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Like the shepherd of Matthew 18:12 who left the 99 to pursue his one lost sheep, God pursues His own. Joy can affirm that with her life story. Although she accepted Christ at a young age, she didn’t have a strong spiritual foundation to help her thrive. The gospel seed had taken root, but Joy didn’t grow in her relationship with the Lord or serve Him from childhood through her young adult years.

Joy didn’t recognize it, but God was leading her silently. He planted in her a lifelong (although dormant) desire to be a missionary. She excelled at learning a unique language and studied abroad in places where it’s spoken. With a heart for adventure, she traveled extensively—roughly 60 countries—picking up jobs and meeting new people. God was building in her a burden for the world’s lost people.

When she later attended a Bible college, God’s pursuit continued, and Joy aligned her will fully with His. Through the mentoring of dear families in her home church, she began to grow and blossom in her walk with Christ. Several years ago, she received an unexpected opportunity to teach in a Creative Access Nation. Joy saw God’s fingerprints all over it, and she signed up.

In her host country, she quietly made her Christian faith known. One day she accidentally included a drawing of a church on her students’ handouts. Her Muslim students protested that it was Haram (forbidden), but other students came to her defense. “It’s okay,” they said, “She’s a Christian but she’s still good!”

The God who has pursued Joy all her life is now leading her to return to her host country as a Global Fit missionary. Colossians 1 has been a guiding passage for her. In all she does, Joy seeks to walk worthy of the Lord and bear fruit for His glory. This passage will guide her as she makes Christ known in a nation filled with God’s lost sheep, seeking to bring them to the Good Shepherd who also pursued her.

* Pseudonym