In this interview, Dr. Chuck and Kathy Carlton Willis talk about the importance of having joy in our lives and how to find it even when things seem too difficult.
Finding Joy in Our Lives
Dr. Chuck: You know, it seems like everywhere we go, talking to people or turning on the TV, we always hear something discouraging these days, and for some of us joy, and finding joy, is a real challenge. Today we’re talking with Kathy Carlton Willis. She’s an author and she’s sharing about her joy book and some very specific principles that we can use to find joy. Kathy tells us that it’s an inside job and you’re going to see here in a very windy interview, Kathy and I take a little joy ride, but during the process Kathy shares with us some attitudes and some actions I think that you’re going to want to stay tuned and listen to.
Kathy Carlton Willis, she is the best person to see any day of your life. In fact, she is known as God’s Grin Gal, and if you just look at Kathy you’ll see. She’s talking about taking a joy ride, and that’s what we’re doing today is, we’re studying, kind of discussing, her new book, The Grin Gal’s Guide to Joy, and this discusses a lot of principles that gets us back to having that joyful experience of who we were created to be. Kathy, tell us a little bit about your book talks about joy is an inside job as opposed to an outside job. What do you mean by that?
Kathy Willis: Well, you know, I think everyone’s looking for happiness, and when you look for happiness it’s based on happenstance. It’s based on what’s happening, and so if your circumstances aren’t good, then you’re not happy. Well, instead let’s look for joy, because joy doesn’t depend on what’s going on around us, it depends on what’s going on inside of us. And when God plants that joy inside of our hearts, and it’s because of his love for us, and who he is in our lives, then we can have joy even on the worst days of our life. And that’s why people call me the Grin Gal, because they really don’t understand, because I’ve had some pretty yucky things happened in my life and somehow I can kind of grin through them. In fact, one of my other books is on the 7 Trials Every Woman Faces and the subtitle for that is “is Job a member of my family tree?”, because instead of saying, “is there a target on my back?”, you know, “is Job a member of my family tree?” So, sometimes we need to just make our own joy by seeing what God says about us and how we can really benefit from having that faith in him. And then it doesn’t matter what’s going on around us, and we can still grin through any of those things. It’s better than groaning or gritting your teeth or any of those other “gr” words.
Dr. Chuck: But you have another set of key words, you have grin, grow, go, and give, and that sounds like a process.
Kathy Willis: It is.
Dr. Chuck: And so tell us, kind of walk us through that, Kathy, what does it mean to grin, grow, go, and give?
Kathy Willis: Well, a lot of the bible studies that I’ve attended, they teach me the facts about the Bible, but they don’t take it any any further than that, and if it doesn’t make a difference in my life, I’m too busy to want to be a part of those kind of studies.
Dr. Chuck: Life’s too busy just to sit and learn much else.
Kathy Willis: A bunch of facts, and so we’re going to grin with with joy. We’re going to learn some stories that make us be more open minded to what the Bible says. Then we’re going to grow with joy and that’s our Bible study. And then the go and the give, those are our action steps. It’s how we change, how our heart changes because of the joy, the internal change that happens, and then those outward changes that happen because we have joy in our lives.
Dr. Chuck: You know, Kathy, the interesting thing about this is that the people that seem to have the most joy in their difficult circumstances are the people who learn to begin to look outward at how they can use their life experiences to begin to encourage other people and help them grow. Its that what you’re meaning by that part of going and giving?
Kathy Willis: Yeah we really do need to have a purpose beyond ourselves, and I think when we find that purpose, it helps us to make a difference in this world, and that’s why we’re all planted here and why we have one more day. So, as long as I have another breath in me, that’s what I want to be about doing, and if I can help other people see that, I think it’s going to help them have a bigger purpose then beyond what they’re doing for themselves.
Dr. Chuck: You know I think the spoonful of courage that I got from Kathy was just when she said this, you know, we need to have a purpose beyond ourselves, and that’s one of the keys to joy, is that it is an inside job. I loved how she talked about the attitudes of grinning and growing or maturing and then how those attitudes move into actions, how we begin to go and we begin to give and we begin to share with other people. I really think that’s the key to joy, as Kathy was sharing later, it begins with Jesus, others and yourself. We’re going to hear a little bit more about Kathy and about some more of her ministry in the next segment so stay tuned. I’m Doctor Chuck.
So, we’re here with Kathy Carlton Willis, you can find a lot of her resources at kathycarltonwillis.com. This is The Grin Gal’s Guide to Joy, she’s got multiple books, she’s also a speaker and she’s got some online resources. In fact, she’s got some online coaching and Zoom meetings that you can catch that can really kind of help you begin to make those steps of joy and there’s different categories of things. Kathy, tell us just real quickly, you’ve got four different online coaching sessions for people.
Kathy Willis: Yeah, I really am wanting to help people with the wellbeing of their body, soul and spirit, and so we have things that might help you if you’re having struggles with your physical health or with diabetes or weight-loss or anything like that. But I don’t want to just leave it there, because I think where we really get the victory is when we deal with soul care. We need to take care of our souls. That’s what God has put on the inside of us, and then also that spiritual growth that we need to happen. If I’m not learning and growing, that’s the day I start dying, and so I want to be all about that spiritual growth.
Dr. Chuck: Kathy, we’re going to continue our joy ride. Hey, it’s been good having y’all on Spoonful of Courage. I’m Dr. Page and I’m here with Kathy Carlton Willis. You guys have a good day!
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