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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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Speaking


Engaging.  Funny.  Transparent.  Profound.  Delightful.  These are a few of the adjectives people have used to describe an encounter with this passionate “seed planter” and “fire starter”, as she fondly refers to herself.

Joy McMillan has been a repeat guest on the national radio show, Peter & Shannyn in the Morning on Family Life Radio, has been interviewed on the Covenant Eyes Podcast and featured in several news articles, and has written for numerous online blogs/subscriptions.

She is a dynamic speaker who has captivated international audiences with her poignant storytelling for the past 20 years.  Between her signature warmth and encouragement, and her straight-shooting candor, your group will be inspired and challenged to press in and press on.

Following in her preacher-teacher mom’s footsteps, she started leading bible studies at 19, teaching at her church’s women’s group, and speaking any time she could get her hands on a microphone.  Getting comfortable with a crowd came quickly when 3 years in Christian radio afforded her the opportunity to stand on stage before thousands of people, introducing artists like Chris Tomlin and Jeremy Camp.

But Joy’s passion for speaking grew, and became something far more personal and precious, after the convincing performance she’d pulled off for years came crumbling down around her.

As she was forced to face the ugliness of her past, just 2 months before her wedding day, the weight and authenticity of her words shifted dramatically.  7 years of secrets and lies blasted through her “perfect church girl” facade and left her with one choice; keep up the show, or take off the mask.

She chose the latter.

While picking up the pieces of her broken life, Joy marveled at the evidence of His fingerprints – even in her darkest days – and soon after discovered the power of transparent, vulnerable storytelling.  She found herself sharing the raw story of God’s redemptive power in her life with anyone who would listen, later sharing it in detail in her first book.

The things she’d hidden for so long, terrified of being found out and exposed, became the very heart of her mission.  
This faithful God had masterfully turned her mess into a message of hope and restoration.


Joy would be delighted to share the story of His amazing grace with your tribe too.

While she has spoken on everything from the art of neighboring and motherhood, to sex and identity – in places as varied as a hair salon, a university classroom and a juvenile detention center – her overarching passion is to see people living free from the paralyzing shame of the past, bravely stepping into all God has for them, while celebrating the extraordinary way in which He has wired them for their unique purpose in this life.


Quick Links:

•  Download the Media Kit

•  Overview of topics

•  Let Simply Bloom Conferences help you host an amazing, stress-free event

•  Read what others are saying about what they’ve heard

•  Listen to her podcast, The Penduka Podcast

•  View media interviews and featured articles

 
Find out more about her:

topics  |  books  |  podcast  |  schedule  |  reviews  |  fee guidelines  |  booking

Watch the BRAVE Talk where Joy shares the vision behind the We ROAR Project

 

 

 photo Joy.jpg

Hello there! I'm Joy. Speaker, designer, author & coach, and creator of the #weROARproject. Welcome to Simply Bloom Co., where passion & purpose collide.

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As we move through this season of thanksgiving and As we move through this season of thanksgiving and inch toward the end of the year, I’ve been reflecting on what this year has held — the heartbreak and the healing, the grit and the grace, the parts we survived and the parts that surprised us. And a few things rise to the top.

I’m grateful for life — for the young one we lost too soon and the impact he made, and for my favorite one who got to stay. For the ICU team who cared for my hubby after his stroke and surgery. For his life, his healing, and the restoration we’ve witnessed.

I’m grateful for seasons — for the reminder that it won’t always be this way. Hard seasons don’t last forever, and goodness still finds its way into the cracks.

I’m grateful for friendship — for the people God has enveloped us in. For community that feels like home. For the redemptive conversations and the healing that happens around a table with people who know you and love you still. And fresh sourdough.

I’m grateful for movement — early Thursday walks with my best friend, returning to the gym after five months away… achy, winded, and 15 pounds heavier, but still showing up. For a body that’s in transition, but resilient.

I’m grateful for my kids — for our daughter’s graduation one month after the stroke and the miracle of that day. For our son, now taller than all of us, with a tender heart shaped by brutal loss. And for our bonus boy who has loved our girl well for years—and loves us, too.

And I’m grateful for the Word — for the way it’s carried, challenged, and steadied us. And for The Chosen and House of David for breathing fresh life and color into Scripture again.

There’s more, always.
But today… this is enough.

Gratitude for what was.
Hope for what’s ahead.
Grace for the in-between.
After a long stretch of quiet, I can feel a new se After a long stretch of quiet,
I can feel a new season taking shape.

It’s subtle… a little tender… and honestly, a bit terrifying.
But it also feels like grace. Slow and steady, patient and unassuming.

The last few years have held both ache and healing, unraveling and rebuilding. God has been faithful in the dark corners, gentle in the grief, and persistent in inviting me back to life in ways I didn’t expect.

I don’t have all the answers.
In fact, I’m not even sure I have most of them.
But I do know this...
Something is coming.
Something rooted.
Something honest.
Something that has been growing quietly beneath the surface.

I’ve missed this space.
I’m easing back in, one brave, grateful step at a time.

Stay close. More soon.
Grace + gratitude 🌱
I am regularly overwhelmed by the kindness of God I am regularly overwhelmed by the 
kindness of God in the small + simple.

Things like twinkle lights + Christmas jazz,
scraping out the peanut butter fudge pot
all by myself while sitting on the counter,
and walking around the corner to find my
loin fruit snuggled up together over tea.

They may fight like cats + dogs at times,
but their bond is deep and true and sweet.
Happy release day, @dralisoncook 💛 Written at the Happy release day, @dralisoncook 💛

Written at the intersection 
of faith and psychology, 
this book is yet another 
soul-nourishing,
heart-healing, 
boundary-fortifying 
gift from Alison Cook
(if you’ve had a heart-to-heart
with me in the past two years,
you know how much I loved 
‘Boundaries for the Soul’). 

As an enneagram 2 who was raised 
in the church, this book was a timely
and liberating read. Pure balm for the 
weary, recovering-people-pleaser soul. 

I am beyond grateful for the wisdom, 
compassion + experience that Alison 
brings to all she shares (and it was
such an honor to be on her launch 
team for this beautiful new book).

Need a survival guide for your growth
and healing journey? Here you go! ✌🏼

#thebestofyou #thebestofyoubook #womenoffaith #healthyboundaries #healthyyou #healingjourney
Find yourself a tribe of people who will, togethe Find yourself a tribe of people who will, 
together, spend a beautiful Saturday
morning pulling this workout off:

• 20 mile run
• 340 tire flips
• 2,000 air squats
• 1,000 pull ups
• 1,500 box jumps
• 2,200 pull ups
• 600 devil press
• 3,300 sit ups

Brutal. Amazing. 
Exhausted.
So grateful for these two - their friendship, enco So grateful for these two - their friendship,
encouragement and wise counsel over the
past decade of being our pastoral couple
has been such a gift to our family 💛

Congrats on your retirement, dear friends!!
“Over the years, I have come to realize that the “Over the years, 
I have come to realize that 
the greatest trap in our life is not 
success, popularity, or power, 
but self-rejection.”
 :: Henri Nouwen

Somewhere along the journey of 
life, we start to believe the lie that - 
despite being made in the very image 
of a good and beautiful God - who we 
are is inherently bad and broken, and 
we learn to cover that deep sense 
of inadequacy (and the shame that 
accompanies it) with performance.

Because our visceral 
human response to 
‘bad + broken’ is 
‘reject + conceal’.

We think it’s the rejection of others
that cuts us to the core, but the truth
is…most of us walk around wounded 
by a constant and unrelenting sense 
of self-rejection and self-loathing.

Want to know why we feverishly seek 
out the approval and validation of others?
Why we desperately want others to like us?

Because we’re out of touch with our
inherent value and worth, and we’re
not sure that we even like ourselves.

We resent our weakness,
and abandon ourselves.

/ / /

But this good + beautiful God of ours…
He is drawn to our weakness like a
moth to a flame, swooping in to
bring strength and grace.

Paul writes in Corinthians 12:9 that 
he learned to delight in his weakness 
because it was when he was week that
“His strength is perfected in me”. 

Or, as the Passion Translation so 
stunningly puts it, “my weakness 
becomes a portal to God’s power”.

Precious ones, we can shun our tender
still-in-process places, pretend to have 
it all together, and hustle for our worth…
OR we can drop the masks, offer kindness 
and curiosity to our hurting, broken parts,
and learn to live fully seen and known.

But we can’t have both.

And yes, it’s scary.

Today may we choose
…grace over perfectionism
…curiosity over shame
…acceptance over rejection
…gentleness over judgement
…wholeness over pretense

You are loved.
And they’re off! Alathea is in 10th grade and Aid And they’re off!

Alathea is in 10th grade and
Aiden is heading into 8th grade.

Here’s to a year full of grace,
discovery, friendship + growth 🙌🏼
"Faith isn't the ability to believe long + far i "Faith isn't the ability 
to believe long + far 
into the misty future. 
It's simply taking God 
at His Word + taking 
the next step."

:: Joni Eareckson Tada
Follow @SimplyBloomJoy

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