Journey of Joy

This is my journey to joy. I am continually evolving; therefore, this podcast will also evolve. This episode will clue you in on the changes and what to expect within this next chapter. Thank you for listening!

I can't believe that it has been 10 years. I never imagined that I would be where I am today.

Prince Carter, an AmeriCorps Member since October of 2023, is serving with Hope To Thrive to build capacity. The goal is to help the Holistic Produce Pantry become more climate resilient. He shares what he has learned, how the service has impacted him, and how he educates others about being climate resilient. Here is his 2023 Great Story! Check out the photo of Prince, in the old days, surrounded by litter. Check out a photo of Prince now, in the current days, composting, educating others, and transforming the environment!

EDJ and I talk with Amber Gregory about faith, rape culture, and the mental trick that grooming sets up with vulnerable people. Trigger warning, we are having raw and real conversation.

EDJ and I talk about real life in this episode, and we range the life topics from finding a church, our memoirs that we are writing, and finding intimacy in friendship.

We are taking a personal and deep look at religious views with a very special guest, Angela Herrington.

EDJ and Joy talk more about what it means to live in a purity culture environment, and our journeys to understanding what purity entails, and how to live it out. We discuss the struggle of living up to the perfectionist ideals and try to find the balance between living a holy and realistic life.

I finally have a chance to talk about my travels in 2023, and EDJ is taking a moment to share them with me.

EDJ interviews me about living with Fibroids. I appreciate her listening ear.

Jnasofly is with me today to talk about intimacy without sex. We started this conversation over the holidays and realized that it was a complex topic that we wanted to bring to the world. You get a real conversation in real-time.

Kimmerly, also known as Emperess, is co-hosting this episode with me to bring us insight into developing intimacy. She is my girl. We can be honest, open, transparent, and real, and hold each other accountable. I love this woman, and I am so happy that she is here on this episode with me. Our time together will be called: Joy Cometh in The Morning. This is episode one of that series. Look out for more!

It has been a long time since I was able to update you all on the happenings of the farm. Please join to hear about my journey of keeping chickens, but also here two of them in the background of me welcoming college students to the farm to fulfill their Horticulture Therapy Course Requirements.

EDJ and I recently engaged Amanda Opelt in a heartfelt conversation about grief. Afterward, we take some time to talk further about what comes up for us both in our own process of dealing with the grief of a parent passing away. If you missed the conversation with Amanda, you can catch it on YouTube here.

Amanda Opelt enlightens audience members with her candid and humble approach to dealing with and talking about grief. Come join the conversation, and let us know your story of grief that may add to the complexity of how people grieve.

EDJ and I had a revealing conversation with Meghan Tschanz about sexual experiences and the deconstruction of our faith journey. This is EDJ's and my chance to debrief about other topics that came up and to go a bit deeper. Please join the conversation.

EDJ and Joy team up to give Meghan Tschanz a whirlwind of questions. Meghan Tschanz is the author of Women Rising and the host of the well-loved Faith and Feminism podcast. After growing up in the conservative evangelical church, she came to a reckoning with her upbringing while serving as a missionary working with exploited women. Since then she has been set on dismantling harmful systems within her faith and is currently pursuing her MDIV. She and her husband live with their little girl and two rescue dogs in Athens, Georgia.

I have EDJ with me and we are having heart-to-heart conversations about our views of God being challenged. We welcome you to comment and join the conversation. EDJ / Eady Jay loves to write about spirituality, sexuality, family, health, and music. She has a degree in Christian Theology, 30ish years of legalistic celibacy under her belt, personal experience in weight loss of 65 pounds, and years of professional experience building a business as a piano teacher. She is also a loving daughter, sister, aunt, wife, and parent who cared for her terminally ill mother and is raising a child born with a cleft lip and palate. Over the years she has deconstructed the concept of hell leading her down the path of universalism. Then she deconstructed purity culture and many of the “isms” and became a queer-affirming, feminist. She is still on an Evangelical Deconstruction Journey (EDJ), reforming ethics rooted and established in the God who is love, grace, and truth personified. EDJ is this writer’s initials and an anacronym for Evangelical Deconstruction Journey. Eady Jay is a pseudonym derived from the initials EDJ.

Today, EDJ is back with us and will be sharing her reflections on the book that she is recently reading by Carol Anderson, White Rage. EDJ is a heart winner. With her Australian accent, you will likely be won over to her critical thinking perspective and likely will fall into the web of conversing with her in your head. You will love this episode! EDJ / Eady Jay loves to write about spirituality, sexuality, family, health, and music. She has a degree in Christian Theology, 30ish years of legalistic celibacy under her belt, personal experience in weight loss of 65 pounds, and years of professional experience building a business as a piano teacher. She is also a loving daughter, sister, aunt, wife, and parent who cared for her terminally ill mother and is raising a child born with a cleft lip and palate. Over the years she has deconstructed the concept of hell leading her down the path of universalism. Then she deconstructed purity culture and many of the “isms” and became a queer-affirming, feminist. She is still on an Evangelical Deconstruction Journey (EDJ), reforming ethics rooted and established in the God who is love, grace, and truth personified. EDJ is this writer’s initials and an anacronym for Evangelical Deconstruction Journey. Eady Jay is a pseudonym derived from the initials EDJ.

I just started with the chicken journey, and let me tell you all the fun wonders I have found out about my flock. This is not the total story, but it will give you a great glimpse into the lives of Joy and the Chickens!

Time to order some bees~  I took a bee-keeping course in 2022, and now, I'm set to keep some bees. What a new way of living and thinking, and the first step is getting the flowers, flower boxes, and food set up. But that is not all, it is also time to actually order the bees!