Surviving with God's Strength- Testimony
Before I first listened to Joyce’s teaching on the fruit of the Spirit, I confess I didn’t really understand how the fruit worked. I assumed it was all about will power. If I didn’t have peace or patience, it must be because I wasn’t trying hard enough. It never occurred to me to ask for God’s help. It might have had to do with how I was raised. Though I grew up in a Christian home, my mother was the poster child for the self-made woman – the oldest of 10 who grew up in a West Virginia coal-mining town during the Great Depression. She escaped at 18, married a mean man, went to work, divorced, remarried and eventually became one of the first female Chamber of Commerce executives in the country. She was a dynamo who loved to say, “I’m a survivor.” That was her battle cry and badge of honor. Mere Survival Falls Short It made perfect sense that I would follow her template. Clawing my solitary way up the mountain of life’s chall...