Help Shauna celebrate Joni’s birthday by listening in to this special program – it’s her sweet 77th! Praise God!
Give in Joni's honor for her birthday here!
SHAUNA: When it comes to birthdays, our friend Joni does much more than blow the candles on the cake, she knows that every October 15th is, for her, a miraculous milestone! And today, you’ve reached your 77th birthday, and I can just hear our friends listening, shouting, “Happy birthday, Joni!”
JONI: Oh, and don’t I know it; I’ve got lots of friends who are praising God along with me! Except, Shauna… in all my many years of living with quadriplegia, I have ‘never’ been able to blow out all the candles on my cake. I think I only have enough lung power to extinguish perhaps 4 or 5, but ‘definitely’ not 77!
SHAUNA: … Well, Joni, I know that you always listen to what Scripture God puts on your heart every birthday… so what about this year?
JONI: I was ‘going’ to say Psalm 92 where God says, “They shall bear fruit in old age,” [and I’m not young anymore]. But the one Bible verse that keeps ringing in my heart is where Jesus says in John chapter 15, “The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.” I want to do everything from my end to be the branch that ‘abides,’ remains, dwells, and stays in the vine. Because God promises that I can still bear fruit at this age, and actually that I can produce ‘much’ fruit. And this birthday? I want the ‘much!’
And for every listener today? I want you to join me. ‘Be’ the branch that draws strength; be nourished through the vine, Jesus Christ… then together, let’s live abundant lives overflowing with Spirit-blessed fruit, telling everyone, ‘Oh, taste and see how good, how really good, the Lord is!’
SHAUNA: That’s a wonderful invitation, and I know I’m going to join you.
JONI: And Shauna, I am ‘the’ most blessed quadriplegic in the entire world. Despite cancer and chronic pain, just look… I’m sitting up in a wheelchair! At my age today? And for the 60 years I’ve been paralyzed? I’m amazed at how good, how really good the Lord has been to me. I mean, today, I’m 77! I keep repeating, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name!” And that’s ‘another’ thing I want my listening friend to do. Because of my paralysis, I cannot raise my arms above my shoulders. I wish I could applaud my Savior. So just for a moment, friend listening… join me in doing that; go before God with lifted hands and bless Him for keeping ‘your’ friend – this happy, aging quadriplegic – bless Him for keeping me fit for service in His kingdom.
SHAUNA: And Joni, I know how hard your life is away from this microphone. My goodness, you need ‘two’ of us in order to help you cough.
JONI: Yeah, maybe ‘that’ way I would have enough air to blow out my birthday candles today!
SHAUNA: I’m here to help ‘anytime!’ But one last question: What are you looking forward to in the year to come?
JONI: Every morning when I sit up in my wheelchair, it’s like my first day at work. I can’t wait to wheel through the front doors of Joni and Friends and “put my hand to the plow in God’s vineyard.” There are millions of people with disabilities who are drowning in hopelessness, and I want to do everything I can to reach them with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
SHAUNA: Well, Joni? That’s our birthday prayer for you, today!
© Joni and Friends