HE Speaks: Joy's story — sarah elizabeth lowe

As you may have noticed, I am taking a little hiatus for a few days this week to get a million things done around the house, and just set aside the computer for a bit.

I am thankful for the awesome girls that have offered to step in in the next week or two and share their hearts about hearing God!

so...

Today, meet Joy.

Absolutely love her heart and how she shares about God truly showing up and speaking

about very personal and impactful things in her life.

He does that you know. He is so good.

Thanks Joy for sharing!

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I can tell you exactly where I was sitting when I heard Him. His voice. And while it probably wasn't the first time, it was the time that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was Him.

Three years ago we were sorting through debt and clearing our path to financial peace when our son Riley's right eye hemorrhaged. Months of searching for the right answer and praying for healing brought me to the second row pew in which I sat that day. In a matter of months our savings had been wiped out and the progress we had made in paying down debt had been replaced ten fold in medical bills. We still had no answers and clearly a long, expensive road ahead. Riley could not see through the massive amount of debris in his right eye.

Sitting in the pew that day I clearly heard God say in a firm, strong voice "Quit your job." I could feel the weight of His hand on my chest and I knew that this was His calling. I knew it would require more faith than I had ever known and that He would be faithful.

Riley was later diagnosed with an eye disease (in both eyes) called Pars Planitis that leads to blindness. He endured four surgeries on his right eye in the last three years: all of which God has been faithful to provide for.

Two years ago God began to whisper to me about one of the greatest desires of my heart: adoption. Through a series of weeks in Spring 2010 God awakened me in the night to pray for a baby a did not know. In Summer 2010 he spoke to my husband's heart and from there we were led into foster care. In November 2010 our girl was born and just a few days later she was delivered to our doorstep.

Foster care is not foreign to us as we have served in this venue before, but this particular journey in foster care has caused me to be still a listen to Him. To wait on His timing. To trust in His plan.

Our girl will celebrate her second birthday soon. She is still in foster care. There's yet a long road ahead. Daily God reminds me "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23. His word is living and comes to my mind throughout the day. The very word that I need at just the right time.

Hearing God's voice through whispers, through His Word and through the voice of others is what has sustained us over the past three years. It has been through the comfort of His voice and the firm guidance of His hand that we have learned so many things about leaning on Him even when it seems crazy.