Joy: The Secret of Being Content

Your Joy May Be Complete

Now. Not tomorrow. Not when you become the perfect Christian, but today. If you are not filled with joy, then you aren't taking advantage of all heaven is offering you.

Céleste Walker thought her life would turn out all June Cleaverish. "I did all the right things. Said all the right things. Accepted all the right positions. Prayed all the right prayers. Read all the right books. But I was bone-tired of living and being disappointed. I was tired of the endless trying and failing. Because even when your life seems like a success on the outside, it can be the most intimate failure to you personally."

Finally one day in a bleak midwinter snow bank she screamed out to God, "Where are You? Why don't You do something? Show me how believing You makes a difference in my life, or I won't believe in You anymore."

Result: her life went from bad to worse! But she discovered that as the flower's scent is released by the heel that crushes it, so joy is released through pain. It is through our discomfort that we grow. And joy is the emotional fuel for the journey.

This book is a toolbox for keeping your joy flowing. The author explains how to replace negative self-talk with positive. How to minimize joy killers, such as strife, stress, disappointment, impatience, and a lack of boundaries. How to nurture joy until it becomes your anchor and takes over your life.

You can have a little heaven now. Here's how.

Céleste perrino Walker is a full-time mother who also writes because it is her job, but she'd probably do it anyway. She has been publishing both fiction and nonfiction since 1986 and is the author of Adventist Family Traditions, More Power to Ya , Making Sabbath Special, I Call Him Abba, Guardians, Prayer Warriors, Playing God, Banza's Incredible Journey and Other Stories, and Jenny's Cat-napped Cat. She is the co-author of Sunny Side Up, Eleventh Hour, and Midnight Hour. Her work is also included in Secret Keys, Close To Home, From the Heart, Guide's Greatest Stories, A Moment Of Peace, and Alone With God.

She has published over a thousand stories and articles appearing in magazines like Liberty, Vermont Sports Today, Guide, Adventist View, Insight, Signs of the Times, Listen, Winner, Message, Guideposts for Kids, Guideposts for Teens, Celebration!, ADRA Today, Adventist Witness, Cornerstone Connection, Popular Woodworking, American Woodworker, The Christian Communicator, Kidstuff, Vermont's Awesome Internet Guide, The Rutland Business Journal, Prime Time and elsewhere. She has been a regular columnist for Women of Spirit and ParentTalk. Currently she writes a column for Vibrant Life. She has authored two quarterlies, Junior and Teen, on the subject of prayer. She is a member of WIN (Writer's Information Network). She was also a contributing editor of ParentTalk.

She has interviewed Kristi Yamaguchi, Donna Weinbrecht, Jack Hanna, Charlotte Lopez, Susan Ashton, Clay Crosse, Lisa Bevill, Paul Wylie, Ken Davis and Dallas Holm among others. In 1992 she was the recipient of the Guide Magazine Most Valuable Pen Award. When she isn't writing she enjoys hiking, inline skating, canoeing, painting and trying to play the violin.