  Joy is found in so many different forms! I had the excitement of going to Jamaica for a mission trip with the youth group that I intern with in Texas! We traveled to a mountainous region of Ochos Rios and did some presentations at schools, got to meet with the students and then got to travel to the infirmary, a Girls Home and a Children's Disabled home. Each of these expereiences opened my eyes more and more to things we are not aware of in the here and now in America. Our youth group is an amazing group of kids whose hearts for Jesus at such a young age just continually encourage me to press on!! While I was in Jamaica, I not only saw the joy in the kids that we took, but also in the faces of the people that met us when we got there.
Whether we were at different schools in the area, at the infirmary, at the Children's Disabled home, at the Windsor Girls home, or just in the faces of the people who opened up their home to 30 strangers for a whole week. The thing that I was most touched by was the recurring thought that Jesus was their only hope! He was their life (Colossians 3:4)!
He was their everything! And you could tell by their words and just by the complete joy in their eyes! For those that I met that were believers - I was humbled at the fulfillment they had while at the same time having just what they needed to survive and some had not even been able to move for 10 years. But yet, that is how we should be living - where it is recognizable that He is are ALL in ALL!! I am also so thankful for the joy of the girls in the youth group that I get to meet with(disciple) - how exciting to share with other women the struggles of life - and be able to BE REAL with what is going on and yet be challenged to continue pressing on and holding to Truth rather than giving into the temptation to believe lies that the world tells us about ourselves. God has called us to a higher purpose and I am so thankful for all the women who have discipled me and challenged me in my walk to hold to what the Bible says is true!! Whether it be dealing with relationships, future, job situations, friendships, just life, they share their objective opinion in love and repeat what the Bible says (repeat because I don't always get it the first time!
)because of that I am able to receive it and respond to what they are saying with freedom that they see who I am, even in my sin, and show me the love of Jesus but yet share their honesty and therefore I then feel that I can respond to what they say with honesty. I am so thankful for the women who have taught me so many Biblical truths and have lived them out themselves. Their lives truly resemble that of Titus 2:3-5 whereas I was able to see women that respected their husbands and were pure, kind, godly women!! Seeing it lived out allows one to realize what a joy it is to live for Jesus! Needless to say - there is some joy all around!
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