We can learn a lot from the perspective of other faithful people who have endured adversity and pain.

One of those people is Joni Eareckson Tada. She became a quadriplegic in her teens. Over the years she has been an advocate for people navigating life with various disabilities, and she has done so with grace, faith and intelligence.

I was recently inspired by something she said: “The first thing I plan to do on resurrected legs is to drop on grateful glorified knees.”*

She was referring to Paul’s explanation of the “resurrection body” and the change we will one day experience at the end of time and return of Jesus. This is a snapshot of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44: “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;  it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.”

With all that in mind, Tada will one day be able to walk again. But when she can, she will “drop on grateful glorified knees.”

What a perspective!

First, we can have hope.

The problems we face now will not always be facing us. Just like that sour cream in the back of the fridge, all suffering has an end date. As the apostle John tells us in 1 John 3:2, when Jesus comes we will be made new because we will be like him.

Second, we can share hope with others who need it.

My sense is that many people think their problems define them. They think their problems are the only chapter in their story. But in Christ, that is simply not true. What if your hopeful perspective—even in the midst of uncertainty or difficulty—was a light to someone who thinks the dark is all there is?

This can be tough, especially when we’re dealing with adversity. (I know this from personal experience.) But when we live by faith, we learn to do something more than look at our problems all day; we learn to look through them to something more.

Even in hardship, let’s try with God’s help to be light to people who think the dark is all there is.

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Notes:

–*As posted on Threads by paladin.kor, August 2, 2024.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.