Longing for a “Normal” Life
“I've had pimps hold guns to my head,” says Joy. “I've had pimps pull up pictures on the internet of my family and that they would do whatever they needed to do to make me fall in line.”
When she was two months old, Joy Anderson was adopted into a loving Christian family. Her childhood was filled with laughter and music. She exceled as a piano player. However, as a teenager the piano became an afterthought as Joy turned to alcohol and marijuana as a way to fit in with her peers. During that time, she left her home and her family.
“I had been in and out of different people’s houses because I was homeless. I didn’t want to go home because I didn’t want to live under their rules,” recalled Joy.
At seventeen while at a club she met a woman who told her how she could make big money fast…as a prostitute. “She pulled out a couple thousand dollars and for someone like me, that was a lot of money. I was desperate and vulnerable. It was almost like, ‘This is the perfect timing. I need this.’ If you don't feel worthy of having a healthy family it's almost like when that darkness does come to you and says, ‘Here, we welcome you in.’ It's like you buy into a lie. And that's what happened with me. I definitely bought into a lie.”
Her “new family” introduced Joy to crack cocaine, and after one hit, she was immediately addicted and trapped.
“All of a sudden, I was hooked on it. I knew that I needed that to do whatever he told me. And it also helped me check out emotionally so when men came in I didn’t really have to be all there. Cause I wouldn’t want to be all there. Nobody would. You need more and more to see different clientele. And the pimps knew that. Yeah, that was when it was just getting really dark.”
After several terrible years trapped in addiction and trafficked for prostitution, Joy began dreaming of a normal life.
“I remember the pimp took us to this gas station one time in Charlotte, and I saw this mom and dad pull into the gas station with their children. And they had like a minivan. I remember seeing that and I remember thinking I want to go to that kind of normal again. But it just felt so far away from the darkness I was in. So, I think I had fleeting thoughts that maybe I could get out. But when you feel so in chains, you know, from the inside out, it's hard to tap in to think that you could really live a normal life again.”
Though she wanted to run, she feared for her life and remained chained to her addiction. Over the course of twelve years, Joy was trafficked all over the United States. In 2015, the reality of her emptiness turned to desperation.
“I went into the bathroom and I looked in the mirror. I didn't recognize myself. And I knew I wanted it out. And I knew for some reason I just knew to go to God. I just got on my face in that bathroom and I cried out to God. And I said, ‘If you hear me, help me. I want out.’"
Joy’s pimp was the target of an FBI sting. Two days after crying out to God, Joy was called to a hotel room.
When I walked in and he closed the door behind me, and I remember I turned around and looked at him, and he pulled out a necklace, a long necklace with the badge on it. And I was like (GASPING), and it said FBI. And he said, ‘We're doing a human trafficking sting,’ basically. And I just broke down in tears. And they also brought a woman in there, uh and she was an advocate for human trafficking victims. And she told me, ‘God sent us here to tell you that He loves you and that this is your way out. And if you'll give your life to Him, He'll set you free.’ And I just bawled like a baby. She told me I had worth. She told me I had value. She told me that God created me for something different than this. And she told me that He'll take me out of this darkness. And when she said that it did make me think about the prayer I prayed in the bathroom. I believed her. There was light. There was this light. I’m not even joking. There was this light coming off of her and I knew that it was God.”
Over the next two years, Joy got clean from drugs and gave her life to Jesus. She began leading worship in a local church (using the gift of music she’s had since childhood).
“My life is so changed. Everything's completely different. Sometimes I – I got chills right now because I think about the freedom I have today. I don't wake up or get out of bed and want to not be here. I want to be here because God has given me a purpose and I love Him so much. It just changes everything, just to worship God. It feels so good. Not even just a feeling, it's like I know I'm made to do that, is worship God to bring Him glory.”
Joy’s message through her music is the same one she received, the love of God can set the captives free.
“You have worth. You have value. God loves you so much. You're still here for a reason. God can give you a new life. He can set you free from any chain. God can set you free and give you a beautiful life.”
