I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and have I got a story to tell you from our Family Retreat!
Actually, I’m talking about the Family Retreat we held not long ago in the country of Ukraine – that’s right, we’re taking our Family Retreats overseas where the idea of five days of fun and hiking and swimming and riding a horse even if you are in a wheelchair -- it’s unheard of. I mean really unheard of. In fact, the first day our families began arriving in the little village in the north part of Ukraine, you could tell these mothers and fathers rarely brought their disabled children out into the open… they hardly ever took them anywhere. Some families were just relieved to have made it to our Family Retreat because they were afraid there would be jeering and teasing and staring from people in their town. (I remember one of our Family Retreats we held in Albania – some villagers threw tomatoes at the mothers with their disabled children… can you believe it?).
Well, the first day or two there was a lot of skepticism among the families. A lot of walls had to be broken down. On one of the first nights, there was a little concert we gave and it was as though these disabled children and their mothers and fathers kept looking over their shoulders wondering, like, Is this for us? Are you really doing this for us? Just us and no one else is as important? The next day the fearful expressions had vanished and these mothers and fathers with their children began to really warm up. They could not believe we were actually helping their child up on a horse or into a swimming pool or going for a hike. It was unthinkable… but once they saw their little boy with cerebral palsy or little girl with polio up on that pony, moms and dads were not only laughing, they were crying. They could not get over receiving such a gift.
One mother was especially touched when we welcomed her to our pampering session where we shampooed, did their nails, massaged their feet, put a tiara on their heads and take a photograph. One little disabled boy – the son of one of these moms -- came into this make-shift beauty salon and when he saw his mother wearing a tiara, he bowed and lifting his head up high, asked, “My queen, may I have your inheritance?!”
But the highlight was the campfire on the last night. Sweet little 12-year-old Natalka who has Down syndrome stood up, drew close to the fire, knelt down, and with the earnest simplicity of the child that she was, she kept saying with tears in her eyes, “Jesus, come to us! Dearest Jesus, come to us, come to us!” As a symbol of surrendering their life to Christ, those who had not done so yet were invited to take a piece of firewood and place it in the fire. One or two children who could not walk were carried close to the fire so that they, too, could acknowledge Christ as their Savior by dropping their piece of wood into the flames.
Under the starry sky of that beautiful night, huddled together around the fire, everyone experienced heaven. Natalka with her Down syndrome was right. Jesus had come and visited that Family Retreat in Ukraine. But that’s not uncommon. It happens at all our Family Retreats and I want you to see it for yourself by visiting me today at joniandfriendsradio.org and viewing a brief video of what actually happens at one of our retreats. Not only that, I want to send you three Family Retreat brochures for you to give to someone with a disability, to get them thinking about attending our retreats. Because whether in Ukraine or in the United States, Jesus comes and visits… there’s always that powerful taste of heaven. So, think about volunteering with us and serving as the hands of a child with a disability… there’s a place for you at our Joni and Friends’ Family Retreat. Again, that’s joniandfriendsradio.org. Find out all the details right there.
Used by permission of
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Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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