Joni's Anniversary

           Today I am celebrating - I realize that's a funny word for this particular occasion - but I can't think of a better way to put it:  Today marks 41 years for me in my wheelchair.  And, well, an anniversary like this is to celebrate all the special people who have walked by my side along side this wheelchair for so many decades.  And I'm thinking of my husband, Ken.  Ken, although you weren't there in the beginning when I broke my neck as a teenager, you have walked by my side for such a long time.  You've always been helping me and encouraging me especially when I get down.  Ken, thank you for that!

            KEN:  You're welcome, Joni, but you know I can celebrate with you because I can celebrate that I see the grace in your life.

            JONI: The grace of Jesus Christ showing up in my life.  Sometimes it happens around 2 o'clock in the morning or...

            KEN: ...3 or 4 or 5.

JONI:  You get up once a night to turn me.  You have been doing that for the 26 years we have been married.  You have been getting up every night to turn me and put in on my side, tuck pillows.  That's saying something.  That's interrupting your sleep every single night...

            KEN:  But you know, Joni, that's a blessing from God to me to be able to do that. 

            JONI:  How so?

            KEN:  Well, I know this sounds a little strange, but a couple of years ago when I was fly fishing in Idaho and I was out there by myself I heard God speaking to my heart and he said You know something?  Joni's the most precious gift I've given you; you take care of her.  

            JONI:  Wow!  That gives me chills.  Well, I know that you have watched me get in and out of pain.  Sometimes there are certain months were the pain gets particularly hard and you have been great to help me through all of that...

            KEN:  But you've been a warrior through all of that.  I've seen it in your life.  You're my role model.

            JONI:  No. Ken, you're just saying that.  Do I inspire you really?  Come on.

            KEN:  Nope!  When things get difficult for me I think - and I've got friends that say the same thing - I see Joni and I don't have problems, so - in terms of the pain we are talking about obviously.

            JONI:  Sometimes you have to exercise my legs and stretch my arms and just get my joints working and my muscles loosened up.  I appreciate that and when I think of the way that you invest so much of your heart, soul, mind, and even your strong hands into our marriage, I think a good verse is from I Corinthians 15, because when I think about where I am 41 years in this wheelchair and the people who have helped me - people like you -- I think of that verse where it says, "By the grace of God I am what I am and His grace to me was not without affect."  Now I have worked harder than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was in me.  Ken, I think you are an extender of God's grace in my life today.  Do you have any advice for any guys who might be listening?  Their wives may not be in wheelchairs like me, but any thoughts you might want to share with them?               

            KEN:  Well, I think having a wife who loves the Lord is the greatest gift a man can have.  Having a wife like you is just one of the greatest gifts any man can have.  Joni, I have to tell you it's just a neat adventure that we can go through life together and wanting to see what the Lord is going to do in our lives.

            JONI:  Yes.  Husbands can pray for their wives, cheer their wives on, send their wives off to Bible study if they want to go, just anything to nurture them.

            KEN:  It doesn't mean that you have to have a wife that is disabled.  It can be any wife.  I mean you can do this together as a team whether you have a disability or not.

            JONI:  Well, speaking of doing things together, it's July 30^th my anniversary.  What are we going to do tonight to celebrate my breaking my neck? 

            KEN:  That's a terrible thing to say, but I think what we'll do is I'm going to take you out to dinner.  

            JONI:  Okay, and we'll lift our glass of lemonade and we'll toast the grace of God, not just in my life, but in our marriage.

            KEN:  Amen to that!     

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