Joy Makers at the School Parking lot

As I was reflecting on Joy Makers Project today and God’s hand in it all, I was reminded of a time when I was questioning if starting Joy Makers Project was ever a good idea and how God answered my wondering within that same hour of wonder.

It was about 2 years ago, I was in rough shape emotionally and had felt like my world flipped upside down after some painful breakages in relationships with important people in my life at that time. My body was weary, fatigued, and worn down, I felt depressed, confused, and anxious.

Someone, knowing I was in rough shape, wanted to help encourage me and suggested I went out and did a Joy Makers walk, they knew in the past I found great purpose in pursuing Joy Makers Project and thought it might life my spirit and encourage me.

So I decided to do just that, go for a Joy Makers walk. But instead of pursuing a random act of kindness, I just asked God to confirm to me on this walk or give me some sort of sign I should keep pursuing Joy Makers Project, because I was struggling, and struggling to know if I, a depressed individual at that time, should be pursuing something like Joy Makers Project, when I wasn’t experiencing much Joy myself at all.

The walk began and about a 1/2 hour in I was walking by a local school. As I was walking by I heard a voice saying something along the lines of, “Hey you! It’s you! Remember me from Joy Makers Project, the mom of the child you gave the basketball too? I’m picking my daughter up right now, the one you gave that basketball to, she’s on varsity basketball you know!” As she finished sharing that, her daughter walked up to the car and her and I smiled with Joy, me saying “wow, it’s really good to see you and you’ve grown up so much.” I was shocked with this unexpected interaction. In that moment my body went from weary and worn down to feeling light, energized, and hopeful.

This person’s daughter was one of the first Joy Makers gifts I had given away when I initially started going out and spreading Joy. I gave away that basketball when I was on a walk to a park nearby, on my way to go hand out other Joy Gifts in the form of a couple sports equipment such as a soccer ball and maybe a jump rope at the time. This person went on to share how much that act of kindness to her daughter had meant and over the years how she had been following along with Joy Makers Project. I hadn’t seen that person in over 4 years.

God answered my wondering through that small interaction that day. I am thankful for His reminder that yes, it was a good idea to have started Joy Makers Project several years ago and it still is a good idea to continue pursuing Joy Makers Project today. After all, this idea, really started as a God idea, and I hope it continues to become something that spreads the Joy of God to those around.

With gratitude,

Kailey

Joy Makers in Cambodia

I recently had an opportunity to visit some friends in Cambodia and I learned something about Joy while there. The power of a smile can produce transferable joy. At times I felt sad, wishing I could speak the language more easily, I wanted to relationally connect with the locals. Yet while I did not speak the native language in Cambodia, there were plenty of opportunities to genuinely smile to those I interacted with. There was one moment in particular, I had just got off a small "tuk tuk" vehicle (look it up if you haven't heard of one, they're cool!) with some friends, was walking into a market and saw an individual reading a book quietly. We made eye contact and a big smile came to my face and I noticed a big smile on theirs too. In that moment I experienced peace, lightness, and happiness. I wanted that person to know they were loved and am hoping that smile interaction communicated just that, they're loved. I know for me, their smile communicated I was loved, just that small, little interaction, and it was beautiful. 

May we never underestimate experiencing and spreading joy through a smile, wherever you are. 

Joy Makers at Goodwill

Today a couple Joy Makers and I were running a couple errands, one being to drop some donations off at Good Will Thrift Store here in West Michigan. Of course, we decided to bop in and peruse the isles of the store looking for treasures and as we were doing that, an idea came to mind. What if we were to place notes of encouragement around the store, hiding in the nooks and cranny's where soon to be thrifted treasures would be found? So that is what we did. We grabbed a couple of Joy Makers note cards, filled them out with whatever encouragement came to mind, and then the adventure began. We placed a card or two in a show box, behind a kitchen appliance, next to a pantry item, and much more. We felt excited, happy, and filled with Joy to take an ordinary moment at the Goodwill Thrift store, becoming something extraordinary.

Joy Makers at the Gas Station

The other day a Joy Maker and I went out to run some errands. As we were filling up gas in the car, we decided to stop in the gas station to spread Joy via gifting the cashier with a gift card to a local coffee shop nearby, just because. As we were waiting in line, the Joy Maker with me felt a little nervous, excited, and maybe experienced some butterflies in the stomach, adrenaline rushing, “how will the recipient of this gift card respond? Will they like it, will they think it’s weird?” She thought. As the line got smaller and it became our turn, I realized to my surprise, I already knew the cashier, it was a friend of mine and she had just happened to start her work shift! The other Joy Maker with me was able to hand the gift card to the cashier (my friend) and said something along the lines of “this is for you, we are just trying to spread Joy and wanted to spread Joy to you!” And off we went, back at it with running errands, walking away all three of us, myself, the other Joy Maker, and my cashier friend. The other Joy Maker and I felt joy, and gratitude for having that opportunity to spread Joy and we hope it brought Joy to my cashier friend, too.