A Thankful Heart in a World of Hurt

By Joni Eareckson Tada

It is hard to be grateful when you are looking into the jaws of mind-bending pain. Chronic illness, a heart attack, a terrible car accident, caring for a developmentally disabled child, facing betrayal and loneliness. These tough times make you want to give up and throw in the towel. You try to overcome, but the exhaustion destroys your energy and hope. You try to pray, but the pain interrupts your concentration. You want to give up.

The topics of fear and hopelessness, depression and suffering, loneliness and worry are issues that author, Joni Eareckson Tada, can speak to personally: A diving accident in 1967 when she was 17 left her a quadriplegic. She has lived 45 years in a wheelchair and she has experienced her share of ups and downs. “But,” she says, “oh, the difference the grace of God has made in my life.”

Let Joni tell you her secrets to peace and joy, despite her wheelchair. She has spent decades studying the Word of God. She knows that God does not enjoy seeing your suffering. He has compassion for you and gives you many ways to deal with life’s pain so that you can have peace. This colorful pamphlet gives God’s answers to the biggest questions. You need this if —

• you are in pain and need encouragement
• you have a friend who needs words of comfort
• you are a pastor or church counselor
• you lead a discussion group or home fellowship

She has taken her most important insights on thankfulness and joy and encapsulated them into this 14-page pamphlet. Whether you or a loved one is suffering. This pamphlet will bring you comfort.

In A Thankful Heart in a World of Hurt, author Joni Eareckson Tada tackles questions such as:

• How can I really give thanks for all things?
• How can I cultivate a grateful spirit?
• What was the Apostle Paul’s secret to a grateful heart? (He had been beaten, stoned, whipped, starved, shipwrecked and betrayed by people he thought were friends.)
• How is it possible to rejoice in the Lord always?

Key Features of this Pamphlet

• Bible-based: Scripture-focused, this pamphlet will guide you through your journey using relevant verses
• Practical: have practical advice and solutions to help yourself or those you serve
• Compassionate: this pamphlet was written by an author that has wrestled and made peace with God over chronic pain
• Easy-to-Understand: avoids complicated theology and boils down biblical principles in an easy-to-read way that you can grasp in minutes

About the Author

Joni Eareckson Tada offers hope to people struggling with health and emotional challenges. After a 1967 diving accident left her a spinal cord-injured quadriplegic, Tada embarked on a lifelong study to make sense of suffering from God’s perspective. Joni Eareckson Tada is now an international advocate for individuals with disabilities, and the founder of the non-profit organization, Joni & Friends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
• Release date: Aug 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781596365964

Joni Eareckson Tada

Joni Eareckson Tada is founder and CEO of Joni and Friends, an organization that communicates the gospel and mobilizes the global church to evangelize, disciple, and serve people living with disability. Joni is the author of numerous bestselling books, including When God Weeps, Diamonds in the Dust, and her latest award-winning devotional, A Spectacle of Glory. Joni and her husband, Ken,were married in 1982. For more information on Joni and Friends, visit www.joniandfriends.org. 

Book preview

Decoration A World of Hurt

It is hard to be grateful when you’re looking into the jaws of mind-bending pain. A heart attack sidelines your brother or AIDS infects your son. You change the diapers of your twelve-year-old who is developmentally disabled. You hold onto marriage vows despite a cold shoulder and an empty bed. You stick to a tight budget and put off vacation for another year. You clamp the lid on raging hormones and make a date with the TV and dinner-for-one. You look at other Christians who seem to be able to smile in the midst of great hardship, and you wonder, Where do they get the strength? How can they have such a grateful spirit?

A rose

©chalabala

Humans are inclined toward ingratitude—we compare our lot in life with others and either admire them from a distance or burn with envy; we miss the job promotion and collapse in discouragement; we feel overwhelmed with home duties and complain bitterly.

When hit with hardships, many people choose one of the following:

Giving up: Some people shelve their hopes and, like a horse yielding to a heavy harness, they stoically resign themselves to pulling the plow of dreary, daily routines. But we are not animals. It grieves God to see his children live an existence of hopeless resignation.

Making suffering the focus: Some people yield control to their circumstances, not to God. Suffering becomes the main