Joy Ike

Joy Ike has been another artist and music maker who has been in our lives for more than a decade. The first time we saw her sing, our youngest daughter was under 10 years old. While she was watching Joy in concert, she moved up closer to the front to keep listening. After the concert, she ran up to Joy and also asked us to buy her CD. And from there, we started listening to her, and when she came to Lancaster we invited her to dinner; then we became friends. Joy wrote an essay for a Square Halo book, It was Good: Making Music to the Glory of God. It has been a delight to listen to her music, go to her concerts, and watch her grow in her art making, vision, and wisdom. I love her smile, her presence on the stage, and the songs she sings. And her faith in Jesus is such an encouragement.

“Hold On” has been an important song for me. . . it has spoken truth to me (and made me cry) as I walked through some sorrowful things with each of my girls and then when I found out about my cancer. Her video to this song brings tears to my eyes.

Hold On

Like a candle burning in the dark

Like the good skin underneath the scar

It’s not what you wanted

But your hope is coming

Like an oak tree underneath the ground

A small seed waiting to be found

Its not what you wanted

Life takes all you got

But you hope is coming

Come on girl hold on

You will find your song

Come on and stay here

You are not your fear

Find out more about Joy Ike.

Here is her fun cover of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

This is my other very favorite song: Time

Wherever you go, I will follow you

We’ll travel the world and make art

We’ll never really worry about wasting our time

Joy is a wonderful conversationalist, with so many good ideas, interesting stories, and life-learned wisdom. Below is a photo of Joy the hot summer day we sat in her kitchen and recorded our conversation for the Square Halo podcast.