Who are the people who have been most influential in your life? Many answer this question with the names of teachers, parents, family members, or siblings. I never imagined that one of the first names I would think of would be that of a girl from Ghana, West Africa who I would one day be blessed to call my sister.

Josephine Biney lived on a Mercy Ship for the majority of her life. She moved to the small town of Candia, New Hampshire and attended Jesse Remington High School for two years. I met her when I was a junior at JRHS and it was a year later that she moved in to be my house mate and sister for our senior year.

Growing up on the Mercy Ship, Josie was both a student and a servant. Along with her parents and her brother Caleb, she raised money every year to live on the hospital ship that provides medical care to the poor and needy in African countries. The ship is called the Africa Mercy, and the life Josie has lived served as an example of self-sacrifice and commitment to serving the Lord in all things. On the ship, she was able to interact with patients in the hospital and brightened many days through the way she walked into challenging situations and brought the light that is her joyous and bubbling personality. I'm thankful that she brought the same level of joy, compassion, and Christ-like love to every situation she entered while in NH.

Josie challenged me every day to look beyond the cultural differences that can oftentimes divide people and choose to focus on the commonalities we share as members of the Kingdom of God. She reminded me to focus on Kingdom culture and not the American culture in which I grew up. Always putting others before herself, Josie was one who posted the names of her schoolmates and family members on her wall to remind herself to pray for them. Her level of spiritual discipline and commitment to living out her faith inspired me and many others around her.

She taught me to look at all people, regardless of their appearance or life circumstance, the way Jesus does: worthy of His blood and His whole life. She showed me how much God loves me by the way she treated me, and she reminded me every day of the fact that my worth doesn't come from the way the world sees me. She looked at me through the gracious lens of love and became the sister that I never knew I needed. I'm thankful that God knew.

The link below will direct you to the Mercy Ships website. I encourage you to read and learn more: https://www.mercyships.org/who-we-are/our-ships/th...