Pure Joy International

Pure Joy International is a ministry to missionary wives around the world.  I had the privilege of attending their Lima retreat last month and it was excellent.  Pure Joy International is made up of a group of women who love the Lord with all their hearts, have the desire to serve Him and let Him use their gifts and talents, and who have a heart for missions.  They raise financial support from churches and treat 50 missionary wives to a free 3 day retreat.  Not only is it all inclusive and very relaxing for us, they travel with a music team and several teachers and counselors.  They also come, after having spent hours in prayer for each one of us, by name.

This time was such a treat and such a challenge to me personally!  The teachers were well prepared and vulnerably shared from their hearts.  It was really cool to meet another Miriam Ruth and especially to be challenged by her to memorize books of the Bible.  She was a special blessing to me.  Another blessing was hearing Sharon Smith share.  She and her husband were missionaries in Ecuador for 30 years and are now working in the BBFI home office.  These women are human and faulty just like everyone else, but have allowed God to work in a wonderful way through them.

The theme of this retreat was "Take Off The Mask".  What an important message for us women!  Wearing a mask of happiness doesn't make us happy.  Wearing a mask of importance doesn't make us important.  Wearing a mask of a perfect marriage does nothing to change reality.  Wearing a mask of kindness in public does not make us a kind person.  Wearing any mask is silly, really.  We may fool others, but we know what is in our heart and so does God.  It's also likely that we're not really fooling as many people as we think we are.  May we all be real, transparent and vulnerable.  Masks are for Halloween!

God gave me a most special gift at the end of this retreat.  My name and others were called and we were asked to go to the back of the room.  I had no idea what for.  When a lady handed me a huge stack of cards and said these were from my home church, I burst into tears and just couldn't believe it.  First of all, someone from Pure Joy had taken the time to contact my church, Central Baptist, and explain that I was going to be in Lima, etc.  Then someone at Central had to pass the word to those who wanted to send cards, collect them all and mail them to AR where they were packed in someone's luggage and brought to Lima and handed to me.  These cards meant the world to me.  For me, that was the highlight.  Thank you, Central friends!