Joanna’s Return, Area Fellowship News
by Anonymous

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."
-John 15:13

Joanna’s departure involved folks on both sides of the ocean as you will see in the following e-mail Faye sent to Kari Mace the night Jo returned.

Hi Kari, thanks for your mail. Of course I have time to tell you about today’s events! I know what it’s like wanting to know the details about stuff that has happened. Well, I first woke up last night at about 3:30 am just as the phone stopped ringing, so I got up and dialed 1471 to see who had called–it was Meryl’s number, so I called her back but it was engaged.
 
Then Robyn rang and just said "So have you spoken to Jo?" And I almost fell off the bed as she started to tell me what had happened so far. I was bursting with excitement and nervousness. You may have heard already what the calls were like with her last night–but essentially that things were going wrong for her, relation-ships with guys never working out, in debt, unhappy and she knew what she was doing was wrong (although she did still enjoy it and wasn’t miser-able 100% of the time.) Thankfully Ginny convinced her to trust God for twenty-four hours and get a taxi over and be with Meryl right then. This morning we called Meryl to see what happened, and she said Jo was definitely back and that she couldn’t wait to see us all.

So we got up/ready and drove over to Jon and Jim’s. Shortly after we got there, Jo and Meryl arrived. When she walked in, it was very weird, and for a few moments I think we all just looked at each other, not sure what to do. We did get up and hug and we all were crying…She looks very different. I guess I was expecting the Jo we knew ten months ago to walk in, unchanged. She was very hung over, very pale and desperate for cigarettes (she has been smoking up to fifty a day). Generally, she was looking very rough.

As she began to speak, I was skeptical–she did not seem convinced that she wanted to be back or stay back. She talked about the many things she will have to give up now–basically, her friends and her lifesyle.

We talked about where she had been over the last ten months and where that leaves her with God and the decision she has to make now. If she is "back," we made it clear it had to be 100% and that she has to talk about what is going on. We stressed that it would not necessarily be easy–the feelings were not going to go away about what she had to give up, but she must choose to believe something in spite of the feelings. The real decision she had to make was to go God’s way, or further down Satan’s track.

She was crying and saying she had to choose God’s way because she was scared she might never get another chance. God was giving her a huge chance this weekend, and if she walked away again she was now even more responsible having had more truth exposed to her.

As the day went on, it was as if the strangeness about her started to wear off a bit. It has to come down to the light swallowing the darkness! We ended up tonight going back to her house and packing her room up into bin bags and moving her out. She hated going back there and said she felt like she was going to be sick, but I was impressed how she just didn’t falter or question what she was doing. Her room was a WRECK. She had a lot of photos up all around the room obviously taken in the last ten months-which gave me a quick visual picture of how she has been.

We loaded the cars up and drove back to Obelisk Rise (home) and said our goodbyes for today. What a day!!! Jo has made the first right decision for a long time and I am so pleased!!

When I suddenly stop to think–JO IS BACK–it is almost unbelievable. This weekend was a fellowship weekend, and I was saying I can’t wait for the time when we can talk to Jo and ask her what was going on and what she thought when we put the Z-News through the door, etc, etc–never did I expect it to be today!!!! On Saturday night we drove to her house to put the Z-News through the door, and on Monday night we drove there to get her stuff and move her home!! WOW! I nearly cry when I think about it all. God moves quickly!!! As suddenly as Jo left, God has brought her back. Jo’s sudden and complete exit from our lives brought shock, anger and pain. Ten months on, her equally sudden return brings celebration and joy.

Well, I hope this gives you a bit of a picture of how today went. Overall VERY strange to see Jo again, but VERY glad!!!!
Bye for now,
Love, Faye