Episode 89: Fighting for Joy Through the Holidays - Part 1

My grief journey has connected me to thousands of hurting people. Almost every week I have the privilege, although its a weighty and costly privilege, of spending big chunks of time listening to, giving witness to, and holding space for people’s pain. I ALSO get to see pretty beautiful and tender glimpses into people’s healing, progress, and returning joy. This past week, as I was interacting with people in both places, I thought to myself, how can I connect these two groups of people? How can I encourage those who feel pretty hopeless with testimony from those feeling hope-FULL? I wanted to connect people lacking joy with people who are experiencing joy again, especially during this time of year, the holiday season, a time of year that can traditionally feel extra sad and heavy for the hurting.

My idea was to do something similar to what I did back in 2020 when we were all thrust into quarantine and isolation during Covid (Check out Episodes #25, #26, & #27). During that time, there was a lot of confusion, fear, and loss. Often when we are in situations and seasons like that, we need each other to bring encouragement. Sometimes we need to borrow strength and hope from others. Soooo, I put a little request out on social media a few days ago asking people to send me an audio message sharing some ways that they are fighting for joy right now - practical things that help them get through the holidays. I was so emotional listening to these messages as they came in. These friends of mine are joy fighters! They have hard stories, and in many cases they are still walking through VERY difficult things. But they took on this little assignment in hopes of helping those of you listening…to bring encouragement to someone who needs it. Maybe that’s you? If so, I’m glad you found this episode and hope that it helps you.Today you’ll get to hear Part 1, about half of the people who will share.Then, in a couple of days I will release Part 2 and you’ll get to hear from the rest of these amazing people!

And to each person who submitted a voice memo and participated in this "joy project", THANK YOU! You are all so special and your stories matter. I know you can testify to the brokenness of this world and/also you keep pressing forward with hope! I'm so proud of you for fighting for joy! Thank you for helping others in the fight as well.

*Don't forget that as a Fighting for Joy listener you can receive 10% off of your first month of counseling services from BetterHelp, my podcast sponsor. Check out my link at betterhelp.com/fightingforjoy. Christian counseling can be such a huge help in this broken world and a major tool in the fight for joy.

** If this episode was encouraging to you, I’d like to ask you to please consider rating the Fighting for Joy podcast, and even leaving a review. Once you find my show, scroll down to where it says “tap to rate” or “write a review”. Tapping to rate literally takes a second or two, and writing a review can be quick as well. Just sharing that you enjoy listening, or that it’s an encouragement to you is enough. The longer I do this the more I understand how helpful those ratings and reviews really are, so thanks for considering this. It means a lot!