{"id":301853,"date":"2009-07-02T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-02T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/a-theology-of-suffering\/"},"modified":"2009-07-02T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-02T15:00:00","slug":"a-theology-of-suffering","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/a-theology-of-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"A Theology of Suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What can we learn from those who have disabilities?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2009-07-02.mp3","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:","filesize":"14.93M","filesize_raw":"15658803","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2847,2822],"tags":[4932,2605,2216],"podcast_series":[],"cwp_profile":[9093],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-301853","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-death-and-dying","category-growing-in-your-faith","tag-difficulty","tag-sickness","tag-suffering","cwp_profile-joni-eareckson-tada","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/301853\/a-theology-of-suffering","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/301853\/a-theology-of-suffering","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"y3WCA7RQ6h\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/a-theology-of-suffering\/\">A Theology of Suffering<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/a-theology-of-suffering\/embed\/#?secret=y3WCA7RQ6h\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;A Theology of Suffering&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"y3WCA7RQ6h\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"spectra_custom_meta":{"_wp_page_template":["default"],"transcript_url":["https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2009-07-02.pdf"],"audio_file":["https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2009-07-02.mp3"],"transcript_content":["<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Joni:<\/strong>\u00a0 Disability ministry is a ministry of redemption, if the cross can be redeemed from a symbol of torture, to a symbol of hope and life, then a wheelchair can be redeemed from a symbol of confinement, for that which represents a close and an intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 This is <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> for Thursday, July 2nd.\u00a0 Our host is the President of FamilyLife Dennis Rainey and I\u2019m Bob Lepine.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tJust as it is a redemptive work to care for the needs of the disabled, so also there is redemptive work going on in suffering. Stay tuned.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAndwelcome to <em>FamilyLife Today,<\/em> thanks for joining us on the Thursday edition.\u00a0 You know if you needed someone to coach you through a season of suffering, and all of us need someone like that from time to time.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 We do.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Because we go through those seasons.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 But there are not many people as uniquely qualified to help us navigate the hard path as the person we are going to hear from today.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s right, Joni Eareckson Tada is going to be our guest on <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>. Actually, as the CEO and founder of Joni and Friends, she gave a message, Bob, at Dallas Theological Seminary, my alma mater, at chapel. We thought it was so good that we\u2019d share it with our listeners.\u00a0 In fact, they thought it was so good at Dallas Seminary that they have actually introduced a class that will begin this fall that\u2019s called the Theology of Suffering.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s at the heart of the message we are going to hear today.\u00a0 For those who don\u2019t know, when Joni was seventeen years old, she was vacationing with her family in the Chesapeake Bay.\u00a0 She dove into the water and hit her head, and as a result was left a quadriplegic.\u00a0 She has been in a wheelchair ever since, and she has been a marvelous ambassador for Christ.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 As she has demonstrated joy in the midst of her trial.\u00a0 Here is Joni Eareckson Tada.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Joni:<\/strong><strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>The elder of our church, an elder, Greg Barshaw, at Grace Community Church in Southern California received a phone call one day.\u00a0 It was from a pastor, down the road, and this pastor called Greg frequently they often had Bible study times together, times of coffee in the morning.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThis pastor asked Greg, \u201cGreg, I have a family who has been coming to my church and I\u2019m wondering if your church would want to take on this family and embrace them in a special way.\u00a0\u00a0 I think that your church could specifically meet their needs.\u00a0 This is a family with a little boy with multiple disabilities and I just think that your congregation could best embrace this mom and dad and\u00a0 young boy, what do you say to that?\u201d \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Well, Greg thought it was a good idea, he would be happy to reach out to this particular family, but then, when he pressed the pastor further, he realized that there were more issues underlying there than just what met the eye.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd finally, the pastor on the other end said, \u201cWell, to be honest, Greg, if you want to be truthful here, I\u2019m just so afraid that one day that dad is going to walk into my study, he\u2019s going to clench his fist, he\u2019s going to slam it on my desk and tell me, you tell me why God has cursed me with this son.\u00a0 My son, with multiple disabilities.\u00a0 How is it that God has done this?\u201d\u00a0 I cannot and I would not know how to answer him.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAt that point, Gregg realized that this man had an issue, a tough issue with the theology of suffering and how it was that he was going to be able to address that family\u2019s needs.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI can understand that pastor\u2019s fear.\u00a0 God\u2019s sovereignty is sometimes a very scary thing.\u00a0 Sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night, even as I do right now with chronic pain that I am dealing with, somewhat related to my disability.\u00a0 And often we tend to think, who is this God, who are you, I mean does He say into this, into each life a little rain must fall and then aim a hose at earth\u2019s general direction and see who gets the wettest?\u00a0\u00a0 Laughter\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI\u2019m serious.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I thought when I was first injured. I thought that my spinal cord injury, when I took that deep dive into shallow water, I thought it was a flip of a coin.\u00a0 I thought it was a fluke of fate and I thought if God had anything to do with it, I imagined that he had been caught off guard.\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tPerhaps he was off somewhere listening to the prayers of more obedient saints.\u00a0 I figured maybe he was off somewhere in the Middle East fulfilling prophecy, (laughter) or maybe he was listening to prayers of people with cancer. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0I didn\u2019t know where God was, but I knew he wasn\u2019t on that raft when I took that dive.\u00a0 I figured that Satan probably was the one who came sneaking up behind me while God had His back turned, and Satan gave a big hard shove with his foot and off I took that dive.\u00a0 And then God turned around and when he saw what had happened it was one of these \u201coh my goodness,\u201d \u201coh, man.\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHow am I going to fix this thing up for this girl\u2019s good and My glory?\u00a0 And then I imagined God had to go get His WD-40 and His fixit glue and come back and scratch His head and try and figure out how He was going to fix it up for my good and His glory.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI figured God had been caught off guard while Satan threw a monkey wrench into His plans for my life.\u00a0 A view like that may have been the view of a seventeen year-old girl lying on a striker frame frustrated,\u00a0 frightened, embittered, but a view like that shows God as helpless and as much held hostage by my handicap as I was, as I felt.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI realized, although I was only 17, God had to be bigger than that.\u00a0 He had to be bigger than that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNow, I had enough sense to know, that the Bible probably contained answers for my plight somewhere squeezed between the pages, but I had no idea where to look.\u00a0 I had no idea where to turn.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAfter I got out of the hospital, a young man knocked on my door, he was a sophomore from the local high school where I had graduated just a couple of years earlier.\u00a0 He knew I had some tough questions about God.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t have all the answers, but he said he was willing to help me in a Bible study, and he would assist me in tackling the tough questions about, why did this happen?\u00a0 Is it God\u2019s will?\u00a0 What is the relationship between God and the devil?\u00a0 And when he told me he would be willing to do that, I tell you what, the first thing I did was sit him down and ask him straight on, how can this be God\u2019s will?\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI mean, just a year earlier, Steve, I told him, that was his name, Steve Estes, just a year earlier I had prayed that God would draw me closer to Him, and how can this be an answer to that prayer. I mean if this is the way God treats His believers, especially young believers, He\u2019s never going to be trusted with another prayer again.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHow can any of this be God\u2019s will?\u00a0 That was a good question.\u00a0 It was a good question, 40 years ago when I broke my neck, and it is a good question now.\u00a0 Perhaps some of you are asking the same, it is what many people in our churches are asking and they don\u2019t have broken necks.\u00a0 Some of them have broken hearts.\u00a0 They have broken homes, well, welcome to the theology of suffering and disability and the church because I\u2019m not going to skate on the surface this morning.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tMy questions really are get down and get dirty and they are gut wrenching.\u00a0 I mean think of the times when suffering has ripped into your sanity leaving you numb and bleeding and you, too, ask, \u201cGod, can this be Your will?\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSteve said a very wise thing to me, he said, \u201cLook, Joni, think of Jesus Christ, I mean there you\u2019ve got the most god-forsaken man who ever lived. And if we can find answers for His life, they should be able to suffice for your life.\u00a0 So, Joni, let me turn your question around, do you think it was God\u2019s will for Jesus to suffer as He did?\u00a0\u00a0 Do you think it was His will for Jesus to go to the cross?\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWell, I thought, that\u2019s a stupid question, of course, it\u2019s God\u2019s will for Jesus to go to the cross.\u00a0 And then he said something curious, he said, \u201cWell, I want you to look at all the awful things that happened to Jesus on that cross.\u00a0 I mean, no doubt it was the devil who inspired Judas Iscariot to hand over the Savior for a mere 30 pieces of silver.\u00a0 And no doubt is was Pontius Pilate, Satan probably prodded him to hand down mock justice in order to gain political popularity.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd no doubt it was the devil who inspired that mob to scream for Christ\u2019s crucifixion on the streets.\u00a0 And no doubt it was the devil who pushed the drunken soldiers to torture Jesus in the last hours of His life down here on this earth.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHow can any of that be God\u2019s will?\u00a0 Treason, injustice, murder, torture.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 He had me there.\u00a0 Because I could not conceive of those things being part of God\u2019s will.\u00a0 But then Steve did an interesting thing, he flipped open to Acts 4:28 and he read this special verse.\u00a0 \u201cThese men did (that is Judas Iscariot, and Pontius Pilate, the mob in the streets and the drunken soldiers) these men did what God\u2019s power and will had decided beforehand should happen.\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd the world\u2019s worst murder suddenly becomes the world\u2019s only salvation.\u00a0 \u201cJoni,\u201d my friend Steve said to me, and I\u2019ve never forgotten his words,\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGod permits what he hates, to accomplish that which he loves. And heaven and hell can end up participating in the exact same event, but for different reasons.\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tEphesians 1:11 puts it plainly.\u00a0 \u201cGod works all things according to the council of His will.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019ve found strange comfort in that thought.\u00a0 God reached down into the worst kind of evil and I think is was Dorothy Sayers who said \u201cHe wrenched out of evil, positive good for us and glory for himself.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIn other words, He redeems it, He redeems it. And that\u2019s the only reason I can sit up in front of you here today and smile, because I know God redeems our suffering.\u00a0 The God of life is the only one, who could conquer death by embracing it, and so, death no longer has a victory and neither does suffering.\u00a0 Christ is giving it meaning, not only for our salvation, but our sanctification and that\u2019s the best part.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd it speaks to me so powerfully and tells me I\u2019m no longer alone in my hardship.\u00a0\u00a0 My disability is not a flip of a coin.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a fluke of fate.\u00a0 I\u2019m not in the middle of some divine cosmic accident.\u00a0 No, my suffering can be redeemed.\u00a0 Oh, the wonder of such a thought, that it\u2019s all for my salvation and for my sanctification.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo, God, bless His heart, will often permit suffering, as He\u2019s allowing in my life even now after 40 years of quadriplegia, with my chronic pain and shortness of breath.\u00a0 God will permit that broken heart.\u00a0 God will permit that broken home.\u00a0 God will permit that broken neck, and suffering then becomes like a sheepdog.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tEven in my life, now it\u2019s like a sheepdog snapping at my heels, driving me down the road to Calvary where otherwise I might not naturally be inclined to go. He\u2019s the one who takes suffering like a jackhammer and breaks apart my rocks of resistance.\u00a0 He takes the chisel of the pain and the bite of hardship and chips away at my pride, and then we are driven to the cross by the overwhelming conviction that we just ain\u2019t got nowhere else to go. We have nowhere else to go but to the cross, and this is how suffering aids us.\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBecause nobody is naturally drawn to the cross, our flesh is not inclined to go there; our human instincts do not lead us there.\u00a0 And this may well be the most important reason every church needs a disability ministry in its congregation.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBecause when you leave here from Dallas Theological Seminary, you are going to encounter people with disabilities.\u00a0 And they like no other population are driven to the cross by the overwhelming conviction that they just aint got no place else to go.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThat\u2019s eventually what happened to that father of that little boy with multiple disabilities, my friend, Greg Barshaw, counseled with.\u00a0 He ended up realizing that this was the very thing that God allowed in his life. He brought this child into their family life so that that family might be united around the cross of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo that they might find help in time of need.\u00a0 God shares his joy on his terms and those terms call for us, to in some measure, suffer as His precious son suffered when he was here on earth.\u00a0 And the union and the sweetness of intimacy with the Savior just can\u2019t be beat.\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo disability ministry is not a, off-to-the-side, nice, sweet ministry to pitiable, poor unfortunates, who need our help.\u00a0 No, rather, disability ministry is an in-your-face vehicle to showcase these valuable lessons I\u2019ve been sharing from God\u2019s word.\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIt\u2019s an in-your-face vehicle to showcase redemption to everyone, everyone in the church.\u00a0 Helping us to learn how to respond to our own afflictions as well as helping us to understand God\u2019s motives in our suffering.\u00a0 Because maybe when my accident happened, maybe the devil\u2019s motive was to shipwreck the faith of that young seventeen year old girl.\u00a0 Maybe it was to use her to make a mockery out of God\u2019s goodness.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tMaybe it was to defame His sweet character, but remember God is in the business of aborting devilish schemes, always to serve his own ends and his own purposes.\u00a0 And God\u2019s motive in my accident was to abort that devilish scheme and turn a headstrong, stubborn, rebellious teenager into a young woman, oh my goodness, young woman, I\u2019m going to be 60 this year, I can\u2019t believe it. Into a woman who can reflect something of His patience, something of His perseverance, something of endurance, something of His character. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd after 40 years in a wheelchair, I can say that my own suffering has lifted me up out of my spiritual slumber, it\u2019s gotten me seriously thinking about the Lordship of Christ in my life.\u00a0 Its helped convinced the skeptical, cynical world that my God is worth trusting.\u00a0 I am loyal to him despite my affliction and infirmity.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThe disability ministry should have priority in the church.\u00a0 That heaven is real and so is hell.\u00a0 And my suffering has shown me that there are more important things in life than walking and using your hands.\u00a0 Most of all, it has shown me that Jesus Christ, the man of sorrows, saves and sanctifies, always through suffering and the thing is, the wonderful part is, you don\u2019t have to break your neck to believe it.\u00a0 God bless you and thank you for listening.\u00a0 (audience applause)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong><strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>Well, that of course, is Joni Eareckson Tada speaking at a chapel service at Dallas Theological Seminary, and far be it from me to correct Joni, but I do think that in order to believe the gospel that she is talking about, our stiff necks do have to be broken.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd, in fact, I was thinking about the disability that all of us, I don\u2019t even know that I want to call it a disability, the rebellion that all of us foster and God\u2019s goodness to break our stiff necks so that we can bow our knees before him\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis: <\/strong>\u00a0Yes, and as she was talking, Bob, I was thinking about a couple of verses in First Peter chapter 4.\u00a0 The first one is in verse 16, this is really true of Joni, \u201cyet if any one suffers as a Christian, let him or her not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.\u201d\u00a0 She\u2019s really done that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, she has.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 For 43 years she has honored God through her affliction and then a little bit later on in the same chapter, verse 19, I think she demonstrates this as well \u201ctherefore let those who suffer according to God\u2019s will, entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.\u201d\u00a0 You know she has demonstrated a life that\u2019s honored God.\u00a0 A life of faith.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd she has also demonstrated a life that\u2019s purposeful.\u00a0 I mean, she\u2019s put over 50,000 wheelchairs in the hands of people who have no ability to get around in less fortunate areas of the world.\u00a0 Her ministry reaches throughout the United States.\u00a0\u00a0 She has been a model of not allowing a handicap or a disability to hinder her from doing God\u2019s work\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 We don\u2019t know what the apostle Paul\u2019s thorn in the flesh was that he talks about in 2<sup>nd<\/sup>\u00a0 Corinthians, chapter 12, we think it may have been some kind of a physical disability, and Paul, says he asked God to take it from him three times.\u00a0 And God said in response, \u201cMy grace is sufficient, in your weakness I am made strong.\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd I think that\u2019s what we\u2019ve seen happen in Joni Eareckson Tada\u2019s life and I think it gives us all hope in the midst of our own struggle with whatever the issue is that may be besetting us.\u00a0 It may be a physical disability, it may be some temptation that plagues us, it may be circumstances of life that have left us feeling stressed or oppressed, or beaten down.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBut in the midst of that, God gives grace so that in our weakness, he is made strong.\u00a0 The message we\u2019ve listened to from Joni today is available online.\u00a0 In fact, we\u2019ve got a link on our website at FamilyLifeToday.com.\u00a0 You can view this message as Joni presented it at the Dallas Theological Seminary chapel back in February of this year.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tFollow the link when you go to FamilyLifeToday.com and it will take you to the page where you can view the chapel service.\u00a0 In fact, many of Dallas Seminary\u2019s chapel services are available online.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the great services that the seminary provides from which all of us are able to benefit. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0I also encourage you when you do stop by our website, FamilyLifeToday.com find out more about the book that your wife Barbara and your daughter Rebecca have finished writing, called <em>A Symphony in the Dark: Hearing God\u2019s voice in Seasons of Grief<\/em>.\u00a0 In this book, Barbara and Rebecca recount the events of a year ago when Rebecca\u2019s daughter, Molly, was born and lived for seven days and how profoundly God ministered to all of you in the midst of that great tragedy.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThere is also information on our website about a very helpful book from Jerry Sittser called <em>A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss,<\/em> and that really describes Joni\u2019s experience of being disabled for more than 40 years.\u00a0 Again all of these resources can be found at FamilyLifeToday.com.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIf you are interested in getting a copy of either of these books and you\u2019d prefer to call us, our toll free number is 1-800-FLTODAY.\u00a0 1-800-358-6329. And when you get in touch with us, someone on the team will let you know how you can have the resources you need sent out to you.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tYou know in the midst of seasons of struggle, with suffering.\u00a0 One of the issues that we often have to wrestle with, in fact, it\u2019s an issue that Jerry Sittser talks about in his book, <em>A Grace Disguised <\/em>is the issue of forgiveness.\u00a0 We had an opportunity several months ago to sit down with Nancy Leigh DeMoss, the author and the speaker on the radio program \u201cRevive Our Hearts,\u201d and talk with her about this issue of forgiveness. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tShe\u2019s written a book called <em>Choosing Forgiveness. <\/em>\u00a0This month we would like to make this conversation with Nancy on the subject of forgiveness available as a way of saying thank you to those of you who are able to help support the ministry of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> with a donation of any amount.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tYou can donate online at FamilyLifeToday.com or you can donate by phone at 1-800-FLTODAY.\u00a0 If you are online, when you come to the key code box on the donation form, just type in the word \u201cforgive\u201d so we\u2019ll know to send a copy of the CD, or call 1-800-FLTODAY and you can make your donation by phone, just ask for a copy of the <em>Choosing Forgiveness<\/em> CD or the CD with Nancy Leigh DeMoss.\u00a0 Again we are happy to send it to you, and we do appreciate, especially here in the middle of summer, we very much appreciate your financial support of this ministry. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWell, tomorrow we are going to have the opportunity to eavesdrop on a conversation that took place between Barbara Rainey and a group of young wives and moms at a local church not long ago.\u00a0 We\u2019ll listen in as they interact, and I hope you can tune in for that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI want to thank our engineer today Keith Lynch and our entire broadcast production team on behalf of our host Dennis Rainey I\u2019m Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We will see you tomorrow for another edition of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHelp for today.\u00a0 Hope for tomorrow.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a9 2009 FamilyLife\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you.\u00a0 However, there is a cost to transcribe, create, and produce them for our website.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/site\/c.dnJHKLNnFoG\/b.3782043\/k.384D\/Support_Us.htm\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tCopyright \u00a9 FamilyLife.\u00a0 All rights reserved.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/\">www.FamilyLife.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>"],"_seopress_titles_title":[""],"_seopress_titles_desc":[""],"_seopress_robots_index":[""],"duration":["00:"],"show_notes":[""],"_thumbnail_id":["294104"],"filesize":["14.93M"],"filesize_raw":["15658803"],"_uag_css_file_name":["uag-css-301853.css"],"_uag_js_file_name":["uag-js-301853.js"],"_uag_page_assets":["a:9:{s:3:\"css\";s:82560:\".wp-block-uagb-container.uagb-block-e11dbe9f .uagb-container__shape-top svg{width: calc( 100% + 1.3px );}.wp-block-uagb-container.uagb-block-e11dbe9f .uagb-container__shape.uagb-container__shape-top .uagb-container__shape-fill{fill: rgba(51,51,51,1);}.wp-block-uagb-container.uagb-block-e11dbe9f .uagb-container__shape-bottom svg{width: calc( 100% + 1.3px );}.wp-block-uagb-container.uagb-block-e11dbe9f .uagb-container__shape.uagb-container__shape-bottom .uagb-container__shape-fill{fill: rgba(51,51,51,1);}.wp-block-uagb-container.uagb-block-e11dbe9f 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can we learn from those who have disabilities?","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2009-07-02.pdf","transcript_content":"<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Joni:<\/strong>\u00a0 Disability ministry is a ministry of redemption, if the cross can be redeemed from a symbol of torture, to a symbol of hope and life, then a wheelchair can be redeemed from a symbol of confinement, for that which represents a close and an intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 This is <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> for Thursday, July 2nd.\u00a0 Our host is the President of FamilyLife Dennis Rainey and I\u2019m Bob Lepine.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tJust as it is a redemptive work to care for the needs of the disabled, so also there is redemptive work going on in suffering. Stay tuned.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAndwelcome to <em>FamilyLife Today,<\/em> thanks for joining us on the Thursday edition.\u00a0 You know if you needed someone to coach you through a season of suffering, and all of us need someone like that from time to time.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 We do.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Because we go through those seasons.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 But there are not many people as uniquely qualified to help us navigate the hard path as the person we are going to hear from today.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s right, Joni Eareckson Tada is going to be our guest on <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>. Actually, as the CEO and founder of Joni and Friends, she gave a message, Bob, at Dallas Theological Seminary, my alma mater, at chapel. We thought it was so good that we\u2019d share it with our listeners.\u00a0 In fact, they thought it was so good at Dallas Seminary that they have actually introduced a class that will begin this fall that\u2019s called the Theology of Suffering.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s at the heart of the message we are going to hear today.\u00a0 For those who don\u2019t know, when Joni was seventeen years old, she was vacationing with her family in the Chesapeake Bay.\u00a0 She dove into the water and hit her head, and as a result was left a quadriplegic.\u00a0 She has been in a wheelchair ever since, and she has been a marvelous ambassador for Christ.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 As she has demonstrated joy in the midst of her trial.\u00a0 Here is Joni Eareckson Tada.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Joni:<\/strong><strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>The elder of our church, an elder, Greg Barshaw, at Grace Community Church in Southern California received a phone call one day.\u00a0 It was from a pastor, down the road, and this pastor called Greg frequently they often had Bible study times together, times of coffee in the morning.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThis pastor asked Greg, \u201cGreg, I have a family who has been coming to my church and I\u2019m wondering if your church would want to take on this family and embrace them in a special way.\u00a0\u00a0 I think that your church could specifically meet their needs.\u00a0 This is a family with a little boy with multiple disabilities and I just think that your congregation could best embrace this mom and dad and\u00a0 young boy, what do you say to that?\u201d \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0Well, Greg thought it was a good idea, he would be happy to reach out to this particular family, but then, when he pressed the pastor further, he realized that there were more issues underlying there than just what met the eye.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd finally, the pastor on the other end said, \u201cWell, to be honest, Greg, if you want to be truthful here, I\u2019m just so afraid that one day that dad is going to walk into my study, he\u2019s going to clench his fist, he\u2019s going to slam it on my desk and tell me, you tell me why God has cursed me with this son.\u00a0 My son, with multiple disabilities.\u00a0 How is it that God has done this?\u201d\u00a0 I cannot and I would not know how to answer him.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAt that point, Gregg realized that this man had an issue, a tough issue with the theology of suffering and how it was that he was going to be able to address that family\u2019s needs.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI can understand that pastor\u2019s fear.\u00a0 God\u2019s sovereignty is sometimes a very scary thing.\u00a0 Sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night, even as I do right now with chronic pain that I am dealing with, somewhat related to my disability.\u00a0 And often we tend to think, who is this God, who are you, I mean does He say into this, into each life a little rain must fall and then aim a hose at earth\u2019s general direction and see who gets the wettest?\u00a0\u00a0 Laughter\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI\u2019m serious.\u00a0 That\u2019s what I thought when I was first injured. I thought that my spinal cord injury, when I took that deep dive into shallow water, I thought it was a flip of a coin.\u00a0 I thought it was a fluke of fate and I thought if God had anything to do with it, I imagined that he had been caught off guard.\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tPerhaps he was off somewhere listening to the prayers of more obedient saints.\u00a0 I figured maybe he was off somewhere in the Middle East fulfilling prophecy, (laughter) or maybe he was listening to prayers of people with cancer. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0I didn\u2019t know where God was, but I knew he wasn\u2019t on that raft when I took that dive.\u00a0 I figured that Satan probably was the one who came sneaking up behind me while God had His back turned, and Satan gave a big hard shove with his foot and off I took that dive.\u00a0 And then God turned around and when he saw what had happened it was one of these \u201coh my goodness,\u201d \u201coh, man.\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHow am I going to fix this thing up for this girl\u2019s good and My glory?\u00a0 And then I imagined God had to go get His WD-40 and His fixit glue and come back and scratch His head and try and figure out how He was going to fix it up for my good and His glory.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI figured God had been caught off guard while Satan threw a monkey wrench into His plans for my life.\u00a0 A view like that may have been the view of a seventeen year-old girl lying on a striker frame frustrated,\u00a0 frightened, embittered, but a view like that shows God as helpless and as much held hostage by my handicap as I was, as I felt.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI realized, although I was only 17, God had to be bigger than that.\u00a0 He had to be bigger than that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNow, I had enough sense to know, that the Bible probably contained answers for my plight somewhere squeezed between the pages, but I had no idea where to look.\u00a0 I had no idea where to turn.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAfter I got out of the hospital, a young man knocked on my door, he was a sophomore from the local high school where I had graduated just a couple of years earlier.\u00a0 He knew I had some tough questions about God.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t have all the answers, but he said he was willing to help me in a Bible study, and he would assist me in tackling the tough questions about, why did this happen?\u00a0 Is it God\u2019s will?\u00a0 What is the relationship between God and the devil?\u00a0 And when he told me he would be willing to do that, I tell you what, the first thing I did was sit him down and ask him straight on, how can this be God\u2019s will?\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI mean, just a year earlier, Steve, I told him, that was his name, Steve Estes, just a year earlier I had prayed that God would draw me closer to Him, and how can this be an answer to that prayer. I mean if this is the way God treats His believers, especially young believers, He\u2019s never going to be trusted with another prayer again.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHow can any of this be God\u2019s will?\u00a0 That was a good question.\u00a0 It was a good question, 40 years ago when I broke my neck, and it is a good question now.\u00a0 Perhaps some of you are asking the same, it is what many people in our churches are asking and they don\u2019t have broken necks.\u00a0 Some of them have broken hearts.\u00a0 They have broken homes, well, welcome to the theology of suffering and disability and the church because I\u2019m not going to skate on the surface this morning.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tMy questions really are get down and get dirty and they are gut wrenching.\u00a0 I mean think of the times when suffering has ripped into your sanity leaving you numb and bleeding and you, too, ask, \u201cGod, can this be Your will?\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSteve said a very wise thing to me, he said, \u201cLook, Joni, think of Jesus Christ, I mean there you\u2019ve got the most god-forsaken man who ever lived. And if we can find answers for His life, they should be able to suffice for your life.\u00a0 So, Joni, let me turn your question around, do you think it was God\u2019s will for Jesus to suffer as He did?\u00a0\u00a0 Do you think it was His will for Jesus to go to the cross?\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWell, I thought, that\u2019s a stupid question, of course, it\u2019s God\u2019s will for Jesus to go to the cross.\u00a0 And then he said something curious, he said, \u201cWell, I want you to look at all the awful things that happened to Jesus on that cross.\u00a0 I mean, no doubt it was the devil who inspired Judas Iscariot to hand over the Savior for a mere 30 pieces of silver.\u00a0 And no doubt is was Pontius Pilate, Satan probably prodded him to hand down mock justice in order to gain political popularity.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd no doubt it was the devil who inspired that mob to scream for Christ\u2019s crucifixion on the streets.\u00a0 And no doubt it was the devil who pushed the drunken soldiers to torture Jesus in the last hours of His life down here on this earth.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHow can any of that be God\u2019s will?\u00a0 Treason, injustice, murder, torture.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 He had me there.\u00a0 Because I could not conceive of those things being part of God\u2019s will.\u00a0 But then Steve did an interesting thing, he flipped open to Acts 4:28 and he read this special verse.\u00a0 \u201cThese men did (that is Judas Iscariot, and Pontius Pilate, the mob in the streets and the drunken soldiers) these men did what God\u2019s power and will had decided beforehand should happen.\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd the world\u2019s worst murder suddenly becomes the world\u2019s only salvation.\u00a0 \u201cJoni,\u201d my friend Steve said to me, and I\u2019ve never forgotten his words,\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGod permits what he hates, to accomplish that which he loves. And heaven and hell can end up participating in the exact same event, but for different reasons.\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tEphesians 1:11 puts it plainly.\u00a0 \u201cGod works all things according to the council of His will.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019ve found strange comfort in that thought.\u00a0 God reached down into the worst kind of evil and I think is was Dorothy Sayers who said \u201cHe wrenched out of evil, positive good for us and glory for himself.\u201d\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIn other words, He redeems it, He redeems it. And that\u2019s the only reason I can sit up in front of you here today and smile, because I know God redeems our suffering.\u00a0 The God of life is the only one, who could conquer death by embracing it, and so, death no longer has a victory and neither does suffering.\u00a0 Christ is giving it meaning, not only for our salvation, but our sanctification and that\u2019s the best part.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd it speaks to me so powerfully and tells me I\u2019m no longer alone in my hardship.\u00a0\u00a0 My disability is not a flip of a coin.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a fluke of fate.\u00a0 I\u2019m not in the middle of some divine cosmic accident.\u00a0 No, my suffering can be redeemed.\u00a0 Oh, the wonder of such a thought, that it\u2019s all for my salvation and for my sanctification.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo, God, bless His heart, will often permit suffering, as He\u2019s allowing in my life even now after 40 years of quadriplegia, with my chronic pain and shortness of breath.\u00a0 God will permit that broken heart.\u00a0 God will permit that broken home.\u00a0 God will permit that broken neck, and suffering then becomes like a sheepdog.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tEven in my life, now it\u2019s like a sheepdog snapping at my heels, driving me down the road to Calvary where otherwise I might not naturally be inclined to go. He\u2019s the one who takes suffering like a jackhammer and breaks apart my rocks of resistance.\u00a0 He takes the chisel of the pain and the bite of hardship and chips away at my pride, and then we are driven to the cross by the overwhelming conviction that we just ain\u2019t got nowhere else to go. We have nowhere else to go but to the cross, and this is how suffering aids us.\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBecause nobody is naturally drawn to the cross, our flesh is not inclined to go there; our human instincts do not lead us there.\u00a0 And this may well be the most important reason every church needs a disability ministry in its congregation.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBecause when you leave here from Dallas Theological Seminary, you are going to encounter people with disabilities.\u00a0 And they like no other population are driven to the cross by the overwhelming conviction that they just aint got no place else to go.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThat\u2019s eventually what happened to that father of that little boy with multiple disabilities, my friend, Greg Barshaw, counseled with.\u00a0 He ended up realizing that this was the very thing that God allowed in his life. He brought this child into their family life so that that family might be united around the cross of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo that they might find help in time of need.\u00a0 God shares his joy on his terms and those terms call for us, to in some measure, suffer as His precious son suffered when he was here on earth.\u00a0 And the union and the sweetness of intimacy with the Savior just can\u2019t be beat.\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo disability ministry is not a, off-to-the-side, nice, sweet ministry to pitiable, poor unfortunates, who need our help.\u00a0 No, rather, disability ministry is an in-your-face vehicle to showcase these valuable lessons I\u2019ve been sharing from God\u2019s word.\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIt\u2019s an in-your-face vehicle to showcase redemption to everyone, everyone in the church.\u00a0 Helping us to learn how to respond to our own afflictions as well as helping us to understand God\u2019s motives in our suffering.\u00a0 Because maybe when my accident happened, maybe the devil\u2019s motive was to shipwreck the faith of that young seventeen year old girl.\u00a0 Maybe it was to use her to make a mockery out of God\u2019s goodness.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tMaybe it was to defame His sweet character, but remember God is in the business of aborting devilish schemes, always to serve his own ends and his own purposes.\u00a0 And God\u2019s motive in my accident was to abort that devilish scheme and turn a headstrong, stubborn, rebellious teenager into a young woman, oh my goodness, young woman, I\u2019m going to be 60 this year, I can\u2019t believe it. Into a woman who can reflect something of His patience, something of His perseverance, something of endurance, something of His character. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd after 40 years in a wheelchair, I can say that my own suffering has lifted me up out of my spiritual slumber, it\u2019s gotten me seriously thinking about the Lordship of Christ in my life.\u00a0 Its helped convinced the skeptical, cynical world that my God is worth trusting.\u00a0 I am loyal to him despite my affliction and infirmity.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThe disability ministry should have priority in the church.\u00a0 That heaven is real and so is hell.\u00a0 And my suffering has shown me that there are more important things in life than walking and using your hands.\u00a0 Most of all, it has shown me that Jesus Christ, the man of sorrows, saves and sanctifies, always through suffering and the thing is, the wonderful part is, you don\u2019t have to break your neck to believe it.\u00a0 God bless you and thank you for listening.\u00a0 (audience applause)\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong><strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>Well, that of course, is Joni Eareckson Tada speaking at a chapel service at Dallas Theological Seminary, and far be it from me to correct Joni, but I do think that in order to believe the gospel that she is talking about, our stiff necks do have to be broken.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd, in fact, I was thinking about the disability that all of us, I don\u2019t even know that I want to call it a disability, the rebellion that all of us foster and God\u2019s goodness to break our stiff necks so that we can bow our knees before him\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis: <\/strong>\u00a0Yes, and as she was talking, Bob, I was thinking about a couple of verses in First Peter chapter 4.\u00a0 The first one is in verse 16, this is really true of Joni, \u201cyet if any one suffers as a Christian, let him or her not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.\u201d\u00a0 She\u2019s really done that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 Yes, she has.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong>\u00a0 For 43 years she has honored God through her affliction and then a little bit later on in the same chapter, verse 19, I think she demonstrates this as well \u201ctherefore let those who suffer according to God\u2019s will, entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.\u201d\u00a0 You know she has demonstrated a life that\u2019s honored God.\u00a0 A life of faith.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd she has also demonstrated a life that\u2019s purposeful.\u00a0 I mean, she\u2019s put over 50,000 wheelchairs in the hands of people who have no ability to get around in less fortunate areas of the world.\u00a0 Her ministry reaches throughout the United States.\u00a0\u00a0 She has been a model of not allowing a handicap or a disability to hinder her from doing God\u2019s work\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong>\u00a0 We don\u2019t know what the apostle Paul\u2019s thorn in the flesh was that he talks about in 2<sup>nd<\/sup>\u00a0 Corinthians, chapter 12, we think it may have been some kind of a physical disability, and Paul, says he asked God to take it from him three times.\u00a0 And God said in response, \u201cMy grace is sufficient, in your weakness I am made strong.\u201d\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd I think that\u2019s what we\u2019ve seen happen in Joni Eareckson Tada\u2019s life and I think it gives us all hope in the midst of our own struggle with whatever the issue is that may be besetting us.\u00a0 It may be a physical disability, it may be some temptation that plagues us, it may be circumstances of life that have left us feeling stressed or oppressed, or beaten down.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tBut in the midst of that, God gives grace so that in our weakness, he is made strong.\u00a0 The message we\u2019ve listened to from Joni today is available online.\u00a0 In fact, we\u2019ve got a link on our website at FamilyLifeToday.com.\u00a0 You can view this message as Joni presented it at the Dallas Theological Seminary chapel back in February of this year.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tFollow the link when you go to FamilyLifeToday.com and it will take you to the page where you can view the chapel service.\u00a0 In fact, many of Dallas Seminary\u2019s chapel services are available online.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the great services that the seminary provides from which all of us are able to benefit. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0I also encourage you when you do stop by our website, FamilyLifeToday.com find out more about the book that your wife Barbara and your daughter Rebecca have finished writing, called <em>A Symphony in the Dark: Hearing God\u2019s voice in Seasons of Grief<\/em>.\u00a0 In this book, Barbara and Rebecca recount the events of a year ago when Rebecca\u2019s daughter, Molly, was born and lived for seven days and how profoundly God ministered to all of you in the midst of that great tragedy.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tThere is also information on our website about a very helpful book from Jerry Sittser called <em>A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss,<\/em> and that really describes Joni\u2019s experience of being disabled for more than 40 years.\u00a0 Again all of these resources can be found at FamilyLifeToday.com.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIf you are interested in getting a copy of either of these books and you\u2019d prefer to call us, our toll free number is 1-800-FLTODAY.\u00a0 1-800-358-6329. And when you get in touch with us, someone on the team will let you know how you can have the resources you need sent out to you.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tYou know in the midst of seasons of struggle, with suffering.\u00a0 One of the issues that we often have to wrestle with, in fact, it\u2019s an issue that Jerry Sittser talks about in his book, <em>A Grace Disguised <\/em>is the issue of forgiveness.\u00a0 We had an opportunity several months ago to sit down with Nancy Leigh DeMoss, the author and the speaker on the radio program \u201cRevive Our Hearts,\u201d and talk with her about this issue of forgiveness. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tShe\u2019s written a book called <em>Choosing Forgiveness. <\/em>\u00a0This month we would like to make this conversation with Nancy on the subject of forgiveness available as a way of saying thank you to those of you who are able to help support the ministry of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> with a donation of any amount.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tYou can donate online at FamilyLifeToday.com or you can donate by phone at 1-800-FLTODAY.\u00a0 If you are online, when you come to the key code box on the donation form, just type in the word \u201cforgive\u201d so we\u2019ll know to send a copy of the CD, or call 1-800-FLTODAY and you can make your donation by phone, just ask for a copy of the <em>Choosing Forgiveness<\/em> CD or the CD with Nancy Leigh DeMoss.\u00a0 Again we are happy to send it to you, and we do appreciate, especially here in the middle of summer, we very much appreciate your financial support of this ministry. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWell, tomorrow we are going to have the opportunity to eavesdrop on a conversation that took place between Barbara Rainey and a group of young wives and moms at a local church not long ago.\u00a0 We\u2019ll listen in as they interact, and I hope you can tune in for that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI want to thank our engineer today Keith Lynch and our entire broadcast production team on behalf of our host Dennis Rainey I\u2019m Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We will see you tomorrow for another edition of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tHelp for today.\u00a0 Hope for tomorrow.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a9 2009 FamilyLife\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you.\u00a0 However, there is a cost to transcribe, create, and produce them for our website.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/site\/c.dnJHKLNnFoG\/b.3782043\/k.384D\/Support_Us.htm\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tCopyright \u00a9 FamilyLife.\u00a0 All rights reserved.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/\">www.FamilyLife.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>","theme_header_position":"","post_header_is_sticky":"","is_header_overlay":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/301853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301853"},{"taxonomy":"podcast_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast_series?post=301853"},{"taxonomy":"cwp_profile","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cwp_profile?post=301853"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=301853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}