Dearly beloved, it is with great joy and rejoicing that I write to you on the 2nd anniv. of my dear Amy’s homegoing. Where would I be without the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ my Lord and the prayers, support, and unending love of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ? I could not have made it, for sure!!! You know in a time like this it is so good to take a moment and reflect on what God has done. He is such a good God! He is Faithful and True. His Word remains the same forever. This I know, the same Jesus that died for my sins is coming back for a pure Bride without spot or blemish and all my trials and tribulations will be only preparation for the unspeakable joys prepared for me and all who love Him dearly.
I received an email early this morning from my good friend Doctor Chauncey Crandall of West Palm Beach, Fla. In this email, he reminded me of his son Chad (who passed away of cancer in 04) and my wife Amy. He encouraged me to keep the fight, which I most certainly will! As I was reflecting on their lives the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “They are sitting in glory watching and praying for your faith.” WOW! All that matters now to them is my faith. They don’t sorrow or feel the pain that we feel here on earth but are totally conscious of every act we commit that is motivated by faith in Jesus Christ. For those of you who have lost loved ones that are now in heaven please take comfort in this Biblical fact. Your faith is all that matters now! Don’t miss your opportunity to please Jesus (cause He can only be pleased by faith Heb. 11:6) or to give them a reason to shout and dance on the golden streets.
Ok, enough preach… you wanna know how I am doing, right? Well, the Lord is doing amazing things in my heart and life. There was definitely a winter of death that was passed through (notice passed through like that valley of the shadow of death David was talking about!) but now the Lord has brought a spring time to my life once again. Fresh vision, fresh mission, fresh life, and some other really good stuff (that isn’t your business!) is flowing like a river right now.
Coming into Deluge 7 (Feb 14-16) there is more direction and revelation than ever before in my spirit. I had no idea that Deluge would forever become connected to the passing of dear Amy but it was like the Lord was giving me a way to honor her life with a festival that honors Him. The pain of her death is mostly gone and now the honor of her memory remains WITH the ability to praise Jesus through it all and glorify His matchless name. What a mighty God we serve! I want to finish by exhorting each of you with the thought that you can and will make it through whatever situation you are in. I am confident that my God is well able to do exceeding, abundant, above all you could ask or think for His glory in your life. Keep holdin’ on! Spring time will come. The winter will end and the fresh buds of life will begin to blossom. That is my testimony and I won’t ever let it go!
Heb. 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of WITNESSES to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with ENDURANCE the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on JESUS, the champion who initiates and perfects our FAITH. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is SEATED in the place of HONOR beside God’s throne. (and Amy, Chad, and everyone else gone to be with the Lord are there with Him)
Joel,
Your life is such an encouragement and a testimony of God’s grace and mercy. Becky and I have drawn much strength from simply watching and listening to you through these MANY years. We love you tremendously and are excited to see what God has done through you already to impact countless tens of thousands of lives, and look forward with great anticipation to the millions more that you will influence over the course of a life that is so recklessly abandoned to our Mighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords! I love you brother!
‘Til He comes,
Randy G.
Amen! God is good! Spring time is here!
Beautiful.
Wow! He is so good. This is truly encouraging and no one can even argue with this testimony!
Wow. Pastor Joel, you have been the biggest inspiration in my life because you remind me of Job. Even when the devil took everything you still gave thanks to God. You have taught me to fight through the tough times in my life and how I should look deeper into the things of God. I praise God everyday that he brought you into my life.
Brad Barker-Pensacola, FL
PS-Cannot wait until Deluge 7! This will be my first time to ever go to a Deluge Festival! I know that the presence of God and his Glory will show up!!!!
Pastor these are great words for me personally with the recent passing of my younger brother. I have faith that he is with the Lord. He had an opportunity to cry out to God and turn his heart to Jesus before he passed. I’m encouraged by your life and testimony.
Your blog, other than its teachings on living for Jesus, is such an amazing example of strength & faith in the midst of trials. Your willingness to be transparent and share what you deal with personally makes it convincing & a pleasure to read. Some of the podcasts recorded during what must have been the toughest phases of the last couple of years are especially powerful, but it’s wonderful to see vitality and life return to your messages & manner. I’m excited about Deluge and will be praying that river continues to flow, that any spring of joy stirring in your life comes to fruition in the way that pleases you most.
Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
(Psalm 15)
~Adrianne
I’m so glad God chose 220 as the youth group I am to be in and you as my Youth Pastor!
Pastor Joel, I thank God for you and for what He has done and is doing in your life. You are an inspiration to so many. Thank you for sharing your heart!
You are so cool Pastor Joel! God bless you!!!
Joel, we who have lost our mate through homegoing sincerely feel your loss. We don’t go about crying and grieving all the time but there are still times the tears flow when certain things are brought to our remembrance.
TRUE LOVE is hard to replace.. I still feel marrid to Tom I wear his rings behind mine still. And there are always flowers on his grave.
Jesus has been good to me also and His Holy Spirit a great comfort,. THAT combined with the prayers of my christian friends have help to stabelize me to be able to carry onThere is work to be done for the Master and I think you are doing a geat job.
you’re so amazing!
Dear Brother Joel,
Wow! It was really amazing to have the chance to come back to Bethany after so many years and reconnect with you and your precious family. What a wonderful weekend of celebrating all that the Lord has done. I love your papaw, Bro. Roy. It was a joy to sit under him as pastor in the early 80′s, and later to work under him on the UPG prayer profile project.
Did you know that I came home from Russia believing that God had told me I would write profiles for the project–but had no promise of a job? The fact is, I’d been told that “no more team members were needed.” Still, I packed my bags, left the mission field and came back to Baker, back to Bethany. Once home, I made a trip by the Bethany Missions office where I saw Bro. Roy. He asked me if I had a few minutes to spend with him & Sister Ruth. (Who didn’t have time for them??) ;-) When I got to their house the next day, he began to tell me about the UPG project and wondered if I would “prayerfully consider” writing profiles. When I told him that was the reason I’d moved back home he laughed and said, “Sister Julie, I prayed you home! I told Ruth that I didn’t want anybody else writing those profiles except Julie Garrett!”
Now you tell me, who else but your papaw could pray somebody OFF the mission field??? :-) HO YA YA!!!
Love you, brother!
Julie Garrett Mills
P.S. Regarding your 2nd Anniversary… Thank you for sharing your heart and life with amazing openness. January 29, 2010–the day of Bro. Roy’s party–was the 3rd year anniversary of Kenny’s accident. We were married just 3 1/2 years when he fell & broke his neck, leaving him totally paralyzed. But can I echo you when I say…. God has been faithful & true every single day. Our Joy abounds in Him! Fresh vision, fresh ministry…. :-) I loved what you shared on Sunday, 1/31/10 from Psalm 13. I will forever remember the quote, “We are pleased with the results. God is pleased with the process.” Thank you, Joel. Kenny & I both love and respect you!
thank you Ps Joel
AMEN!
God is so good and He is so faithful!
You are such an encouragement, Pastor Joel.
I’m going to pass this along to my friend who just lost her baby and is grieving.
It’s exciting to hear all the things God has in store for you!
Thanks Pastor Joel for sharing your life, hope and testimony with us. All praises to God for what He continues to do in and through you.
Thank You Pastor Joel for you and your ministry, i have been forever changed and set on fire from the by-product of your conferences, festivals and podcasts. i wanted to thank you for all you have done in my life( even though you don’t know me) May God Continually bless you and you staff as you continue in the ministry.
Bro. Joel: You are truly a man of God and such a strong force for the body of Christ. The grief in the death of any loved one is not in the fact that they have gone on, but in whether or not they made it into heaven. This should make us always strive to show the love of Christ to everyone we meet and to spread the awesome news about our Saviour. I am forever grateful to my Jesus for strengthening and establishing you in the Kingdom of God. You are a blessing as was your precious Amy.
Pastor Joel you are a wonderful example for all of us. Thank you and to tell you, you and your wife have touched more lives than you can imagine. I’m from Portland, Or. and I still remember your altar call at Generation Unleashed never have I seen an altar call like that one before. I loved that you were straight forward and didn’t “beat around the bush”. I really hope to hear you speak some day. I know that God will heal you fully and I will see you playing your violin maybe one day at Generation Unleashed. May the Lord bless you and thank you once more for all of your dedication and work for the kingdom of heaven. I’m not a member at City Bible but that is where I attended school, let me just say it was a blessing to hear from you and your testimony. I remember praying for you and your wife; the Lord knew what’s best and although we might not obviously understand at first why things are the way they are there is a reason for everything and God always has greater plans than we can imagine. That’s how I feel about it especially when I finally understood that my brother (who past away) would never come back. Point is you have been a great example for thousands of people and I appreciate your example. Thank you and may God bless you.
Pastor Joel,
Thank you for opening your heart to us again as you reflected on the death of your dear, Amy. I have used Psalm 116:15 many times in consoling those who have lost a loved one: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” It is such a great encouragement to see that you are pressing on, carrying the load of ministry without Amy – and it’s great to see that Jonathan’s wife, her sister, is doing the same.
You are in my prayers, brother!
Praise God! This is very motivating and the right message at the right time. I am holding on!
:D amen!
All you’ve been through Pastor Joel, just makes you stronger. Thank you for being such a light in a very dark world. You are an inspiration. I teach my children to be passionate like Pastor Joel and they love you so much they are striving to attain it!
Wow, your testimony is such an encouragement to me! The seasons in my life are moving much like yours… This is springtime!!!! I didn’t have a death in my family, but 7 months ago I came back from deployment, and my faith just felt numb. In fact everything felt numb. But God, through HIS faithfulness and love and forgiveness, He has been and is continually healing me and increasing my faith through prayer and Pastor Judah’s messages on the original freedom we have in Christ! This is the perfect time for God to lead me to your blog! And I think it was also a good reminder to listen to a message by Dr. Chauncey Crandall that he spoke when I was home in FL. God IS so good!! Just reminding me of everything!!! lol!!
I look forward to maybe meeting you again someday. (I first saw you at the GC confrence 2 years ago, and you have motivated me to be closer to the Lord than you are!! lol Just by saying that you pray 9 hours on your “cement river” LOL :)) God is so faithful brother!!!!