Joni Eareckson Tada famous quotes

Well, painting is the one thing I do, that is just me. It's me and easels, and the pencils. And as long as I don't drool too much over the canvas, the colors come out pretty good. And it's a chance to express all that I've got inside, that I sometimes keep hidden. And I think that's why I paint big broad, wide open landscapes.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Thinking #Color #Long

God is more concerned with conforming me to the likeness of His Son than leaving me in my comfort zones. God is more interested in inward qualities than outward circumstances - things like refining my faith, humbling my heart, cleaning up my thought life and strengthening my character.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Heart #Character #Son

Whether you send an e-mail, tell your spouse in person, write a letter, talk over the phone, or write a quick note, remember that what you say today has the capacity to transform the countenance and the character of the most important person in your life, your spouse.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Writing #Character #Phones

Heartache forces us to embrace God out of desparate, urgent need. God is never closer than when your heart is aching.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Heart #Needs #Embrace

I want to stay in the habit of 'glancing' at my problems and 'gazing' at my Lord.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Gazing #Want #Problem

Each one of us is God's special work of art. Through us, He teaches and inspires, delights and encourages, informs and uplifts all those who view our lives.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Uplifting #Faith #Art

Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Love #Hate #Christian Inspirational

God doesn't just give us grace; He gives us Jesus, the Lord of grace.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Jesus #Giving #Grace

My wheelchair was the key to seeing all this happen—especially since God’s power always shows up best in weakness. So here I sit … glad that I have not been healed on the outside, but glad that I have been healed on the inside. Healed from my own self-centered wants and wishes.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Keys #Self #Wish

Nothing is a surprise to God; nothing is a setback to His plans; nothing can thwart His purposes; and nothing is beyond His control.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Christian #Purpose #Surprise

Most of the verses written about praise in God’s Word were voiced by people who were faced with crushing heartaches, injustice, treachery, slander, and scores of other difficult situations.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Crush #People #Heartache

It is a glorious thing to know that your Father God makes no mistakes in directing or permitting that which crosses the path of your life. It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. It is our glory to trust Him, no matter what.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Father #Mistake #Matter

Like art, like music, like so many other disciplines, prayer can only be appreciated when you actually spend time in it. Spending time with the Master will elevate your thinking. The more you pray, the more will be revealed. You will appreciate not only the greatness of prayer, but the greatness of God.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Art #Prayer #Greatness

The truth of the matter is, Satan and God may want the exact same event to take place - but for different reasons. Satan's motive in Jesus' crucifixion was rebellion; God's motive was love and mercy. Satan was a secondary cause behind the Crucifixion, but it was God who ultimately wanted it, willed it, and allowed Satan to carry it out. And the same holds true for disease.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Jesus #Events #Different

The best we can hope for in this life is a knothole peek at the shining realities ahead. Yet a glimpse is enough. It's enough to convince our hearts that whatever sufferings and sorrow currently assail us aren't worthy of comparison to that which waits over the horizon.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Christian #Hope #Heart

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.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Encouragement #Hands #Special

Love is extravagant in the price it is willing to pay, the time it is willing to give, the hardships it is willing to endure, and the strength it is willing to spend. Love never thinks in terms of "how little," but always in terms of "how much." Love gives, love knows, and love lasts.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Love #Thinking #Giving

Deny your weakness, and you will never realize God's strength in you.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Strength #Christian #Spiritual

Faith isn't the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It's simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Faith #Believe #Long

Nothing is a surprise to God; nothing is a setback to His plans; nothing can thwart His purposes; and nothing is beyond His control. His sovereignty is absolute. Everything that happens is uniquely ordained by God. Sovereignty is a weighty thing to ascribe to the nature and character of God. Yet if He were not sovereign, He would not be God. The Bible is clear that God is in control of everything that happens.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Character #Purpose #Sovereign

Amazing, isn't it, that our prayers...can move the very heart of God who created the universe?
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Prayer #Moving #Heart

Maybe the truly handicapped people are the ones that don't need God as much.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#People #Needs #Need God

He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Pain #Intense #Embrace

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.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Jesus #Heart #Eye

The Christian faith is meant to be lived moment by moment. It isn't some broad, general outline--it's a long walk with a real Person. Details count: passing thoughts, small sacrifices, a few encouraging words, little acts of kindness, brief victories over nagging sins.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Christian #Kindness #Real

...we will stand amazed to see the topside of the tapestry and how God beautifully embroidered each circumstance into a pattern for our good and His glory.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Patterns #Glory #Circumstances

One of the most wonderful things about knowing God is that there’s always so much more to know, so much more to discover. Just when we least expect it, He intrudes into our neat and tidy notions about who He is and how He works.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Knowing #Wonderful #Neat

There is nothing that moves a loving father's soul quite like his child's cry.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Children #Father #Moving

Alzheimer's disease is never an 'accident' in a marriage. It falls under the purview of God's sovereignty. In the case of someone with Alzheimer's, this means God's unconditional and sacrificial love has an opportunity to be even more gloriously displayed in a life together.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Love #Fall #Mean

The Psalms wrap nouns and verbs around our pain better than any other book.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Pain #Book #Verbs

Suffering provides the gym equipment on which my faith can be exercised.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Suffering #Equipment #Gym

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.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Jesus #Knowing #Suffering

If you truly believe in the value of life, you care about all of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Believe #Care #Vulnerable

God permits what He hates in order to accomplish something that He loves.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Hate #Order #Permit

No other religion, no other, promises new bodies, hearts, and minds. Only in the gospel of Christ do hurting people find such incredible hope.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Hurt #Heart #People

Real satisfaction comes not in understanding God's motives, but in understanding His character, in trusting in His promises, and in leaning on Him and resting in Him as the Sovereign who knows what He is doing and does all things well.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Real #Character #Understanding

Thats what I love about serving God. In His eyes, there are no little people...because there are no big people. We are all on the same playing field
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Christian #Eye #People

Contentment ... has an internal quietness of heart that gladly submits to God in all circumstances.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Heart #Contentment #Circumstances

Jesus went without comfort so that you might have it. He postponed joy so that you might share in it. He willingly chose isolation so that you might never be alone in your hurt and sorrow. He had no real fellowship so that fellowship might be yours, this moment. This alone is enough cause for great gratitude!
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Gratitude #Hurt #Jesus

The greatest good suffering can do for me is to increase my capacity for God.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Inspirational #Hurt #Suffering

Some people tend to believe that I'm a strong believer, a strong Christian, but that's not true. I'm not a strong believer. I'm very weak.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Christian #Strong #Believe

Americans are nervous; Americans are restless; and what troubles me the most is that Americans are uncharacteristically pessimistic.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Pessimistic #Nervous #Trouble

If churches around the world would grasp the revolutionary truth that Christ's transforming power always comes through sacrifice and weakness, it would dramatically alter the landscape of the global church.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Sacrifice #Church #Weakness

Perspective is everything when you are experiencing the challenges of life.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Perspective #Challenges

One problem I have with faith-healing is that it tends to be focused only on the physical aspect of healing. But Jesus always backed away when people came to him only to get their physical needs met. My goodness, he was ready to have you lop off your hand! His real interest was in healing the soul.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Jesus #Real #Healing

Anyone who takes the Bible seriously agrees that God hates suffering. Jesus spent most of his time relieving it. But when being healed becomes the only goal - 'I'm not letting go until I get what I want' - it's a problem.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Letting Go #Jesus #Hate

Cancer is such a wake-up call to remind us how high the cosmic stakes really are and how short and brief and frail life really is.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Cancer #Wake Up #Stakes

Oh, my goodness, when you're a mother and you just give birth to a child with spina bifida and - or Down's Syndrome or cerebral palsy, there's a bit of a shock you're going to have to go through, a bit of an adjustment curve.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Mother #Children #Curves

I was in every club and extra-curricular activity at high school, and I was in the National Honor Society.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#School #Honor #Clubs

The Bible is replete with commands to persevere, especially in the face of injustice.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Faces #Injustice #Persevere

My life goal is to see the world's one billion people with disabilities embraced and encouraged by the church.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#People #Goal #Church

You better be very convinced, very sure, before you pull your plug or someone else's plug, that you know what's on the other side of the gravestone.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Sides #Gravestone #Plugs

Every time we go to sleep, it's a rehearsal of the day when our eyes will ultimately close and we wake up on the side of eternity.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Sleep #Eye #Wake Up

Yes, I pray that my pain might be removed, that it might cease; but more so, I pray for the strength to bear it, the grace to benefit from it, and the devotion to offer it up to God as a sacrifice of praise.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Pain #Sacrifice #Grace

Like all good citizens, the elderly and people with disabilities want to eradicate waste and fraud from government, but helping people with special needs meet their basic needs doesn't fit this description.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Government #Elderly #People

In the Christian faith, God really puts suffering front and center. He doesn't get squeamish about it.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Christian #Suffering #Christian Faith

God is truly on the side of those who work for social justice, especially when we accompany that work with the giving of the Gospel!
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Giving #Justice #Sides

Faith means being sure of what we hope for now. It means knowing something is real, this moment, all around you, even when you don't see it.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Faith #Real #Mean

Life becomes inspiring, not in spite of the problems and the hard hits, but because of them.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Problem #Spite

I have an interesting perspective on depending on others. I think it gives people a chance to serve. And I'm not so much big on independence, as I am on interdependence. I'm not talking about co-dependency, I'm talking about giving people the opportunity to practicing love with its sleeves rolled up.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Opportunity #Thinking #Talking

There is this fine line between presenting to You all of my weakness and thinking that it can't be done. In Your strength, I find my own.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Thinking #Weakness #Done

A broken life in the hands of God is ripe for blessing.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Blessing #Hands #Broken

AS a matter of fact, God isn't asking you to be thankful. He's asking you to give thanks. There's a big difference. One response involves emotions, the other your choices, your decisions about a situation, your intent, your 'step of faith.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Differences #Giving #Choices

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

#Prayer #Heart #Longing

The times we find ourselves having to wait on others may be the perfect opportunities to train ourselves to wait on the Lord.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Opportunity #Perfect #Waiting

Every Christian who keeps looking up stretches his heart's capacity for Heaven.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Christian #Heart #Heaven

God points to the peaceful attitude of suffering people to teach others about Himself.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Christian #Attitude #People

Only God is capable of telling us what our rights and needs are. You have to surrender that right to Him.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Rights #Needs #Surrender

I wished God were like He used to be, a few notches lower. I wanted Him to be lofty enough to help me but not so uncontrollable. I longed for His warm presence, times when He seemed more… safe.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Safe #Helping #Enough

Subdue your heart to match your circumstances.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Heart #Circumstances

God wants us to be a good example to others who are observing us.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Example #Want #Want U

Believers are never told to become one; we already are one and are expected to act like it.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Believer #Expected

Programs, systems and methods sit well in the ivory towers of monasteries or in the wooden arms of icons. Head knowledge comes from the pages of a theology text. But the invitation to know God - truly know Him - is always an invitation to suffer. Not to suffer alone, but to suffer with Him.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Ivory Tower #Icons #Suffering

I once read in a Bible commentary that the word "Christian" means "little Christs." What an honor to share Christ's name! We can be bold to call ourselves Christians and bear the stamp of his character and reputation. When people find out the you are a Christian, they should already have an idea of who you are and what you are like simply because you bear such a precious name.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Christian #Character #Mean

Christianity isn't all that complicated ... it's Jesus.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Jesus #Complicated #Christianity

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

#People #Purpose #Trials

When we honestly ask God the 'why' question, He doesn't give us answers as much as He gives us Himself.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Giving #Answers #Honestly

My weakness, that is, my quadriplegia, is my greatest asset because it forces me into the arms of Christ every single morning when I get up.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Morning #Weakness #Arms

God wrote a book on suffering, and its name is Jesus.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Jesus #Book #Names

When we say yes to the grace of God, we are learning how to die.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Grace #Grace Of God

This is the only time in history when I get to fight for God. This is the only part of my eternal story when I am actually in the battle. Once I die, I’ll be in celebration mode in a glorified body in a whole different set of circumstances. But this is my limited window of opportunity, and I’m going to fight the good fight for all I’m worth.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Fighting #Opportunity #Battle

God deliberately chooses weak, suffering and unlikely candidates to get His work done, so that in the end, the glory goes to God and not to the person.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Suffering #Done #Glory

God uses suffering to purge sin from our lives, strengthen our commitment to Him, force us to depend on grace, bind us together with other believers, produce discernment, foster sensitivity, discipline our minds, spend our time wisely, stretch our hope, cause us to know Christ better, make us long for truth, lead us to repentance of sin, teach us to give thanks in time of sorrow, increase faith, and strengthen character.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Character #Commitment #Discipline

The hallmark of a healthy society has always been measured by how it cares for the disadvantaged.
-- Joni Eareckson Tada

#Healthy #Care #Hallmark