Legacies of Light: Joni Erickson Tada

What proves God worthy when the gifts are gone? We open with catastrophe compressed into seconds, then step behind the curtain of Job to hear the ancient accusation that still haunts modern faith: people only honor God when life is easy. From there, we follow the raw grief, the unanswered questions, and the stubborn worship that refuses to quit. Alongside Job’s story, we share the remarkable journey of Joni Eareckson Tada—paralyzed at seventeen, honest about despair, and courageous enough to pray, “If I cannot die, show me how to live.” Her path from a dark hospital room to global ministry reframes pain as a stewardship, not a sentence.

Across the hour, we examine why suffering is not a detour from God’s will but often the very road where faith learns its strength. We outline five hard-won insights: Satan is on a leash; brilliance is not omniscience; power is bounded by God’s plan; no pain arrives outside divine permission; and God is most clearly honored when we choose to trust him through tears. These aren’t clichés—they’re anchors for nights when sleep won’t come and prayers feel small. We also look at how the “abundant life” gets confused with the American dream, and why that mix leaves us brittle when loss hits.

You’ll hear how Joni turned lament into action—painting with a brush held in her teeth, building Joni and Friends, and placing hundreds of thousands of wheelchairs and Bibles into waiting hands. A phone call to a fellow quadriplegic becomes a turning point, proving that hope can be handed from one wounded pilgrim to another. If you’re carrying fresh grief, chronic pain, or quiet fear, this conversation offers sturdy language, real examples, and a clear invitation: get busy living by trusting a worthy God.

If this episode steadied you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review so others can find it. Your story might be the lifeline someone waits to hear.

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Transcript

Catastrophe In Forty Seconds

SPEAKER_00 0:32

The first messenger, Jump, warriors stole all your cattle and killed all your ranch hands. Jump up, a lightning strike came out of nowhere, started a prairie fire out there, and all the sheep were trapped, and the shepherds, they're all dead. Jump! A windstorm came to Target, your oldest son's house. All your kids were in there celebrating and it collapsed. All ten of your children are dead. In 39 seconds, life is ripped apart. The kind where you can easily get lost at so large. And I was trying to find one of the conference rooms. They were having large sessions in ballrooms, probably the size of this auditorium. And I was walking down a quiet hallway, completely lost, and I heard singing. It was faint, but I began to follow it, assuming somebody was probably warming up for the next meeting. It was odd to me as I got closer that no one else was around in the hallway. So when I got closer to a set of double doors, I could hear that it was the sound of a woman singing maybe two a cappella, quietly, a hymn. I knew I wasn't going to just barge in, but I quietly cracked the door open to see. I stood there. And in the middle of this massive ballroom was a middle-aged woman with another woman seated beside her singing. Recognized one of them and knew that she would be speaking later that day. I didn't want to interrupt their worship service and I quietly closed the door and walked away, encouraged, convicted, amazed. So far in our series, I have brought you legacies of light that have passed on to heaven. There's a reason for that. I have lived long enough to be leery of heroes of the faith who are still living. They haven't quite reached the tape yet. So I tell my students in seminary, the books I usually read are written by dead men. They're safely home. Their reputations are safely home. However, as I've mentioned to you earlier, the Apostle Paul encourages us to look at the living. He says to the Philippians, keep your eye on those who walk according to the example you have in us. Look around you. The assembly is the place for that. Christians, you may know, in other places. They are worthy of imitation in their conduct, their character, their faith, their spirit. So I'm going to bring you a legacy today of someone who's still alive. As far as I'm concerned, she deserves all of it. She was the one singing in that ballroom. I have been invited to interview her and am looking forward to that. We're trying to figure out the technology so that it can appear like we're in the same room, though we're not. I can be in North Carolina and she can be in California. She doesn't travel much. She's 75 years old now. Her name is Johnny Erickson Tato. I read an interview of Johnny several years ago. She talked about how as a 14-year-old she had embraced the gospel, she'd accepted Christ as her savior, but she had confused the abundant Christian life with the American dream. We have a problem with that in this country, don't we? They tend to get amalgamated. Christianity would be the way to health, would be the way to a life, you know, that's happy and wealthy. Well, Johnny said, as I got older in high school, I planned to get good grades. I wanted to get voted captain of my team, wanted to go to college, marry a wonderful man who made a lot of money, have some children. I thought I had done God a favor by accepting Christ. As if I favored him by believing. In April of 1967, I came home from another ungodly Friday night date. And I cried, Oh God, I am staining your reputation by saying I'm a Christian. Doing one thing Friday night and another thing Sunday morning. I am a hypocrite. I want you to change my life. Do something to set it right. I'm making a mess of this Christian testimony. I don't want that anymore. I want to glorify you. Three months later, 17-year-old Johnny and her family were swimming at the Chesapeake Bay, and she dove in, not knowing the water right there was shallow, and she struck the bottom with her head. And the impact after breaking vertebrae left her paralyzed from the neck down. She says that she would have drowned if her sister had not found her, pulled her out of the water that afternoon. It isn't long then before she is strapped from head to toe in a hospital bed. It would be flipped upside down on a rotating schedule, and she would lay there suspended, face down, looking directly at the tiles of her hospital room floor three hours at a time. She later wrote, trapped face down, staring at the floor, hour after hour, my thoughts grew dark and hopeless. All I could think and say to God was, God, I prayed for a closer walk with you. If this is your idea of an answer to prayer, I will never trust you with another prayer again. I hated my existence. I wanted to die. Eventually I asked my family to leave, the hospital staff to turn out the lights, close the blinds, and close the door behind them and leave me alone. Johnny wrote over the course of days and weeks as I realized my paralysis would be permanent. I was desperate for answers from God. And one of the first places I turned after my diving accident was to the book of Job. No surprise there, huh? The book of Job, she said, impacted me greatly. Little wonder. So let me pause this and let's look at this text again, just the opening few verses. It's a personal biography of suffering. Even people out there who know nothing about following Christ know about Job, don't they? The suffering of Job. I went back to sort of look at it through her eyes and what God would have been teaching her and would want to teach us today. It's interesting that this is the first book written in the record of Scripture, though not first in line, according to God's ordering of the canon of Scripture. Job lived, no doubt, during the, or even previous, to the patriarchal period. If you get past chapter two in your study, you notice it turns into a poem. It's actually one very long poem, from chapter three all the way to the first few verses in the last chapter. It's a biography of his own suffering. It's interesting as well that in the book of Job, you have the longest recorded conversation between God and a human being. And if you've ever wanted God to speak to you, and we have wanted that, right? Especially when you're suffering, go listen to what God had to say in the only recorded conversation like this in the Bible. It's also, by the way, in the book of Job, you have the longest recorded conversation between God and Satan. The only time in human history we're given the record where the curtain is sort of pulled back in the palace of heaven, and you hear a conversation between God and the devil, and it happens to be on the subject of suffering. And Job is sort of exhibit A in that conversation. So in the opening verses, and we don't even have time to read them, but I'll just tell you, if you know it, you're already aware of it. If you're new to the faith, you're not, that it sets it up to let us know that Job is going to suffer not because he's unfaithful, but because he's faithful. He's not going to suffer because he lacked faith, because he didn't get up in the morning and say five positive things in the mirror, and the universe answered, you know, negatively. He is going to suffer right in the middle of the will of God. And his record is for you and me to this day. So, unknown to Job, there's this conversation that is beginning here between God and Satan. If you have your Bibles, you might turn to chapter 1, and I'm now at verse 6. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. That expression, by the way, sons of God, can refer to angels as it does later on in chapter 38 of the book of Job, where we're told that the angels were created first, and then they sang as God created the universe. The agent of creation was the Lagos, the word, Colossians tells us, was the Son of God. So God says to Job over in chapter 38, there at the text I'm referring to, were you, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? That is, began this creation story, when the sons of God shouted for joy. I'd love to have a chapter or two on what that was all about. It's just staggering to imagine. Hundreds of millions of angels singing as Jesus spoke the word. By the way, the idea, and I do want to reference this, that Satan can't be in the presence of God because God can't be in the presence of sin, isn't inaccurate. God isn't going to allow an unredeemed sinner into heaven forever. In that sense, it would be accurate. But nothing is outside the presence of God. That's what theologians refer to. We talk about the omnipresence of God. Even hell will not be beyond his presence. Satan won't be managing it. God will. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 10 tells us that Satan accuses the believer day and night before the throne of God. So get the mission of Satan before God. He goes to God and he accuses you to God. Then he comes to you and accuses God to you, doesn't he? Satan tells God you're not worth keeping. Satan then comes and whispers to you, God isn't worth trusting. Satan goes and tells God that you're a sinner. He comes and tells you that God is absent. Satan tells God that you're unfaithful. Did you see what he just did? Did you see what she just said? And then he comes to you and tells you that God is uninterested. And it often works in your heart and mind, doesn't it? Now, verse 7, back in chapter 1, the Lord said to Satan, From where have you come? Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it. Now God isn't asking Satan where he's been running around because Satan somehow slipped off the radar. Where have you been? Is the same kind of question God asked in the garden to Adam. Adam, where are you? He knew where Adam was. He knew a tree he was hiding behind. He could hear the fig leaves rustling. God is inviting self-disclosure. He's inviting honesty. Come out with it. Tell me. Where have you been roaming around? In fact, the idea of the words in the Hebrew language have the idea of who have you been scrutinizing? See, he knew Satan had been peering into Job's life. He'd been watching him. He'd been taking notes. He'd been scoping out his weaknesses. See, Satan is not omniscient. He doesn't know everything. He's got to learn. He's been working on humans for a long time. By the time we got around, unfortunately, he's had a lot of experience. So he's got to learn. He's got to study his target. God knows Satan has been studying Job. Now, verse 8. And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job? Again, God knows the answer. You can translate this verse. Have you set your heart on Job, my servant? In other words, I know, I know, you've set your heart on him. I know he's your next target, isn't he? And Satan erupts what I would imagine with fury and hatred. We have no idea how much he hates us. And he says in verse 9, does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has on every side? You've blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face. Imagine him saying that to God. If I were God, it'd be a little pile of ashes right there. God, you are making Job's life easy. You make it harder, and he's gonna drop you like a hot potato. I know some people like that. Haven't we been tempted? Satan's accusation is actually against God. Oh, it's horrible. He's saying to God, you are not worthy of worship. You gotta pay those people down there to get them to honor you. Stop paying them off. And you watch what happens. Don't ever forget, beloved, when life becomes troublesome or stormy or uncomfortable or distasteful or discouraging, distressing, that when we refuse to trust God, we are agreeing with Satan's accusation against us. And he loves that. But we also agree with Satan's accusation against God. You're not worthy. Oh, and Satan lives for that. Believers who only follow God when things work out agree with the accuser that God is not worth following at all. So, at that moment, God allows Satan to touch those things closest to Job. And if you've read the record, you know Satan wastes no time at all. Years ago, we studied this book together as a congregation. It's hard to believe. I went back and looked at my notes. It was 18 years ago. How could that possibly be? But I pulled up when I did that the record of these four messengers, and the text indicates they're coming one after another with their horrible news of devastation. And I just decided to read it and time it. And I read these four messages, and it only took me 39 seconds. Imagine life turning upside down. You could paraphrase it. The first messenger, Job, warriors stole all your cattle and killed all your ranch hands. He's interrupted immediately. Job, a lightning strike, came out of nowhere, started a prairie fire out there, and all the sheep were trapped, and the shepherds, they're all dead. Interrupted by another. Job, bandits raided your import-export business, stole all your camels, and killed all your employees. Interrupted by the fourth, Job. A windstorm seemed to target your oldest son's house. All your kids were in there celebrating, chapter one indicates their birthday, one of their birthdays, and it collapsed. All ten of your children are dead. In 39 seconds, his life is ripped apart. He and his wife lose all their children, their finances, their employees, their businesses. In 39 seconds, Job collapses to the ground and comes out with this incredible statement in verse 21 Naked, I came from my mother's womb. I didn't have anything. And I'm gonna die the same way. The Lord gave the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. He knew this was from the hand of God, and that's going to give him great trouble over the course of the next 39 chapters. But it isn't over yet. Chapter 2 opens with a rather chilling word. You might circle it in your text. Again. Again. There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. So here's round two. You skip down to verse 4. Satan says, Yeah, yeah, you know, he he he didn't curse you, but skin for skin, all that a man has, he will give for his life. Stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face. Now, by the way, don't try to sanitize the book of Job. Job will curse the day he was born. He will rail against his unjust in his mind suffering. He will blame God for being silent. He will say, I want you to come into a courtroom and stand there and testify as to why you've allowed this. But still, you read it. And he's going to cling at times to these last threads of faith and say things like, I know, I know that my Redeemer is alive. And I will one day see him with my own eyes. Satan shows up. This time he effectively says to God, Job hasn't cursed you, but everybody has a price. I just haven't found his yet. But I think I've got it now. You take away his health, and he will raise his fist and curse your name. You just let her jump into the shallow water and break her neck. And you just watch what she does. What's happened to you lately? Have you suffered? What's your biography? You've got one. What's your price? What would it take to remove worship toward your sovereign God? The Lord said to Satan, verse 6, Behold, he's in your hand. Only spare his life. And let me tell you, Satan, did he ever touch Job's body? You're very familiar with it. Twenty-nine different ailments. I'll give you a quick run through on just a few of them. Ulcerous sores all over his body. Persistent, unrelenting itching, the loss of any appetite, overwhelmed at times with dread and fear. We call that panic attacks today. Lasting insomnia. He would write, the night continues on, and I am continually tossing until dawn. If I could just get a night's sleep, he can't even get that. He had difficulty breathing. He could never get a full deep breath. He lost weight severely. He was skin and bones. By the time his three friends arrived, it could have taken nearly a year to get there. They don't recognize him. He's a bag of skin and bones. He developed worms. His skin hardened and in places cracked open and oozed. If there's anything left out, he just says in chapter 30, I have this unrelenting pain. My gnawing pain takes no rest. Let me, before I get back to Johnny, let me provide five insights just from these opening pages of his biography. These are good to remember with what you're going through, perhaps right now. Number one, Satan might seem to be on the loose, but he's on a leash. Don't forget that. He might seem to be loose, but he's on a leash. Second, Satan is brilliant, but he's not omniscient. He doesn't know everything. I love the fact that he has no idea, but God does. God isn't gambling anything here. I've heard people talk about, you know, he took a risk. He's omniscient. He knows the end from the beginning. And he's going to use a mere mortal man to topple Satan's argument that you cannot suffer in the will of God and you cannot worship God while suffering. How Satan must hate him to this day. Third, Satan's power is limited by the plan of God. He can't move an inch without God's permission. Fourth, you will never suffer pain apart from the plan and permission of God. By the way, this is not a glib, you know, cliche you're supposed to say when you come to church. It's true. And that, beloved, will define your perspective. It will define your disposition when you suffer. It is according to the plan and permission of God. I have a little plaque in my study that sits on a shelf. I've had it for quite some time. It says this God does not give us what we can handle. He helps us handle what we've been given. Isn't that good? It's going to be on the screen for about 10 seconds more if you want to write it down. I'm not giving you my plaque. God does not give us what we can handle, he helps us handle what we've been given. So, in that light of his sovereignty and that perspective of his plan, there is really no such thing as an accident. It's an assignment. There are only assignments. What are you doing with his assignment he's given you today? Here's the fifth insight. God is greatly glorified when we choose to trust him through tears and trials. Well, in those early months after her accident, let me get back to her where we run out of time. Like Job, she reminds me of him. She was filled with anguish and anger and confusion. She wanted to die. Like Job, she wasn't going to try to take her life, but she wanted God. She asked God to end her life. Many years later, she's interviewed by World Magazine and she said this. I finally prayed one short prayer that changed my life. Here it is. Oh God, if I cannot die, show me how to live. That's great, isn't it? If I can't die, show me how to live. She says that was the most powerful prayer I had ever prayed. And it's a good one. If you're not gonna let me die, let me learn how to live. I heard about her many years ago. I'm much older than any of you, so I remember as a teenager seeing this book come out. It was published by her. She, as a teenager, later on, then into her twenties, taught herself how to draw and paint with her teeth. There she is with a magic marker in her teeth. I've since ordered one of her artworks. I think it's a great way of reminding me not to complain. How about you? Maybe you ought to order something too. She taught herself how to draw with her teeth. She launched a ministry called Johnny and Friends. You may have heard her on the radio, on hundreds of radio stations across the country. Internet, her ministry reaches around the world. Ministry of encouragement's amazing. Her tangible ministry to the disadvantage has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. For instance, Johnny and Friends have given away 250,000 and counting wheelchairs to impoverish people from Peru to Romania, and still actively involved. You can see pictures of the warehouses. And they give Bibles to every recipient because she knows that's what they need most. God is answering her prayer, teaching her how to live. Not too long ago, she writes that she received an email from a woman named Beverly. And Beverly wrote, Dear Johnny, I am out of hope. But I am wondering if you might be able to help my husband Ron. He was in an accident last year that left him a quadriplegic like you. He resigned from ministry that he had. No longer wants to get out of bed, doesn't talk to anybody, doesn't want the lights on in his room, the TV on, doesn't want to live, doesn't care about our family anymore. He feels useless and hopeless, and we need help. Wow. Johnny writes, I responded by tracking them down, and I was able to give them a telephone call. Beverly answered, and I asked if I could talk to Ron after we chatted for a while. She knocked on his door and agreed, he agreed to let her tuck the phone under his ear when he learned it was Johnny. Although he would not respond at all, I talked to him a little bit, a little bit of shop about Quadriplegia. I wanted to move beyond that topic, however, and bridge the conversation to spiritual things, so I began to share favorite scriptures with him that I had memorized, that had sustained me, like Romans 8, 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. There was only silence. She said, I even sang to him, and nothing in response. And then she said, I had the thought come to my mind. Might not sound very spiritual, but it came to my mind, and I asked Ron if he had ever seen the movie The Shawshank Redemption. Why? Yes, I have, he said. He spoke. Well, Ron, do you remember when Red found Andy's letter? Do you remember what it said? Hope is a good thing, and no good thing ever dies. He said, I remember. Johnny went on to say, Ron, there are 10,000 quadriplegics like you and me living in America today. 10,000. And all of them were lying in bed this morning wondering whether or not they should get busy living or get busy dying. Ron, I'm going to make a choice to get busy living. Will you join me today? And Ron answered, I will. Last Johnny heard, she wrote, Ron and Beverly were active again, and the gospel ministry sharing their testimony to everyone they encountered near and far. The truth is, we all came in here today with a biography that includes suffering. You know why I know that? Because the Bible said it's guaranteed. Like the book of James said that suffering is designer-made. Various kinds is the way James wrote it, to develop in us the character and conduct of Christ to produce steadfastness. So the question is: will you surrender to God's plans for you? What he has guaranteed to do in your life? And while you're going through it, will you worship him and trust him? What are you going to do with your life? What are you going to do with your life? If you're an unbeliever, the best thing you could do is give your life to Jesus. Life's hard enough. Why would you ever want to go through it without a good shepherd? If you're a believer, best decision you could ever make. And you need to make it every day. Some days are harder than others, right? In fact, make it before you get out of bed. You're going to surrender your day to him. You're going to get busy with living for him today.