Joy Poteet

Women of Faith are entirely blessed at Lakeside whenever we get to welcome the wisdom of Joy Poteet. For all those who are just aching to know her better, hopefully this brief summary will satisfy that longing.  Joy was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1950.  Her daddy Sherman was enlisted in the Army and worked for years as a truck driver. Her momma Maggie stayed at home where she worked gleefully in the kitchen.  Joy has two sisters and one brother.  In 1953 the family moved to the sprawling, plowed down cornfields just outside of Chicago. The family comfortably settled into a little suburban town called Markham, Illinois. Joy remembers her momma with great respect for the bold drives she took into the city of Chicago to shop. ‘We also took the elevated train which we called the “L”.  It would eventually tunnel underground and we would emerge from the Chicago Subway and be in the midst of the busy Loop. Alongside my momma, I absolutely marveled at all the sky scrapers.’  With extra sweetness Joy shared ‘ I loved my Momma so very much.  I felt very close to her. Mom would always lock eyes with me as she listened attentively to all I had to say’.   Joy remembers having fun making mud pies and toasting them up on the surrounding cement slabs of her neighborhood. She also enjoyed hunting with her dad.  With a big grin Joy remembered  ‘all of us had rifles.’  Joy’s beloved momma died when she was nearly 10 years old. ‘After Momma died, because my Dad had promised his mom that he would ‘church’ his kids (just as dad was raised in church) Daddy sent me to a non-denominational community church, but he did not attend. Dad dealt with his grief in a private way, and as a 10 year old, Joy cried herself to sleep for over a year. Joy felt

as though she was invisible as she hid in a corner to read a Bible.  When Joy was just barely 18 she met a man and with high hopes, she got married.  In 1969 while she was worked for a Construction Company in Chicago, she gave birth to her one and only son Maurice.  Her husband was verbally and physically abusive and by 1973 they were divorced.  ‘As a divorced, single working mom, I was totally operating on empty. Without knowing who I was, or why I was alive, my hunger for God intensified.’  Without a mentor, Joy would read her bible and welcomed the Holy Spirit as her guide. She attended a group in Chicago called “Women A Glow” and she became a member of Homewood Full Gospel Church.  As Joy commuted to work and church she always had her ear tuned into the radio. She learned so much from Charles Stanley and Andrew Womack.  Working and attending school part-time Joy graduated in 1983 with a BA in Psychology and Liberal Arts.   In 1989 when Joy’s son was 19 years old, she elected to transfer to Florida with her job while Maurice opted to stay in Chicago.  While living in Florida, Joy began attending “Carpenter’s Home Church”.  Eventually she took a position at Pinellas School District as a teacher/counselor.  By 1991 Joy became licensed and ordained by “Feed My Sheep Ministries” and she founded “Regional Ministries International” a helps ministry for

women.  In 2001 Joy became a member of “Abundant Life Church” in Florida.  ‘God completely filled me as I went onto receive a BA in Ministry, a Masters in Theology, and a Doctorate in Divinity,  M.DN.’   In 2003 Joy met Joseph Poteet while working at the school district and they got married.  As of January 2009, Joy and her husband attend “New Life Assembly of God.”.  To summarize Joy’s testimony she says “I was once was empty, broken and living without a purpose, and NOW I am full of the substance of the Holy Spirit." Joy further explained "My Lord Jesus came in and re-parented me in Him." Joy’s hunger for God has been richly satisfied as she continues to grow ‘in Him’.  She has identified with various Women in the Bible over the years.  ‘During periods of my life I identified with Hagar,  the woman at the well, and today the Bible character of Deborah resonates. As I studied, I would curl up on the floor around an easy chair and imagine I was sitting at the feet of Jesus.’ When I asked Joy what would be her life Scripture she replied ‘there are so many, but Romans 5:1-9 comes to mind.’ “Therefore, since we have been justified through

faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b]boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.  You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”  Today Joy Poteet works as the Chaplain at the Fontaine Gills Family YMCA in Lakeland, Florida. After our interview, the lyrics of a song by Lauren Daigle seemed to harmonize with Joy's repeated testimony. "I once was empty...and now I am filled up." Fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough
Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up
Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?
Remind me once again just who I am, because I need to know 
You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
You say I am held when I am falling short
When I don’t belong, You say that I am Yours
And I believe, oh I believe 
What You say of me 
I believe
The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me
In You I find my worth, in You I find my identity."  joy.poteet@ymcawef.org