Pouring Out God’s Love

By |Published On: September 25, 2020|Categories: 4-Minute Radio Program|

Isn’t it great when God pours out his love in your heart?

Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and you’d agree, it’s a wonderful experience!

And it’s also a wonderful verse! Romans 5:5 says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

That idea of love being poured out is really what grips me, and I saw it happen earlier this summer when one of our Family Retreats in Texas had to be canceled due to COVID-19. Back in July, the Houston area had become a hot-spot for the spread of the coronavirus, and it broke our hearts to disappoint all the special-needs families who had signed up.

But! Our Joni and Friends team in Texas put on their thinking caps; I mean, we had all these t-shirts; we had welcome baskets; we had gifts for the families. What were we supposed to do with all this stuff? Well, our Texas team came up with a brilliant idea. They decided to hold a Texas t-shirt drive-thru. And 150 volunteers came out, put on their camp t-shirts, made signs, wrote Happy Grams, and created two lines in the driveway outside our team office. With fun music playing, we invited 60 special-needs families to drive up just to be loved on, cheered on, encouraged, blessed, celebrated. A family would drive their van between the two lines of volunteers, everybody jumping up and down, dancing, yelling, smiling and calling out all the families’ names, saying, “We love you guys; you’re the best; praying for you; Jesus loves you and so do we!”

That’s when each family was given their camp t-shirt, gifts, really fun camp crafts; and they were given name tags, treats, a camp directory to connect with all the other families, and everyone – I mean, everyone – received a big, delicious treat of Blue Bell ice cream, a favorite dessert down there in Texas. It was such a big blessing for these weary, worn-out “I-am-tired-of-being-sequestered” families. Some moms and dads with disabled kids parked the vans on the side; they got out and danced and celebrated with everybody else. Every family had tears in their eyes; they were so strengthened, just to know they were remembered in the middle of their isolation. And here’s the thing; the Joni and Friends Texas Team and the volunteers did this for two whole hours in 100-degree heat. All that time, they kept dancing and waving their signs, pouring out the love of God on these families, despite the sweat and the humidity and the heat.

You simply must see the photos I’ve posted of this special event, so go to my radio page at joniradio.org and just be blessed. These happy photos will inspire you to continue to pour out the love of God like Romans 5 tells you to do – pour it out in an overflowing abundance to the people you know who have big needs! When you think of all that Jesus secured for us, we all ought to be jumping up and down, dancing, singing praises to God just like those volunteers at the drive-thru retreat. So, don’t forget to visit joniradio.org to see how a little bit of ministry in the name of Jesus can go a long, long way to healing hurts, lifting burdens and brightening the hope of downcast hearts. Oh, by the way, after the drive-thru, one exhausted, sweaty volunteer said with a smile – and this is a quote – “I will do whatever needs to be done to help Joni and Friends serve these families!” So, come and be blessed by all the smiles from our volunteers and families at joniradio.org.

By the way, I would love to hear what you are praying about, or a favorite Bible verse that you are memorizing. Tell me about it. Just go to my radio page today at joniandfriends.org. Or you can always write me at Joni and Friends, P.O. Box 3333, Agoura Hills, CA, 91376. If the Lord has answered some prayer for yours today, guess what? Stop right after we’re done here and tell him thanks!

© Joni and Friends

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