when...

Have you got more than you can handle? Does it seem as though the challenges of life outpace the joys of life? If you're feeling used up, stressed-out, or burned out, then take a moment to consider how your perspective will change when life's struggles are over and heaven begins.

The day you see your Savior you will experience a million times over what Joni Eareckson Tada experienced on her wedding day. A diving accident left her paralyzed at the age of 17. Nearly all of her 50-plus years have been spent in a wheelchair. Her handicap doesn't keep her from writing or painting or speaking about her Savior. Nor did her handicap keep her from marrying Ken. But it almost kept her from the joy of the wedding.

She'd done her best. Her gown was draped over a thin wire mesh covering the wheels of her wheelchair. With flowers in her lap and sparkle in her eye she felt a "little like a float in the Rose Parade." A ramp had been constructed, connecting the foyer to the altar.  While waiting her turn to motorize over it, Joni made a discovery. Across her dress was a big, black grease mark courtesy of the chair. And the chair, though "spiffed up, was still the big clunky thing it always was." 

Then the bouquet of daisies on her lap slid off-center; her paralyzed hands were unable to rearrange them. She felt far from the picture-perfect bride of Brides magazine. She inched her chair forward and looked down the aisle. That's when she saw her groom. "I spotted him way down front, standing at attention and looking tall and elegant in his formal attire. My face grew hot. My heart began to pound. Our eyes met and, amazingly, from that point everything changed.

How I looked no longer mattered. I forgot all about my wheelchair. Grease stains? Flowers out of place? Who cares? No longer did I feel ugly or unworthy; the love in Ken's eyes washed it all away. I was the pure and perfect bride. That's what he saw, and that's what changed me. It took great restraint not to jam my 'power stick' into high gear and race down the aisle to be with my groom."

When she saw him, she forgot about herself. When you see him, you will too. I'm sorry about your greasy gown. And your flowers, they tend to slide, don't they? Who has an answer for the diseases and darkness of this life? I don't. But we do know this. Everything changes when you look at your groom. And when you see Jesus, you will bow in worship.

-max lucado