"Hope does not disappoint"

As Jenn blogged yesterday, every year when June 24th draws near, we both find ourselves thinking about and talking about our mom more than usual.

This June 24th, I find myself thinking about another woman who is facing breast cancer. Joni Eareckson Tada is undergoing surgery on Monday, June 28th to determine the severity of her cancer. Joni, a quadriplegic for more than forty years, is no stranger to suffering.

Many people will ask, 'Hasn't this woman suffered enough?!?!'

Still more will wonder, 'How can a loving God treat His faithful servant in such a way?'


This is what Joni says:
“I’ve often said that our afflictions come from the hand of our all-wise and sovereign God, who loves us and wants what is best for us. So, although cancer is something new, I am content to receive from God whatever He deems fit for me,” she said.

“Yes, it’s alarming, but rest assured that Ken and I are utterly convinced that God is going to use this to stretch our faith, brighten our hope and strengthen our witness to others.”


I'm sure Joni has shed tears over the past few weeks. She has probably had moments full of fear and anxiety. But she is doing what our own pastors at TFC have been exhorting us to do: she is beholding God--the self-revealed God of Scripture.

Her God is bigger than cancer cells. In fact, Joni's God is making cancer cells serve her. She is more than a conqueror of cancer----in Christ!

Let's pray for our sister in the Lord, that she persevere in the faith and triumph through grace.


"Whatever affliction we bear shall be for our soul's gain." --Thomas Case