The door is cracked and a small angelic
Japanese face is peeking out the opening. The door is quickly opened
and JOY 
overwhelms my body as I am welcomed by a women that can only
be described by the word JOY. She greets me and my teammate with a
hug and quickly shows us to our room where she leaves us to rest from
our day of travel.
And this is where it all begin. The
days to follow just begin to increase with JOY giving and life
breathing. After days of ministry we would always come home to a
young women named Kieko that was filled with JOY from the Lord and
wanted to talk about our life with Christ.
One of the following days before
heading to ministry Kieko’s JOY is exuding from within and she cannot
keep from telling us that she is pregnant with her third child. With
that news I can do nothing but receive the JOY that she is so freely
giving. In broken English she kindly shares with us to keep her in
her prayers because there has always been high risks when she has
been pregnant.
escalate. We continue to share stories of how the Lord is revealing
himself to each other through our life. The day approaches when she
goes to her first doctor’s appointment and the news is refreshing and
heartbreaking all at the same time. She tell us, “that the baby is
alive but where it is positioned it is not getting the nutrients that
is needed but with the right precautions everything should be fine.”
concerned days pass and the JOY is still thriving from this women of
God. One day after our ministry we come home to news that can break
a mother’s heart. Kieko and her husband rush to the hospital while
Liz and I stay home hold her little girl in our arms and pray for
this family. They return the next day and this JOY can not be found
and Keiko spends the next days in bed.
At this point my heart breaks for this
women and my prayers are that she would find JOY through this time.
Days past and that JOY
is just not seen. Before and after ministry
she sits sorrowfully in her bed. As days of our ministry start to
dwindle her life brings me nothing but tears for this women. I
continue to pray steadily that her JOY would return.
On our last evening as we continue our
delightful conversations and the conversation of her loss is
presented. She turns to Liz and I and says, “Is it ok that I have
JOY?” This just brought JOY to my heart. The JOY had returned and
it was all because of the Lord’s grace.
This just got me thinking…where is my JOY found?
