Murrieta Family Retreat
JONI: Hi, I’m Joni and I’m here in the studio with my friend and co-worker, Shauna Amick.
SHAUNA: Hi there, Joni!
JONI: Good to be with you, Shauna. And we are so excited because we are smack-dab in the middle of Family Retreat season, right?
SHAUNA: My goodness, Joni and I are super-excited. I love Family Retreat. You know, I’ve been to 11, but all of them were in New England where I used to live. This summer, now that we’ve moved to California, we are going to our first California Family Retreat.
JONI: I know you are going to have a blast out there, Shauna! And you know as well as I do that you are going to experience a real slice of heaven, right?
SHAUNA: Oh, I can’t wait. You know, Family Retreat has been a life saver for our whole family.
JONI: Tell us about that.
SHAUNA: Well, you know my youngest child has Down syndrome, and when Sarah was born I praised God because I did have a very close relationship with Jesus, even then, and that is what kept me going through all the trials of her birth and that first few years of her life. But even though Jesus was with me always (and I knew that), I missed the fellowship of other believers. We felt so isolated, my husband and I.
JONI: I’ve often heard you say you were on an “island of disability”.
SHAUNA: That is exactly what my husband Steve has called it and that is what it felt like – so alone. But that’s when Family Retreat came in and Joni; we were invited to Family Retreat by another friend who had a child with Down syndrome. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we packed up the pieces of our broken hearts and headed off to that family camp, and I remember parking, getting Sarah out of her car seat and when I turned around with her there were short term missionaries running (volunteers) literally running over to greet us.
JONI: With signs and cheering.
SHAUNA: Oh my goodness, I have never felt so welcomed and certainly no one had ever run to greet us before. And I just remember when they put their arms around us for that big “Welcome to Family Retreat” hug I heard scripture, Joni, and I remember it was Isaiah 40, verse 11 where we see the Lord gathering His lambs in His arms and carrying them close to His heart. I felt it right there at Family Retreat, Joni.
JONI: Something you probably had not experienced on your “island of disability”. Suddenly you were content, right? And you were embraced by so many people welcoming Sarah. What did that feel like as a mother to see your little girl with Down syndrome embraced so warmly?
SHAUNA: You know, it was those tears of joy that came to my heart and my eyes and it was something I thought we would never experience. It was truly heaven on earth.
JONI: Well, you know I feel the same way when Ken and I go to Family Retreat. It is a place to connect. It’s a place to be with friends who understand, who resonate, who get it. Ken and I often feel like we are on the “island of disability”. It’s tough for him and I to just go out and have dinner with friends because after we get home there is a 2-hour routine to get me in bed and yadda, yadda, but at Family Retreat we are a part of all the fun, aren’t we?
SHAUNA: Amen!
JONI: Well, friend if you are looking for renewed fellowship in the body of Christ; if you have a disability and you long to be gathered in the Lord’s arms, please, would you register for Family Retreat in your area? Or what do you think, Shauna, serve as one of the STMs?
SHAUNA: Oh my goodness, be one of those people running to embrace the body of Christ.
JONI: We have a special need for young men to serve as volunteers especially, or as Shauna put it, short Term Missionaries, as we call them. So, please right now go to Joni radio.org today to learn more about Family Retreat, a slice of heaven on earth. And Shauna, there may be a few special-needs mothers listening right now. What brief encouragement would you give them?
SHAUNA: Oh, I would say “Go, go let your guard down and be embraced. Everything you have been praying for is waiting for you at Family Retreat.
JONI: And if you know a special needs mom in your church, tell her about Family Retreat. We have posted a special video on Joniradio.org today that shows, literally shows, the joyful welcome that special-needs families like yours enjoy every time they go to Family Retreat. So please visit Joniradio.org and watch that fun video. God bless you, Shauna. Have a good time this summer at Family Retreat.
SHAUNA: Thank you, Joni.
