I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I have a special friend for you to meet today.
Welcome to Joni and Friends, where I love sharing the stories about my friends… people who inspire me, who challenge me, whose testimonies have gripped me, whose lives motivate me to trust Jesus Christ more deeply as the days go by. And one friend is Robin Hiser – perhaps you’ve heard me talk about Robin before, but oh, her friendship is such a treasure to Ken and me, I just had to let you hear this short little interview I did with her recently. Robin has Down syndrome and is in her 50s – something pretty unusual for a person with Downs. So take a moment to listen to the tender courage in the voice of my special needs friend, Robin…
JONI: Robin, I have to ask you some questions.
ROBIN: Oh, no!
JONI: Tell me about Down syndrome. What is hard about it?
ROBIN: It’s not easy to be a Downs.
JONI: How so?
ROBIN: Some people talk to me about things and I don’t understand them. I don’t have the right mind sometimes. And it’s not easy for me because I depend on other people. I can’t drive the car; I can’t do math, stuff like that. I hate myself at the very beginning because I never knew I would be a Downs. I’m sorry; that’s how I felt.
JONI: What has helped you through the tough times?
ROBIN: Two people: my mom for one and my dad and Jesus.
JONI: Got the threesome there; pretty close to the trinity – mom and dad and Jesus Christ, that’s pretty good! What do you like best about Jesus? What do you say to people who don’t know him?
ROBIN: Oh, you should hear him say all the neat things about all of you. He loves you so much that he delights in you all. It’s amazing. I can’t wait to see him in heaven.
JONI: Robin once told me, “Joni, worship is in my blood.”
ROBIN: That’s true!
JONI: What ways do you like to worship?
ROBIN: I love to worship because it makes me feel so close to him – Jesus.
JONI: I know that you have kind of a “new technique” for worshipping God now. Describe this to me for us.
ROBIN: Okay. Someone showed me how to go on the YouTube.
JONI: And what do you find on YouTube?
ROBIN: You are on it.
JONI: I was on it?
ROBIN: She was on it.
JONI: Though I spend my mortal lifetime in this chair (singing).That one?
ROBIN: That one…
JONI: I refused to waste it living in despair (singing).Right?
ROBIN: That’s right.
JONI: I think about heaven a lot and so do you, don’t you?
ROBIN: Yes, I do.
JONI: Why?
ROBIN: Because there is no pain, no sorrow, no crying. There will be a day that we will have whole, new bodies in heaven.
JONI: And what will we do with them?
ROBIN: Dance for joy!
JONI: All right! All right!
Friend, I hope you’ve been blessed listening to Robin Hiser, and if you’d like to see this interview, we have a video of it on our radio page at joniandfriends.org. Also, we’re making available this interview on a CD if you’d like to share it with someone you know who has a family member with Down syndrome. First Corinthians 2:6 says that as believers, we have the mind of Christ. And Robin, though she is intellectually disabled in a significant way, has the mind of Christ, as well. Get to know her at joniandfriends.org.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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