“Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.”
Philippians 1:12-14
My wheelchair is the cause of many crazy circumstances, as well as conversations. Especially in elevators. The other week a man standing next to me remarked, “Now what’s a nice looking girl like you doing in that thing?” I looked up in surprise and replied, “Well, sir, I’m serving the Lord in this thing.” I went on to describe how we were giving wheelchairs and Bibles to people with disabilities around the world.
After we parted company, I thought of today’s verse. What has happened to me really has served to advance the Good News. I may not be “in chains for Christ” like Paul, but I am in this wheelchair for Christ. My quadriplegia isn’t a hindrance or a barrier; rather, like Paul’s prison, my circumstances have created new and unusual opportunities for the Gospel. The jailer might never have heard about Jesus had it not been for Paul’s imprisonment; that man in the elevator might never have heard about Him either, had it not been for this wheelchair kick-starting an unusual conversation.
Your problems and difficult life circumstances, your health challenges, struggling marriage, or financial problems — your prison, your suffering — is not a hindrance to the Gospel. God has allowed these hardships in order to create exceptional occasions to talk about the power and the reality of the Lord in your life. How have your hardships given you an unusual platform from which to share the Gospel?
Lord God, I give You the “chains” in my life which seem so limiting. Help me to understand that my circumstances do not limit the power of Your Gospel in my life.
Blessings,
Joni and Friends
