Hi folks, I hope you have had a good week, this week we are meeting at The Crescent Club at 8.00pm, This weeks blog has been written by Angela, and we continue to look at the prayer lives of those who have gone before us. This week we think about Joni Eareckson Tada.
When she was just 17, Joni broke her spine in a diving accident. Leaving her paralysed from the shoulders down. Despite prayer, biblical rituals and an unswerving faith/belief in healing, healing never came.
Unsurprisingly Joni spent years battling depression, suicidal thoughts and doubts in her faith. In time Joni was able to find her purpose in life: bringing hope, comfort and advocacy to millions of people through her spoken testimony of not being healed. She also learned to paint by holding the brush with her teeth!
Many of us reading this week’s blog can relate on a personal level to struggles in our lives; be that mental, physical, relational, financial, addiction….. Or when situations out of our control have turned our lives and those of family and friends upside down.
Here are a few questions to ponder:
As a kid, what did you ask Santa for but not get and how did it make you feel?
Do you agree with all / some or none of this statement from the story about Joni- “God uses suffering to purge sin from our lives, strengthen our commitment to him, force us to depend on grace, bind us together with other believers, produce discernment, foster sensitivity, discipline our minds, spend out time wisely, stretch our hope, cause us to know Christ better, make us long for the truth, lead us to the repentance of sin, teach us to give thanks in times of sorrow, increase faith, and strengthen character.”
Has there been a time when you have been able to support someone because you too had been through as similar experience? Is it always helpful to share your own experience with someone who is struggling.
Peace, Angela
Angela is born and bred in the North East she loves working alongside and supporting vulnerable young adults. She also has a love of motorbikes, walking Ruby (that’s her dog) at the coast and eating cake.
