It’s been two years since Joey Feek went to heaven to be with Jesus, and this amazing wife, mother, and country singer is still teaching us about what it means to live life and finish well.
Joey Feek taught us these 6 things
1. Trust God…no matter what.
Rory Feek, Joey’s husband, has written a beautiful memoir entitled This Life I Live: One Man’s Extraordinary, Ordinary Life and the Woman Who Changed It Forever. And on the same-titled blog, he shared stories about his beloved Joey. For example, he says the one thing they argued about…
She didn’t want to have a baby. She told me so. Dozens of times. In 14 years of marriage, it was literally the only thing that we ever really argued about.
Joey was afraid to have a baby and yet one day she came to Rory and said she was ready.
I can’t keep even the smallest part of my hands and my heart closed to Him any longer…not after all He’s done for us…for me. He’s allowed all my hopes and wishes to come true, beyond my wildest dreams. And He’s given me the gift of our wonderful marriage and love…so I wanna trust Him. I need to trust Him.
About 18 months later, baby Indiana was born. And until the day Joey died, Indiana was the light of her life.
2. Hold onto hope…no matter what.
Rory posted on his blog:
Joey’s hope never fades. No amount of pain or medicine can touch it. It runs too deep. It’s connected to her faith in God. And as she will tell you, God can do anything.
3. Give glory to God…no matter what.
After being nominated for a Grammy, Rory told People.com, “When the label called to give us the news I immediately took the phone in to Joey. This recording was ‘hers’ from the beginning. This is one that she has always wanted to make, and she’s worked so hard to make it happen, in spite of the difficult circumstances she is facing. As I congratulated her, she responded through tears: ‘No, honey, this is God’s record.’”
4. Put your child’s interests above yours….no matter what.
As much as Joey must’ve wanted to be with Indiana in her last days, she knew how much her baby was going to need her father. Rory wrote…
[Indiana] loved her mama so much and all she wanted was to be with her, beside her or in-sight of her. But in early November, when Joey started to realize that there was a good chance that she might not beat her battle with cancer, she made a decision…“he must become greater and I must become less.”
And she started going against everything in her being that told her “time was short” so hold her baby even tighter… and longer… and more… and instead – she handed the baby to me, and sat alone in a bed and watched and listened as my relationship with Indy grew…and hers lessoned.
I still remember the day a few weeks later when I was sitting on the couch near Joey’s bed and Indy was playing on the floor at my feet and Joey looked over at me and said, “she needs you now…”. I looked at Joey and saw the look on her face and knew what she meant, and I wanted to cry. But she just smiled and said, “…it’s best this way honey”.
5. Face everything authentically…no matter what.
In a new post on his blog, This Life I Live, country singer Rory Feek writes that his terminally ill wife and singing partner Joey Feek had a heavy heart over the holidays. He writes that though she was thrilled to still be here on this earth to celebrate Christmas, keeping her spirits up all the time was a challenge, as it brought on unfathomable pain that “morphine just couldn’t seem to touch.”
“Though she managed a smile most of the time, Joey’s heart was heavy and she was feeling some things she hadn’t before. A sadness. A fear of the unknown. And even some anger — not at God, just at her situation I suppose,” Rory wrote. “It’s not easy for her to be as excited about what the new year holds in store as it was last year.”
6. Keep your focus on heaven…no matter what.
Joey Feek’s bio would inspire anyone! As Joey Feek gave what could be her last interview ever, she opened up to the Tennessean about the blessings she’s found in her brutal battle with cervical cancer—the biggest one being that she now knows she’ll be seeing her whole family in heaven.
Even with all the pain Joey was in, she found great comfort in her earthly father giving his life to God. The Christian country star thought she could win this cancer fight, but she’s at complete peace knowing that her Heavenly Father loves her dearly, so much so that He assured her just before her death that she will see her earthly father again.
And after Joey took her last breath here on earth, Rory wrote, “My wife’s greatest dream came true today. She is in Heaven. The cancer is gone, the pain has ceased and all her tears are dry.”
