Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Shauna: This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Here's Joni to share the words to an old but timeless hymn.

Joni Eareckson Tada: It's one my mother used to sing all the time. Well, I should say I mostly remember her singing it when I was in the hospital shortly after my diving accident, the one in which I became paralyzed. When she was with me in my hospital room, feeding me lunch, dinner, helping me read books, she wouldn't sing out loud. She wouldn't sing the words. But then later, during breaks when she'd walk the hospital halls, I would hear these words as though they came straight from her heart. And she'd be singing:

"I do not know why oft around me

My hopes all shattered seem to be,

God's perfect plan I cannot see,

But someday I'll understand.

Someday He'll make it plain to me,

Someday when I His face shall see,

Someday from tears I shall be free,

For someday I will understand."

And I think you can understand why that hymn meant so much to her and now, years later, it means as much, if not more, to me. In fact, I'd love for you to watch my mother sing this hymn. I've posted a short video of Lindy Eareckson doing just that. All you've got to do is go to joniandfriends.org/radio when we're finished. I promise, if you are struggling to understand what God's doing, if your hopes seem to be all shattered over some great disappointment, you will really resonate with these words.

And speaking of the words, they were written by a man named Adam Geibel, a blind hymn writer who lost his son-in-law in a steel-working accident. The conveyor loaded with molten liquid steel jumped the track, spewed its contents everywhere. Geibel's son-in-law saw what was happening and literally threw himself like a shield in front of his coworkers. But in saving them, he lost his life.

And his father-in-law Adam was crushed and heartbroken at the thought that this precious young man, who had so much ahead of him, was now gone. But one day Geibel came out of his despair and said, "Without a doubt, the hardest thing I've ever had to face was not my blindness, but the tragedy of losing my son-in-law. I kept asking God why. Then last night, as I was praying about it, for I felt I could not go on any longer in this attitude, the Lord Himself seemed to be saying to me, 'Adam, someday you'll understand all about it, for someday I'll make it plain to you.'"

And with that, Adam sat down at the piano and wrote the words to this hymn. "Someday He'll make it plain to me, someday when I His face shall see, someday from tears I shall be free, for someday I shall understand."

Oh friend, one day you and I really will understand. We will see as plain as day. We will marvel at how every disappointment, every bizarre and twisted, unexplainable trial fit, and we will see how it fit perfectly. And then we will acknowledge that had it never happened, God's perfect plan could not have been accomplished. The Lord needed, the Lord required it, and we will with perfect eyes, thank God and say, "Yes. Yes, that painful thing, that awful thing really did fit into a marvelous pattern for great good and glory."

So hang on to Isaiah 65 where that wonderful day is described, a place of no more weeping, no memory of past troubles, only joy and gratitude at God's wisdom. And if you're struggling with a deep, unexplainable disappointment, remember someday from tears you will be free, for someday you'll understand, just like my mom. Listen to her for yourself today at joniradio.org.