FRIEND FRIDAY | JOY LEEA

Friends, allow me the honor of introducing my dear friend, Joy, to YOU!

To say that we have seen each other through a lot of life would be a massive understatement. She has become one of my dearest friends throughout these past four years. I quickly became the friend that would provide comedic conversation and council during the hardest time in her life. We have prayed, laughed, and cried together.

Right before Joy would walk through the a valley of darkness I nicknamed her, "Joyous". Only God knows how we would cling to that name as she felt anything but Joyous. I would keep saying it over and over again until she actually became it. Every phone call with a shaky voice on the other end I would greet her in the most joyful voice possible, "Hello, Joyous!"

Words really do carry life in them!

I'm so proud to introduce you to a healed, happy, and whole friend today. God has proven himself to be quite the knight in shining armor in her story. He gets all the credit and we get the honor of having a front row seat.

Enjoy as you read about my friend, "Joyous".

August 27, 2014 that was the date I heard HIS voice and knew that my life was never going to be the same again. This was the day Holy Spirit started a new work in my life. See, my marriage had grown cold, complacent, and coexisted.

To be honest I was used to this and sadly to say... I was OK with it.

I’m so thankful God wasn’t. He had better plans for me. God called me by name and set me apart. Holy Spirit started to tenderly teach me how to be a wife & how to reengage. I wish I could say that it was quick and easy but I learned that dying to the flesh literally feels like death.

Every harsh word, cold shoulder, and rejection from my husband made my flesh flareup. I would bite my tongue in silence then go to my closet and scream to God like a child throwing a fit. Telling Him how He asked too much of me and how I’d rather die than continue in this hateful marriage.

However, God being a good Father, was preparing me for what lied ahead. His provision was mercy in my life. He knew what I was about to enter and I needed a heart that was soft and full of the Father‘s love. After several months my heart was full of love and I had a quiet gentle spirit that represented Christ.

So when I learned my husband had an affair I could drop to my knees, forgive him, and pray for him in that moment. Never a harsh word or anger, but just selfless love.

What I learned after two years was nothing changed in him, but everything changed me.

My walk with God grew stronger and stronger as I prayed fiercely for my husband and entered spiritual warfare for my marriage. God stretched me and grew me in more ways than I knew possible.

I was about to learn that my husband was still having an affair after three years. Not just with one woman but with three women.

My life was about to change again but not in the way that I was expecting or praying for. Breakthrough looked so much different than I imagined.

I spent a couple months trying to restore my marriage but my husband was unwilling & continued to be unfaithful. I was left to be a single mom starting my life over with a five-year-old son and a three-year-old son.

I spent so many nights barely able to breathe from crying so hard. I felt like my heart was ripping out of my chest and I didn’t know what the future held but I found comfort in knowing I personally knew the God that held it. His strength grew in me as I picked myself up and prayed my way through. During this time I was able to learn a new side of God.

He became a father to the fatherless to my two sons. A husband to the husbandless, a provider, a comforter, a healer, a friend and a restorer of all things.

The God I always read about showed up in my life in a real way and proved to me that He was all I ever needed. His words were true and He never left me. I wish I had time to share every detail with you because that’s where I met Him. God was in every detail in so many amazing ways.

God made me brave and strong as I found myself again.

His redemption for me was so much better than what I could see. God brought me a patient man who loves me like Christ loves the church. A man who selfishly loves me in a way I didn’t know existed. A man who walked my journey and understand the same pain. A man who loves my boys as his own. A man who loves God and leads me to Christ. A man who taught me firsthand the definition of Ephesians.

God didn’t waste any season but used it all for His glory and my good. This November I will be marrying a man who God was preparing for me this whole time.

I learned life is messy and painful but God is in it all. He restores all things and HE WHO PROMISED IS FAITHFUL even when the journey doesn’t look the way we think it will.

His steadfast love abounds as He turned my morning to joy and tears to laughter. I thought this journey was going to be about what God did in my ex-husband but I learned that it was about what He was doing in me all along.

It was always Jesus shining in me, through me, & all around me.

“I’ll make up for the years of the locust, the great locust devastation—Locusts savage, locusts deadly, fierce locusts, locusts of doom, That great locust invasion I sent your way. You’ll eat your fill of good food. You’ll be full of praises to your God, The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder. Never again will my people be despised. You’ll know without question that I’m in the thick of life with Israel, That I’m your God, yes, your God, the one and only real God. Never again will my people be despised."

Joel 2:25-27 (The Message)

#friendfriday