A Song in the Night

Joni Eareckson Tada credits her father with instilling hymns in her from the time she was a young child. For those who haven't heard of Joni, as a teenager, she became a paraplegic in a diving accident. The Lord has used her in a mighty way over the years. I'll put a link to her ministry at the end of this post.

She tells how God gave us a built in instrument to make music - our voice. We can sing, hum, and whistle. For someone like Joni, this certainly comes in handy, and she has a beautiful voice to sing. For those who think they can't "carry a tune", if you're singing praises to God, He hears you in perfect pitch.

Many of us I'm sure have nights we don't sleep well, but we're able to get up, re-position, get a drink, etc. Joni is totally dependent on someone else to do the simplest tasks for her.  She tells about one of those nights in the book "Songs in the Night" by Henry Gariepy (Inspiring Stories behind 100 Hymns Born in Trial and Suffering).

"In one of those mad, midnight moments during my long convalescence, I came up with a song. Since I couldn't jump out of bed and get a pad of paper and pen, I carefully pondered and memorized each phrase as it came. When the whole poem was complete in my head, I didn't feel so depressed about the will of God". Here is the song God gave to Joni:

I have a piece of china,
A pretty porcelain vase,
It holds such lovely flowers,
Captures everybody's gaze.
But fragile things do slip and fall
As everybody knows,
And when that vase came crashing down,
Those tears began to flow.

My life was just like china,
A lovely thing to me.
Full of porcelain promises
Of all that I might be.
But fragile things do slip and fall
As everybody knows,
And when my life came crashing down,
Those tears began to flow.

Now Jesus is no porcelain prince,
His promises won't break.
His holy Word holds fast and sure,
His love no one can shake.
So if your life is shattered
By sorrow, pain or sin,
His healing love will reach right down
And make you whole again.

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I had never heard this song before reading it in this book. I hope it encourages you today as I'm sure that's why Joni chose to share it with others, and why God inspired her with these words.

Here is a link to her ministry: www.joniandfriends.org/

Joni is my hero and has been for many years. I've often thought on the hard days, to keep persevering. If Joni can do it, I surely can.

I made the graphic at the top of this post featuring Psalm 94:19, using digital elements from The Graphics Fairy. It is free to you for personal or ministry use. Thanks for visiting my blog today. It you'd like to subscribe via email, click on the link to sign up.
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