THE JOYCE MEYER STORY: GOD TURNS ASHES TO BEAUTY

Have you ever wondered what the popular scripture in Isaiah 61:3 means?

Have you ever been in a deep fix and you’ve prayed for God to give you beauty for ashes desperately?

If you need beauty for Ashes in your life, the story of Joyce Meyer is one that will inspire and give you hope afresh.

Apart from telling her story as a great Bible teacher, this post will also show you how God can take the worst of situations and turn them around to become great testimonies.

Joyce Meyer is a living example of how God gives Beauty for Ashes and turns a broken soul into a mighty warrior.

Sit tight and be blessed as we go through the story of this great woman of God: Joyce Meyer!

JOYCE MEYER: THE ASHES

Pauline Joyce Meyer was born on June 4, 1943, in South St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was away in the army to fight World War II soon after she was born.

When her father came back from the war, he started to abuse her sexually. The sexual abuse started when Joyce was very young, and when she was more matured, her father took it even further.

From that point, till Joyce was eighteen, her father raped her at least once a week. According to Joyce, her father raped her at least 200 times while she was growing up. Shocking, right? You really could imagine how shattered she would have been.

Apart from abusing her sexually, Joyce’s father also abused her mentally, emotionally and verbally also. He was extremely mean, controlling and manipulative. This caused Joyce to live her teenage years in fear and trembling perpetually.

Though she looked perfect to onlookers, Joyce had become a victim of multiple personality disorder. She could not enjoy the normal life of love, care, leisure and mutual friendships her mates enjoyed.

Although she went to school, she couldn’t concentrate. Moreover, she was not allowed to participate in any after-school activities. It was such a deep pit Joyce spent her early years in!

Due to the overwhelming abuse Joyce Meyer faced from her father, she wallowed in a pool of self-pity, shame, loneliness and depression as a young woman.

She was hardly manageable and developed a controlling, manipulative, insecure and harsh attitude. Joyce experienced a feeling of guilt and adopted negative thinking that was powered by suspicion. Furthermore, she never felt safe anywhere.

Joyce also battled with a lot of self-esteem issues and never felt she would be loved or accepted by anyone. She really had so much to bear.

DEEP IN THE PIT.

In the heat of all the challenges Joyce faced as a teenager, she did not give up on her studies and completed her graduation from O’Fallon Technical High School in St Louis.

Following her graduation, Joyce went into wedlock with a part-time car salesman she met shortly after her senior year of high school. Due to all the self-pity and identity crises that she faced; she literarily grabbed the first man who came her way to marry her.

Joyce strongly believed that no man would ever want or love her so she took the first option she ever got and it did not go on so well.

She confirmed that her husband frequently cheated on her and persuaded her to steal payroll checks from her employer.  The marriage ended in five years.

JOYCE MEYER: HER TURNING POINT.

After her divorce, Joyce married Dave Meyer in 1967 who is her loving husband to date.

Dave had an influential effect on Joyce, with his support and encouragement she got out of her esteem and identity issues step by step. Indeed, Dave was sent Joyce’s way by God to lift her out of her pit and help her become a better person.

Although Joyce had been born again at age nine, she did not really enjoy her life and her newfound faith in God. However, despite all the pain, hurt and shame Joyce went through, God still had a great plan for her life. In his own special way, God brought her to a turning point!

While driving to work in 1976, she received a personal message from God. The incident left a deep impact on her as she discovered a real love for God’s Word and inculcated an ability to understand and comprehend it completely.

She says that she came home later that day from a beauty appointment “full of liquid love” and was “drunk with the Spirit of God” that night while at the local bowling alley.

From 1976 onward, Joyce’s life-long journey of studying and teaching God’s word started. It was this encounter with God that birthed Joyce’s ministerial assignment as a teacher of God’s word to the nations of the world.

JOYCE MEYER: HER PROCESS

After receiving the message from God, she became a member of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in St. Louis, a congregation of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.

Later on, she began leading an early-morning Bible class at a local cafeteria that moved to her house later. Joyce practically suffered rejection from many of her friends, colleagues, and home church because of her teaching ministry. It was believed that a woman should not be a preacher then.

Joyce had to leave her home church because of the stigma that she received from them. She had to quit her job to help her study and prepare for the Bible classes adequately. That Bible study lasted for five years before God instructed her to stop it.

Joyce had one whole year after God gave her that word in which there was a pause in all her ministry activities. No Bible studies, no teachings. God just had her wait till he gave the next word. Meanwhile, Joyce had become active in Life Christian Center, a charismatic church in Fenton.

After a while, her home church asked her to begin to lead a women’s Bible study which she agreed to. The first edition of the Bible study had an attendance of 115 women. The attendance of the Bible study grew to about 500 women.

The church became one of the leading charismatic churches in the area, largely because of her popularity as a Bible teacher. Within a few years, Meyer was the church’s associate pastor.

Just when Joyce began to feel comfortable in that church, God asked her to leave that church and begin her ministry. It seemed a hard decision for Joyce to make, but she obeyed God.

That step of faith began a ministry that would be a blessing to many lives all over the world. From Joyce’s rough start, God took her, processed her and made her a global blessing. Isn’t that amazing?

God gave her 3 instructions to follow as she started her ministry. God said he would bless her tremendously if she obeyed those instructions. They are:

• Keep the strife out of your life.
• Do what you do with excellence.
• Be a person of integrity.

She obeyed God’s instructions and the result of her obedience is what we see today.

JOYCE MEYER: HER MESSAGE

The message Joyce preaches can be summarized by the title of her TV program “Enjoying everyday life.” Joyce believes that God wants us to enjoy our everyday lives and gives practical steps to doing so.

Joyce has constantly maintained that you don’t have to wait till you get to where you wish to be before you start to enjoy your life, you can enjoy the journey there too!

Joyce always reiterates that no matter what we go through in life, God will always come through for us if we can maintain a good attitude and mindset. This revelation birthed her bestselling book: “Battlefield of the mind” which has blessed millions of people across the world.

“You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind”

JOYCE MEYER

Joyce also teaches on spiritual growth and the believer’s identity in Christ. Her message has helped countless people find who they are in God and overcome self-esteem issues, depression and personality disorders.

One striking fact about how Joyce teaches is that she presents her message in very simple, practical, and unique ways that effectively drive her message home.

You can access more Joyce Meyer’s teachings from the Joyce Meyer Ministries YouTube channel or from the Sermons.love website.

JOYCE MEYER: HER IMPACT                                    

God took Joyce Meyer and made a glorious sight to behold out of her life from what started as a huge mess and a dump of several problems.

In 1993, her husband, Dave Meyer, persuaded Joyce to expand her teachings to television as well. Subsequently, a television ministry was started under the name, ‘Enjoying Everyday Life’ which became a huge success. Today, millions of people get Joyce’s program, Enjoying Everyday Life, through television, radio, and online media outlets globally.

Joyce has authored over 130 books, many of which have been translated into 155 languages. More than 37 million of her books have been distributed free of charge around the world, and each year millions of copies are sold.

According to her ministry’s motto, Joyce has been on a keen mission to share Christ and love people worldwide, and for more than 37 years, her annual meeting- Love Life Women’s Conference has drawn hundreds of thousands from all over the world for a life-changing weekend with Joyce, guest speakers, and worship artists.

Joyce’s passion to help hurting people birthed the vision of Hand of Hope, the missions arm of Joyce Meyer Ministries. Hand of Hope provides worldwide humanitarian outreaches, such as feeding programs, medical care, clean water, and disaster relief efforts.

Joyce also established Project GRL, a project birthed out of her heart to give women and girls a chance to become all God has created them to be. These outreaches guide, restore and love them, helping them discover their true destiny in Christ.

In her home city of St. Louis, Missouri, Joyce and her husband, Dave, founded the St. Louis Dream Center in 2000. The Dream Center serves the inner city of St. Louis through practical programs and outreaches that care for hurting people and families in need.

Joyce has truly become a symbol of God’s love and grace to the world at large.

According to Joyce, she wants to leave 100 solid books as a legacy to the body of Christ. She is working passionately to achieve this.

CAN GOD GIVE YOU BEAUTY FOR ASHES?

Yes, he can! Yes, he will! God took Joyce’s life from a place of ashes and he so beautified her life that we don’t see the ashes anymore.

It is not too late for you to surrender your heart to Jesus. If you believe your life is too broken to fix, then hand it over to Jesus. He will remould your life in a way that will amaze you. He beckons to you today, answer him.

Has this post blessed you? Comment below and let us know.

Blessings!