Discover a SURE CURE for Complaining!!! Please Join Us for Our Next Book Club Meeting, Monday, February 24th! We’ll be discussing Joni & Ken—An Untold Love Story
Quick fixes are virtually non-existent. Clever advertising leads you to believe otherwise.
Take a gander at the number of diet books out there just for starters… Brace yourselves: perusing thru’ Amazon, I found a mere eighty-three thousand six hundred and sixty-seven results when I typed in “diet books” found in thirty-two pages of options.
At recent lunch outings with friends, the two “buzz books” I hear of over and over and over are Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis, M.D. I’ve not looked thru’ this one, but a good friend knows a gal who’s lost a lot of weight from taking the book’s suggestions, and according to my friend, “she looks like a teenager”. (Sounds attractive as I watch new wrinkles form across my face each morning….)
The other book is: The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life by Rick Warren, Daniel Amen and Mark Hyman. Even if you don’t participate in the plan, the book is an excellent resource full of nutritional information, recipes, menu ideas, the importance of Scripture and Bible study, as well as exercise recommendations. Its’ five “F’s” are worth your time: Faith, Focus, Fitness, Family and Friends. I have a dear friend who began this regime January first and as of last week had lost eighteen and a half pounds.
I’ve decided while I’m reading it, I don’t necessarily have to participate in it, fearing the multiple times I’d already have derailed the dear ole’ Daniel Plan. Thence justifying the dark chocolate truffle loaf with raspberry sauce we savored during Valentine Week.
Savvy Spokesperson for diets I shall never be….
We know there’s no quick fix or sure cure for dieting, however, having just finished reading Joni & Ken: An Untold Love Story. I believe their story is a sure cure to quit complaining. The next time I pitch a complaint (one of my terrible “talents”), I pray I re-think uttering such.
Before we get into the book, and promote the next Book Club Meeting about this book on Monday, February 24th (see details near the end of this post), I’d like you to be informed about Joni being nominated for an Oscar for the song she sings for an upcoming movie “Alone Yet Not Alone”. Sadly, her nomination was rescinded. Please visit the link below to see her comments. You may watch her sing the beautiful song, in the below YouTube, which is a miracle in and of itself given her lung capacity challenges, etc.
Comments from Joni Tada:
http://www.joniandfriends.org/blog/oscar-nomination-rescinded/#.UvwZVWjoVo4.email
Now, on to the book! Joni and Ken is a must-read whether you’re married or not. To be right there with both of them, thru’ their marriage, their struggles, slapped with adversity beyond anything most of us have endured, is eye-opening.
Can you think of someone you know who’s a chronic complainer? Nothing is ever just right? Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh is a good example of a bad habit. Being around such downers (or “Basement People” if you recall from the book Balcony People. Click here for my blog post.) is literally a drag. They simply suck the life out of you.
You won’t find any complaining in Joni and Ken’s story. (Questioning God, yes, but they answer their own questions…Another reason to read this book!!!) Joni and Ken graciously allow us a sneak peek into doing life as a quadriplegic. Paralyzed from the neck down since 1967, Joni was learning to live life in her wheelchair. God later orchestrates a meeting between Joni and Ken Tada. He was a high school history teacher and football coach. Their unlikely courtship is wonderful to watch.
But how in the world could Ken possibly learn to care for Joni, watch her live with chronic pain, all the while trying to keep their marriage alive? You’ve got to read this to believe it…
In between their ups and downs, you get to travel with them all over the world. You feel like you’re in the same van or seated behind them on an airplane.
Trouble keeps lurking, however, and just when you think things couldn’t possibly get any worse, Joni receives a cancer diagnosis. Scans. Chemo’. Pneumonia from the chemo’. How would one possibly cope with that?
Joni and Ken learn to totally, one hundred percent, rely on the Lord. Their “aha” moment, from gaining strength which could’ve only come from Christ, is a beautiful part of the book. They never fail to give God the glory.
Regarding her cancer diagnosis, Joni shares a quote from Alan Redpath, a British pastor and author: “There is no circumstance no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with great purpose.” She then told Ken she believed her cancer came with real purpose.
They came to the following conclusion: “Christians should remember to place their ultimate hope in God Himself, whose love never varies, and who is always trustworthy, always kind, always faithful, and who never misses a single detail.”
Joni firmly believes her battle with cancer was a severe mercy. Remember the book we talked about a few weeks ago by that title? Author Sheldon Vanauken believes his relationship with his wife was a severe mercy. It was his friend, C.S. Lewis, who coined that God-inspired phrase. (See post on An Extraordinary Love Story…)
In an interview with Dr. James Dobson in August of 2010, Joni discussed the whole concept of walking with the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:25 talks about keeping in step with the Spirit. She said for her, especially during the cancer, it was about taking “those very small steps with Him.” Every morning Joni would pray, “Lord Jesus, what would please you today?”
Joni also cites encouragement from a wooden plaque in their kitchen with the words of Isaiah 43:2 carved in it: ”When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk thru’ the fire, you will not be burned.”
She adds, “The fact is, if God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.”
You can find out about Joni’s ministry by visiting her website: http://www.joniandfriends.org
Without giving away anymore about the book, if you live anywhere near Louisville, KY, please come join us for our next Book Club meeting next Monday, February 24th, at Middletown United Methodist Church. Bring a friend!
We meet from 6:30-8:00 p.m. in the Connections Center. Please RSVP to Kelly or Nancy at: (502) 245-8839.
11902 Old Shelbyville Road, Louisville, KY 40243
http://www.middletownumc.org
We’ll enjoy discussion on Joni and Ken—An Untold Love Story. We’ll gain a vast appreciation for the littlest of blessings. Joni and Ken are so inspirational, I pray we’ll also glean many of their pearls, plus be cured from any future complaining!!!
Hope to see you on Monday, February 24th!
‘Til next time!