An Adventure to Tell

Shauna: This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada Sharing Hope. Whenever I'm with you, Joni, whether it's at your desk or over lunch or in the hallway here at Joni and Friends, I love that it's always easy to talk about Jesus around you. Or to talk about heaven, right? And I have overheard you say that heaven has become even more precious to you. So what do you mean by that?
Joni Eareckson Tada: Well, I don't mean that I want to die anytime soon. I'm happy to hear that. I think I'm looking at heaven now for what it truly is, for what the Bible says it offers, what heaven is actually about, and not what I want it to be. Because I used to think of heaven as a place where I would get back all that I had lost and more. I thought of heaven as a place where I'd see my mom and my dad again, or being able to hold a racket and play tennis or ride horseback, even simple things like running or walking or holding things with my hands. I haven't done any of that in ages. Now, I want to say there's nothing wrong with those things. It's okay that I want to see my parents or that I want to play tennis or ride horseback, which, according to Revelation 19, verse 14, says, quote, "and the armies of heaven were following Jesus on white horses." So, I at least know we will ride horses. But as I said, all these desires are okay. And that's just it, they're only okay. But are they the excellent things? Are they the noble, pure, and praiseworthy things? Maybe not. Because you see, now I don't want to go to heaven just to get something, get to see my mom and dad, play sports, walk, run, or ride a horse. Rather, I want to go to heaven to give something. I want to go to heaven to give Jesus glory, all the glory that my earthly trials accrued for me. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says that every one of my hardships endured by faith contributes to an eternal weight of glory. And so, when I get to heaven, I want my life to be an offering, a gift. I want my earthly life to showcase what power there was whenever I believed God's promises in my wheelchair and acted on them. Because there's no glory to God without testing His promises in a tough trial and proving that those promises are reliable and that He is trustworthy and that His grace really is all-sufficient. I want to get to heaven to tell that story. I want to arrive in heaven so I can talk up the riches of Christ Jesus, that is the riches of His grace. I want to extol His grace. It has to be rich. His grace has to be abundantly overflowing. How else would I have lived contentedly all those decades on earth as a quadriplegic? There's no way I could have sat in a wheelchair for nearly all my life in my strength. No, all glory to Jesus and His power. And right there, right then, is when I will invite all the inhabitants of heaven to join me in ascribing God glory. I will invite the saints and heavenly host, and I'll ask my mom and my dad to join me in ascribing glory to Jesus Christ for all the riches of His grace that sustained me in my wheelchair. Shauna, I want to go to glory with an adventure to tell before the throne of God. And I want you friends listening to tell your story of how God abundantly sustained you through every earthly trial. Would you like that to be your goal? Well, I've got a gift for you today that just may help you get started. Shauna wants to tell our listeners about it.
Shauna: Absolutely, I'm happy to, Joni. Well, listening friend, this brand-new booklet that Joni wrote contains many of the insights she shared today. So you can contact us today at joniradio.org and ask for Joni's booklet about heaven.