Supporting Special Needs Families All Year Long!
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:19
Trusting in God’s great love and taking refuge in him can be difficult for families living with disability. Especially for families like Scotty’s, who felt isolated and alone even before the coronavirus shelter–in–place orders were put into place. Scotty has Down syndrome. He and his parents, Butch and Judy, understand the isolation and rejection that can come alongside disability firsthand.
But COVID-19 couldn’t get in the way of God’s plans for this very special family. Jesus touched them deeply with his unending love through our Joni and Friends San Francisco Bay Area ministry even when our teams couldn’t reach out and touch them in person.
When Scotty first started attending our Mission Springs Family Retreat in the Bay Area, he was a young boy filled with excitement and passion. His huge smile greeted everyone he saw.
Scotty was the life of the party and brought joy to every person he met.
He could play baseball all day without ever losing his smile. Family Retreat was certainly Scotty’s happy place – something he and his parents looked forward to all year long.
Judy, Butch and Scotty attended Family Retreat for many years until Butch became very ill with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). As time went by, it simply became too difficult for Butch to attend Family Retreat any longer. Understandably, this was heartbreaking for the whole family. Family Retreat was a real lifeline for them.
How would their lives be impacted now that they could no longer be part of the event they so loved?
Questions like these piled up, and then, due to coronavirus restrictions, we needed to cancel our in-person Family Retreat in 2020. Yet we knew that families impacted by disability in the Bay Area were counting on Family Retreat to strengthen them and give them much needed hope.
Doing nothing was never an option, so we quickly switched gears and hosted our first Family Retreat at Home – bringing the same joy, hope, and Christ-centered encouragement of Family Retreat right into the homes of the families we love so much.
“God knew exactly what our family needed!” declared Judy with delight. “Scott was excited to touch base with everyone. He had missed the previous years at Mission Springs due to my husband’s ALS. Butch was just as thrilled to see friends and was comfortable with people seeing him in our living room. We got to worship with our Joni and Friends family in the comfort of our own home and it was heavenly. We felt that same unconditional love that we have experienced in person at Family Retreat.”
At a time when disability and disease threatened to steal their joy, the Lord used Family Retreat at Home to do a new thing in the lives of Butch, Judy and Scotty.
And Family Retreat at Home is only one of many Joni and Friends events that ministers to the special-needs families in our Bay Area. Online support groups for moms, dads, siblings and the whole family are delivering hope through hardships all year long.
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:19
Families like Scotty’s matter greatly to God and greatly to us. We consider it our privilege to serve families impacted by disability and remind them that they are not alone in their daily struggles. We care about them deeply, and we know that you do, too!
Support Joni and Friends Bay Area
You can be part of everything that God is doing through Joni and Friends in and around the Bay Area and reach out to special needs families right from your very own home today! Show your generous support so that more families living under the strain of disability and disease can experience the miraculous power of Jesus!
