Joni and Shauna talk about God’s amazing faithfulness throughout 35 years of Joni and Friends’ Family Retreats. See how you can help volunteer for a future retreat at www.joniradio.org today!
See the quilt here.
SHAUNA: I’m Shauna, with Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Thank you for joining us. Well, Joni, you know, it might be August, but we’ve got plenty of Family Retreats still underway!
JONI: And Shauna, what I think is amazing is that all of our retreats thus far, across the country, have totally maxed out! We’ve even had to turn special needs families away. But your family got in on the Family Retreat, didn’t it?
SHAUNA: Oh, my goodness, we sure did! You know, my daughter Sarah, who you know very well and has Down syndrome; boy, I think we’ve been to 17 Family Retreats now. She is 20 years old Joni! But our very first she was five years old. And I didn’t know what she was going to think but you know what? We got out of the van and there was a woman dressed like a clown, holding a puppet. And I remember Sarah saw that puppet and you know she thought that thing was real. It was not a puppet. And that was it, she was in love with the whole experience as soon as we got out of the van. and every time we go, summer after summer, God meets us there, Joni.
JONI: Absolutely.
SHAUNA: I think I’ll post a photo of Sarah with that puppet at her very first Family Retreat.
JONI: That must’ve been a life-changing experience for you spiritually, right?
SHAUNA: Oh, it sure was. You know, I love Jesus every day but there’s something sacred about that ground at Family Retreat where God just meets us there and you know very well everyone calls it a slice of heaven on earth!
JONI: It is! And another couple that thinks it’s a slice of heaven are Mike and Mary Beates and their seven children, including their daughter Jessica, who has profound disabilities. They first attended Family Retreat in 1992, and it wasn’t easy because of all of Jessica’s supplies and equipment. I mean, just getting there was really daunting. Now, as I said, we only had been running Family Retreat for a year. So, that 1992 retreat was an intimate gathering – I remember because I led the singing. Mike and Mary were able to connect with other moms and dads who were walking that same path of suffering.
And Mike recalls with joy how their youngest son [who had always thought he might catch his sister’s disability], well, when he saw other typical kids happily hanging out with their disabled siblings, he realized disability wasn’t contagious. The fear was gone, and he became so happy. And I gave him the biggest hug for that. So, Mike and Mary stayed connected with Family Retreats and with Joni and Friends. In fact, they got so connected that eventually, we invited Mike Beates to serve on our International Board of Directors. We wanted people who really understood the hardships of disability to be part of our leadership. And as a board member, Mike saw our Family Retreat program expand dramatically. I mean, this year here in the U.S., we’ll hold 63 Family Retreats and 103 Family Retreats overseas in impoverished nations, serving thousands.
SHAUNA: I love Mike and Mary, and our stories are somewhat similar. You know, Family Retreat touched me so deeply. I served on the board and then of course, I became one of your staff members – still serving today; so blessed.
JONI: And we love it when special needs families are involved with Joni and Friends as employees. And because God says in Psalm 9:12, that he does not forget the afflicted. Oh, boy, we sure see that he doesn’t forget the afflicted at every Family Retreat that we hold. And, hey, it’s not too late, is it Shauna, to volunteer for retreats that we’ve yet to hold.
SHAUNA: No, I hope our friend listening will visit joniradio.org for all the details. And friend, while you’re there, we’ve posted a beautiful quilt that one special needs mom and her friends created. All to help celebrate 35 years of life-transforming Family Retreats. You can see the quilt for yourself at joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends