Hear a sweet story from one of the Joni and Friends Family Retreats and how encouraging words can go a long way.
https://joniandfriends.org/calendar/category/retreats-getaways/
Just a few words of encouragement in Christ, can make all the difference.
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and I'm thinking of the difference a few choice words made in the life of Danielle in her wheelchair. I met Danielle at a Joni and Friends Family Retreat – a young disabled woman having a hard time making friends. Part of the reason was, Danielle was extremely shy. But the other reason, she was in her early 30s and there weren’t a lot of young women her age at that particular Family Retreat. She struggled with not only a physical, but an emotional disability, and she could barely move her stiff arms and legs. Danielle wasn’t certain that she fit.
Well, Ken and I were in the dining hall the next morning for breakfast when the Family Retreat director asked all the families to pick up Happy Grams up front afterward so we all could write encouragements to each other. So after our meal, Ken went up and fell in line behind many others as everyone grabbed handfuls of Happy Grams. My husband brought ours back to the table, and when the families went out to other activities, we sat and wrote our notes. As Ken was jotting a Bible verse on a Happy Gram, I saw Danielle leave the dining room with her volunteer. I said to my husband, “Hey, let’s write Danielle two Happy Grams, one from me and one from you. She has not been connecting with others at this Retreat, and I want us to give her a blessing.”
Well after we finished writing our Happy Grams, we placed them in the big box at the end of the dining room. During the late afternoon, those Happy Grams would be picked up by volunteers and secretly taped to the doors of all the recipients. Then, when the families would go back to their rooms after dinner, they’d be surprised to see Happy Grams welcoming them. So, Ken and I were grateful that our notes could be included with all the others. That evening as we were heading back to our room, we realized we were coming up on Danielle’s door. “Oh, let’s go see if they taped up our two Happy Grams to her door,” I said to Ken. But to our surprise, Danielle’s door to her room was [and I’m not kidding] covered with what must have been 50, 60, 70 Happy Grams. Obviously, we had not been the only ones who noticed that she needed encouragement. And when we went back to our room, we imagined Danielle’s excitement, wheeling back from dinner and seeing her door plastered with so many Bible verses and uplifting words.
You know, Isaiah 50:4 says, “The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary.” All 50 families, 60, 70 who composed words of wisdom to bless Danielle; all those families could easily claim that Bible verse. And you can too. Because there are wounded and weary; there are shy and lonely people all around you. Ask God to give you words of wisdom so that today you can comfort the weary. And please join Ken and me in praying for our upcoming Family Retreats in Pennsylvania and in Georgia. And we’ve got an Alabama Warrior Getaway coming up for disabled American veterans and their families, plus a Marriage Getaway in North Carolina just for special-needs moms and dads. Ask God to help us give words of wisdom to comfort these weary ones that deal with disability. And please would you add a prayer for Danielle, because we all need words of encouragement from Jesus Christ, and I hope my words today have encouraged you. Oh, and one more thing, I want to send you a copy of our Joni and Friends newsletter so just go to joniradio.org. God bless you today and thanks for listening.
© Joni and Friends