What’s the story of your name?  As the new semester started for the university course, I wanted to consider a different way for our class to get to know each other.  There are always the typical introductions, ‘tell me about yourself’,  ‘share your favorite hobby’,  ‘two truths and a lie’, and the list goes on.  Most students don’t like the ‘introduction’ component of the course. It can come across at time as too prescribed or too impersonal. I wanted to find a more organic way to try to introduce and connect with each other.  My goal as a professor is to provide a safe environment for learning.  In order to build a community of trust and a safe place where we can share, learn and grow, we needed to start somewhere.  We started with, ‘tell me the story of your name.’

They shared their name and any meaning or history behind it as well as possibly how or why they got their name.  It opened up opportunities to gain a glimpse into who they were and where they came from.  It also provided a foundation where we could make connections and start to learn and grow from each other.

The same goes with this community of Consider Joy Everlasting. We want to make connections and learn and grow from each other. Let me tell you the story of our name. 

My name is Sharon Joy and together with my daughter, Sarah Joy, we were inspired to create this space.  We don’t know where it will lead or entirely what direction it will take, but we know we want to connect and share God’s faithfulness and goodness. It is through Jesus Christ that we find our JOY.  

As we thought of the name for this blog and website, we knew we wanted it focused on JOY.  Life is an adventure!  Full of surprises, making memories that last a lifetime, experiencing the beautiful nature that takes our breath away.

We also know that life can be difficult, challenging, stressful and overwhelming.  Times where we gasp for breath and wonder if we can breathe again.  Wonder where our joy went. 

Let us consider Joy.  Consider joy in the adventures and consider joy in the trials. 

As Paul wrote in the book of James, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”.  James 1: 2-4

Consider. Joy. Everlasting.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  The present trials that we go through won’t last forever.  They may seem like it at times, but there is hope. And that hope is Jesus Christ.

As you think about the story of your name, consider where joy is showing up in your life, your story, your journey.

Consider Joy Everlasting