BY MARSHA DUCILLE

AT 70 YEARS OLD, Joyce Meyer is not only the most influential woman in ministry – she’s the most influential person. Her television and radio broadcast, Enjoying Everyday Life, reaches two-thirds of the world, and her global ministry feeds over 70,000 children daily. With approximately 750 employees, 9 international offices, over 100 books published, more than a dozen yearly conferences, roughly 7 million social media followers, and a potential broadcast audience of 4.5 billion, Joyce has raised the bar for modern-day ministry.

By now, most of us know Joyce Meyer’s story: As a child, she was emotionally, verbally, and sexually abused by her father. “The sexual abuse started when I was very young, and when [my father] decided I was mature enough, he took things even further. From this point (until I was eighteen), he raped me at least once a week,” the best- selling author revealed in an online blog. Then, Joyce married the first man who took interest in her. That emotionally abusive and infidelity-ridden relationship ended in divorce.

But God had a plan. If I were to choose a Scripture to describe Joyce’s life, I would choose Genesis 50:20: “You planned to harm me. But God planned it for good. He planned to do what is now being done. He wanted to save many lives” (New International Reader’s Version).