From a young age, Joy knew the gospel was true. She received Christ as her Savior when she was five and was baptized a year later.
But sometimes faith and life are hard to reconcile. The security Joy felt when she accepted Christ slowly began to slip away. She felt God working in her life, but she struggled to care.
When her parents became missionaries and moved the family to Uzbekistan, her sense of apathy and bitterness increased – until one event changed her perspective.
A she was walking down the street, Joy passed the body of a woman stretched out on the dirt, dead from leprosy.
God used this moment to soften Joy’s heart, burdening it for the lost and the vulnerable.
Joy returned to the US to attend college, pursuing a degree in social work and biblical studies with the intent to go into missions. But similar to her childhood, she experienced a deep fog of depression, struggling to escape the feeling of darkness chasing her. After a particularly dark period, Joy slowly began to understand God’s truth, grace, and love again.
After graduation, Joy moved to Thailand for two years, working in a safe house for girls at risk of human trafficking. When the two years ended, she flew back to the US to plan a wedding with her fiance. Within a couple months, the engagement was called off. But Joy didn’t let the pain consume her. Instead, the Lord used it to reveal his plan for her life, pointing her towards career missions and transforming her heart and mind to be more like him.
In 2022, Joy plans to move to South Africa, where she will help in a local church ministry. She’s supported by Grace Baptist Church of Lewisberry.
