Every Challenge Is A Messenger

Many years ago, a young teenage girl had an accident while trying to swim in a pool. Unaware that this was an experience that was going to change the course of her life forever, she ended up spending about three months in the hospital for some series of surgeries. The most painful part of that awful incident was not the accident, but that she left the hospital as a quadriplegic (having lost the use of her two arms and legs), and paralyzed from neck downwards. She said she had two choices then; either to end her life, or to live. She chose to live. And she has lived more than forty years since the accident.

She has lived a life of influence and impact, making positive differences in the lives of people wherever she goes. She is at once a painter and a writer of world renown. She is also highly sought after as a speaker and radio host. She is the founder of the ministry, Joni & friends – a ministry she established to offer support services and financial aid to physically challenged people all over the world. Her name is Joni Eareckson Tada.

What in the world do you think would make a young teenage girl who has lost the use of almost every part of her body choose to live? She must have sized up her odds. She could not have been un-thoughtful of her severe limitations, seeing most girls of her age taking countless trips to the movies, shopping malls and parties. Do you also wonder why she did not wallow in self pity and disregard for her talents, to live a life of dependence?

The answer can be found in some of the words she spoke at a time: “I do not know what lies ahead. But I do know who I am. I have a dream, and I know where I am going…” She saw life beyond what happened to her because she knew her potential and her worth. She had a dream and was determined to fulfill it against all odds.

If Joni can be this determined in life, you and I whose hands and legs are intact and fit have no excuse for living unfulfilled. After reading about Joni, I resolved never to allow situations paralyze me. I promised myself to always outsmart situations by taking advantage of them. I also started on the resolve to see opportunities in every difficult situation.

No one goes looking for challenges but when challenges come knocking, what you must do is to look for God’s   purpose in those challenges. I am yet to see a living human being on earth without challenges. Even when it seems your neighbor has it all, there is a unique challenge he is battling with. The truth is that you may even be better than the people you aspire to be like because God who does not make mistakes created you the best way you can be and that is more reason why you should not wish to be someone else. One of the biggest challenges man has is that he buries himself in his challenges with negative attitudes that he lost concentration on what God has for him. But the event in life that seems to be the most challenging also has the potential to be the biggest break if maximally exploited.

Do not dwell on what you do not have or what you have lost. Do not dwell on what as happened to you. Concentrate on what you have and the future you can see.