I started this website in December 2019 as a way to encourage people in their personal walks with the Lord. I wanted a space to share what God was teaching me and edify others. But now, I have not been consistent with posting. In fact, it has been 2.5 years since I even logged into this account. I am starting a new season and setting a goal to write one article a week until I have 30 new posts. My purpose is to share how God is working in my life and continuing to mold me into something He can use for His glory and to advance the gospel.
The title of this website is “Purposed Joy.” Back in 2019 when I was branding this website, I was looking for a theme that best described my walk with the Lord and words I could use to present that clearly to my readers. I prayed about the right direction and words for a while. I kept coming back to the words “purpose” and “joy.” Joy came first. Back then, my walk with the Lord was a simple joy. For the most part, joy overflowed. I considered what happiness was — Happiness was a shallow, event-based emotion. I didn’t want happiness; I wanted joy –something deep and consistent not grounded in circumstances or feelings but a result of my security in Christ.
As a result of my relationship with the Lord, I was doing what God called me to do. I loved church ministry. I had good friends who truly cared about me and were there for me. I had just returned from a mission trip to Zambia. I had a few tough years teaching, but I was beginning to hit a sweet spot with my job. My joy was rooted in Christ, of course, but then I considered that joy had to be intentional. It had to be purposed. I wanted joy to still erupt when hard times came. I knew the only way for that to happen would be for me to intentionally seek the joy I have in Christ.
Joy isn’t rude or self-seeking. It is a warm smile despite difficult circumstances, no matter how I’ve been treated.
In 2019, I had just started studying the book of Philippians and participating in my own research on “joy” in Philippians. Paul didn’t have easy circumstances. His joy came because he lived intentionally. He sought to have the attitude of Christ – an attitude of humility and service — and joy was the expression of that. I want to have that unjaded kind of joy that can only be found in Christ.
2025 was the year God invited me to walk in what I learned in head knowledge in 2019. I have never cried for so many consecutive days about ministry. It has been a year of pressing on when I felt betrayed.
“Pressing on” and “unjaded” were my words of the year for 2025. I never realized how relevant those words would be and the extent to which I would need to truly live them out.
I had the joy of Christ, but I lost the expression of joy in my relationships. I didn’t show my joy like I expected it should show it. Honestly, I didn’t know how to show it. I didn’t know if I had any to show. Now, I am learning to lean into how much joy is purposed – intentionally lived, on purpose, purposely shown — in our daily walk with the Lord. When we lean into how we feeling our humanity about our circumstances, our joy in Christ is difficult to express.
But when we, like Paul, put on the attitude of Christ — who we are in Christ — and get our purpose from Him, joy can’t help but be expressed. I am slowly learning to stop getting temporary happiness from successfully meeting the expectations and pleasing others. I am slowly learning how to again find my joy purposefully in Christ and how I can best serve Him. I’ll tell you more about it over the next few posts. It’s time to begin this blog again.
