Cammy Joy’s story of resilience, overcoming hardship, and persevering began with a miracle.
Joy, the author of “Beautifully Scarred: Conquering Clefts, Receiving Adoption, and Embracing Scars,” told CBN News that she believes everyone carries emotional, mental, and sometimes physical scars. Her own story includes all of these elements.
“I want people to know that your scars are worthy of the Lord’s grace,” she said.
Joy’s life began with great hardship. She was born in the mountains of Guatemala with a severe bilateral cleft lip and palate. Her parents struggled to provide for her.
“My biological parents, Rita and Jesus, tried desperately to keep me alive for three days because I couldn’t eat or breastfeed,” she said. “They pumped the breast milk, put it on a rag and just squeezed it and let it drip into my mouth, but it didn’t work.”
Joy’s father wrapped her in a blanket and drove her down the mountain to a hospital in Guatemala City, but doctors said the family didn’t have enough money to treat her and medical professionals didn’t know of any surgical treatment to meet Joy’s needs.
“(The doctor) basically kicked him out and said, ‘This child is going to die,'” she said, noting that the father walked out and began crying for his baby daughter’s life.
And then a miracle happened.
“Two men came out of nowhere and said, ‘Excuse me, why are you crying?'” Joy said. “Then they said, “There is hope.” And they took Jesus and me to the orphanage. And along the way, the two men gave Jesus money and clothes.”
The owner of the orphanage let Joy in, but when Jesus turned to thank the men, they were gone. The owner then told Jesus that no one was with him when he and Joy arrived at the scene.
“I believe it was divine intervention in my life,” she said, adding that she believes the men were angels. “I stayed in an orphanage for two months where they were able to keep me alive, but from there I had the opportunity to go to Spokane, Washington and live with a foster family.”
Joy was able to undergo the long-awaited surgery and was scheduled to return to Guatemala, but ended up staying in the United States because she needed back-to-back surgeries.
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Her foster family immediately fell in love with her and asked Rita and Jesus if they could adopt her. In the process, she experienced physical and mental healing. Faith sustained and guided Joy’s path, and the Lord healed her along the way.
Growing up with medical issues was sometimes difficult, often harder for adults than for children.
“Emotional wounds often took time to heal,” Joy said. “I am so grateful that God has been with me every step of the journey.”
Eventually, she learned to trust the Lord and move forward.
“I brought Jesus back into the wounds where we are still healing, where I could see healing in His hands,” she said. “He has scars to show me, and those beautiful scars have truly been healing for my journey.”
Joy continued, “I want people to know that scars are actually evidence that healing has occurred.”
She hopes people will see the Lord through her story. For more on Joy’s story, see Beautifully Scarred: Conquering Clefts, Receiving Adoption, and Embracing Scars.
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