Brief Testimony of Joy Norris' call to the Ministry

Joy

Serving the Lord in my local church has been a way of life for me since I was a teenager, whether it was as a Sunday School teacher, AWANA leader, Camp counselor, Ladies’ Ministries Director, Children’s Ministry Director, pianist, playing the keyboard, entertaining, or having a revolving door of visitors while we had teenagers in the house ourselves! The gifts of administration and encouragement have been given to me along with the gift of helps, and I have shared those gifts for many, many years.

However, during the past few years there was reason to step back in areas of ministry and to re-assess my worship of the Lord I served. In so doing, I had to learn to say “no” when asked to take on, or share in, the opportunities of service in the church. I chose to focus on what pleases my Father and that is my worship of Him. Now it had begun to be easy to say “no” to serving, but we are called to serve and I knew that. James 2:26 “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

During a gathering at Bridgeway, the Lord spoke to me so loudly that I came home and told Don that I thought we needed “to do” something for the Lord. You know how we women always have “to do” and the message I received that night was that NOW was the time. You see, we often talked about all the things we had done – youth chaperones, AWANA Directors, teen retreats, ladies ministries, leading discipleship groups, mission trips, on and on, but again, they were all things we had done – in the past. What were we doing now? Well, our answer was that it was someone’s turn. We had done our time. Don was going to Peru a few times each year, and I was giving up my summer vacation to go there and serve Him. I went with New Covenant on a trip in June 2004 and saw first-hand how the Lord used me in areas totally out of my comfort zone and in ways I never anticipated. I no longer asked whether or not we should go to Peru but I had to ask myself why not go. So, we agreed we would. Later.

But the Lord said, very clearly, there is still work to be done and this is the time. We no longer had elderly parents living or children living at home. What was holding us back? Well, it wasn’t in our plan. I was serving the Lord at Bridgeway Christian Academy. He had blessed me with that position years ago. It was an answer to prayer and I agreed to serve Him there. I couldn’t walk away from that ministry. My parents brought me up and taught me that when the Lord places you somewhere, you don’t move until He moves you. I had the opportunity to leave BCA on three specific occasions. All offers had come from other Christians in the education field or in church work. I chose not to leave because I believed the Lord had me where He wanted me. Even when the temptation was to leave, with a better salary offer, and benefits, I chose to be obedient and serve Him even in difficult times, at the school.

In thinking about it, I don’t know what I would do in Peru. But I soon learned. Working on the medical team without medical training may sound a little scary, but with the gift of adminis-tration, He uses me on that team every trip! The Peru New Covenant Office is a two-person laptop operation. With all the ministries in progress, growing and groaning, there is need for more administrative help. Ummm, what does that tell you? Praise the Lord for the clear direction He has given me and the peace about facing the challenges of language school, being distanced from children & grandchildren, and living out of a suitcase for a yet to be determined length of time! It is only through obedience that I find real peace.

A couple of experiences I want to share with you so you can hear how God uses a “regular” Christian when we let Him.

In Romans 8:26 we read, “ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Praying for the women in Peru – At the close of a women’s conference one evening, the New Covenant Team members were asked to come forward to pray with those who desired prayer. This specific night, I happened to have a young lady come forward from the church and offer to be my interpreter. Helen was a delightful young adult, about 25 years old. The ladies came forward and lined up waiting for the American Christians to pray with them one at a time. They responded to the message of the secrets kept inside that they needed to confess so they could move on in their walk with the Lord. Most of these secrets were sexual sin or abuse that they had not dealt with. At the end of our prayer time, Helen asked me to pray for her and she broke down in tears telling me her personal story. She was so concerned that we would be gone that night, and soon back to America, and she wanted me to pray with her again someday. I promised her I would pray for her anyway. A year later, the team returned to the same church. Helen saw me and came up and asked if I remembered her. Of course, I did! I saw her from a distance and wondered the same thing. As we talked she took a ring off her finger and showed me the inscription inside the band. It read “Lord Jesus Christ”. She was so proud to say it was her purity ring and that she had remained pure since we prayed that night! You see, even one prayer one night, and another, and another, is rewarded. Thank you Lord for Helen and her walk with You!

Job 1:10 says “you have put a hedge around him and his household” Some of you might remember stories I’ve related about our taxi cab rides in our newsletters. God continually reveals Himself, His love, and His protection of us in the most unexpected places and ways. The most recent experience was in June 2008. Don had just preached at the Sector 5 church. We had to get back to Sector 3 so our interpreter, Sheyla, could interpret for another service there. Suzanna the pastor’s wife ran out of the church and hailed a taxi. She chatted with him and gave him our fare and opened the back door for us to get it. I asked Sheyla if the driver knew where we were going. I told her to tell him we were missionaries with New Covenant, why we were here from America and that we didn’t know our way around, but would trust him to get us where we were going. When she told him, he assured her he knew the church. He and his brother are both cab drivers and drive for the other missionaries, Greg & Bridgett, and Alex & Holly. Now, remember I said, God continually reveals Himself to us in the most unexpected places and ways. Why was Rory driving down that specific road, at that specific time, that specific day? I know! It was all part of His plan.

The opportunity to let the Lord use me while I'm "living life" as a wife, mother, grandmother, and friend is awesome and looking back into scripture we find that we have the responsiblity to go and tell others what He has done and is doing in our lives. We all have a story to tell to the nations. The nations include home, our community, neighbors, locally, nationwide and at this time in my life it moves me even further from what I now call home, to a new community and home in Peru. Where He leads, I will follow.