Rory Feek shares thoughts at memorial service for Joey Martin Feek

Introduction

Two years ago, my wife, Joey, encouraged me to start a blog about our lives. We were about to take a year off and stay home, and I felt the need to document the coming months. Little did I know the story that was unfolding, a story filled with incredible triumphs and life-threatening valleys. A great story isn’t just a happy one; it needs both highs and lows to truly understand and appreciate the joy.

As a songwriter, I’ve spent years writing about love, but I never truly understood it until I met Joey. She showed me what real love looks like: patient, kind, selfless, and inspired by faith. It’s the kind of love you see in movies, a love that’s possible when you give it first.

Joey taught me the secret recipe for love, not found in books or conferences, but in our Lord. She sought guidance on how to love her husband and stepchildren greatly, and she did her best to love like He loves us, to the end of the line. If you take nothing else from her life, take that love. Love your spouses, your children, and even those you find difficult to love. If you want to feel that kind of love, you have to give it first. It will change you and everyone around you.

I offered Joey anything to take her place, but she smiled and said, “If it was you, there would be no one here to write about it.” So she lived it, and I shared it. In her last days, she expressed unwavering faith in God’s plan, a trust in something bigger than herself. It worked, it was alive in her, and she passed it on to me.

I want to thank the town of Alexandria, Indiana, Joey’s hometown, for their love and support. Thank you to everyone who followed our journey, shed tears, and prayed for someone they never met. Joey felt your love, and we feel it now.

Lastly, I thank my beautiful bride, Joey, for choosing me and giving me the greatest gift: her love. She may have left a legacy in the gym where this service is held, but her true legacy is love.

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