In her book, "A Lifetime of Wisdom," Joni Eareckson Tada shares lessons she has learned about pain and suffering. She calls these lessons "rubies of wisdom" based on Job 28:18, "The price of wisdom is beyond rubies." They were so meaningful to me that I wanted to document them so I can refer to them often. Scattered among the "rubies" below are other great truths from the book.
Ruby #1: "Your imagination about God - especially in the midst of tragedy - isn't reliable. We must run to the true portrait He gives us in His Word."Ruby #2: "If you find yourself in a confining situation, it is God who has confined you. He is the One who has surrounded you and hemmed you in."
"Paul wasn't fixated on his chains, he was focused on his Savior."Ruby #3: "Just knowing He's with me give me peace, hope, and comfort. I may be confined, but I am not cramped. I have freedom to move when there is no freedom to move. I have breathing room when I'm about to suffocate. I stand in a wide, spacious place when I'm impaled by a thorny, encircling hedge of pain."Ruby #4: "When nothing seems to be happening, when loneliness settles over your spirit, when pain and grief and anxiety conspire to push you to the edge of despair, remember God's mighty deeds in your life. Remember His kindness, His special, tailor-made graces that fell out of the sky like a gentle spring rain."Ruby #5: "There is no more important moment in your life than this one."
"If our enemy can keep us occupied with our past or with our future, we lose the grace, blessings, and opportunities in the NOW. And when you lose the present, in a sense you lose everything. Why? Because now is all we have."
"To live with your 'thorn' uncomplainingly - that is, sweet, patient and free in heart to love and help others, even though every day you feel weak - is true sanctification. It is true healing for the spirit. It is a supreme victory of grace." J.I. PackerRuby #6: "As we wrap out hands around a problem and in faith press on, strive, and stand firm, divine energy surges through us. We experience the fullness of His grace."
"When I speak of a person growing in grace, I mean simply this - that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive and his spiritual-mindedness more marked." Bishop J.C. RyleRuby #7: "My enforced stillness has led me into a deeper firsthand knowledge of God through prayer.Ruby #8: "We don't wait to live. We have to keep living while we're waiting. Wait patiently and eagerly. But in the meantime get busy with what you know to be your responsibilities."Ruby #9: "God hasn't promised me happy endings to every life situation, but He has assured me of greater faith. And that's the best ending, anyway."Ruby #10: "When God denies your dearest desires, get ready to open up your heart even wider, for He will become that desire Himself."Ruby #11: "What He has taken back in one currency He has given back - a million to one - in the currency of heaven."Ruby #12: "It isn't thinking about a Place that will lift your heart and make your sorrow easier to bear. It's a Person."Ruby #13: "God deals with His children as He wills." Ruby #14: "A faithful response to affliction and hardship and pain accrues a weight of glory."Ruby #15: "Why does God allow some of His deeply loved sons and daughters to go through trials of body and spirit? Because if they receive that suffering with faith and joy, that supernatural "chemical reaction" (suffering = joy) will supercharge the message of His Son's love."
Sparks of Hope
1 week ago
