Day 27
Embrace Your Circumstances – Joni Eareckson Tada
by Ann White
We all go through challenging situations, but God offers hope for your future. In today’s devotional, you’ll gain a positive outlook in difficult situations by looking at the life of Joni Eareckson Tada.
“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” (Romans 5:3–5)
Pray: Lord, please give me wisdom as I approach your Word and learn from your precepts.
Observe: When events in our lives are more positive, we tend to be happy and have a more optimistic outlook. When our circumstances are more challenging, we tend to be unhappy and adopt a negative perspective on life.
When we experience times of hopelessness, brokenness, and despair, it can be hard to muster up the strength to keep going. But through our trials, we learn to keep our eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith and future. Therefore we must strive to focus on the things we can be thankful for and choose a positive outlook, no matter the situation or struggle.
Joni Eareckson Tada became paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair as a result of a diving accident in 1967. After several years of rehabilitation, she embraced her circumstances and was determined to help others with similar disabilities.
Since that time, she has authored over fifty books and is a well- known artist, columnist, and speaker. Joni openly shares how she initially struggled to accept God’s new plan for her life and describes her courageous outlook in this way, “For a wheelchair may confine a body that is wasting away. But no wheelchair can confine the soul … the soul that is inwardly renewed day by day.”
Courageously embrace your circumstances by adopting the following practices:
- Focus on the eternal over the temporary (2 Corinthians 4:18).
- Remain positive, trusting God to work all things together for good (Romans 8:28).
- Devote yourself to prayer with an attitude of thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2).
- Place your hope in God’s ability to take care of your future (Jeremiah 29:11).
Interpret: God wants us to embrace hope and joy in the midst of our suffering, and he wants to strengthen our character and our ability to endure as we go through life’s trials.
Apply: Make a commitment today to adopt a positive outlook and attitude toward your circumstances and let others see your new perspective through your actions and behaviors.
Pray: Father, I am grateful you use everything I go through to help me become a better person. Please give me the ability to see past my pain and the courage to endure my trials.