When I catch myself, I’m aghast at how many lazy, anxious, or lustful imaginations wheedle their way into my head. When they do, the “thought patrol” goes on...

Joni and Friends Blog

07.10.2025

No One Cares as Jesus Cares | Joni and Friends

No one ever cared for me like Jesus There’s no other friend so kind as He; No one else could take the sin and darkness from me — O how much He cared for me!*1...

Joni and Friends Blog

07.10.2025

Disability and Respect: A Christian Guide to Speaking with Love | Joni and Friends

If you have big questions about disability, you’ve come to the right place! Because the Joni and Friends Beyond Suffering course offers a biblical...

Joni and Friends Blog

06.10.2025

Wheels of Hope: Inmates Restore Mobility for People with Disabilities | Joni and Friends

Hundreds of like-new wheelchairs sit at the Bent County Correctional Facility in Las Animas, Colorado, waiting for a recipient. Newly restored, they are...

Joni and Friends Blog

06.10.2025

Heaven in the Here and Now | Joni and Friends

Do you notice anything odd about that verse? It’s the verb tense. The writer of Hebrews says we “have already come” to heaven. Resurrection promises are...

Joni and Friends Blog

05.10.2025

A Long Obedience | Joni and Friends

When Ken and I drive north from Los Angeles to visit his relatives in Stockton, we take the interstate highway, a long, straight road through...

Joni and Friends Blog

04.10.2025

Freedom | Joni and Friends

Jesus never said to his disciples, “Obey my rules.” Instead, he told his followers to “Obey me.” And because the Lord did not leave us with a long...

Joni and Friends Blog

03.10.2025

Cisterns and Springs | Joni and Friends

Jesus said that rivers of living water would flow out of the lives of those who believe in him. His living water would brim over from the wellspring of the...

Joni and Friends Blog

03.10.2025

When Faith Faces the Impossible: One Family’s Fierce Love and Unshakable Hope | Joni and Friends

Jon and Lauren sat in the parking garage coming to terms with the news before heading home. Their appointment for a routine 20-week ultrasound...

Joni and Friends Blog

02.10.2025

Stop and Listen | Joni and Friends

It happens all the time. You get together with a friend, or someone you haven’t seen in a while, and before you know it, you’ve filled the air with a...

Joni and Friends Blog

02.10.2025

The Value of Every Life: Honoring People with Down Syndrome | Joni and Friends

Joni and Friends President Shawn Thornton spent part of his summer in Oregon at Family Retreat with his new friend, Paul. Paul, a 32-year-old devoted...

Joni and Friends Blog

01.10.2025

Christ’s Love in Action: Serving Families with Disabilities in Ghana | Joni and Friends

The moment Ailah stepped through the doorway, Kofi’s face lit up. At first he froze, then burst into laughter, squealing with delight. Though non-verbal...

Joni and Friends Blog

01.10.2025

“Spiritual” Activities | Joni and Friends

Have you noticed how some activities seem more spiritual, more sacred than others? Singing hymns, teaching church school, or preparing a care basket...

Joni and Friends Blog

30.09.2025

Introducing the Second Edition of Beyond Suffering: A Christian View on Disability Ministry | Joni and Friends

When I read these verses pointing to God’s glory and power beyond human imagination, I think of the Joni and Friends Beyond Suffering course...

Joni and Friends Blog

30.09.2025

When All Else Fails | Joni and Friends

With our quarrel still hanging heavily in the air, Ken and I sat in stubborn silence. Finally he spoke, “So we don’t measure up to each other’s expectations...

Joni and Friends Blog

29.09.2025

A New Song | Joni and Friends

When I am in pain, I take the advice of others who’ve survived it. Like Amy Carmichael, the missionary to India who rescued kids from temple prostitution...

Joni and Friends Blog

28.09.2025

Prophesy! | Joni and Friends

I’m no prophet, but I’m intrigued by Peter’s words in Acts, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and...

Joni and Friends Blog

26.09.2025

Terry Fahy brings decades of Christian business experience to Joni and Friends | Joni and Friends

The international disability ministry Joni and Friends is proud to announce that Christian media executive Terry Fahy has joined the nonprofit’s global...

Joni and Friends Blog

26.09.2025

God’s Friends | Joni and Friends

A woman named Mary Lance once asked the Lord if he would please introduce her to his best friends. She desired to meet believers on whom rested God’s favor.

Joni and Friends Blog

25.09.2025

God Gets Emotional | Joni and Friends

Have you ever taken delight in someone? Maybe you’ve burst into laughter over an infant’s first smile. Perhaps you’ve beamed with pride as a dear one graduates from college with honors. Or you’ve felt the delicious warmth of a loved one’s gaze.

Joni and Friends Blog

23.09.2025

Searching for Sinners | Joni and Friends

What a bad lesson on successful sheep ranching–leaving an entire flock to search for one lost sheep is a sure way to lose ninety-nine more.

Joni and Friends Blog

23.09.2025

New Edition of Beyond Suffering: Transforming Disability Ministry Worldwide | Joni and Friends

Over one billion people worldwide live with a disability, and that number is growing every day. Churches are on the front lines of ministering to those with...

Joni and Friends Blog

22.09.2025

Christian, What Do You Believe? | Joni and Friends

Thirty-eight years ago, my friend Gracie lost her legs, shattered her hips, and broke bones in a tragic car accident. She lives with intractable pain...

Joni and Friends Blog

21.09.2025

Great and Terrible Day of the Lord | Joni and Friends

Jesus did not come to execute the wrath of God–he made that clear when he announced his Messiah manifesto from Isaiah 61.

Joni and Friends Blog

20.09.2025

The Messiah Manifesto | Joni and Friends

The air in the synagogue was hot and tight. The attendant handed Jesus the scroll of Isaiah. He quietly unrolled it, found the verse he was looking for, and began to speak with the voice of uncommon authority:

Joni and Friends Blog

19.09.2025

Talking With God | Joni and Friends

Talking to God could be intimidating. Talking with God could strike even greater fear in your heart. Little wonder that Moses, when approaching God....

Joni and Friends Blog

18.09.2025

Crazy Moments | Joni and Friends

It’s easy to lose sight of God. You get home late, you put on a casserole, but the phone rings and you forget about turning off the oven. Exasperated...

Joni and Friends Blog

17.09.2025

Christian Contentment in Pain: How to Trust God Daily | Joni and Friends

Every day begins with a choice. Will I choose a bright outlook or a gloomy one, a contented spirit or a miserable one, a pursuit of God or a pursuit...

Joni and Friends Blog

17.09.2025

Obligated to Be Like Us | Joni and Friends

That was cruel, don’t you think? The Son of God was obligated to step into cumbersome time from endless eternity. Obligated to put on finite flesh...

Joni and Friends Blog

16.09.2025

God’s Anger | Joni and Friends

All of the Father’s white-hot wrath against our sin was hurled at Christ as he hung on the cross. All of the Father’s anger and indignation was heaped...

Joni and Friends Blog

15.09.2025

Pray this Way | Joni and Friends

I ‘really’ identify with the disabled people we serve at Joni and Friends. Because they struggle hard. And I do what they do; I pray like they do, that my...

Joni and Friends Blog

15.09.2025

God’s Love Shines Through Community | Joni and Friends

When Tom and Ann-Marie signed up for their first Joni and Friends Family Retreat, they didn’t know quite what to expect. They had heard wonderful things...

Joni and Friends Blog

14.09.2025

Number Your Days | Joni and Friends

I have this habit of numbering my days: When I wake up in the morning, I make a point of thinking, “Lord, this day is worth a thousand years of eternity...

Joni and Friends Blog

13.09.2025

We Are Most Like Jesus When… | Joni and Friends

If you were to list on a chalkboard the ways by which we become more like Jesus, what would you write? The following might top your list: We become patient. Loving. Sympathetic. Wise. More pure. More sensitive. More discerning.

Joni and Friends Blog

12.09.2025

Losing | Joni and Friends

Who is great in God’s eyes? Jesus sets up a little child as his answer. Mind you, childhood back in those days was a condition not to be desired by any adult, and Jesus points to the child not as a winsome example of how charming and simple we’re supposed to be, but rather how lowly.

Joni and Friends Blog

11.09.2025

Hate… But Cling to What Is Good | Joni and Friends

Christians have a great deal to fight against these days: Pornography. Corruption in government. Abortion. Euthanasia. Humanism and secularism in schools.

Joni and Friends Blog

10.09.2025

Fences | Joni and Friends

When I was growing up upon a farm in the hills of Maryland, God used horses to teach me a few of life’s lessons. Such as, my sister’s two horses, Shotgun, and his best buddy, Reds...

Joni and Friends Blog

10.09.2025

Why Family Retreat Matters for Special Needs Families | Joni and Friends

For Eric and Melissa, parents of three beautiful children, Sophia (12), Will (9), and Lily (6) disability has led their family on an uphill path...

Joni and Friends Blog

09.09.2025

Dry Wastelands | Joni and Friends

Elijah may have been describing Baal here, but I confess that I’ve occasionally felt the same about God. I go through dry and weary times in prayer when I...

home›Joni and Friends Blog›Kids & Parenting

Joni and Friends Blog - Kids & Parenting

Lust | Joni and Friends

The Thought Patrol | Joni and Friends

No One Cares as Jesus Cares | Joni and Friends

Disability and Respect: A Christian Guide to Speaking with Love | Joni and Friends

Wheels of Hope: Inmates Restore Mobility for People with Disabilities | Joni and Friends

Heaven in the Here and Now | Joni and Friends

A Long Obedience | Joni and Friends

Freedom | Joni and Friends

Cisterns and Springs | Joni and Friends

When Faith Faces the Impossible: One Family’s Fierce Love and Unshakable Hope | Joni and Friends

Stop and Listen | Joni and Friends

The Value of Every Life: Honoring People with Down Syndrome | Joni and Friends

Christ’s Love in Action: Serving Families with Disabilities in Ghana | Joni and Friends

“Spiritual” Activities | Joni and Friends

Introducing the Second Edition of Beyond Suffering: A Christian View on Disability Ministry | Joni and Friends

When All Else Fails | Joni and Friends

A New Song | Joni and Friends

Prophesy! | Joni and Friends

Terry Fahy brings decades of Christian business experience to Joni and Friends | Joni and Friends

God’s Friends | Joni and Friends

God Gets Emotional | Joni and Friends

Searching for Sinners | Joni and Friends

New Edition of Beyond Suffering: Transforming Disability Ministry Worldwide | Joni and Friends

Christian, What Do You Believe? | Joni and Friends

Great and Terrible Day of the Lord | Joni and Friends

The Messiah Manifesto | Joni and Friends

Talking With God | Joni and Friends

Crazy Moments | Joni and Friends

Christian Contentment in Pain: How to Trust God Daily | Joni and Friends

Obligated to Be Like Us | Joni and Friends

God’s Anger | Joni and Friends

Pray this Way | Joni and Friends

God’s Love Shines Through Community | Joni and Friends

Number Your Days | Joni and Friends

We Are Most Like Jesus When… | Joni and Friends

Losing | Joni and Friends

Hate… But Cling to What Is Good | Joni and Friends

Fences | Joni and Friends

Why Family Retreat Matters for Special Needs Families | Joni and Friends

Dry Wastelands | Joni and Friends

home
›
Joni and Friends Blog
›
Kids & Parenting