Joyce’s Story (as recounted to Indira Patro)

Joyce came from a very abusive background.  Her first husband was abusive, and she is herself, a 25-year recovering alcoholic and drug abuser.  She came to know Indira through her church and they became better acquainted when Indira first invited her to come to Women Aglow as well as to her home Bible Study.

Joyce joined the Bible study and visited a number of Aglow gatherings. During that period Joyce was experiencing difficulties with her family members because of her new found faith in Christ Jesus. She was growing in the Lord but the dramatic challenges in her life were many. When it became clear that Joyce was not willing to compromise her faith, her husband left her to live in another town. Joyce was left alone with no job and bills to pay. There were many nights when she cried herself to sleep because she did not know where to turn. Although she had been trying to get a job, she had been unsuccessful, relying, in the short term on Christian friends to help her through. But friends cannot help forever. Moreover, she did not want to be a burden on her friends. She knew that God was the only way but she did not know what her role was to be to get herself out of her financial straits.

In September 2001, in the midst of Joyce’s hardships, Indira started her new Ministry and began to teach about the principle of seedtime and harvest. In January 2002, Joyce, being unemployed at the time, offered to help Indira with some of the clerical work required for the running of MSM. Joyce made the offer with the idea that donating her time was planting a seed. Indira was grateful for the help. The day Indira went to meet Joyce in her trailer to bring her some work, Indira learned that Joyce’s electricity had been cut off because she has not paid the bill. At that moment Joyce decided to put God’s principle of seedtime and harvest into practice and decided to sow her last $5.00 into MSM that Wednesday afternoon. On Friday Joyce received a call from a friend giving her some information about a job opening. She called the number given her by her friend and went for an interview the same day and got hired on the spot.

Since then she has led many people to experience the ‘secret weapon’ of seed time and harvest which God has given us to use for our own benefit and for His Glory. She is a experiencing miracle daily in her family. If anybody tells her about a problem her answer is “just plant a seed and expect it to produce.” Her journey with God has begun and it is leading her down a path that is very different from where she was going. Joyce now knows to trust God to take care of her in this life and throughout eternity. She is a light in her dark family and she intends to shine for Jesus to lead every member of her family to Him.

Joyce wants to encourage you to apply God’s Word and expect a miracle!

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