Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Shana: This is Shana on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Today, Joni has some wonderful words of wisdom from her friend, Paul David Tripp.

Joni Eareckson Tada: The reason you'll often hear me quote him is because he, like me and like many of us, suffers with chronic pain. Paul David Tripp is so realistic about it, though. He doesn't try to sugarcoat it. Recently, this is what he wrote:

Paul David Tripp: Suffering can be so hard for us. The pain, whether physical, emotional, relational, or spiritual, can be hard and life-dominating. It will greet you in the morning, nag you throughout the day, and pull the last groan out of you before you fitfully sleep, assuming you can sleep at all.

All this pain tempts you to spend too much time and energy wishing for what once was and craving what others have that you have lost. It is as if life has winners and losers, and you are on the losing team. You might not be aware of it, but your suffering, the pain it produces, and your envy of others will lock you into a view of life that has a disastrous past and a painful present, but is functionally without a future.

Have you ever felt as if what is will always be? That's an understandable emotion in the moment of frustration, grief, and suffering, but it is fundamentally unbiblical. It is vital to understand, to believe with all your heart, and to preach to yourself again and again that what is will not always be.

The biblical story is not an endlessly repeated cycle. It has a perfect beginning, a dark and painful middle, and a glorious end. There is a bright light in that dark and painful middle, and the bright light comes in the form of the only perfect man who ever lived. He came as the second Adam to succeed where the first Adam failed.

He won an eternal victory on a criminal's cross for you. When you are in pain, this tells you that you are on the winning team. His victory is your victory, and that victory guarantees that the pain that now seems inescapable, you will not have to live with forever.

Thousands of years into eternity, as you are living in a perfect world that has been made new in every way, you will look back on what now seems unbearable and inescapable as a brief flash of difficulty. There will be a day when you will look back at today, and it will look like a little thing.

Joni Eareckson Tada: I love those words by Paul Tripp, because I know they are words honed out of much pain and discomfort. I do not know this for sure, but I just bet that one of his favorite Bible verses is from 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

In light of all that's been said, therefore, do not lose heart. Though our outward self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Oh friend, it is when things are at their darkest, it is when pain is at its worst, that the light of Jesus shines even more brightly. Eternity assures you that you are not cursed with having less, but you are guaranteed gloriously more than you could ever imagine, if you would but trust Jesus, the light of the world, in your moments of darkness.

Shana: Listening friend, if you need more encouragement when it comes to dealing with pain, visit joniradio.org today and ask for your free gift. It's an amazing little booklet written by Joni called *Pain and Providence*, and you can get your copy for free at joniradio.org.

We also know that you might need prayer about all of this because chronic pain is not easy. Let us hear from you today at joniradio.org, especially if you need prayer.