Why Joni Eareckson Tada Wants a Glorified body - cripplegate.com
Excerpt from this article:
"Quadriplegia will be a thing of the past. You can only imagine the hope and the joy that a person suffering from paralysis or any kind of crippling disease may have in knowing that one day they will be rid of their body and be given a new one. And yet, Joni Eareckson Tada went on to say perhaps the most impactful sentence I’ve ever heard. As she described her hatred for sin, she said,
The inspiration for Jordan Standrige's article (above) was a recent article by Joni Eareckson Tada titled Reflections on the 50th anniversary of My Diving Accident. Here is a short excerpt from that article:
"Half a century of paralysis has also shown me how high the cosmic stakes really are. Whenever I fidget in my confinement, I can almost hear Satan taunt God—as he did with Job—'Look at her, see? She doesn’t really trust you. Test her with more pain and you’ll see her true colors!' When the Devil insists God’s people only serve him when life is easy, I have the high honor of proving him wrong. To be on the battlefield where the mightiest forces in the universe converge in warfare? By God’s grace, I’m all in."
I have read Joni's great book A Step Further (1980), but I first became aware of her story by reading Phillip Yancey's (also great) book Where is God Where it Hurts! (1978). I highly recommend both books!!
I have just a little insight into what life is life for a quadriplegic. I used to work as a caregiver for a C-5/6 quadriplegic. The "C-5/6" means that his spinal cord was severed or severely damaged at the 5th and 6th cervical vertebrae, which is in the neck area.
The practical implication of this meant that he was able to breath on his own. It it had been a little higher up the spinal cord he would have needed a respirator to help him breath. And he was able to have some limited motion as far as lifting up his arms. But he had no use of his hands or fingers, and of course, he was paralyzed from the neck down.
I started working as his caregiver the day after he was released from a major trauma center, which was 3 months after his accident. I worked for him 7 days a week for 18 months. He was a great guy, and very intelligent. But he was not a Christian, and he was never able to accept being a quadriplegic.
I was working full time at a public hospital at the time and my job was to help get him up in the morning and come back at night and help get him ready for bed. His family took care of him during the day.
Many times I would hear him pleading with his family members to kill him because he was in so much pain. Not physical pain - although he was not free from that, especially in the neck area where he still had feeling. But he was in tremendous emotional pain.
He was on a lot of prescription medication, but he - with his family's help - supplemented his medication with lots and lots of hard liquor. I don't think there was one time during the 18 months I worked for him when he was not intoxicated when I came to get him ready for bed at night. That's what he needed to cope with being a quadriplegic.
I worked for him as his caregiver for the first 18 months after his accident, and then I handed this job off to another caregiver. I think he finally passed away about 2 years later, or 4-5 years after he became a quadriplegic.
I only wish my friend - yes, I worked for him as his caregiver, but I believe we also became friends - I wish he could have gotten to know joni Eareckson Tada. Or more important, I wish he could have gotten to know Joni's God, our Lord Jesus Christ!
Recommended websites:
joniandfriends.org
Excerpt from this article:
"Quadriplegia will be a thing of the past. You can only imagine the hope and the joy that a person suffering from paralysis or any kind of crippling disease may have in knowing that one day they will be rid of their body and be given a new one. And yet, Joni Eareckson Tada went on to say perhaps the most impactful sentence I’ve ever heard. As she described her hatred for sin, she said,
'Don’t be thinking that for me in Heaven, the big deal after I get to see Jesus, is to get my new body, no, no, no I want a glorified heart! I want a glorified heart that no longer twists the truth, resists God, looks for an escape, gets defeated by pain, becomes anxious or worrisome, manipulates my husband with precisely timed phrases…'"------------------------------------------------------------------
The inspiration for Jordan Standrige's article (above) was a recent article by Joni Eareckson Tada titled Reflections on the 50th anniversary of My Diving Accident. Here is a short excerpt from that article:
"Half a century of paralysis has also shown me how high the cosmic stakes really are. Whenever I fidget in my confinement, I can almost hear Satan taunt God—as he did with Job—'Look at her, see? She doesn’t really trust you. Test her with more pain and you’ll see her true colors!' When the Devil insists God’s people only serve him when life is easy, I have the high honor of proving him wrong. To be on the battlefield where the mightiest forces in the universe converge in warfare? By God’s grace, I’m all in."
I have read Joni's great book A Step Further (1980), but I first became aware of her story by reading Phillip Yancey's (also great) book Where is God Where it Hurts! (1978). I highly recommend both books!!
I have just a little insight into what life is life for a quadriplegic. I used to work as a caregiver for a C-5/6 quadriplegic. The "C-5/6" means that his spinal cord was severed or severely damaged at the 5th and 6th cervical vertebrae, which is in the neck area.
The practical implication of this meant that he was able to breath on his own. It it had been a little higher up the spinal cord he would have needed a respirator to help him breath. And he was able to have some limited motion as far as lifting up his arms. But he had no use of his hands or fingers, and of course, he was paralyzed from the neck down.
I started working as his caregiver the day after he was released from a major trauma center, which was 3 months after his accident. I worked for him 7 days a week for 18 months. He was a great guy, and very intelligent. But he was not a Christian, and he was never able to accept being a quadriplegic.
I was working full time at a public hospital at the time and my job was to help get him up in the morning and come back at night and help get him ready for bed. His family took care of him during the day.
Many times I would hear him pleading with his family members to kill him because he was in so much pain. Not physical pain - although he was not free from that, especially in the neck area where he still had feeling. But he was in tremendous emotional pain.
He was on a lot of prescription medication, but he - with his family's help - supplemented his medication with lots and lots of hard liquor. I don't think there was one time during the 18 months I worked for him when he was not intoxicated when I came to get him ready for bed at night. That's what he needed to cope with being a quadriplegic.
I worked for him as his caregiver for the first 18 months after his accident, and then I handed this job off to another caregiver. I think he finally passed away about 2 years later, or 4-5 years after he became a quadriplegic.
I only wish my friend - yes, I worked for him as his caregiver, but I believe we also became friends - I wish he could have gotten to know joni Eareckson Tada. Or more important, I wish he could have gotten to know Joni's God, our Lord Jesus Christ!
Recommended websites:
joniandfriends.org
