(After serving overseas for many years, Debbie Moore now serves as Arkansas WMU Executive Director for the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.)
Her English name was Mary Beulah. I don’t remember her West African tribal name. We called her “Ma Mary”. She was poor, illiterate, snaggle-toothed, and bow-legged. But Ma Mary was bubbling over with the joy of her salvation in Jesus Christ.
The Bible is clear that joy comes from God (Nehemiah 8:9-10), and our joy is a product of what God has done and continues to do.
Ma Mary was an honorary member of the Southern Baptist Mission family in Liberia, West Africa. She welcomed us to her village for special celebrations. She sat at our kitchen tables and ate “kwee” food (her favorite was fried chicken and mashed potatoes). Ma Mary was filled with contentedness and gladness. Her circumstances never interfered with her joy in the Lord.
Ma Mary taught me that the joy we have in Jesus is not seasonal or situational. Her joy, fueled by the Holy Spirit, is what God used to spread His joy throughout Liberia. May our joy, supplied by the same Holy Spirit, be used by God to spread His joy, Jesus, throughout Arkansas, our nation, and the world.
Thank Jesus for being our Joy!
“Light is sewn for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to His holy name!” Psalm 97:11-12
