The Power of Is on Display at Our Marriage Getaways!
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MINISTRY NEWS JULY 2021 The Power of is onJ displayesus at our Marriage Getaways! In sharp contrast with our culture, the Bible teaches that the essence of marriage is a sacrificial commitment to the good of the other. That means that love is more fundamentally action than emotion. “ TIM KELLER any people look at photos of Ken and me and say, “Look Oh, how Jesus is needed! When couples cast their cares on at them, they’re always smiling… what a happy couple!” him, they find hope, strength, and a deeper love for Christ and MIn one sense, they are right. Ken and I are very happy. each other. The grace of Jesus empowers a husband and wife to But our smiles do not come easily. Even now, after almost 40 years keep love at the center, even when disability feels overwhelming. of life together, the joy in our marriage is vigorously hard-fought ” Can you see why Joni and Friends Marriage Getaways are for. Ken and I may casually say to one another, “I love you,” but my essential? Where else will these isolated families hear the Gospel quadriplegia keeps demanding that we prove it. of our Savior?! Marriage-love is proved in the middle of the night when When you support our Marriage Getaways, you are helping Ken must get up for the fourth time to help me cough or blow couples discover strength in Christ through their most devastating my nose when I’m sick. For other families with special needs, weaknesses. Disability may expose how desperate needs are, but marriage-love is proved when dad comes home tired from work a Marriage Getaway shows couples where true marriage-love is yet drops everything to tend to their disabled child so mom can found… always in our Lord Jesus. take a breather. Husbands and wives are constantly dealing with insurance hassles, back pain, feeding tubes, burn-out, hospital visits, shortage of help, toileting routines… and when it comes to their child with a disability, behavior challenges, school absence, and sibling rivalry. It’s constant… it’s isolating… and a threat to everyone’s sanity. Marriage Getaways Save Marriages & Strengthen Families! hen Jeff and Ericka first heard about an instant first-time father to Ericka’s two our Marriage Getaways, their children. Then they had Sage, now 18, who has W marriage was hanging on by a thread. autism. Disability, divorce, and ongoing patterns “I was so done with him,” confides Ericka. “He of sin added heavy burdens to their relationship. said he was a believer, but his actions did not Jeff admits he was “distant as a husband.” And show it. I felt so unloved by him.” Ericka had Ericka recalls, “I’d made up my mind. I definitely already begun the legal process of divorce. wanted a divorce.” “I was on my way to losing her,” remembers But when Jeff learned about our Marriage Jeff. “I prayed I would not get divorced again, but Getaway for couples impacted by disability, I was so convicted and felt unloved by Christ.” Yet he was determined to attend even if Ericka Jeff was committed to make this marriage work. refused. Surprisingly, she agreed to go, and Jeff and Ericka had both already been what happened there was nothing less than an divorced. When they got married, Jeff became all-out miracle. DJ, Darrell, Jeff and Sage know the joy of the Lord and the encouragement that comes from iron sharpening iron! “It was amazing! Instantly, we connected with “I had never really looked at our marriage our coaches, Pastor Darrell and Donnell,” shares in a biblical way before,” shares Jeff. “But the Ericka. “After we prayed with them it was this Marriage Getaway saved our marriage and immediate feeling of trust, and we both let it all renewed our faith in God. I saw a big change out. It was like a switch flipped in us.” in our family when they saw the big change DJ, the youngest of Darrell and Donnell’s five in us. When they saw us run hard after God children, has Down syndrome. They understand in all things it changed our kids. It set an the very real challenges that come with being a example for them that they had never seen special needs family. They also clearly remember before. It was a trickle-down effect, and it still their first impressions of Jeff and Ericka. “They continues to this day.” were in real trouble,” recalls Donnell. “We were This year, Jeff and Ericka celebrate their 7th not at all sure their marriage could survive. It Marriage Getaway together where they now was heart breaking.” But Jesus had a bigger plan! serve on our Marriage Getaway leadership team. “We know that God used the Marriage Their testimony of God’s mercy, grace, and power Getaway and Pastor Darrell and Donnell to save is shared at every Marriage Getaway, giving our marriage! We were being loved on by Joni Christ-centered hope to other special needs and Friends. It’s where we were taught to trust couples in crisis. Thank you for praying for Couples experience absolute God first and to love each other more than we couples like Jeff and Ericka! Your love is holding miracles at Marriage Getaways! loved ourselves,” explains Ericka. special needs families together! Focusing on Marriages, Families and Jesus! ary and Glenn have 14 biological and challenges that disability brings. Their adopted children; two have already opportunity to put in the time and attention Mgone home to be with the Lord. Six of needed to strengthen their marriage is often their children have disabilities and the emotional limited by the demands of their children challenges that come from abandonment and the with special needs. abuse of their birth parents. “It’s a big ordeal to “We are so tired at the end of the day that go anywhere,” shares Mary. there is no energy left to read, talk or pray Mary explains that couples parenting together. However, at the Marriage Getaway children with disabilities share struggles we had time to spend together, just the two like other marriages, but those struggles of us. Uninterrupted conversation with each are multiplied exponentially by the unique other and God.” Glenn and Mary's 11-year-old daughter Peppy has Down syndrome. She benefits greatly from the strengthening of her parent's marriage! Shown here with her Family Retreat buddy, Peppy's smile shows her love for Joni and Friends and her love for the Lord! At Marriage Getaway, Mary and Glenn were the retreat is over. Our online marriage support able to focus on each other and their marriage groups keep couples connected to each other as while developing the skills needed to keep their well as to the body of Christ. We are dedicated relationship strong and focused on Jesus. Since to doing everything we can to hold families returning home, they have shared that they impacted by disability together, and we praise understand each other better and process conflict God that you are, too! in new and Christ-honoring ways. Marriage Glenn and Mary now pray together daily, Getaways provide practical biblical tools to thanking God for the gift of each other and couples impacted by disability, all the while asking for the Lord’s help so they can love each connecting husbands and wives to a community other like Jesus, even when they don’t feel like it. of other couples parenting special needs children. Their marriage – and their beautiful family – is And the support Joni and Friends offers stronger because of Marriage Getaway and our through Marriage Getaways doesn’t end once ongoing marriage support groups! Left to right: Ellie, Jon, Meira, Mary and Glenn, Rosie, Peppy, Nicole, Edward and Jerry. Marriage Getaways keep whole families strong! Growing the Body of Christ From Mississippi Molly is a single mom who knows all too well the fear, exhaustion One Wheelchair at a Time and isolation associated with having a child with disabilities. When she adopted her daughter Savannah from China, “She came home as a very malnourished two-and-a-half-year-old weighing under 20 pounds. Upon leaving China, Savannah’s diagnosis was cerebral palsy. However, we knew even while in China there was much more to her story. Once home she saw just about every specialist there was, and slowly we discovered From Central Tennessee what a complex little puzzle she truly was. She was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Dup15q, autism, global Our Joni and Friends Tennessee team just got development delay, hypotonia, receptive and expressive language back from delivering wheelchairs and sharing the disorder, and sensory and feeding issues. I had a lot to learn!” Gospel in Guatemala. 13-year-old Ella received a new, custom-fitted wheelchair during our Wheels for “The life we live is hard many days. It's exhausting. Some days the World outreach, giving her and her mother new I don’t know what to do, or where to turn for help." Gratefully, reasons to smile! Molly turned to Joni and Friends for help, and she found a new Molly, Savannah and Savannah's community of support and encouragement at Family Retreat Family Ella is paralyzed from the waist down. She suffers from where Christ transformed her heart. Thank you for giving special Retreat buddy, Emmie. chronic pain and from constant bullying from the other needs families like Molly’s strength and hope in Jesus! children in her community. Before we visited her village, Ella felt she had no reason to smile.