Inspirational Quotes by Joni Eareckson Tada
“joy. I had to smile at His answer from Matthew 19:14: “Let the little children come to me…for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” As I laid in bed that night, the entire experience of joyful play kept echoing. The kingdom of heaven belongs to giggling, happy, carefree children. I kept thinking and straining my ears—or was I trying to open the eyes of my heart—to hear or see more. I knew there was much more than just play in that experience. I had touched a moment of great happiness and wisdom. I didn’t realize it”
“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready” (Revelation 19:6–7). As you pull up a chair to the banquet table, take a look at what’s on the menu from Isaiah 25:6–8: “On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.” There’s no mistaking. This is a real banquet. And a specific one too. They won’t be serving bologna or Spam. It won’t be USDA-approved meat; it will be “the best of meats.” And the beverage selection will not be Kool-Aid or cheap wine, but “aged wine…the finest of wines.”
“Complaint is central to lament. But Christians never complain just to complain. Instead, we bring our complaints to the Lord for the purpose of moving us toward him. We allow the honest opening of our souls to become a doorway to the other elements of lament.”
“if we view difficult emotions as problems to be solved, we will end up looking for answers that will work rather than pursuing relationship with God, regardless of immediate outcome. A determination to resolve our emotional struggles inevitably subordinates God as a servant of our healing rather than a Person to be praised.”
“The presence of disruptive emotions that feel irrational or out of control is not necessarily a sign of disease, sin, or trauma. Instead, it may be the signal that the heart is struggling with God. Therefore, we must view the ups and downs of our emotional life not as a problem to be resolved, but as a cry to be heard.”
“Godly despair cries out for perspective but allows the hollowness of loss to move the heart to seek God.”
topics: emotions
“here are a few steps in learning how to complain the right way: Come Humble”
“(1) they move against us: attack; (2) they move away from us: abandonment; (3) they move toward us: love. In the context of a sinful, fallen world, our emotional responses to these relational movements can generally be characterized as fight or flight. The following diagram shows how these responses give rise to our difficult emotions.”
“There is something helpful and right about regularly laying out the specifics of our pain. In Psalm 10, we see this clearly.”
“Our emotional struggles reflect far more than our battle with people and events; they reveal our deepest questions about God. But how do we make the connection from the horizontal circumstances that provoke our emotions to the vertical conditions they point to? In this chapter, we will explore three fundamental types of relational movement (against, away, and toward) that provoke our emotions. This context helps clarify how our responses in human relationships are rooted in the nature of our relationship with God. As we understand what situationally provokes our emotions, we will open the door to recognizing the deeper struggles involved in all emotion.”
“Finding an explanation or a quick solution for grief, while an admirable goal, can circumvent the opportunity afforded in lament—to give a person permission to wrestle with sorrow instead of rushing to end it. Walking through sorrow without understanding and embracing the God-given song of lament can stunt the grieving process.”
“Be Still “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil” (Psalm 37:7-8). When you are angry, wait. Stop, sit, don’t move! Anger is a catalyst that stirs us into battle. Most of the battles that anger will draw us into fighting are not worthy of our blood. Unrighteous anger will never deepen our heart for God or others unless we are willing to go through anger detox.”
“The psalms are given to us as a divine pedagogy for our affections—God’s way of reshaping our desires and perceptions so that they learn to lament in the right things and take joy in the right things.”
“It is in the dark struggles with God that we are surprised by His response to our anger and fear. What we receive from Him during our difficult battle is not what we expect. We assume He wants order, conformity—obedient children. Instead, we find that He wants our passionate involvement and utter awe in the mystery of His glorious character.”
“Rather than trying to leverage the church’s political capital to win the culture wars, we ought to take a close look in the mirror. Spiritual leaders should walk alongside their people and model self-examination and repentance. Exile provides an opportunity for God’s people to lament spiritual drift, not only of a culture but also of the church.”
“Instead, the Psalms invite us to question God. But they do this in the context of worship—they were the hymnal used in public worship. God invites us to bring before Him our rage, doubt, and terror—but He intends for us to do so as part of worship. This is the kind of emotional struggle we must engage in if we are to fathom the nature of God’s heart for us.”
“Waiting is not a waste. The second truth has become a personal favorite of mine over the last ten years because waiting for anything feels like a complete waste of time. Waiting for God to move or answer seems even worse. Lamentations 3:25–27 shows us the value of living in the space between suffering and restoration. Lament serves us well as we mourn and wait.”
“Surely there is no higher plane for prayer than intercession. What could be more important than participating in the redemption of another being through prayer? True, our prayer does not save the sinner, but somehow it serves to prepare his heart for the moment word reaches him of Christ’s love. Search for a person who claims to have found Christ apart from someone else’s prayer, and your search may go on forever.”
“Emotion links our internal and external worlds. To be aware of what we feel can open us to questions we would rather ignore. For many of us, that is precisely why it is easier not to feel. But a failure to feel leaves us barren and distant from God and others.”
topics: emotions
“This is where biblical lament is transformative. It not only gives voice to the pain you feel but also anchors your heart to truths you believe—or are trying to believe when dark clouds linger.”
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Joni Eareckson Tada, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Joni and Friends, is an international advocate for people with disabilities.
A diving accident in 1967 left Joni Eareckson, then 17, a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, unable to use her hands. After two years of rehabilitation, she emerged with new skills and a fresh determination to help others in similar situations.
During her rehabilitation, Joni spent long months learning how to paint with a brush between her teeth. Her high-detail fine art paintings and prints are sought-after and collected.
Her best-selling autobiography "Joni" and the feature film of the same name have been translated into many languages, introducing her to people around the world. She also has visited more than 45 countries.
She has served on the National Council on Disability and the Disability Advisory Committee to the U.S. State Department.
She is Senior Associate for Disability Concerns for the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and serves in an advisory capacity to the American Leprosy Mission, the National Institute on Learning Disabilities, Love and Action and Christian Blind Mission International, as well as on the Board of Reference for the Christian Writers Guild, New Europe Communications and the Christian Medical and Dental Society.
After being the first woman honored by the National Association of Evangelicals as its "Layperson of the Year" in 1986, Joni was named "Churchwoman of the Year" in 1993 by the Religious Heritage Foundation.