Joni Eareckson Tada on When God Shows Up in the Breaking

The Russell Moore Show

Christianity Today, Russell Moore

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 914 Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What happens when a 17-year-old's dive into the Chesapeake Bay changes everything—and the healing never comes? ⁠Watch the full conversation on YouTube⁠. Fifty-seven years later, Joni Eareckson Tada sits across from me with an answer that might undo everything you think you know about strength, suffering, and the strange mercy of God. In this conversation marking the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we go where few dare: into the raw, daily reality of quadriplegia, chronic pain that would break most of us by breakfast, and a two-time battle with breast cancer. But this isn't inspiration porn. This is Joni—unflinching, funny, and fiercely honest about what it means when "I can do all things through Christ" meets 4 a.m. despair. We talk about the crushing loneliness of being the only wheelchair in a room full of chairs. The rage when well-meaning Christians promise healing that doesn't come. The particular exhaustion of advocating for your own existence. And why she tells God some mornings, "I have no strength for today. Can I borrow yours?" But we also discover something unexpected: how limitation becomes liberation. Why the disabled community might be the most honest place in America. And what happens when churches stop trying to "fix" people and start making room for them. Fair warning: Joni doesn't do platitudes. She'll tell you exactly what not to say to someone in chronic pain (spoiler: "everything happens for a reason" isn't it). She'll explain why she's terrified of a world that's editing out Down syndrome. And she'll make you rethink whether your church's "all are welcome" sign means anything if there's no ramp to the door. This is for anyone who's ever wondered where God is when the miracle doesn't come. For those caring for someone who's suffering and don't know what to say. For all of us who suspect our obsession with optimization and control might be making us miss the point entirely. Come for the practical wisdom. Stay for the kind of hope that only comes from someone who's been asking "How long, O Lord?" for nearly six decades—and still believes the answer matters. Keep up with Joni’s work through Joni and Friends, here. Keep up with Russell: Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying. Submit a question for the show at [email protected] Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	As you know here on the Russell Moore show, we explore questions and conversations from a Christian perspective.
0:06.7	Help all of us think through how to live as a follower of Jesus in really confusing and sometimes crazy times.
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0:22.6	And I'd like to invite you to do that using our special link, orderc.com slash the Russell Moore Show.
0:31.7	That's order ct.com slash the Russell Moore Show with the the in there too.
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0:44.7	that elevates the stories and ideas of the kingdom of God, which is what we're about here
0:49.9	at our show.
0:50.8	That's order c.com forward slash the Russellsellmore show all one word. And we look forward
0:57.4	to having you join us. What I once thought was the great ruin of my life, breaking my neck,
1:05.0	really was the beginning of God's greatest work in my life.
1:11.6	Hello, this is Russell Moore, and this is The Russell Moore Show, brought to you by Christianity Today.
1:16.6	Here, we look for signposts in a strange time by standing fast to what really matters.
1:23.6	Kingdom over culture wars, truth over tribalism, pilgrimage over partisanship,
1:28.3	sanity over cynicism, witness over winning, and Christ over everything.
1:33.3	Today we have a conversation to do just that.
1:41.3	Hello, fellow Wayfarers, this is the Russell Moore show, and I've been thinking a lot lately about some of the conversations we've had here about the kind of culture that's obsessed with optimization, people who want to hack their bodies, hack their minds, hack their productivity, to try to become superhuman or beyond
2:03.8	human. And I'm wondering if the Bible has something to say to us right now that's especially
2:11.9	important when it comes to the question of our weaknesses. What if weakness, as the Bible puts it, isn't something to be
2:21.7	overcome, but something that opens up a way into an entirely different kind of power. And that's
2:30.3	why I wanted to talk today to somebody who embodies that, more powerfully than anybody that I know.
2:37.3	And I wanted to talk to her right now because she was one of the key figures behind the Americans with Disabilities Act, which now is celebrating his 35th anniversary.
	...

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