Episode 52

Joy That Shines Through Hardship

When Joseph Vasquez’s face was paralyzed from sudden Bell’s Palsy, his unshaken joy and reliance on God became a living testimony to everyone around him. Hear how faith brought strength, purpose, and impact in the midst of struggle—and how you can be a witness in times of hardship, too!

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Show Notes

Host Barry Meguiar is a car guy and businessman who hosted the popular TV show, Car Crazy, on Discovery Networks for 18 years. He loves cars, but he loves Jesus even more! Learn more about Barry at IgniteAmerica.com

Get your copy of Barry’s book Ignite Your Life: Defeat Fear with Effortless Faith at AmazonBarnes & NobleBooks-A-Million, and other online booksellers.

Learn more about:

– Why obedience matters when sharing the Gospel
– How we can work God into any conversation
– Why 80% of Americans are looking for God
– When we can use humor to share God’s message
– How the Holy Spirit gives us a voice

Check out Why Share? on IgniteAmerica.com to learn why it is important for every believer to share their faith. Then visit First Steps which provides practical ways to get started in your faith-sharing journey. Sign up to receive emails that will bring you solid faith-sharing tips and powerful inspiration.

Episode Transcript

Barry Meguiar 00:03
It, Joseph, great to have you back again. I love your heart, man, you have another quick experience you want to share?

Speaker 1 00:08
You know, I so another experience that I did have was there was a moment in time where I had experienced sickness out of either, out of stress or just out of balance palsy. Okay, so I experienced balance palsy, and it was something I had no idea about. I remember going to work, and I remember feeling a little weird, not tasting food. The next thing I know, half my face ain’t working and I’m sitting there like and then next thing I know, oh, you have to take care of this within three days, or, you know, you gotta wait for it to heal yourself, you know. And so I’m sitting there having to go through this physical ailment, and the people around me see me, and they see there’s, there’s a difference in my face. Okay, there’s a difference going on here, yet the love and the joy that I still had in here, still reflected on the outside, and people more suddenly more so people constantly asking me, how in the world could you have us? What? Like, why do you come to work still? Like, why don’t you take it off? You know, yeah, they’re like, why are you still here? like, why are you still, why are you still doing you when this is physically, like, you know, it I couldn’t do

Barry Meguiar 01:30
it. Mostly them be just Yeah, beside

Speaker 1 01:33
themselves, yeah, and, and so I remember that there was just a strength that came upon me, you know? And I’m like, Lord, you got to be my strength through this. Because I’m like, you know, this is something that I didn’t call upon this. I didn’t ask for this, but it happened, you know, I remember constantly night after night, just sitting there saying, Lord, you know, I believe on, I believe that you’re going to heal me. And I believe that, you know, we’re going to, I’m going to get through this, and we’re, you know, we’re marching forward. There’s no stopping with this. And I remember how much of a testimony that was, just my actions, yeah, and the way that I presented myself, where I didn’t fall, I didn’t I didn’t fall, and I didn’t let a failure like that, like, you know, pull me down. I didn’t let nothing like that. And I do remember that it did touch a lot of people. I do remember people asking me, they’re like, Hey, how in the world could you sit there and put a smile through something that, you know, it, it physical, because it was a physical, you know, people seen, you know, it wasn’t just like, oh, man, something inside, no, it was, you know, half your face wasn’t working, you know, and, and so, you know, They and to have that opportunity to sit there and share well, because there’s a joy in me that I have that, you know, it old song, that the world didn’t give it to me, and the world’s not going to take it away, you know. And it’s funny, because it’s like, you know, to hold on to those things like that, where it’s like, you know, you know, there’s a joy in here, and it’s going to be expressed regardless of the situations that, that you

Barry Meguiar 03:04
pray you praise the Lord and everything, even the bad things, and when the bad things happen, you have opportunity to talk to you, you would not have seen otherwise, yeah, only because of this exactly you have exactly opportunity to share with those people. It is, it is great hanging out with you, Joseph. I love your heart.

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