On August 23rd – much too soon — Joyia Evangeline Paul (Stephanie’s daughter) passed into glory. After a long illness – the Lord healed her body and He made her whole in ways we cannot imagine.

Last week we walked through the memorial service which was a beautiful tribute to a young woman who touched many lives. With humor and gratefulness person after person got up and shared memories of how Joyia touched their lives. There were hundreds of people at the funeral home streaming in to say good-bye.

The moment I may remember most of this week’s services was at the cemetery as we were dismissed – each of us was given a flower to place on her casket. I received a sunflower. There were dozens and dozens of flowers already placed before it was my turn. As I placed that sunflower on Joyia’s casket, I had a last minute thought – “make sure the face of the flower faces up”- as I adjusted my flower to make sure it faced directly heaven-ward, I thought. “this is what Joyia is now doing – she is looking into the face of Jesus”- and that is how I want to remember my dear friend’s daughter.

Joyia Evangeline Paul
December 5, 1984 – August 23rd, 2014

Diane
Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 4 grandchildren, 3 adult step-children with 7 grandchildren making 10 in all. She delights reading and teaching, but mostly laughing at the funny things her grandchildren say and do.