Hi, I’m Joni, and you are listening to Joni and Friends.
(Joni sings:)
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
You know, when I was growing up – the youngest of four sisters – my daddy painted three beautiful angels on the slanted wall of my bedroom. In the dark lying in bed, I’d stare at all three oil-painted angels singing, holding sheet music, they were, with their mouths open like big “Os” and their feet firmly planted in painted clouds. The middle angel had thick blonde hair. I guessed that was my sister, Jay Kay.
Jay was my favorite angel, ’cause she was my favorite sister. She didn’t treat me like a tagalong, she really liked me. Jay must have known how much I looked up to her; maybe that’s why, many years later after the diving accident in which I became paralyzed, it was my older sister Jay who asked me to come live with her on the farm. There was lots of room in the old stone house up on the farm.
Jay took such good care of me – always a warm bed, always great meals, lots of sisterly fellowship. I have many memories of those days, but my favorite memory is an early fall evening on the back porch of the farmhouse. With moonlight on her golden hair, Jay and I lifted our voices on an old hymn: “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood.” I would slide my harmony underneath her melody as our voices – soft as country down – blended into the night and made our praises to God as sweet as the honeysuckle.
I tell you, I owe so much to my sister. At the most fragile time of my life, Jay Kay stood by me, cajoling and coaxing me out of depression always with gingham on the supper table, grace, and a friendship that only sisters can share.
Years have passed since those days on the farm, but still when Jay Kay and I get together, we almost always launch into that favorite old hymn. And as fall begins, as we switch to a new season, I find my mind drifting back to that back porch. It was a cool autumn night when we sang with no sheet music, like angels with our feet firmly planted in the clouds. Thank you, Jay.
I am so grateful to God that I can share these words of encouragement with you and you don’t even have to have a disability. That’s why we call our ministry Joni and Friends. It’s all about friends spending time together and uplifting one another through prayer and giving insight in the Word of God that inspire and refresh. Want to learn more? You can always visit us at joniandfriends.org for more Christian encouragement, or if you know someone with a disability don’t forget to send them our way at joniandfriends.org.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends