An Anniversary Of Gratitude
What an unusual wedding anniversary we’re celebrating today.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada. Ken and I have been married 38 years today and, yes, we have enjoyed many anniversaries over more than three decades. But I’ve got a feeling we will always remember the wedding anniversary of 2020. While most people have long-stopped sheltering in place in isolation, it’s not that way for my husband and me. Because of my age and my quadriplegia and my frail lungs, we still have to stay somewhat sequestered, at least for the most part. Yeah, I can go to the headquarters of Joni and Friends now and then, but with all the new protocols, sometimes I think it’s just easier for me to stay at home and work until summer is behind me. However! It has pushed Ken and me up against each other in our modest, single-story home. And frankly, it’s been this way since the shelter-in-place orders back in the middle of March.
So, as Ken and I celebrate our anniversary today, we are celebrating two things: grace and gratitude. First, grace, in that over the last few months, the Lord developed so much patience and perseverance in my life and Ken’s. Yes, there were many times he got discouraged, and I felt depressed. But! My husband and I acknowledged it, admitted it, confessed it, and then promised to work with God and with each other through it, all the while leaning hard on Bible promises, and not on our emotions or circumstances. On this anniversary we’re thanking God that we have a purpose of living even now, while still sequestered at home because of my quadriplegia that puts me at risk.
And so we thank God for His grace. But also, for a heart of gratitude. Oh, my goodness. On this wedding anniversary, my husband and I are looking intentionally for reasons to be grateful. We have vertical gratitude, as Paul David Tripp puts it. Vertical thanksgiving for who God is, how faithful He is, and how abundantly He pours out His mercy. We thank Him according to Psalm 33:11, that God’s plans stand firm in this challenging time, and that the purpose of His heart is always to help, always to encourage, always rescue, deliver, to heal and to restore.
Others may be able to be out and about now that it’s July, but Ken Tada and I, we also have horizontal gratitude – again, as my friend Paul David Tripp puts it. We are thankful horizontally for the people who are still Face-timing with us and Zooming with us; neighbors who are dropping by with meals, doing shopping for us; a few friends who are staying overnight to give my husband a break from getting up to turn me at 4:00a.m. Yep, vertical and horizontal gratitude. It’s what Ken and I are doing on our wedding anniversary. So, we’ll save the fancy restaurant for a time when I can freely go out and about. But for now, we’re celebrating at home with a casserole and fresh asparagus.43
Look, it does not have to be your anniversary; and frankly, you’ve probably released yourself from sheltering at home weeks ago. But no matter what’s going on, it’s still a season where God is looking for His people to be grateful, to be thankful, whether vertically, looking up to Him, or horizontally, looking to others. It’ll be what makes this day a very happy wedding anniversary for my husband Ken and me. Hey, why don’t you take a look at joniradio.org today and see the few photos, old wedding photos, I’ve posted up there? You’ll enjoy them! And again, see you later at joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends
An Untold Love Story
After 30 years of marriage, Ken and Joni offer readers a rare and candid account of their journey through quadriplegia, depression, pain, and cancer – and reveal a hope founded on God’s grace alone. Let their story inspire and encourage your own life and marriage!
