Hi, I’m Janet
Are you in the right place?
Before I tell you about me, let’s talk about you.
A Quiz Part 1: Inventory Your Heart
- Do you ever feel like something’s missing? Even when you’re happy?
- Do you feel like everyone else has that “something”…except you?
- Are you melancholy sometimes, but not depressed?
- Does it annoy you when people try to cheer you up?
- Are you a little irritated when every Christian devotional has a happy ending (because life isn’t like that)?
- Do you worry you don’t have enough faith because you’re not content (and you think you should be)?
- Do you crave a life of purpose?
- Do you want to use your talents and skills for meaningful work?
- Do you feel restless, like you’re searching for something you can’t name?
- Do you value exploring your deep feelings?
- Are you comfortable with people who are grieving or in pain (because you’ve gone deep before)?
- Do you read books on contentment?
- Do you scour bookshelves for titles like The Purpose-Filled Life?
- Do you dwell on the past and hope the future will fill that “something’s missing” gap, but have trouble with right now?
- Have you ever been told you’re too sensitive?
- Do you desire belonging, but fear blending in?
- Do you believe you have to fix what’s missing in you before God will use you?
Quiz Part 2: Do you ask yourself these questions for believe these lies?
- You believe you’ll serve God best once you find what’s missing in you and fix it, try it. buy it, live in it, or marry it.
- You secretly believe God answers other people’s prayers but not yours.
- You wonder why God seems silent when you plead for help. Does He intervene in your daily life or is He only there for the big picture?
- Is God disappointed in me or think I’m ungrateful because I find it hard to be content?
- Does God have a specific plan for my life or does He offer us general guidelines?
- Who am I?
- What should I do with my life?
- And why does it matter?
Quiz Answers:
If you read these questions and thought “Yeah, that’s me. I thought I was the only one”, then welcome to your tribe! Read on to discover what you’ll find at Seeking God with Joy and uncover the one truth that changed everything for me (trust me, you don’t want to miss it).
What you’ll find at Seeking God with Joy
My goal is to take what God teaches me and tell it to you. That simple. I’m not a theologian, a pastor, or a counselor. I don’t have these questions all figured out and I’m not better than you. But writing about what I learn is my passion and if I’ve found a good thing, then I’m going to share the encouragement with you.
Here are my hopes for everyone who stops by at Seeking God with Joy:
Develop reverence for God. This is sometimes lacking among Christians today – faith has become more “what’s in it for me?” than “what can I do for you God because of your great love and salvation?” Reverence is love with power. Reverence puts everything else in its proper place and gives us a fixed point for our faith.
Seek God for God. Seeking God is truly the secret of joy. We don’t seek to discover benefits, but to discover God. Benefits have a way of showing up as a byproduct of our good God.
Seeking means asking hard questions, saying “yes” when we’re nervous, and obeying what doesn’t immediately make sense.
Seeking is loving people because we love God and God loves people.
Seeking means never having enough of God and always wanting more, more, more.
Seeking is relationship. The only relationship that transcends eternity.
Use your skills, talents, interests – your willing heart – to serve in God’s kingdom. No matter our career, role in life, what awards we receive (or don’t), whatever we do, we’ve all got one job: glorify God and tell other people about Him. Because you are so unique, the way you fulfill that mission is unique. At Seeking God with Joy, I’ll put you to work (in the best sense).
The truth about you or anyone who feels like something’s missing…
Every day I feel like something’s missing. That feeling is a longing that never completely goes away.
And it’s not meant to.
Yes, that’s right: you and I were not meant to live without longing. With this in mind, here is the question we’re facing at Seeking God with Joy: How do I live a meaningful life, rich in relationship with God, with a heart that feels not quite whole?
This question has an answer and you’ve probably never heard this anywhere.
I’ve discovered a truth that has helped me deal with the pain that inevitably comes from unrequited longing. Here’s what I found that changed everything:
That “something’s missing” feeling? It’s not a defect, it’s a superpower.
A superpower.
Your soul feels like something’s missing because something IS missing. We were created to have total, face-to-face fellowship with our creator. While we walk this earth, touching God through a veil, our soul longs to see Him in the bright light of heaven.
This world is not our home, but our mission field.
Our souls are unwilling to settle for lesser things. We crave God.
Our longing, our “something’s missing”, our willingness to stand alongside people who are hurting – that’s not a dark hole, it’s a searchlight.
And it points straight to heaven.
My desire is to help you harness the power of the searchlight and point it in the right direction. Right now, you might be using that light to burn a hole in your soul.
Let’s turn your light outward so other people can see, move toward the brilliance, and look up.
Okay, now I’ll tell you about myself.
Why did I start this blog?
Real women had careers, I thought, and if they wanted to stay home with their kids, then they didn’t say so out loud.
Blame it on the movies produced by the magical kingdom in the South, but I wanted love, marriage and a baby carriage. But until I met Mr. Right, I prayed and kept busy on my education. My anonymous bachelor’s degree, lackluster commitment to any career and my bumbling path through various editing/proofreading and non-profit jobs showed that my heart was elsewhere.
I wanted three things: A family to love, to scratch my creative itch by making things, and to serve God by helping people – somehow. And that’s the heart of Seeking God with Joy, which started out as The Art of Contentment.
It’s funny now, but I was embarrassed to admit that a high-powered corporate job with two-weeks’ vacation and a vast mortgage on a builder-bland house wasn’t for me.
Guess what? Babies and a husband didn’t kill my desire to expand my knowledge or use my gifts. I still crave fulfillment by writing and making things with my hands. And my soul yearns to serve God by making an impact on people.
And that’s how Seeking God with Joy started. I’ve been writing since I was a kid and I enjoy sharing what the Holy Spirit has shown me in God’s Word. This blog brings my creativity to serve God by serving you! I am blessed, indeed. Let’s grow godly hearts on this journey together. Welcome!
