JONI: Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada.
KEN: And I’m Ken Tada.
JONI: Thank you, Ken. Welcome to “Joni and Friends”. I’m so glad that you are here because you know I use these few minutes to encourage our listeners, but I want our friends listening to know that I get so much encouragement from you. I draw hope from you and Ken, it happens when we practice a small discipline — it may seem small to many, but boy it is powerful. You want to describe what we do?
KEN: You know, Joni, there is not anyone that I know that is more positive and hopeful than you are, but sometimes — just sometimes — there are those moments when you get down.
JONI: And discouraged, usually because of pain. And often it happens at night. You turn the lights out, but you put on the small bedside lamp and the room is shadowed and you draw next to my side, standing over me in bed…
KEN: …put my hand on your forehead and tell you, I say, “You know, Joni, we have so much to be thankful for. We had great opportunities in those early days to see this world in a whole different perspective…”
JONI: …from behind the iron curtain.
KEN: When the wall was still up.
JONI: We went to Czechoslovakia and Romania and East Germany, when Germany had an East Germany.
KEN: We’ve been to Moscow and visited the Kremlin.
JONI: With Mr. Graham. And you know we start talking about those things at night when I’m in bed and you pull it out of me, you pull these memories out of me. With you I recount the way God works in our lives.
KEN: Well, you know Joni, Lamentations Chapter 3, verse 21 says, “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope.” And isn’t that true — we have hope.
JONI: Recalling the things that God has done builds hope in our hearts. You know, the Bible is constantly telling us to remember, remember ... remember the way God has worked in the past, especially in our own lives. I’m looking at Psalm 105 now and it says, “Remember the wondrous works that God has done; the miracles that He has performed.” I think that is the key to putting it in perspective. Just reflecting and recounting on the way God has worked in the past.
KEN: And Joni, you know what is really neat is, we can also remember those things that are happening right now. We are reminded, for example, in this cancer journey. Other people might not think it a blessing, but we have taken it as a blessing because it has brought us closer together as a couple, but also closer to God and closer to Jesus. Joni, it is just like an exercise. You know, when I used to coach football I remember you can’t play a game unless you practice; and you have to practice this. It is interesting as we look right now at some of the things that are happening in our life, looking at cancer. We see the hope that is there. We experienced it. We were able to look at cancer and see how it brought us closer together, but more importantly how it brought us closer to Jesus.
JONI: Yes. Like you said in Lamentations, “This I recall to mind and therefore there’s hope.” So, friend listening, if you find yourself feeling hopeless or despondent you just have to look back, look back and recall all the many times and all the many places that God has met you or sustained you or taught you. Think of the times God has shown Himself faithful, and just like Ken and I do in the evening before bed, rehearse those memories and recite those lessons, recite them out loud. How God has changed your heart, your attitude. When we recall the way God works in our lives we have, just like Jeremiah the prophet says, we have His hope. So summon up those moments you learned wonderful insights from the Bible; truths that you hold fast to even now so many years later. Let each memory serve as a platform to thank God for His goodness. And Ken, on those nights when you are standing over my bedside and recounting these things, there is one more thing you say to me that I really enjoy. What is it?
KEN: Oh, I know that, Joni. I tell you I love you.
JONI: And you mean it!
KEN: And I mean it.
JONI: And I love you too, sweetheart. Thanks for meaning it.
© Joni and Friends
Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376