{"id":32262,"date":"2022-09-10T16:02:40","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/joni-eareckson-tada-talks-about-heaven-and-suffering\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:02:40","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:02:40","slug":"joni-eareckson-tada-talks-about-heaven-and-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/joni-eareckson-tada-talks-about-heaven-and-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Joni Eareckson Tada Talks about Heaven and Suffering"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Johannes Plenio photo – Unsplash<\/div>\n

Interview by Maina Mwaura<\/em><\/p>\n

Best-selling Christian author and speaker Joni Eareckson Tada announced in November 2018 she had been diagnosed with cancer for the second time.<\/p>\n

Eight years ago, Tada was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy treatment. In 2015, she was declared cancer-free.<\/p>\n

At age 69, the founder of Joni and Friends, an international ministry to people with disabilities, is battling cancer again.<\/p>\n

In October, Tada re-released Heaven: Your Real Home<\/em> with updates to the book first released in 1995.<\/p>\n

Facts & Trends<\/em> sat down with Tada and talked to her about faith, cancer, and the hope of heaven.<\/p>\n

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Facts & Trends: You recently shared publicly that you have cancer, may I ask how are you doing? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Joni Eareckson Tada – Rachel James photo – Flickr<\/div>\n

Tada: I\u2019m doing well, despite my cancer just having returned. I\u2019m one of these people who is so convinced of the sovereignty of God that it\u2019s all in His purview. We can\u2019t lose. I\u2019m a Christian, I\u2019m a believer, so nothing can happen in which I might lose. So I\u2019m pretty content.<\/p>\n

I had surgery about two weeks ago, and it\u2019s healing up fine. My spirits are bright! Obviously people are praying, and my husband has been great in taking care of me. We\u2019re just being infused with extra measures of grace because people are praying.<\/p>\n

From my many years of living with chronic pain, or quadriplegia, or my former cancer, I\u2019ve learned a lot about faith and knowing when people are praying for me.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been through a lot. Do you ever ask yourself \u201cwhy me?\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

Somebody just asked me this the other day. I can\u2019t remember how he put it, but he said, \u201cIt seems to me God is doing less good for you and He\u2019s doing a lot more harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

And I thought, you know, for the Christian this is such a critical question because [it] reveals what we believe about God. I believe God only does good<\/em> for me.<\/p>\n

In Jeremiah 32, I think it says, God only does good with all His heart and soul for the sons of Jacob. And then Psalm 84 verse 11 says \u201cno good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.\u201d I\u2019m banking on verses like those.<\/p>\n

How do you trust God in the midst of trials and sufferings?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a good question. I think I demonstrate my trust in God in private [with Him]. But I [also] demonstrate my trust when I spend less time on the internet looking up issues dealing with my cancer and more time in God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s one way of demonstrating trust. Am I going to trust the internet in what it predicts? Or am I going to trust God and what He plans?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got to watch my screen time with the computer because God\u2019s watching and the Holy Spirit\u2019s watching, and when He says turn it off, I\u2019ve got to do that. So that\u2019s one way of trusting Him.<\/p>\n

Another way of trusting Him is not complaining and not projecting a \u2018woe is me\u2019 attitude.<\/p>\n

How else do you see your faith carrying you through these trials?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We forget God is less interested in our physical comfort and more interested in our soul. My soul has become so much more settled. My hope is more anchored in Christ and in heaven.<\/p>\n

[epq-quote align=”align-right”]I believe every response I give to this new cancer, every inconvenience, and every pain has a direct bearing to increasing my capacity for joy, service, and worship in heaven.[\/epq-quote]We live in a fallen world, and there\u2019s going to be cancer. There\u2019s going to be quadriplegia, there\u2019s going to be pain, there\u2019s going to be all kinds of stuff, I\u2019m sure. When I go through the rigors of radiation, I\u2019ll get extremely weak.<\/p>\n

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But all of it is in God\u2019s purview. He\u2019s interested in how I respond. Will I trust Him? I don\u2019t want to diminish it by complaining or doubting or fearing God.<\/p>\n

I believe every response I give to this new cancer, every inconvenience, and every pain has a direct bearing to increasing my capacity for joy, service, and worship in heaven.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve re-released your book Heaven<\/em>. Why did you decide to do that? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019ve learned a lot more in 25 years since I first wrote that book. I\u2019ve suffered a lot more, I\u2019ve prayed a lot more, I\u2019ve read and studied a lot more.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve changed. I\u2019m a different person and a deeper person than I was 25 years ago. I\u2019m bent on focusing on heaven as a person rather than a place. I think that\u2019s the biggest difference.<\/p>\n

I mentioned it in the first rendition of the book, but this time I made more of it. It\u2019s all about the relationship with the Lord Jesus.<\/p>\n

Hopefully not anytime soon, but are you ready to go to heaven?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah. I think any Christian should be ready at any time. Of course, like Paul, I\u2019m torn.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to face the rigors of radiation on a quadriplegic body. And I have to postpone pursuing options to address my chronic pain during chemotherapy. It\u2019s going to be a lot of discomfort in the next few months.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a little torn like the Apostle Paul, but I would love to be free of the suffering and affliction.<\/p>\n

Why are you torn between here and heaven? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s more needful for Christ that I remain for His purposes.<\/p>\n

There are millions of people with disabilities who don\u2019t know Jesus. And that\u2019s why I show up at work every single day at Joni and Friends.<\/p>\n

It breaks my heart to think the suffering a person in a wheelchair is going through is only an omen of even greater suffering to come if he doesn\u2019t know Christ.<\/p>\n

What misunderstandings do you think people have about heaven?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That it is the end, when in all reality, it\u2019s the beginning. C.S. Lewis says this is just the title page down here on Earth, and the real adventure story begins in heaven.<\/p>\n

When we flip the page and arrive in heaven, that\u2019s when the real adventure begins.<\/p>\n

When you get to heaven, what do you want to hear God say?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joni, I\u2019m so proud of you. Look at what you did with what I gave you. My goodness, because of your faithfulness,\u00a0I\u2019m going to put you in charge of 10 cities here in heaven.<\/p>\n

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Maina Mwaura<\/h2>\n

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Maina is a freelance journalist and minister who lives in the Atlanta area with his wife, Tiffiney, and daughter Zyan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n