Hi, this is Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to “Joni and Friends”. Well friend listening I want you to welcome today my good friend Kara Ferris.
Joni: Kara, thanks for coming in.
Kara: Sure thing, Joni.
Joni: You know, I love serving the Lord Jesus with you. You have such boundless enthusiasm, love for Christ, love for special needs people. Little wonder that you got so turned on for Family Retreats when you first attended one. Tell us what that was like. When was that?
Kara: It was in 2004 and I had been a physical therapist assistant and had worked with people with disabilities for many years before getting married. Then I was a stay-at-home mom for 22 years. Then I came to my first camp expecting that you know here I am physically active, able bodied, I’m going to come and bless these people, but God blessed me and blew me away!
Joni: I think that was at Mission Springs Family Retreat, I think I was there.
Kara: Yes, you were there.
Joni: I saw you and your wild and crazy blond hair, boundless enthusiasm. You were paired with an unusual kid with a disability though.
Kara: Yes, it was a young adult gal who when I read her write-up about the disabilities she had it was a list: autism, attention deficit disability, obsessive compulsive disorder, but you know I read those things and I knew what they were and I was so excited. When Brooke and I met she grabbed me by the wrist and we ran… I seriously lost five pounds that week. But what I had to realize was here I came feeling like I was the one that was going to bless others, but what Brooke did to me just blew me away. How she would walk up to anybody and everybody and say, “Hi, how are you? What’s your name?” She was so interested in them and she usually took a real interest in those with the most severe disabilities. The young men she would walk up to and say, “Give me a kiss on the hand.” And they would! I was so blessed to watch these people interact when I really thought I would be the one to help them and yet, God did such a work in my life to watch these other families. To watch them worship and stand before the Lord and sing and pray and just express their gratitude to Him when their lives were impacted by these disabilities: it was a humbling, humbling experience.
Joni: That was the year when you first served with us as a short term missionary and now of course you do training for us for Joni and Friends. You do the training of short-term missionaries and we are starting the season pretty soon and we have lots of room and lots of opportunities for young people to come and serve. Put the word out, Kara…
Kara: I sure will. You can count on that!
Joni: Good! And what would you say to our friends listening who think they are not real sure this is for them?
Kara: Some people go into it thinking “I have no experience; this seems like something so different from me, I’m so scared to death.” We give them all the training they will ever need and if you are ready to have your life touched and changed this is the place for you. It is not even as though you have to feel like Oh, I want to go work with people with disabilities. No, if you want to be used by God, if you want to serve, you come to one of our camps and I will guarantee that your life will be changed forever.
Joni: Well, I know my husband, Ken, and I are so looking forward to Family Retreat. People think we go there to “lead” but we go there to “receive”! My husband and I love the opportunity to be with other couples to just hear the teaching, the times of worship, pray times, the activities. It is just so refreshing for us as a couple. Well, Kara, thank you so much. You know our Family Retreat program is built on the backbone of great volunteers and you are right up there at the top!
Kara: Thank you, Joni.
Joni: Looking forward to serving with you this summer.
Kara: Thank you.
This summer we are holding retreats all across the country but unfortunately we have had to place scores of special needs families on waiting lists. Why? Because we need more volunteers so would you please come and serve a special needs family at one of our retreats? Just contact Joni and Friends toll free at 800-523-5777 or visit us at joniandfriends.org.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
© Joni and Friends