Quotes from Joni Eareckson Tada

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

The weaker we feel, the harder we lean on God. And the harder we lean the stronger we grow.

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

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

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.

God always seems bigger to those who need him most. And suffering is the tool he uses to help us need him more.

God wrote a book on suffering, and its name is Jesus.

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

Suffering is arguably God's choicest tool in shaping the character of Christ in us.

When we hurt, God doesn't always give us lots of words; he gives us the Word; the Word made flesh who is intimately acquainted with our grief and suffering. That's what helps the most.

God lets us continue to feel much of sin's sting through suffering while we're heading for heaven. This constantly reminds us of what we're being delivered from; exposing sin for the poison it is.

God points to the peaceful attitude of suffering people to teach others about Himself.

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

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

We're not the paragons of virtue that we'd all like to think we are. And so, to shatter that myth, God will use suffering to expose the stuff of which we're made.

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

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.

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.

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.

The greatest good suffering can do for me is to increase my capacity for God.

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.

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.

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.

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