I grew up with the story of Joni Eareckson Tada. She’s almost the same age as me, but her life has been very different.
At the age of seventeen, she dived into a river not knowing that the water was shallow. She fractured several vertebrae and has since been a quadriplegic.
After two years of deep anger, depression, suicidal thoughts, and doubts about her Christian faith, she realised that her hope was in Jesus alone.
She learned to paint with a brush between her teeth, designing greeting cards and producing artworks. She has written more than forty books and produced many albums of music.
In 1982 she and Ken Tada were married.
On the day of the wedding, she had to be dressed by several helpers; she was helpless. As she was hoisted into her wheelchair, she felt ugly, uncomfortable, and useless. When she was being pushed up the aisle of the church, her bouquet fell off her lap; her dress got caught in a wheel and gained a greasy tyre mark. She thought that she was the furthest thing from a picture-perfect bride.
Then she recounts how she caught a glimpse of Ken, the bridegroom, at the front of the church. He was craning his neck, looking for her. Her face grew hot, and her heart began to pound. Suddenly, her wheelchair and clumpy dress with its smudges faded away. She had seen her beloved, and how she looked no longer mattered. She couldn’t wait to get to the front to be with him. She may have felt unlovely, but the love in Ken’s face washed it all away. She had become the pure and perfect bride. That’s what he saw, and that’s what changed her.
The implication is obvious; when Jesus the Bridegroom, welcomes us into His presence, into that heavenly covenant moment, we, His bride, will know that we are loved and altogether lovely.
What we believe about the future, guides our present.
This is what we believe. This is our future hope.
Blessings
Brian