Giving Thanks

As a young woman, Joni Eareckson Tada became a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic due to a diving accident. Through her many years of suffering, Joni has come to know God better, and she has something to say to those who are suffering, because she doesn’t come from a place of glib answers. Amid her daily trials, Joni radiates the joy of the Lord. On her 1-Minute Radio Program, she talks about 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and her initial misreading of the verse, thinking it was saying she had to feel thankful for her wheelchair. “But that’s when my friend wisely said, ‘Joni, that Bible verse doesn’t say to feel thankful. … Giving thanks has nothing to do with feeling thankful. There’s a big difference between trusting God and having trustful feelings’” (Joni Eareckson Tada, “Feeling Thankful,” 1-Minute Radio Program, Joni & Friends, March 1, 2020, https://www.joniandfriends.org/feeling-thankful/).