A Life so Well Lived

Recently, a podcast I was listening to, took me down memory lane.  I found myself in my childhood home remembering my mom coming into our rooms to wake us up on school mornings.  I don't remember using an alarm clock until I was older, but she would let us know what time it was, and then it was up to us to get up and moving.  Part of our weekday routine was listening to a radio show called Joni and Friends.   I can't remember the exact time it aired, but I distinctly remember that if mom yelled up the stairs, "Joni is on!", and I wasn't already downstairs...it was time to move faster.  I should have been at the counter, eating breakfast at that point.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with Joni Erikson Tada...and if you're not, look her up and prepare to be inspired.  I remember listening to her stories and songs...being so captivated...hearing her never-ending positivity in spite of a life altering accident that left her paralyzed from the neck down.  I don't remember when we stopped listening to her show....probably as we got older and our school schedules changed....but the joy and kindness her voice brought to our kitchen each morning has stayed with me all these years.  Which brings me to the podcast I recently listened to...Joni was the guest and as I listened to her speak I was transported back in time.  Yes, her voice may be softer and slightly more strained, but she is still testifying with such strength to God's never ending faithfulness.  Her story and her hope in all things, is powerful.  A few quotes that stood out to me...  

"I don't want my suffering to be wasted..."

"Life is supposed to be difficult because it's a broken world, and we have to fight...my thought was, God, how could you allow this to happen? What am I going to do? I can't do this?"

"Sometimes I say, "I can't do quadriplegia today, but I can do all things through you as you strengthen me.  Praise God for the disability, because it's what keeps me needing Jesus so badly, and so happily."  

"Build a repository of God's Word in your heart from which to draw...his promises will see you through."

"Hope produces this incredible release of the outpouring of God's love into our hearts, and then into others...and that's my joy, is not keeping it to myself but telling the next quadriplegic, let me give you and idea of what Jesus can do in your life." 

And that's just a snippet of her encouragement.  I'm so thankful for this sister in Christ who has been speaking truth into my life over the waves of the radio at age 8, all the way to a podcast over my phone at age 44.  God is so very good.