End of Year
Joni: Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I love the last week of December.
Really I do because you know what, that is when Ken and I sit down and pray for the many ministries that we financially support. It’s the time that we write our checks and you know what, we are cheerful givers, we really are, because we know that we have a chance to bless the people who receive the ministry impact. We want to be good gospel patrons and God loves not only cheerful givers, but He loves cheerful askers. That is why I brought into the studio today my good friend Shauna Amick who is Vice President of Development here at Joni and Friends.
Joni: Shauna you like to ask cheerfully, don’t you, on behalf of the Lord?
Shauna: Oh, I sure do, Joni. It brings me great joy to ask, not because I’m asking for us, or even the ministry, but because we are asking for people with disabilities.
Joni: That’s right. You know I often say, “It’s not the ‘Joni and Friends’ that has the needs, it’s the people with disabilities that we serve,” whether it’s overseas in developing nations; whether it’s here in the United States or whether we are scholar-shipping a family. Often special-needs families who come to our Family Retreats are financially strapped and they need help, don’t they?
Shauna: Joni, there are so many who just simply could not come without a scholarship and so here in this time where we are cheerfully giving and cheerfully asking, I would have our listeners consider one more gift this year, that they might take that gospel message one step further and scholarship a family to Family Retreat for the year ahead.
Joni: I have seen those families at Family Retreats. Shauna, they are so appreciative. They tell me, “Joni, I don’t know who gave the funds, but would you please thank them for us. We are so grateful.” It’s neat to see that gratitude isn’t it? And you see it on the face of a child overseas with a disability who receives a wheelchair, right?
Shauna: That’s right. Oh my goodness, the joy on their faces when they are literally picked up out of the dirt and placed in their own custom fitted wheelchair, it’s priceless.
Joni: You know you see these mothers come into a Wheels for the World distribution site and they are carrying their 14-year-old son with cerebral palsy on their back and you can see the burden on their face. And when they sit down and watch our physical therapist go to town and shape up and shine up and adjust a pediatric wheelchair to fit their son … oh my goodness, tears of joy (not sadness but joy) and inevitably they will turn to me and say, “Oh, Joni, please thank the people in America.” I love that. People are grateful when they experience a blessing in the midst of their brokenness. And our friends have a chance to do that right now, don’t they?
Shauna: That’s right. They sure do. They have the chance to absolutely change lives with the simple gift of a scholarship.
Joni: So let me take this opportunity listening friend, to right now pass on that thank you from the families who have been scholarshipped at Family Retreat, from those children overseas who have received those wheelchairs. Thank you! I’m passing on their thank you. They are so grateful to you for making a life-changing, life-transforming impact on these families with special needs. Now I’m going to turn to you listening and ask you … if you have not prayed for or participated in, or financially given to Joni and Friends, this week is your chance, right Shauna?
Shauna: This is the week to do it, Joni. We have one week left in the year and we are gearing up for God to do absolute miracles in the year ahead, so now is the time to prepare for that.
Joni: Well, friend, you have heard Shauna and me share the need and the need is great among the world’s disabled. So among all those ministries that you might be donating to at year’s end, don’t forget Joni and Friends. We promise to be good and careful stewards of each and every dollar that is invested in our ministry as well as the prayers that are invested, right Shauna?
Shauna: That’s right, Joni.
Joni: Just go on line to joniandfriends.org and look for our “Donate” tab and become a friend of Joni and Friends.
© Joni and Friends
