Family Retreat: An Oasis for the Weary, an Anchor for the Soul
Shauna always knew there would be a “changing of the guard.”
Her parents, Burt and Sharon, spoke about the family’s future plans openly. BJ, Shauna’s brother, is nineteen years her junior and lives with Down syndrome. While health and age permitted, Burt and Sharon would care for BJ. But one day, things would have to change…
How Things Were
Burt, Sharon, Shauna, and BJ were a loving, thriving family unit. Together they adjusted to life with disability—and Shauna had independence to chart her own course while remaining connected.
Fixtures in the Joni and Friends community in Illinois, Burt, Sharon, and BJ attended Family Retreat for more than twenty years. Shauna never attended in person. But then her parents’ health started to decline…
Knowing change is coming is like knowing an earthquake has been predicted. You plan, prepare, maybe remember to put shoes next to your bed at night. But when the earth starts to shake, adrenaline still hits. Dishes crash down from shelves. Sometimes cracks open up in the earth.
We’re Never Really Ready
In 2019 the life-quake of change hit home for Shauna. Her parents’ health made it challenging to go to Family Retreat. So, for the first time, she set off to retreat with BJ—just the two of them.
Shaken by the uncertainty that surrounded her family, Shauna wasn’t sure what to expect at Family Retreat… But she remembers for certain the moment her tears began to flow. Entering the lodge with BJ, Shauna felt like a red carpet rolled out before them. Here, she saw, BJ was known and loved; by extension, so was she.
“Being at my first Family Retreat was, quite frankly, overwhelming. I had seen pictures and heard my parents talk about it, but to experience it in person was something I still can’t adequately put into words!”
Shauna
Throughout Family Retreat week, Shauna eased into the warmth of her women’s Bible study group. She also bonded with BJ’s dedicated volunteer buddy. But, even more importantly, she grew in her love for her brother.
“This was the first time he and I had ever had such one-on-one time, and it was fantastic!” says Shauna.
Becoming a Guardian
Just months after the 2021 Family Retreat, Jesus called Sharon home to heaven. At the same time, Burt’s decision to move into a seniors’ community meant that Shauna and her family now faced a major change—the one that Shauna always knew would come one day. She and her husband sold their home. And they moved into the house that Burt and Sharon built, paving the way for Shauna to take BJ permanently into her care.
In this season thick with grief and strained with change, Shauna hesitated to attend Family Retreat. But she made the decision to come. And among the loving community of Joni and Friends, God provided just the Anchor for the Soul that the whole family needed.
As Shauna says:
“BJ and I left Family Retreat with full hearts and full souls. The theme the year was ‘Anchor for The Soul,’ and it was just what my weary, hurting, over-burdened soul needed.
Having now experienced what my parents did at Family Retreat, I tell everyone I can about it!
I’m especially excited because my husband will join me this year, so he too can experience what Family Retreat is: an oasis for the weary, a refreshing restart for the exhausted, a boost for the burdened, and a place to meet Jesus in new and meaningful ways.”
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