When I was a child, after I opened my gifts on Christmas morning I always looked for something more. Not more presents but a deeper, nostalgic kind of “more...

Joni and Friends Blog

25.12.2024

Christmas Eve | Joni and Friends

Imagine walking through your front door and inhaling the mouth-watering aroma of Christmas turkey roasting in the oven...

Joni and Friends Blog

24.12.2024

Family Retreat: Transforming Lives with Love and Support | Joni and Friends

Josiah, who has Down syndrome, started coming to Family Retreat in 2011. His mother, Julie, says, “The rest is history!”...

Joni and Friends Blog

24.12.2024

A Lesson From Mary | Joni and Friends

In the Christmas story in Luke chapter 2, just look at what Mary does. After the shepherds came racing to the stable, hands waving, all...

Joni and Friends Blog

23.12.2024

Fourth Sunday of Advent | Joni and Friends

Ask people just who baby Jesus is, and you'll be surprised at the answers you hear. What child is this? Well, think of the answers people in the Bible...

Joni and Friends Blog

22.12.2024

If I Had Been There | Joni and Friends

Of Christmas Eve, Martin Luther once wrote, “There are some of us who think to ourselves, ‘If I had only been there! How quick I would have been to help the...

Joni and Friends Blog

20.12.2024

An Impossibility | Joni and Friends

We talk a lot about the Incarnation as Christmas draws near. Incarnation is a Latin word that means “taking flesh.” God “took flesh” and became the human...

Joni and Friends Blog

20.12.2024

God’s Love and Hope for Families with Disabilities | Joni and Friends

I am so ready to celebrate our Savior’s birth with you, and I’m praying a fresh level of joy will fill our hearts and homes...

Joni and Friends Blog

20.12.2024

Family Retreat: Where Families Facing Disability Find Love and Belonging | Joni and Friends

God uses life experiences to impact peoples’ hearts in wondrous ways. God has used disability to do a work in the hearts of Scott, Christina, and...

Joni and Friends Blog

19.12.2024

The Church Shines in the Snowy Mountains on Christmas Eve | Joni and Friends

When it comes to the artistry of my painting Christmas Eve Night, the entire piece is a play on temperature, contrasting a warm, golden glow inside...

Joni and Friends Blog

19.12.2024

A Laughing Lord? | Joni and Friends

The Son of Man was completely and utterly human, which means of course that he experienced the entire range of human emotions—emotions untainted by sin...

Joni and Friends Blog

19.12.2024

Be Holy | Joni and Friends

It was only our high school madrigal choir singing a Gregorian chant. But the beautiful, haunting discords and harmonies in the minor keys swelled my...

Joni and Friends Blog

19.12.2024

God’s Love and Hope for Families with Disabilities This Christmas | Joni and Friends

I am so ready to celebrate our Savior’s birth with you, and I’m praying a fresh level of joy will fill our hearts and homes...

Joni and Friends Blog

18.12.2024

Worshiping God Face-On | Joni and Friends

It was 1958. I was a restless, adventurous nine-year-old, and I was on a steamship, sailing with my mother and grandmother to Bermuda. When we woke up...

Joni and Friends Blog

18.12.2024

Bringing Hope and Joy to Families Living with Disability | Joni and Friends

With Christmas drawing near, I praise God for your faithfulness in bringing joy and hope to families living with disability here in Louisiana...

Joni and Friends Blog

17.12.2024

Hear the Angels Sing | Joni and Friends

There’s a good reason why I love that Christmas Carol, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. It’s the 3rd verse: "O you beneath life's crushing load...

Joni and Friends Blog

17.12.2024

Because of Your Gift, Families are Finding Hope and Love in Christ | Joni and Friends

God is using Joni and Friends Georgia—and he is using you—to make an incredible difference in the lives of people living with disability...

Joni and Friends Blog

16.12.2024

Third Sunday of Advent | Joni and Friends

I don’t know about you, but all the Christmas shopping ads seem trivial in light of the current events we’ve seen in recent months. Natural disasters...

Joni and Friends Blog

15.12.2024

The Rude Shepherd | Joni and Friends

It was one of those classic, picturesque Christmas plays at church. The production was nearly finished. Mary and Joseph were in place with baby Jesus around...

Joni and Friends Blog

13.12.2024

Alive and Active | Joni and Friends

One minute the night skies over Bethlehem were cool and quiet; the next minute someone turned on the light switch. Stars that were twinkling suddenly...

Joni and Friends Blog

12.12.2024

Detours | Joni and Friends

There’s an old saying that goes, “A contented man is the one who enjoys the scenery along the detours.” We usually think of detours as interruptions in an

Joni and Friends Blog

11.12.2024

Small Steps | Joni and Friends

A friend of mine who suffers from migraine headaches tells me that on some mornings she wakes up thinking, How can I do this? I don’t have the will to even...

Joni and Friends Blog

10.12.2024

Steward Your Suffering | Joni and Friends

Vicki is my quadriplegic friend who is quite the warrior. She has a hard life, but for her, enduring tough trials with a hard-fought-for smile...

Joni and Friends Blog

10.12.2024

An Internship Journey of Stepping Out in Faith and Love | Joni and Friends

Matthew Gilliland wasn’t sure what it would be like to serve in Brazil as part of his Joni and Friends internship. A 2021 graduate from Shepherds College...

Joni and Friends Blog

10.12.2024

No Regrets | Joni and Friends

Why does our salvation leave no regrets? Well, to be saved means to realize your low estate before a holy God (that’s what godly sorrow is all about). And...

Joni and Friends Blog

09.12.2024

Second Sunday of Advent | Joni and Friends

Every year I pride myself on keeping the month of December clear in my Planner. I’ll glance over on my desk and admire all those white blocks...

Joni and Friends Blog

09.12.2024

Gaining through Losing | Joni and Friends

Cecile Van Antwerp has lived in a wheelchair many more years than I have, plus she resides in a nursing home. Years ago when I went to visit her, I was...

Joni and Friends Blog

07.12.2024

Finding Meaning | Joni and Friends

Suppose you’re walking down a street, when you are accosted and forced to carry a huge and heavy basket on your back. You’re ordered to walk three blocks...

Joni and Friends Blog

07.12.2024

Faithfulness | Joni and Friends

Someone once said to me, “Joni, I wish I could be like you, because you’ll get a great reward in heaven.” I appreciate the accolade but I see it differently...

Joni and Friends Blog

06.12.2024

Of Wolves and Lambs | Joni and Friends

Theologians and preachers will debate the timing and meaning of this prophecy. Is it before or after Christ’s rule in the Millennium? Is it in heaven or is...

Joni and Friends Blog

05.12.2024

Who Gets the Prize? | Joni and Friends

When I was growing up, I loved to enter my thoroughbred in the local horse shows. I’d prepare for that day, but I didn’t work nearly as hard as the horse...

Joni and Friends Blog

04.12.2024

A Stone-Cold Fact | Joni and Friends

My God!” exclaimed the boutique owner, a tall, blond woman with a German accent. “It would look absolutely great on you!” She held up the jacket...

Joni and Friends Blog

03.12.2024

Spiritual Leprosy | Joni and Friends

Looking back over the places I’ve visited over the years, Africa remains the most vivid, due especially to the plight of its disabled people. Diseases we...

Joni and Friends Blog

02.12.2024

Pearl of Great Price | Joni and Friends

One day my father-in-law, Dad Tada, presented me with a family heirloom, a string of genuine pearls. He told me they had been harvested in Japan...

Joni and Friends Blog

02.12.2024

First Sunday of Advent | Joni and Friends

Are you wondering what this whole Advent journey is about and why it begins on such a mournful note? Well, it’s simple… How could we possibly appreciate...

Joni and Friends Blog

01.12.2024

God’s Sovereignty | Joni and Friends

God doesn’t say, “Into each life a little rain must fall” and then aim a hose in earth’s general direction to see who gets the wettest. Rather he screens...

Joni and Friends Blog

30.11.2024

A Taste of Heaven | Joni and Friends

There is no mistaking. This is a real banquet. In heaven, after death is swallowed up and the Lord wipes away the tears from all faces, a banquet will...

Joni and Friends Blog

28.11.2024

Unlock the Good Life by Giving This Thanksgiving | Joni and Friends

This Thanksgiving, whether you feast on a golden-brown turkey and bologna stuffing (a Tada household favorite), or skip the traditional fixings; and whether...

Joni and Friends Blog

28.11.2024

I’m Joy-Happy | Joni and Friends

We’re often taught to be careful of the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness, it is said, is an emotion that depends upon what “happens.” Joy...

Joni and Friends Blog

28.11.2024

Why Giving is the Good Life | Joni and Friends

Is it possible to live a life that pleases God and helps others, but is also the best for us? “To open up your hands and freely give to help others...

home›Joni and Friends Blog›Kids & Parenting

Joni and Friends Blog - Kids & Parenting

Christmas Anticipation | Joni and Friends

Christmas Eve | Joni and Friends

Family Retreat: Transforming Lives with Love and Support | Joni and Friends

A Lesson From Mary | Joni and Friends

Fourth Sunday of Advent | Joni and Friends

If I Had Been There | Joni and Friends

An Impossibility | Joni and Friends

God’s Love and Hope for Families with Disabilities | Joni and Friends

Family Retreat: Where Families Facing Disability Find Love and Belonging | Joni and Friends

The Church Shines in the Snowy Mountains on Christmas Eve | Joni and Friends

A Laughing Lord? | Joni and Friends

Be Holy | Joni and Friends

God’s Love and Hope for Families with Disabilities This Christmas | Joni and Friends

Worshiping God Face-On | Joni and Friends

Bringing Hope and Joy to Families Living with Disability | Joni and Friends

Hear the Angels Sing | Joni and Friends

Because of Your Gift, Families are Finding Hope and Love in Christ | Joni and Friends

Third Sunday of Advent | Joni and Friends

The Rude Shepherd | Joni and Friends

Alive and Active | Joni and Friends

Detours | Joni and Friends

Small Steps | Joni and Friends

Steward Your Suffering | Joni and Friends

An Internship Journey of Stepping Out in Faith and Love | Joni and Friends

No Regrets | Joni and Friends

Second Sunday of Advent | Joni and Friends

Gaining through Losing | Joni and Friends

Finding Meaning | Joni and Friends

Faithfulness | Joni and Friends

Of Wolves and Lambs | Joni and Friends

Who Gets the Prize? | Joni and Friends

A Stone-Cold Fact | Joni and Friends

Spiritual Leprosy | Joni and Friends

Pearl of Great Price | Joni and Friends

First Sunday of Advent | Joni and Friends

God’s Sovereignty | Joni and Friends

A Taste of Heaven | Joni and Friends

Unlock the Good Life by Giving This Thanksgiving | Joni and Friends

I’m Joy-Happy | Joni and Friends

Why Giving is the Good Life | Joni and Friends

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