Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Shauna: This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada sharing hope. Now, Joni, I know you have a friend, Linda, and you’ve known her since the early 1980s. I mean, you two go back a ways. For as long as you’ve known her, Linda has suffered from the effects of serious toxic poisoning.

Joni Eareckson Tada: That’s right. It happened when Linda worked in a research lab, and long-term she was exposed to a number of bacterial and biological hazards. As a result, she developed chronic inflammatory disease and autoimmune issues that have affected virtually all her internal organs.

Linda’s environmental illness has made her severely allergic to all sorts of chemicals: deodorants, scented candles, laundry detergent, perfume—you name it. So she lives a very isolated life way out in the country with her sister and friend. I do not recall a time when Linda has not been sick. This woman is constantly under medical treatment for one thing or another.

But make no mistake, this sister in Christ is not one to complain. Linda knows that the God of the Bible is in control. Every once in a while, though, Linda, like anyone, forgets what her focus should be. In fact, here is what she emailed me today.

She wrote, "Joni, last week was so discouraging. I reacted badly to the infusion of antibodies. I was shaking cold with a severe headache, trouble breathing, erratic blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, and great weakness. After multiple injections of Benadryl, I was out cold for several hours.

"But actually, I was out of it all week long and developed a mouthful of painful ulcers that made eating and talking difficult. Obviously, this is not the gammaglobulin product for me. Do I keep seeking another treatment, or do I stop trying?

"But after reading and rereading Philippians chapter three this week, often in the middle of another sleepless night, I realized the prize I should have been seeking is to be like Christ in all this, not to be free of ailments. I should strive for His nature, not my ease and comfort. I had to confess to the Lord that I had been seeking the wrong prize, and I was wrong to reckon this week as another waste."

Wow, that is some email, right? I want you to know that Linda is an exemplary believer in Jesus. Like I said, she never complains, and she normally would never say that her week was a waste. But what she confessed here, I think it proves her maturity in Christ.

It is natural to try everything you can to relieve pain and discomfort. But obviously, Linda was seeking it so hard, she wanted so much relief, that when it did not come, she collapsed into discouragement. For her, that was proof enough that she had been seeking the wrong prize.

Of course, her example made me look back over the week to examine my own heart. How many times did I strive for something more earnestly than I did for Christ? What prize was more important than the prize of knowing my Savior better?

Now, I don’t know if Linda’s story spoke to you like it did to me, but the whole point can be summed up in Philippians chapter three, where Paul says, "Brothers, I do not consider myself as becoming perfect or complete in Christ, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of that upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Shauna: Well, hearing this, Joni, makes me want to consciously reach forward to what lies ahead. I want to press on toward the goal for which God has called me heavenward. I want to focus on the prize, not the earthly one, but on the eternal one: the prize of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord better. I just bet next week, listening friend, you’d like to do the same.