Nothing of any eternal good is going to happen in anyone’s lives unless there are people praying for them. Intercede for someone you know and love today.
If you haven’t made plans for the summer, I’ve got some great ideas!
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and Ken and I just finalized our plans. We’re heading to a Joni and Friends Family Retreat because we just, well, we love serving, even when we’re on a summer vacation. Now, you’ve heard me speak about these retreats – all the worship times, the morning devotionals, teaching in God’s Word, the prayer groups, plus all the wild and crazy fun: the pool parties, square dancing – yep, that’s right, people square dancing in wheelchairs and on crutches – a barbecue cookout for the guys, painting parties for the women – and a spa time – and ziplining, canoeing for disabled kids and their siblings, ooh, it’s so much fun! Ken and I like to consider ourselves as volunteers when we go; we don’t even think of ourselves as leaders. We’re in with all the other families and volunteers, helping as best we can. So how does someone like me in a wheelchair actually volunteer?
Well, I take my inspiration from my friend Ellen Dibler with spina bifida. And although she got around on crutches for years, Ellen did a great job serving on the prayer team at our Family Retreat with Joni and Friends in Texas. Prayer was her volunteer activity. I watched Ellen get up bright and early on Monday morning of Retreat, long before the families even arrived, and it wasn’t easy for her to get around such a large campus using crutches – and besides her spina bifida, she struggled with severe scoliosis – but Ellen, along with the rest of the prayer team, she would go to each cabin and pause by the front door. From cabin to cabin, there they would all gather to pray for the special needs families who would be occupying that room. They’d pray over the child – or children – in the family who struggled with disabilities; they’d pray for the siblings, for the parents, for financial needs, for their salvation, if they did not know Christ, or they’d pray for the family’s edification, if they did know Jesus. Ellen and her prayer team prayed for churches to follow up with these families and embrace them in the fold of fellowship. They prayed all kinds of things, confident of James 5:16, “The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.”
I remember praying with Ellen Dibler whenever Ken and I would serve at the Family Retreat in Texas, and, oh, this was indeed a righteous woman whose prayers possessed great power to prevail. And from her, I caught the vision for the importance of prayer at every Family Retreat, ’cause nothing of any eternal good is going to happen in the life of a special needs family unless there are people praying for that family. And so, when Ken and I head off to a Joni and Friends Family Retreat this summer, we will be championing James 5:16; we’ll be on campus to intercede for the families and to praise God for the results.
I want to explain that last year 81-year-old Ellen Dibler went home to be with Jesus, and, oh, how I smile, even now, thinking of all the many answers to her thousands of prayers – answers that she’s now seeing and enjoying. And this woman’s going to be my inspiration as I volunteer at Family Retreat this summer. And hey, why don’t you join me? Sign up and serve with us at a Family Retreat this year. I have posted a link to all the details at joniradio.org, so volunteer with us. Oh, and one more thing. I’ve also posted a couple of fun photos on joniradio.org of Ellen and me all dressed up as princesses at Family Retreat Fun Night, so take a look, have a laugh, and be inspired at joniradio.org. God bless you and thanks for listening!
© Joni and Friends