my bed, opened our time in prayer, and then shared the purpose of their visit.
They had been reading my books and listening to my messages, and they wanted me to consider going on the radio.
I tried to lift my head off the pillow to say, “What? You want me to… what?”
Lying there in my pajamas, I had a hard time picturing their vision; I couldn’t imagine my message going anywhere beyond the four walls of my bedroom, but Al and Jon enthusiastically believed that what God had been teaching me in my suffering could have a huge impact on radio listeners.
They explained how many people who tune into Christian radio—though they may not struggle with quadriplegia—are still fighting discouragement, depression, pain, and loss… just like me. Al and Jon were certain that Jesus would encourage many through me, a broken vessel.
“You have suffered, and you have suffered well, Joni,” they said. “People need to hear an authentic voice of encouragement. They want to learn from someone who has experienced tough challenges, someone who has searched the Bible for answers and has applied them,” they assured.
I was willing to give it a try. But my immediate thought was, “Yes, I’ve learned a lot from my wheelchair and years of studying God’s Word, but will it be enough to fill five minutes every day?!” I was certain I would run out of things to say after a handful of months!
That conversation with Al and Jon was decades ago, and my first radio program aired in May 1982. To my amazement, so many years later, I am still sharing fresh lessons from this wheelchair and from the Word of God.
For sure, there have been changes—for one, I’m no longer recording from a closet! But for all these years, one of my greatest joys has been to keep passing on the heart-pumping, faith-strengthening insights I have gleaned in the decades I’ve lived as a quadriplegic.
Most of my friends say that I have ‘the spiritual gift of encouragement.’ And they are right.
It has been a blessing, an honor, to be able to exercise my Spirit-sent gift to help people grasp the comfort and courage that can be found in the Word of God.
Perhaps others write down what they learn in their journal, but I write what I’ve learned for each radio program.
I’ve always considered these radio programs as ‘my treasure trove of biblical insights that speak strength, courage, and comfort into the hearts of his children.’ That’s why, every radio recording session, I happily park my wheelchair in front of the microphone.
Isaiah 50:4 says, “The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”
God, the all-time great Encourager, keeps waking my ear to his life-giving words. They sustain me and, in turn, I pass on those life-giving insights ‘over the air’ to bless others.
Looking back on that long-ago summer day in my bedroom, never could I have imagined the journey God would take me on. When the Ambassador Agency executives left the room that day, shutting the door behind them, I immediately went to prayer, trying to imagine what a radio ministry would look like. And here we are, so many decades later, celebrating the Savior who always tenderly reveals himself in our suffering. I keep looking forward to what ministry God still has for me.
It seems, as never before, people are hungry for a robust, honest view of suffering from a biblical perspective.
They are looking for hope in their hardship. And I see the few brief minutes I have on air as a vehicle to help listeners learn how to live—and live well—in a world of pain and affliction.
So thanks for listening, friend. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don’t miss a single day of encouragement. And onward and upward as together we keep our ears tuned to God’s life-giving words.
-Joni Eareckson Tada
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