Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Guest (Female): Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Joni loves telling stories and sharing scriptures that underscore how God helps us through our suffering. And here she is now, reminding us that God understands.

Joni Eareckson Tada: I know you experience it all the time and I do too. In fact, I remember one time—it was a long time ago. I’d spent the week in Thailand speaking at an evangelism conference and we were to fly from Bangkok to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to do work among disabled people there. As we boarded our flight, I was just a little worried. My back and my hip had been hurting all morning and I knew this was going to be a 20-hour flight from Thailand to Ethiopia. I had never been on a 20-hour flight before and I privately dreaded the idea that I might not be able to get comfortable in the airplane seat.

Let me just say it was the longest, most painful flight I had ever been on. Obviously, I was unable to get up and walk the aisle. I could only ask my husband and my friend to keep shifting my position once in a while in the seat. "Pull up my hip there. Okay, now stretch out my leg there. Would you please stuff a pillow here? Okay, help me sit up straighter. No, maybe I should lay back more." Whatever I tried, nothing helped. My corset was digging into me and it felt as though knives were stabbing my back. Ken, bless his heart, tried his best to help and so did my traveling companion, but they could only do so much. Besides, it was the middle of the night and we were flying across the Indian Ocean, and they needed their sleep too.

With Ken snoring softly in the seat next to me and my friend napping on the other side of the aisle, I realized while wide awake there was nothing I could do. Nothing else to get comfortable. I glanced at my watch and we were only five hours into the 20-hour flight. My throat started to tighten when I felt panic begin to rise. But then I stopped myself. I decided not to try to fight the pain. Instead, I breathed slowly and deeply and made a conscious effort to slowly surrender every tense muscle in my neck and shoulders. In between breathing deeply I prayed, "Oh Jesus, others may not be able to help, but you are here. You are not asleep. Thank you for staying up with me. Thank you for helping me. I know you’re going to help me through this. I’m going to believe that I will make it with your help."

Jesus completely understood because He too once suffered. And when I relaxed into that powerful and beautiful truth, an indescribable blanket of peace settled over me. I knew I had entered another level deeper, down deeper into the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, just like it says in Philippians. And it meant I could endure. With God’s grace, I would be able to make it, all because Jesus made His presence on that plane as near as seat 3B next to me. The next thing I knew, the sun was up and we had arrived in Ethiopia.

When it comes to suffering that we feel we either can or cannot endure, Matthew chapter 10 says, "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher and the servant like his master." Friend, you may find yourself in a terrible affliction, but remember that Jesus did not exempt Himself from suffering like you but lived through it and learned from it. He gives you the grace to do the same.

Guest (Female): Friend, we'd love to hear from you on this. Come visit us at JoniRadio.org and tell us about how God saw you through an impossible time. Let's celebrate together that Jesus lived through hardship so that we might have the power to do the same.