The Crown of Life
Face your pain head-on, embrace the cup God gives you and instead of resisting it, choose to trust that through your suffering, your faith will shine through as a powerful testimony.
Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Joni has some very encouraging words about suffering for us today.
Joni Eareckson Tada: Over the years I have made a list of people I pray for, people who live with chronic pain. Bless their hearts. Some of them have degenerative disc disease, severe fibromyalgia. Two women have complex regional pain syndrome, and a few men have a lot of hardware and screws and rods in their back from former surgeries.
After a year or so of praying for these individuals, I realized that they all needed to meet each other. They needed to hear each other's stories and get to know each other because they all have encouraging things to say. And so, I started a private pain pal page on Facebook. Now, you have got to understand that some of these people were clueless about Facebook. They didn't want their stories to be out there for all to see, but I assured them that this page had private settings.
Over the last few months, these pain pals have been posting not only their prayer requests—upcoming surgeries and questions about pain management—but they've been posting wonderful quotations from saints of old and scriptures. I tell you, I love visiting this page when I am in pain, just to read the latest insights someone has gleaned from God's Word. The other day I was reading a post by a pain pal named Rica. Rica is virtually bedridden with pain and suffers daily with it. She has so for years.
Although Rica lives all the way over in South Africa, it feels like she's so nearby because of Facebook. The Bible verse that she used to describe herself was from John Chapter 18, verse 11, where Jesus says, "The cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" What a statement of humility and acceptance. Rica understands that her painful disability is from her heavenly Father's hand, and so drink it she must, willingly, as from the heart.
That spoke so powerfully to me. Rica then shared a few insights on that verse from Dr. Charles Parkhurst. He explains that it was a greater thing for Jesus to say and do that than to calm the seas or raise the dead. He wrote, "Prophets and apostles could work wondrous miracles, but they could not always do and suffer the will of God. To do and suffer God's will is still the highest form of faith, the most sublime Christian achievement."
"To have the brightest aspirations of a young life forever blasted, to bear a daily burden, never congenial, and to see no relief, to be fettered by some incurable physical disability, to be able to say in such a school of discipline, the cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it? This is faith at its highest. Great faith is exhibited not so much in the ability to do as in the ability to suffer." To do and suffer God's will is Rica's calling.
It is her highest form of faith, her most sublime Christian achievement. Hers is a ministry of suffering. James Chapter 1, verse 12, is in her sights where it says, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial because when he has stood the test, he'll receive the crown of life that God has promised to all those who love him." The crown of life is Rica's for sure.
Friend, the Father has given you a cup, and I hope and pray that you can drink it without complaining. Can you? Will you? If you know others who are facing the same pain and hurt that you are, then you think about starting your own pain pal page on Facebook. It would be a true ministry of suffering, helping others do God's will through their suffering, something that your Savior did for you.
Featured Offer
Drawing on decades of personal experience, including her own journey through paralysis, loss, and chronic pain, Joni speaks with both compassion and conviction. Each short reading invites reflection, prayer, and renewed trust in God’s presence even when life’s circumstances feel overwhelming.
“When life hurts, our faith can feel fragile but God’s love remains unshaken,” Joni writes. Keeping Faith When Life Hurts helps readers anchor their hearts in Scripture and discover strength not in denial of pain but in confident dependence on God.
Past Episodes
Featured Offer
Drawing on decades of personal experience, including her own journey through paralysis, loss, and chronic pain, Joni speaks with both compassion and conviction. Each short reading invites reflection, prayer, and renewed trust in God’s presence even when life’s circumstances feel overwhelming.
“When life hurts, our faith can feel fragile but God’s love remains unshaken,” Joni writes. Keeping Faith When Life Hurts helps readers anchor their hearts in Scripture and discover strength not in denial of pain but in confident dependence on God.
About Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope
Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope is a broadcast ministry of Joni and Friends committed to bringing the Gospel and practical help to people impacted by disability around the world. Joni and Friends has been advancing disability ministry for over 40 years. Their mission to glorify God, communicate the Gospel and mobilize the global church to evangelize, disciple and serve people living with disability answers the call found in Luke 14 to “bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame… so that my house will be full.”
About Joni Eareckson Tada
Joni Eareckson Tada is an esteemed Christian stateswoman and respected global leader in disability advocacy. Although a 1967 diving accident left her a quadriplegic, she emerged from rehabilitation with a determination to help others with similar disabilities. Mrs. Tada serves as CEO of Joni and Friends, a Christian organization which provides programs and services for thousands of special-needs families around the world. President Reagan appointed Mrs. Tada to the National Council on Disability, then reappointed by President George H.W. Bush. During her tenure, the ADA was passed and signed into law. Mrs. Tada served as advisor to Condoleezza Rice on the Disability Advisory Committee to the U.S. State Department. She served as Senior Associate for Disability Concerns for the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. The Colson Center on Christian Worldview awarded Joni Tada its prestigious William Wilberforce Award, and she was also inducted into
Indiana Wesleyan University’s Society of World Changers.
Joni Eareckson Tada has been awarded several honorary degrees, including Doctor of Humanities from Gordon College and Doctor of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary. She is an effective communicator, sharing her inspirational message in books, through artwork, radio, and other media. Joni Tada served as General Editor of the Beyond Suffering Bible, a special edition published by Tyndale for people affected by disability. Joni and her husband Ken were married in 1982 and reside in Calabasas, California.
Contact Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope with Joni Eareckson Tada
Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope
PO Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376-3333
818-707-5664