Born and raised on a small but productive and sturdy little farm just north of Plant City, Florida, Dale Bliss, “Joy” still lives there to this day. The proud little farm, always under God’s care, with His hand forever upon the soil and all that He produces from it is still producing and following the path that God intended. While He has changed the dynamics of the income His plan is still apparent.
Before, her father worked by the sweat of his brow toiling from daylight till dark to take care of what God so generously bestowed on him.
Praising God and thanking Him for all that He has blessed her with is at the top of Joy’s list. She goes to a small, quiet little Church that has been in the community for over a century and a quarter. Midway Baptist Church is where she went as a little girl with her grandmother. She remembers staying with her grandmother and helping her around her wooden built house and helping to gather eggs from the chickens. One of Joy’s favorite things to do on the farm with her grandfather was going to the cowshed and watching her grandmother milk the cow and helping carry the bucket back to the house. Her reward, a fresh glass of cow’s milk.
As a little girl, she learned to work on the farm by picking vegetables, washing them and gently wrapping them in paper and packing them ever so gently in crates. That was one of her favorite jobs, making crates.
Joy also enjoys crafting. One of her favorites is making handmade greeting cards and sending them for various occasions. From birthday to anniversary, or just to say thank you; if a card is needed, she does her best to get one made and in the mail.
Writing and the research that goes along with it is another enjoyment of this contributor to GO! Christian Magazine.
Her father also had a small cattle ranch where she played as a child in the Hillsborough River that flowed through the once luxurious green pastures. Joy made sure to wear a pair of tennis shoes so she would not cut her feet on the rock bottom bed.
During the winter she would help put hay in the bed of the pickup and disperse it through the pasture for the cows. That was one of her favorite things to do, also.
Joy raised steers in high school and was a member of Future Farmers of America.
The farm, where the little wooden house once proudly stood, gave warmth and protection.
Joy has written for Family Magazine where she was blessed to share profiles on gifts and blessings other families received from God. She has also written for other local and out-of-state publications where she was given the blessing of telling the stories of ordinary people given extraordinary gifts from above who followed the path God set them on and did amazing things.
