Joni Eareckson shares her privilege of suffering in her book, Joni. She tells about her paralysis as a teenager and her amazing fight to a useful and productive life of ministry through her art. This is from the preface of the book: “Isolated by itself, what is a minute? Merely a measurement of time. There…
Author: Alan Holden
Beverly Sills on Suffering
Beverly Sills, operatic great, tells of her two severely handicapped children in her pictorial autobiography, Bubbles. Her own natural daughter is deaf and her stepdaughter is also severely handicapped. She writes: “I was now only thirty-four, but a very mature thirty-four. In a strange way my children had brought me an inner peace. The first…
Dandelions
Dandelions, a common weed, can be frustrating to gardeners. A gardener took great pride in caring for his lawn. But one year it grew full of dandelions. He tried every method and product to get rid of them, but nothing worked. Exasperated, he wrote the Department of Agriculture, explaining all he had done. “What shall…
Lesson from Golf Balls
When they first manufactured golf balls, they made the covers smooth. Then it was discovered that after a ball had been roughed up, one could get more distance out of it. So they started manufacturing them with dimpled covers. So it is with life; it takes some rough spots in your life to make you…
Heartbroken
Heartbrokenness has a purpose. A rabbi was asked a question by a pupil, referring to Deuteronomy 6:6–“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart.” “Why is it said this way?” asked the pupil. “Why are we not told to place them in our heart?” The rabbi answered that it…
Bible
Not all biblical promises carry an unconditional guarantee. God’s Word is like a highway sign: you don’t have to pay any attention to it if you don’t care what happens to you. One truth from the Bible is worth more than all the wisdom of man. The value of the Bible is not knowing it,…
Backsliding
Backsliding is the easier thing to do–you do nothing. Backsliding begins in the knees. The devil will be satisfied with you if you are satisfied with him. People seldom lose their religion by a blowout–it is usually a slow leak. Backsliding begins when knee-bending stops. Backsliders usually are guilty of criticism, condemnation, and complaining. When…
Adversity
God gives burdens, also shoulders. –Yiddish proverb Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. –Helen Keller When you are face to face with a difficulty, you are up against a discovery. –Lord Kelvin In order to realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel…
Actions
The person who rows the boat usually doesn’t have the time to rock it. Gardens are not made by singing “Oh, how beautiful,” and sitting in the shade. –Rudyard Kipling You don’t learn to hold your own world by standing on guard but by attacking and getting well-hammered yourself. –George Bernard Shaw <<Back<<
Accidents
The worst thing about accidents in the kitchen is you usually have to eat them. A shin is a device invented for finding furniture in the dark. <<Back<<