184 Quotes by Joni Eareckson Tada

When I look at Jesus' warm and intimate friendships, my heart fills with praise that Jesus was. . . a man. A man of flesh-and-blood reality. His heart felt the sting of sympathy. His eyes glowed with tenderness. His arms embraced. His lips smiled. His hands touched. Jesus was male! Jesus invites us to relate to him as the Son of Man. And because he is fully man, we can relate to Jesus with affection and love.

Thankfully, God brought wise Christian friends alongside to help me discover life-transforming precepts in his Word.

God's purpose in increasing our trials is to sensitize us to people we never would have been able to relate to otherwise.

God permits what He hates in order to accomplish something that He loves.

Even in my despair, I knew in a vague way that the Bible held hope for me in its pages. I just didn't know where to begin.

My longings are best met when, in prayer, I simply let my heart beat in time with the Lord's.

When life is rosy, we may slide by with knowing about Jesus, with imitating him and quoting him and speaking of him. But only in suffering will we know Jesus.

True, God hates Alzheimer's, spinal cord injury, mental illness, autism, and the rest (these conditions are all symptoms of the Fall). Yet he permits these things to accomplish something far more precious in our lives: patience, endurance, compassion for others who hurt, and refined faith and trust in God, to name a few.

What an encouragement to realize that God has reserved you and me for a special task in His great work. In His hands we're not only useful, but priceless.