四肢癱瘓的瓊妮．厄爾克森．塔達（Joni Eareckson Tada）談到了朋友蕊卡（Rika）給予她的鼓勵。她強調蕊卡對上帝的信心堅定不移且久經考驗，而且在長期患病、身體日漸衰弱的情況下，蕊卡也培養了極大的忍耐力。蕊卡臥病在床已超過十五年，甚至無法從房間的小窗戶看見天上的月亮。但她卻沒有失去盼望，她依然信靠上帝，閱讀並查考聖經，正如瓊妮所說：「蕊卡知道如何在對抗沮喪的激戰中，站立得住。」

瓊妮認為，蕊卡就像以利亞撒那樣堅韌和有毅力。以利亞撒是大衛王時期的勇士，有一次以色列人和非利士人打仗，他跟隨大衛向非利士人罵陣。後來以色列軍隊都撤退了，以利亞撒卻堅守陣地，奮勇殺敵，「直到手臂疲乏，手黏住刀把」（撒母耳記下23章10節）。藉著上帝的大能，「那日耶和華使以色列人大獲全勝」（10節）。瓊妮觀察到以利亞撒堅定地緊抓住刀劍不放，而蕊卡也同樣緊抓住「聖靈的寶劍，就是上帝的道」（以弗所書6章17節）。在上帝裡面，她得到了力量。

無論我們是身體健康，或是正與慢性疾病搏鬥，我們都能仰望上帝來堅定心中的盼望，並且幫助我們堅持忍耐。在基督裡，我們能得到力量。

When Joni Eareckson Tada speaks of Rika, she highlights her friend’s “deep, time-tested faith in God” and the endurance she’s developed while living with a debilitating chronic condition. For more than fifteen years, Rika has been bedbound, unable even to see the moon from her room’s tiny window. But she hasn’t lost hope; she trusts in God, reads and studies the Bible, and as Joni describes it, she “knows how to stand firm during fierce battles against discouragement.”

Joni likens Rika’s tenacity and persistence to that of Eleazar, a soldier at the time of King David who refused to flee the Philistines. Instead of joining the troops who took off, “Eleazar stood his ground . . . till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword” (2 Samuel 23:10). Through God’s power, “The Lord brought about a great victory that day” (v. 10). As Joni observes, even as Eleazar hung on to the sword with determination, so too does Rika cling to “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). And there, in God, she finds her strength.

Whether in glowing good health or battling discouragement over a chronic condition, we too can look to God to deepen our stores of hope and to help us to endure. In Christ we find our strength.