Hear From the Heart of Joni Eareckson Tada on Our Podcast
The Joni and Friends Ministry Podcast kicks off its sixth season with none other than our Founder, Joni Eareckson Tada!
Over the decades that Joni has lived with quadriplegia and chronic pain—not to mention two bouts with cancer and multiple other health complications—Joni has witnessed the power of God’s grace working in and through her suffering.
Joni joins podcast host Crystal Keating for this first episode to introduce Stephanie Daniels who is joining Crystal behind the microphone. Together, Crystal and Stephanie will bring you conversations about finding hope in your hardship and encouragement from our new “Heart of the Founder” series.
In episodes addressing core topics such as suffering, disability, chronic pain, fear, cancer, and healing, Joni herself will share her hard-earned wisdom and Christ-centered hope.
Get to know Stephanie
Stephanie Daniels has gift for encouraging others and serves at Joni and Friends in the role of community engagement. When people leave comments on our social media channels, Stephanie is always ready to respond with Gospel hope and biblical wisdom.
A native Texan, Stephanie was raised in the same church in North Dallas where she and her husband currently serve in discipleship. Meeting Stephanie, you would quickly learn that her true passion is worship. Just like Joni, she loves using her voice to raise the Lord’s name high!
In fact, worship is what initially brought Stephanie to Joni and Friends. She first got involved as a volunteer at a Texas Family Retreat leading families and participants in worship. Eventually Stephanie’s heart for serving people with disability turned her volunteer role into a permanent position where she now serves on our social media team.
Disability has touched Stephanie’s life in many ways. When she was 16, her father lost his vision, and he has been blind for 30 years. Stephanie’s mother lives with Alzheimer’s. She also recently lost her father-in-law, whom she and her husband cared for following a stroke.
“The burdens of caregiving and disability are heavy, and I’ve experienced them firsthand,” Stephanie said. “My prayer is that this podcast will lighten those burdens and help people feel less alone. Humans were made for relationship, which is why the isolation of disability is so painful. Just like I respond to people on social media, I hope this podcast is another platform for me to share Joni’s message, which is the Gospel message of hope in Christ. It is truly good news.”
– Stephanie
When she isn’t serving at work or church, or spending time with family, Stephanie can be found doting on her four-and-a-half-year-old golden doodle, Kevin.
How can suffering deepen your faith?
In the season six premier, Joni talks with Stephanie about how suffering has deepened her faith in Jesus. As she says:
“I praise him, I bless him for this strange gift, this wheelchair. What a strange gift it is, but it is so priceless, so precious. It’s given me a reliance on Jesus, a leaning into him of such depth and urgency…
I just don’t think I’d have such intimacy with my Savior were it not for the suffering, the hardship, the affliction. It has cut gashes in my heart through which God pours grace upon grace upon grace…”
How have you seen God work through your suffering?
Just as he has in Joni’s life, God promises to let his strength shine through your weakness and his joy through your pain.
For Joni, the encouragement she received from Christian friends and God himself has overflowed into the ministry of Joni and Friends. As Joni recalls, the ministry began when people across the world heard her story. They had questions. They saw Joni smiling in her wheelchair and wanted to know: How? Why? Is it possible for me to find hope through hardship too?
Trusting God’s leading, Joni and a group of friends began responding to the letters and calls she received. They saw the monumental need among people living with disability and suffering… a need for hands-on help and Gospel hope. In every letter, call, and speech, Joni aimed to help those who reached out to her find the same comfort and joy she had found, all through knowing Jesus.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”
2 Corinthians 1:3–5
45 years later, that same encouragement is offered as Joni and Friends shares hope through hardship at ministry outreaches, through our Response and social media teams, on Joni’s radio programs, and in season six of the Joni and Friends Ministry Podcast.
How can God use you to encourage someone else today?
If you ask Joni what allows her to get through a tough day, or face an overwhelming bout of pain, she will point you to Scripture. As she says:
“The Word of God is…the foundation of my life. It’s the wellspring of my life.”
Whatever difficulty you face today, God’s presence and his Word can meet you, bringing fresh hope, strength, and peace. And, as Joni points out, the Bible’s most frequent command is: “Do not fear!” Why? Not because we won’t face trials but because God sent Jesus to be hung on the cross—impaled like a piece of meat—all because of his love for us.
When you, like Joni, begin to fathom the depths of this love, you will find abundant love, joy, and encouragement… plenty to share with someone else who needs it.
Subscribe to the Joni and Friends Ministry Podcast!
Join Crystal and Stephanie each week as they share conversations about finding hope in your hardship and biblical wisdom from our Heart of the Founder series.
