Family Retreat season is in full swing, making a difference in the lives of people with disabilities and their families! Please be in prayer for all those attending and serving at Family Retreats around the US, that they may cast their cares on Christ.
I am so excited, Family Retreat season is in full swing!
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and all of us at Joni and Friends are out and about this month, working hard and serving special-needs families at any one of our more than 30 Family Retreats across the US. And the Holy Spirit is doing his work, as well. He’s working in the lives of people like, well, like Scott, a quadriplegic in a wheelchair. He and his wife came to Family Retreat and, oh, what a week it was for this couple! For people like Scott and his wife, well, it’s not many places where they feel like they fit. Sadly, the world doesn’t deal with broken stuff, and it’s the same with broken people. Families that are struggling with disability simply cannot participate in so many of the things that most people take for granted.
Before Scott arrived on campus at Family Retreat, he shared some of his thoughts in a post. He reflected that – and I quote him here – he said, “With a disability like mine, there is always an ever-present anxiety. A fear that something beyond your control is going to happen in public or when I am alone [and nobody to help]. It may be humiliating, embarrassing, and at times dangerous. The thought of asking anyone to lend a hand with something you can’t control keeps families like mine withdrawn with a [kind of] ‘bunker’ mentality. There are lots of things my body can surprise me with. [And] When I start worrying about all the awful things that could happen, I run, I hide… I avoid all but very few friends… And I am miserable.”
Boy, can I identify with that. I know that awful feeling that Scott has: that feeling that the disability’s going to embarrass you; something that goes wrong when you’re in public. Like Scott, I even find myself wondering, “What if my leg bag springs a leak on someone’s carpet? Or if it wets the floor of a restaurant? It’s happened before, and it’s so embarrassing!” But it’s out of my control. I do the best I can to manage the unexpected, but often, accidents just, well, they just happen. And so, I get where Scott’s coming from. But then, he and his wife showed up at Family Retreat. And let me read the rest of his post so that you can see what occurred. Scott writes, “Sometime during my first Family Retreat I realized something was missing. I wasn’t sure what it was. I just knew something was different. Whatever it was, I wanted More [of it]. At this retreat some people recognized my needs and quietly offered help when I never even asked. Others waited for a moment when I was alone and humbly told me [that] they wanted to learn how to help me. This almost never happens but there was something different about these people. Out of the blue it occurred to me that at that time [at retreat]… At that place… And with that crowd of people… My ever-present anxiety was gone. I actually felt safe at Family Retreat! My anxiety was replaced by the kind of peace that is only available when I am ‘Done with Scott’ and [I could focus] on The Source of [everything] I need… My Lord and [my] Savior, Jesus.”
Wow. Oh, friend, would you please pray for the hundreds of couples, like Scott and his wife, who have a disability? Pray that they will overcome their anxieties and give it all to Jesus. May they cast their care on Christ, because he cares for them and he will chase away all their fears. Yes, even when their leg bag springs a leak on the carpet at Family Retreat. Join me in praying for all the families who are attending Family Retreat all this month and next. Onward and upward! God bless you today, and thanks for listening!
© Joni and Friends