Welcome to Hope in the Morning. turning tragedies and tears into testimonies of hope. God is more concerned with conforming me to the likeness of his son than leaving me in my comfort zones. God is more interested in inward qualities than outward circumstances. Things like refining my faith, humbling my heart, cleaning up my thought life, and strengthening my character.
Welcome to Hope in the Morning. I'm your host, Emily Curtis. And these thought-provoking words were spoken by Johnny Erickson-Tata. Her path to believing these words was not an easy one. But today, we will learn that absolutely nothing happens by accident.
It's my great honor to welcome Johnny to the show today. Johnny, thank you so much for joining me today. Oh, Emily, I love this. Thank you. And special greetings to all our listeners, all your followers.
This is wonderful. I think that a lot of people, especially our listeners, will have likely been familiar with your story: how at age 17, you were in a diving accident, and that that accident left you living life as a quadriplegic. Life as you knew it at 17 years old overnight changed. If you could go back to having a dinner or a coffee date with 17-year-old you, who was scared and frustrated, and battling some pretty deep, depressive thoughts. What would you say to her?
Oh boy, that's a a good one. What I would say is, oh, I don't know. Not that I was interested in many Bible verses when I was first paralyzed as a result of a dive into water, breaking my neck. But if I could have tolerated it, I would have shared I would share with my 17-year-old self Isaiah 50, verse 10. And it says simply, For those who walk in darkness, And maybe some of our friends listening.
are in that darkness, depression. discouragement, even despair, for those who walk in darkness. and have not a single ray of light, let them trust in the Lord. and rely on the name of their God. Hmm.
You know, it's like that old song, Emily, and I'm sure you know it well. Maybe our listeners do trust and obey. But there's no other way. To be happy with a broken neck. but to trust and obey.
I think um Your God God makes things simple. But it doesn't make them easy. It would have been very hard for me to swallow that advice. But that was the answer. Yeah.
Trust and obey. You know, if I had known the answers, if I could have seen what God was going to do 10, 20, 30 years down the line. I'm sure it would be different. But when I was despairing, when I was depressed, when I could not even compute. That I was going to be a quadriplegic for the rest of my life.
What I needed were anchors for my wild and crazy emotions. and an anchor like Isaiah fifty verse ten. And I hope our friends listening are writing it down. It's a good anchor, a good place to start if you're in the dark. When would you say that you made that transition to where you were able to?
Kind of Take in those truths.
Well, I I must tell you that there were many, many, many people praying. I had a good community in my church, and of course, my family were very supportive. And everyone knew the prospects of total paralysis for this friend of theirs, me, Johnny, and And so they prayed. They interceded. Yes, of course, they interceded and asked God for a physical healing, although my.
spinal cord was totally severed. No matter, they still prayed for healing. But most of all, they prayed for God to shine his light in my darkness and to Gently knead my heart like dough and soften me um to receive the word of God. I'll tell you real quickly. I think this is where the turn actually came.
All these people were praying. And one friend visited me in the hospital. toward the end of my rehab. And he opened up 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 18. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God.
In Christ Jesus concerning you. And I said, you're crazy. I'm not going to do that. I was enough of a hypocrite. when I was on my feet.
But I I I can't. And everything give thanks 'cause I'm not thankful. I I don't feel thankful. And I don't want to be a hypocrite. And he said, Johnny, that's why it says give thanks.
God doesn't expect you to feel thankful at this point. Just give thankful. It's a step of faith. real faith. Can you do it?
And I came back with But you don't understand. Giving thanks. And here I am facing a life of total paralysis is too big. It's too much. It may be like uh Some of our listeners, maybe they are special moms with children.
uh just born and they have Peace. This little infant has a severe disability, and you're thinking it's just too much, it's too much. And my friend wisely said, well, you don't have to. swallow life and one gulp. Just give thanks for the things you can give thanks for.
Small things, little things. The fact that you can sit up in a wheelchair, the fact that you can go outside. The fact that you didn't break your neck up higher. And lose your ability to breathe. The fact that you're not on a ventilator.
I mean, he listed about 25 things. Which I could give thanks. And so I started small. And Emily. I often say a miracle happened about three months later.
As I followed this discipline of giving thanks, three minutes later or so, I became thankful. A surge of gratitude began to rise in my heart. Gratitude for my friends, gratitude for being able to sit up in a wheelchair. And as I exercised my muscle of faith, I became stronger. And so I gave thanks for greater things, more things.
And I think that's when life changed. I think it's so incredible because at age 17, from reading your biographies, you pretty much felt in those dark days that you were in the hospital, you felt like your life was over to a large extent. But to see now, all these years later, how the Lord has taken that brokenness and not only redeemed it, but used your faith as such an inspiration to so many people, able-bodied or unable-bodied. And the fact that the Lord, He broke you and rebuilt you basically into something new. How did you see that your accident changed and transformed your character and your soul?
Well, I think one of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 3:18. When I began to trust God, which meant learning about Jesus, focusing on Jesus, learning about the aspects of my Salvation. I saw in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that as I gazed upon the Lord, as I learned about Him, as I just asked Him, Jesus, I don't understand the height and depth and the breadth of the mercy that you showed when you rescued me out of my sin. What actually happened on the cross? I want to know.
I really want to know. Oh my goodness, you pray a prayer like that before the Lord Jesus and give Him that engine, he'll make more than a mile out of it. And He began to reveal to me His loveliness, His beauty, and I can't explain it, Emily. Except to say that I found contentment and just coming to know Jesus better. And so that was a big a big push forward.
And when I began to see slowly over the years, that I was a more patient person. That Uh Well, here's an example. I remember I remember When I was released in the hospital, and I was home Often my sister and a friend would put me on the couch. And we watch T V together or whatever. And I remember one time.
asking my sister during a It was an episode of The Waldens or something. I said, Jay, would you mind getting me a Coke? I just turned to her, and she popped up and ran to the kitchen. And my friend said to me, You know, that was really selfish of you. You couldn't even wait for the commercial.
Don't you realize that you're Sister is enjoying the TV show as well. Don't be you know, revolve around yourself. Think of others. Ah, did that hit hard? You know, when people tell us the truth in love.
It can wound us greatly, but faithful are the wounds of a friend. And I knew my friend was right. And so as I put away sin, and selfishness. Slowly I began to find a greater contentment. A deeper joy, a more stalwart perseverance.
and endurance And this contentment Just overwhelmed me. But it it it's It's a good idea. willing to hear from others. All of our blind spots. And oh, do we all have a lot of them?
And especially my disability, it revealed all of them. It just showed everybody around me. What my blind spots were. Philippians chapter two. Verse four I believe it is.
Think of others' interests before your own.
Well, I would quote that verse and I'm doing that. But my friend showed me that I wasn't.
So bit by bit, in small steps, I confess sin yielded. My quiet little rebellions to God, and He changed me. And it felt good to be a different Johnny. Uh after four years of paralysis than I was the first year. did you did you find alongside that that you began to as James one tells us, did you begin to have joy in your trials?
That's a tough question. You know, James one references how We welcome trial as a friend. We rejoice in our suffering. Knowing. We've got to know something.
If we're going to rejoice in suffering, we've got to know something. Knowing that your patience produces perseverance. Your perseverance produces Produces a mature character, and I was far from being mature. I had a long way to go. And I I didn't quite have joy.
But I knew it was out there. I knew my Jesus had joy. He was driven in John 15, he says, I've come that they might have my joy. And have it to the fullest. And I knew I wasn't quite there yet, but it was out on the horizon if I would but continue to trust him.
Well, when we come back, we're going to talk to Johnny about how how that joy not only grows as we learn to trust Jesus, but also how the hope of heaven can give us contentment in our circumstances.
So stay with us. We'll be right back with another segment of Hope in the Morning. Do you have a heart to comfort the hurting? Do you want to show the world that through Jesus Christ we can have hope in all circumstances?
Well, then we welcome you to visit hopeinthemorning.org and see how you can join us in these ministry endeavors. May you be encouraged by who our God is as you continue this episode of Hope in the Morning. To learn more, visit us at hopeinthemorning.org. Hope in the Morning is a non-profit ministry that seeks to encourage the hurting, equip those who walk beside them, and evangelize the lost with the hope of Jesus Christ. To partner with our ministry or to make a donation in your loved one's honor, please visit hopeinthemorning.org.
Your donation helps keep these stories of hope on the air and helps tangibly meet the needs of the herbal. On Heaven. What was the title of that book? Is it? What was it called?
It's just called Heaven, Your Real Home. It's called Heaven, Your Real Home. And it has beautiful artwork on the front. Thank you. And.
When you authored that And you were doing all of your research and such on heaven, was that something that filled your heart with hopeful expectation? Oh yes, by nineteen ninety four Um I knew that I was learning powerful lessons. My quadriplegia and At that point I was in pain, dealing with pain, that was a new thing. Um And it was all wrapped up in heaven and seeing my Savior, knowing that Like it says in a 1 John 3.2. that when we see him.
We shall be like him. And I guess my long journey in this wheelchair has been God's way of Oh, I don't know. Crucible is for silver, it says in Proverbs. And the gold is for furnace. And the Lord tries hard.
You know, God with this disability was squeezing me. Suffering is like a textbook. Mm-hmm. It really teaches you who you are. If you want to know what you believe about God, I mean, way down deep, if you want to know what you believe.
about him, not just what you say about him, but what In your heart of hearts, you believe. Watch what comes out of your mouth. Or what you think. The next time you get hit bro broadside. with some awful affliction or deep disappointment.
Um Because suffering will reveal to us. the stuff of which we are truly made. not what we think we're made of. We're not all the paragons of virtue. that we'd like to think we are.
So first. Suffering gets our focus on heaven. That glorious day when we seek him, we shall be like him. No more selfishness, no more sin. No more quiet rebellion.
No more complaining. No more anxiety or worry. Um I am so looking forward to that. I am so sick and tired of my. My Heart that often goes astray, prone to wander, Lord.
I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. And a lot of people think that because of my quadriplegia. That I look forward to heaven because I'm gonna get a new body. And I'll get back to the use of my hands, and I'll be able to jump. Dance, skip, do aerobics.
But no, I'm not really looking forward to the new body, although that will be very nice. I am so looking forward. To the new heart. You know, no more temptation to cave in. Uh wine.
No more ta temptation to doubt. I mean, all of that will be behind me, and I can't wait. I completely second that. That is. That is my desire with heaven, too, is just the excitement of knowing that we will not struggle against the flesh anymore.
That will not be a battle anymore, that we will know for the first time what it is like to be sinless. And, you know, what an amazing thing to look forward to. Because, as Christians, man, I mean, we battle that flesh moment by moment, not even day by day. It is moment by moment. And it's like.
I know even sometimes as a mom, it's like sometimes it's like, oh my goodness, where'd that sin come from? That just popped its ugly head out, and that's not what we desire as believers. And yet, there are still glimpses of the flesh that come out, and what a joyous thing it will be when we no longer have to battle. flesh against our spirit. And also when we think about heaven, not only will there be no more sin and we'll have new heart.
But we will have a chance to see. The eternal weight of glory that was produced by our suffering. Second Corinthians chapter 1. Four versus sixteen. Yeah.
says that they're momentary and light afflictions.
Now Ha ha. I realize they don't seem momentary and they do not seem light. But compared to eternity, And the weight. of glory that we will share in with our Savior. It's far beyond comparison.
Can't even be compared.
So, you know. Emily. uh finishing out that verse, I look at the things which are unseen, not at the things that are seen. Because what a theme you know, my wheelchair and my, uh My paralyzed legs and hands. What is seen?
This stuff's only temporary. But what is unseen is eternal. And uh I I I I'm excited to know that You know, this old story of Rumpelstoltkin. You know, he wove straw into gold.
Well down here we've got Got a lot of straw, wood hay, and stuff. We got a lot of stuff. of which we can out of which we can spin gold by our patience. By error. Response, our godly response to hardships.
And it's all accruing for us. that gold, that eternal weight of glory and It's just kind of a little metaphor, I think. Describes it well. What's going to happen? Yeah, I love that.
And, you know, we were so honored that you also wrote the foreword for our book, Hope in the Morning. And That's really what the book was about. And even what this podcast and radio broadcast is, is that we want to show the gold that God can make through our trials if we trust him with them. And we want people that are unbelievers to see the hope that we have in Christ that transcends our circumstances. And with a couple of minutes that we have left, I would love to know, how would you encourage a mom who, as you had kind of touched on earlier, maybe just got the diagnosis, maybe the baby is still even in the womb and she just got the diagnosis that your baby is going to live with lifelong challenges or maybe their child was just diagnosed with some lifelong challenges.
What biblical hope can we give those parents when they are at the beginning of this journey?
Well, of course, um You know more about grief. than anyone, and there is a lot of denial A lot of bargaining, a lot of jockeying for God's favor. There's a time of uh the fact that your child, your beloved child for whom you've been praying for nine months or more and It it's so many hopes disappointed.
So there's grief on every level. But I I think one thing for mothers who are staring down at their their child's little crib and they see They see this child with a severe disability. You already, that child could be two, three days old. could be two, three months, two, three years. And already that that child has As carved himself or herself your heart.
You love this little baby. And I think it helps to remember that God gets that, He knows that. In Isaiah 49, Verse 16, it says that He has engraved you. Th this mom listening, he is in grave view. Um on his heart.
And so my suggestion would be To um Hold on to hope as an anchor. I uh mentioned Isaiah chapter 50, verse 10. In the very beginning. Grief is hard. And every once in a while it'll explode upon you.
But Let that grief shape your character. You're going to be a better mother. all the way down the road. than you are even right now. And reach out to our ministry at johnnyandfriends.org to learn about resources.
for your child's disability. national or local resources. Because you can't do this by yourself. You need others who understand what you're going through. And you need the prayers of the church.
So reach out to your church. And if you think that your church Won't care. It won't take time. Reach out to the women of the church.
Sometimes w women who have this natural sense, this created built-in sense of compassion. uh we'll see the difference and I'm convinced when a mother brings her Child with a disability. They come into a congregation.
Something miraculous happens because Community forms organically. around weakness, around need. And that's what God wants to see. grow in a church. That's why First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 22 says these these uh weaker members that seem to be weaker.
are indispensable because true community is given birth. as people meet naive You know, Emily, I'm so glad that you have this podcast. Because grief is so hard. I have a caregiver. Her name is Jane and her husband Fuck it.
Dearly beloved husband. just died of a massive heart attack at a snap of a finger. They're in the bedroom. He got up. to get a glass of water and the next thing he was on the floor dead.
And she's had a hard time. Creeving. But with my prayers, with the prayers of her family and friends, And this is why I encourage our listeners to gather friends around them. Prayer can really Prayer can lead you alone. to that path of hope.
Yeah, and as a church, we want to learn how to come alongside one another. We want to slow down our life, learn what it is. What does that community look like when you see that mother or that widow show up at church? How do we stop the busyness and lean in to their grief? I am so convinced that that is a Christ-like way of living and the way that every believer is called to live.
Sometimes we think that, oh, I have the gift of compassion. I have the gift of mercies. We are all called to that. In the same way that we're all called to evangelize, we are all called to show the love of Christ to one another.
So, Johnny, with our last minute or two here that we have, how can the church best minister to those with physical disabilities?
Well, any symbol of access. can encourage and serve people with physical limitations. I mean any any symbol uh uh it like handicap parking, uh uh accessible bathrooms with Henry Cat stalled and ramps and door entrances with braille. Um In many states, those sorts of barrier-free designs are required but People with disabilities want more than The physical access demonstrated they want to know That They can belong. I often say that, uh that a ramp gives People mainstreaming.
And a seat at the table, gives disabled people uh That sense of inclusion. But How many the people around that table ask your opinion? Or say, we missed you last week, or Welcome, I'm told you're here. Helps you see that you belong. Belonging, that sense of belonging is so much more powerful.
Inclusion or mainstreaming, you know, just to know that you belong, just to know that you are welcomed and wanted.
So that's what a church could do. Which is the way that Jesus welcomes us, right? That we are welcomed and wanted. Johnny, I so appreciate you joining us today and not just joining us today, but the example that you set for us with your life and your love of the Lord. And I can't tell you what an example you've been to me and an encouragement to me.
And I know that I'm not alone in that. Your ministry has been far-reaching and just such an encouragement. And I want to say to those that are listening and on the YouTube channel as well that Johnny has very graciously donated copies of her book, Johnny, to us. And those of you that graciously donate to Hope in the Morning to help keep our program on air, help us give tangibly to the needs of those that are suffering, you will receive a free copy of Johnny's book as a thank you gift.
So, Johnny, thank you so much for donating those to our ministry. Oh, absolutely. And uh it could be a grandmother lift thing and give this book to your grandchild and Or put it in your church library, whatever. Thank you, Emily, for Promoting the Johnny book.
Well, thank you so much for giving us your time today and your wisdom and just imparting a little bit to us of your love for the Lord and your hope, even amidst suffering.
So, thank you so much, Johnny. You are a delight, Emily, and many greetings to our friends who are tuned in. Thank you. Hope in the Morning is a non-profit ministry that seeks to encourage the hurting, equip those who walk beside them, and evangelize the lost with the hope of Jesus Christ. To partner with our ministry or to make a donation in your loved one's honor, please visit hopeinthemorning.org.
Your donation helps keep these stories of hope on the air and helps tangibly meet the needs of the hurting.
