Finding Joy

By Joy Melton

Joy Melton knows what the feeling of abandonment does to a child. She was among the millions of fatherless children in this world. A lifetime without the love of a father caused so much pain in her life. The pain lead to fearfulness and she would often doubt herself. She struggled daily with feelings of worthlessness. The scars of rejection in her heart began to turn into resentment and eventually hate toward the dad who had left her.

She began the journey to find herself that God laid on her heart. Joy shares the story of her childhood without a daddy, finding the love of her life, and eventually finding her joy. This was not the joy she initially sought after, but it was the joy God wanted her to find.

Through her faithfulness to God and following His call for her life, she learned to forget what scarred her past and live with Christ in the present. She learned to forgive the men that walked out of her life, and, in doing so, God granted her peace that flowed abundantly. She let go of what she wanted for herself and saw that what God has for her is so much better. Joy found that God is the one who determines her worth and defines hernot circumstances of the past or struggles of this life.

She started out looking for herself and what she found was joy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781490891163

Joy Melton

Joy lives in Kentucky with her husband, Jason, and their three children: Landen, Blake, and Malia. Joy became a Christian as a child but recently gave herself to follow Christ daily. In doing so she found a joy like never before. She prays that you too have found joy in Christ.

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Copyright © 2016 Joy Melton.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-9114-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-9115-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-9116-3 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/08/2016

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Enough

Broken

My Hero

Just What I Needed

White Flag

Flawed

Best of Joy

Promised

Planted

Blessed

More Than a Fan

Alive

Exercise Daily

Jar of Clay

Dedication

This book is dedicated to:

My Heavenly Father: The one who created me. You are the architect of my life and the keeper of my heart. You choose to love me every minute of every day. Thank you for being my perfect father.

To My Lord and Savior: The one who saved my soul. Without YOU all of this would be worthless and meaningless. Thank you for the life you lived on this earth to pave the way for us to follow.

My Holy Spirit: The One who is with me always. You guided me through this process seamlessly. Not one word of this book could have been possible without your guidance and presence in my life.

My Husband: The one who loves me. Your unwavering support in all I do is so appreciated. I am so thankful that God allowed me to share this life with you Jason. I love you to the moon and back, babe.

My kids: Who gave me my greatest job: Being your mommy is the most precious thing in this world. I pray that you follow my example and always trust in God and follow His will for your life. I love you Landen, Blake and Malia

My Mama: Who gave me life: Mom, you will never know how deep my love for you is. I am so thankful for the life you gave me and the woman you helped mold. I am so grateful and humbled to call you Mom and even more thankful to call you my friend.

Introduction

T his book is about Joy. Of course it is me, Joy, sharing my story, but it is so much more than that. This is a book about true, eternal, everlasting joy. The joy you cannot find within yourself, or of this world. It can only be found in God. It can be found in our Father in heaven, who calls for His children to follow Him. It can be found in placing your faith in the Son of God, who gave himself to save you. It can be found in the feeling the Holy Spirit near you when you cry out for help. I pray that whatever brought you to open up the pages of this book, will allow you to follow through the reading of it. I pray my journey will somehow inspire or encourage you to let go and allow God to do His work in and through you.

My story is unique. Maybe you read through the summary, or glanced through the chapters and recognized something that you could relate to. Maybe you too had father issues, or even both parents abandoned you. If that is something you struggled with, let this book encourage you to let go of the pain of the past and step into the present. God has so much in store for you if you just let Him take control. The joy you will find in doing so will overwhelm your soul.

Alternatively, my life and my story may not be like anything you can relate to. Would you allow yourself to look past the specific details of my life and insert your own struggles? Let God take control of whatever is holding you down, or holding you back from truly experiencing real joy. Allow God to take on the hurt and pain of this world and let his love for you invade your soul. The joy you will encounter will become so abundant.

This story started out with me, trying to find myself; find who I was without a dad. God allowed me to transform in the process. The book took a transformation as well. This was always God's book and I was just the human writing it for Him, but like all humans we tend to take control. I prayed through every page of this book and made sure that the control and guidance for this book stayed in His hands. I wanted this book to bring Him glory and not myself. Indeed, He showed me that so strongly. I thought, Okay, God, here I am. Please give me the words today. He always did. I assumed that the book would end a certain way and when I thought maybe I was nearing the end, He lead me farther. Farther than I ever anticipated going. Because of that He began to do something amazing inside of me, He healed my heart. All the hurt and pain that had scarred me, he healed and I began to forgive those men that caused me that pain.

I am not the same person I was when I began to write this, I hope you too will not be the same person who starts out reading this book. I pray that this too will be true for you, that you will begin to come to peace with your past, and live in Joy for today, and find hope for tomorrow. Only God can give you this peace, joy and hope.

I have been a Christian for 25 years now, and I too am evolving. This year, I actually let go of my life and gave it to God. I had trouble relinquishing control. When I decided that what I was doing was never going to work, and what I wanted was never going to fulfill me, I gave it ALL to God. Every ounce of me, every hair on my head is all His. I wanted to feel Him near me, I do. I wanted to do His work, I am. This very book is the product of obedience. Even if I do not sell one book, even if not one person ever opens the cover, I know that I answered His call, and obeyed Him to the end. I pray you do the same.

Lastly, I pray that if you do not know Jesus, or have a personal relationship with Him that after you read this you will. Walking with Jesus through this rough life is exactly what you need. It is all you will ever need. Call on Him today and let him wash you clean.

God placed this book in your hand for a reason and I pray that these words go straight to your heart. I pray He will heal your hurt, just like He healed my own. Take a step today and follow Him.

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Enough

A s a child, my family always spent our summers at a large amusement park, Kings Island. We would spend all summer enjoying the thrill of the roller coasters, water slides, eating pizza and I never left the park without a caramel apple. My mouth is watering just thinking about those apples. Some of my favorite memories of my childhood are right here at this park. The smell of hot asphalt, Larosa's pizza, funnel cakes and chlorine flow out into the parking lot. As soon as you step out of the car you can smell it all.

My heart would begin to race as we walked through the admission line and handed over our season passes to be scanned. My stomach would start churning in anticipation of our first ride. It always felt like the very first time, every time. While I waited n the lines to board the roller coasters, my heart would begin to race to the point I thought it would beat out of my chest. My mind would start to flood with horrible images. Images of the train jumping off the track or my restraint coming undone and I would fall to my death. Of course, the ride was always thrilling, and I always got off intact, beaming with pride like I just crossed the finish line of a marathon. We would ride the coasters, bumper cars, octopus, swing and log flume until the sun went down. On weekends, the park would set off fireworks at closing time, and it was always an enjoyable way to cap off the evening and make the hour drive home.

Could you imagine going to an amusement park that was filled with acres of thrill rides and roller coasters, and you would settle for the carousel horses?