Not many people get excited about their weaknesses. Usually, we are embarrassed by them; we do everything possible to hide them; we cringe if people think we’re a "weak person." That was me–at least back in the late sixties, when I was in high school. But a reckless diving accident several weeks after graduation changed all that.
A broken neck left me a quadriplegic, without use of my hands or legs. There was no way I could hide a "limitation" like my wheelchair. I would wake up in the morning and cry out, "Oh God, I can’t live this way…. I don’t have the strength to face a life of paralysis." Then I stumbled onto 2 Corinthians 12:9. It began to dawn on me that my weakness might very well turn out to be a strength–it would force me into the arms of Jesus out of sheer desperation. And I learned that’s not a bad place to be.
Nearly forty years have passed, and I am still going to God every morning, urgently looking for help and hope. I have learned that my paralysis is my passport to peace, power, and a perspective sent straight from heaven. "Boasting in your weakness" is the Christian way to live. It’s the biblical way. In fact, it is the only–the best–way to live! And I would rather be in my wheelchair needing Jesus than be on my feet without him.
Author: Joni Eareckson Tada
Changi Chapel 
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