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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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Book Reviews

What others are saying about XES…

 

laura“WOW! Was my first thought after the first chapter. XES is a book that will encourage you in your intimate life as well as challenge you. Here I was reading it for my “job” and to help others but instead found it helping and inspiring me!

~ Laura Laffoon, International Speaker & Author of He Said, She Said

sheila

 

 

“Joy writes a real and honest book about what Christian women need to understand about sex …why would we want to miss that?!?  An easy-to-read book, with lots of great stories, Joy delves into why we often avoid sex, why we’re sometimes scared of it, and a lot of the relational obstacles to great sex (including mommyhood!)”  

~ Sheila Wray Gregoire, International Speaker & Author of The Good Girl’s Guide to Great Sex

shannyn

“Witty and well written.  Joy McMillan speaks so freely about the taboo that we are free to consider that it may be not only super fun, but holy.  A ladies book club waiting to happen”.

~ Shannyn Caldwell, Family Life Radio Morning Show Co-Host & Author of The Healing Season

 marlene

 

 

“Real, relevant, and rubber-meets-the-road practical! With raw emotion and wit Joy challenges us to bring God’s abundant life to the bedroom! A must read for any woman, married or contemplating marriage.”  

~ Marlene Lawson, Speaker & Author of The 1st Peter 3 Girls: Sisterhood of Tragedy, Triumph and God’s Amazing Grace

.

 alisa

“Truth. Joy McMillan tackles the difficult subject of SEX in Christian marriage with candor and transparency. This is a book that I will be encouraging each of my clients to read as a way for them to understand how amazing sex can be…”  

~Alisa DiLorenzo, Author & Co-Founder of ONE Extraordinary Marriage

 

ashley

“Joy bravely weaves her own stories of brokenness throughout the pages…The words in this book will lovingly and boldly guide you to let go of anything that’s holding you back from truly unlocking the beautiful, fun, steamy marriage we all truly desire.”

~ Ashley Wells, Blogger & Author

woods

“This book reminded us that a good, healthy, uninhibited sex life is a form of worship because obedience IS worship. Just like marriage, our sex life within the marriage confines, is God ordained. Most people would not usually use the words “sex” and “holy” in the same sentence. However, since God created sex, it’d be a good idea if we were concerned about practicing it in a holy manner. Joy does a beautiful job of helping us to understand what that should look like!”  

~ Alan & Jamie Wood, Pastors of Inverness Vineyard Church (Alabama), Authors of Power Marriage, and founders of Third Cord Secret

 

dustin

“This is a fantastic book that every Christian woman should read. As someone who writes/speaks/works in the arena of marriage, it was so refreshing to find a resource that didn’t stay to just one side of the God/Sex line. God designed sex to be an incredibly joyful experience that unites couples and a taste of Heaven, and Joy totally gets it!” 

~ Dustin Riechmann, Engaged Marriage

.

tonya

“There is a movement happening in the church, and the wave starts within the pages of this book. It is time we kick the world out of our bedrooms, and let the Author of Love Himself, back in where He belongs.” 

~ Tonya Ferguson, 4 Little Fergusons blog

 

 

Pastors---Alma-Vineyard-chu

“This book took courage to write, and takes courage to read! It will challenge you, stretch you, make you laugh, make you cry, and change you! You will find wonderful treasures in every chapter – life-giving treasures that bring hope, freedom and permission to dream again.”  

~Mary Douglas, Pastor & Speaker

 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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Before the world told you who you needed to become Before the world told you who you needed to become...
Before fear taught you how to survive...
Before shame convinced you to hide...
God looked at you and called you His own.

Not because you had healed.
Not because you had figured yourself out.
Not because you had become your best self.
Simply because you were His.

You are still becoming.
And you are already loved.

Keep coming home.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #SimplyBloomCo
What if the goal isn't to become a different type, What if the goal isn't to become a different type,
but to become more fully yourself?

We've spent the last several weeks exploring the Enneagram:
our gifts, wounds, coping strategies, and the stories we
learned to believe in order to survive.

Now it's time to come home.

Episode 039 closes this Summer Series by asking
what happens when self-awareness becomes surrender.

The Enneagram can help us understand our patterns.
But it was never meant to become our identity.

You are not your number.
You are not your trauma.
You are not your coping strategy.

You are a beloved child of God.

🎧 Oh, Good Grief — Episode 039 is available now.
Sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee, m Sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee, my Bible and a book of maps in my lap, and the sun on my face, has me thinking about how strange and beautiful life can be.

It’s no small honor to be given the opportunity to preach at our church from time to time. Had you told the broken, shoplifting, lying, giving-her-body-away-for-free teenage girl I once was that one day she’d stand in a pulpit and talk to people about God’s goodness and grace, I would have laughed at you.

But maybe that’s exactly why God delights in using the messy, the unlikely, the misfits. Because these are the stories that make His redemption impossible to miss.

One of my favorite lines from The Chosen, spoken by Mary Magdalene, sums it up perfectly: “I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.”

That’s my story, too.
And if I were to hazard a guess, it's yours as well.

It’s one of my greatest joys to dig into God’s Word, share what He’s laid on my heart, offer some encouragement and conviction, confess the uncomfortable things, and ultimately point people back to Jesus.

Because there’s no denying the extraordinary power of redemption when you’ve lived it yourself.
If you are a One, my prayer is that you would neve If you are a One, my prayer is that you would never lose your love for truth, goodness, justice, and integrity.

Those are beautiful reflections of the heart of God.

But may you also discover the freedom of laying down the impossible burden of perfection. May grace become louder than your inner critic, and may rest become something you receive instead of something you earn.

And may you know, beyond all doubt, that God's love for you has never depended on your performance. It has always flowed from His heart.
There’s something about nature that turns me into There’s something about nature that turns me
into an awe-struck, five-year-old wildling.

I am endlessly fascinated by the details. And increasingly convinced that you cannot look closely at creation without bumping into the extravagant creativity of its Creator.

Over 350,000 known species of flowering plants.
An absurd variety of colors, shapes, textures, sizes and fragrances.

God could have made one flower.
One color. One shape. One scent. Done.

Instead, He keeps showing off.

And then there’s this common little zinnia.
Look closely. Closer. Closer still.

Those aren’t just little petals in the center. They’re loads of tiny little florets packed together, each one its own tiny work of art.

For what?

It grows. It blooms for a few days.
And eventually, it dies.

What on earth?
How lavish is this God of ours?

So much of creation isn’t necessary for survival. Beauty doesn’t keep us alive. Fragrance isn’t essential. Neither are color or texture or the tiny, ridiculous details hiding inside a zinnia.

They are gifts.

Little reminders that our Creator is not merely practical.
He is wildly, extravagantly generous.

And I, for one, am delighted to keep being a five-year-old wildling about it. 🌸
What if grace has been waiting for you where perfe What if grace has been waiting for you
where perfection never could take you?

This week on Oh, Good Grief, we wrap up our exploration of the 9 Enneagram types, and how each one engages grief, with Type One: The Reformer.

We'll explore the gift of integrity, the burden of the inner critic, and the freedom that comes when we stop striving to earn what God has already given.

The Enneagram may reveal the stories we've believed to survive.
But only grace tells us who we've been all along.

🎧 Episode 038 is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
From the front, our little apple tree is living he From the front, our little apple tree is living her best life: laden with fruit and bursting with life.

But that’s only half the story.

Take a walk around the backside and you’ll see something entirely different: a large branch, nearly a third of the tree, black and barren. Clearly diseased. Clearly dead. Clearly in need of pruning.

And yet, every time I walk past it on our evening loop around the campground behind our house, it catches me off guard. I forget it’s even there.

Maybe because I prefer to look at the fruitful side.

And isn’t that a little like us?

We’re pretty comfortable displaying the beautiful parts: the wins, the answered prayers, the accomplishments, the parts of life that look healthy and fruitful.

The broken parts? The grief. The struggling relationships. The things we’ve neglected. The places where we’re tired or hurting or simply not okay?

Those we tend to tuck around the backside, hoping no one notices.

But here’s the thing: what we hide still needs tending.

We don’t have to be ashamed of the barren branches. We don’t have to pretend they aren’t there. And we certainly don’t have to wait until everything looks beautiful before we allow ourselves to be honest.

Maybe growth does look like good fruit.

And maybe sometimes it looks like finally walking around back, taking an honest look, and saying, That needs to go.

Pruning isn’t failure.
It’s making room for what’s still alive.

And if you’ve got a few dead branches of your own right now, take heart. You are not the barren branch. You are the whole tree. 🌿

#SimplyBloomCo
If you are a Nine, my prayer is that you would nev If you are a Nine, my prayer is that you would never lose your gift of bringing calm, compassion, and steadiness into a fractured world.

Those are beautiful reflections of the heart of Christ.

But may you also discover that your voice is not an interruption, your needs are not an inconvenience, and your presence is not optional. May you become the kind of peacemaker who tells the truth with love, receives love without shrinking, and lives fully awake to the life God has entrusted to you.

May you know, deep in your soul, that you don't have to disappear to belong.
What if the peace you've been protecting has come What if the peace you've been protecting
has come at the cost of your own presence?

This week on Oh, Good Grief, we're exploring Enneagram Nine: The Peacemaker.

Nines have an incredible gift for helping others feel safe, seen, and understood.
But somewhere along the way, many learned that staying connected meant staying quiet.

What if healing isn't about becoming louder?
What if it's about believing your voice already belongs in the room?

🎧 Episode 037 is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Follow @SimplyBloomJoy

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