Joy To The World By: Steve Lowe, Executive Director Blessings That Break the Curse Joy to the World is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I love the line "He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found". The ramifications of man's fall and the extent of the curse are profound. Lately, I've thought of this often. We suffer from broken bodies, thoughts, and even desires. We see the effects of sin in broken relationships in our families, divisiveness, hatred, lives wrecked through substance abuse, others destroyed through greed and sexual immorality, on and on we could go. But, Christ's power and grace to break this curse goes deeper still. We indeed experience the JOY of seeing this at The Joy House. I think of Ethan M. who completed the program this year. When coming to us he was failing almost all his classes at high school and was making some poor life decisions. He caught a different vision for his life here and completed the program and two years of school in a single year to earn his diploma and is now on his way to serve our country through an enlistment in the Navy. I think of Mary who is completing the program after learning how to handle some intense emotions and working through difficult tensions with her parents. She also earned her diploma and will be enrolling in college after the New Year. What JOY it brings us to see Christ's blessings flow to break the power of the curse. We've also seen many find freedom from the curse through our Counseling Center this year. It will again be a record year for us seeing more clients than we ever have. We indeed have much to be joyful about and we look forward with great anticipation to breaking ground on our new girl's home very soon. We're also excited about new opportunities the Lord is putting before us for 2020. I know many of you consider ministry investments at year end. We're praying and asking for a record year end to set us in good stead as we begin 2020. Thanks for your consideration and partnership. May you indeed know the JOY and power of Christ this Christmas in finding victory over the curse. Merry Christmas,
Steve | 