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Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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Grit & Virtue | Guest Post

Grit & Virtue | Guest Post

If you’re a spiritually-driven female entrepreneur and haven’t heard of Grit & Virtue, allow me to introduce you to your new best friend…   Being a business owner, solopreneur or creative professional – while exhilarating – can be an incredibly lonely journey.  G&V has set out to change all that. I love their vision and mission, their creativity and presentation, and the… Read More

Guest Post, Keepin' it Real, Love, Marriage

Valentine’s Week Book Special

Valentine’s Week Book Special

 For this week only, you can grab a copy of my book XES: Why Church Girls Tend To Get It Backwards …And How To Get It Right on Kindle for just $2.99 That’s less than the cost of a latte. Or a sparkly Valentine’s day card, for that matter, and I promise you it’ll impact your marriage far more than… Read More

Giveaway, Love, Marriage, Writing

The Other Conversation Christians Should Be Having About Fifty Shades

The Other Conversation Christians Should Be Having About Fifty Shades

I talk about sex a lot. In public, none the less. And I love it. As the demand for this particular talk has grown, and as I’ve bravely shared my own messy story, the regularity with which I get asked awkward questions has grown too.  I love that part too. It has afforded me the opportunity to wrap my arms… Read More

Faith, Grace, Keepin' it Real, Love, Marriage, Printables, Redemption

Redeemed : A Story of Broken Made Beautiful

Redeemed : A Story of Broken Made Beautiful

I had become an expert secret keeper.  I’d been swept up so fast, and so young, in a whirlwind of self-destructive behavior that the only way to keep breathing was to keep pretending everything was alright. And so I built walls of deception and lies in a desperate effort to keep the world from seeing the real me. The sad,… Read More

Faith, Grace, Guest Post, Love, Marriage, Redemption, Writing

XES Audiobook Now Available

XES Audiobook Now Available

Curious to know why on earth I wrote a book about sex and marriage and church, but not really much of a reader?  No problemmo, my friend, because now you can LISTEN to it!  <—-{insert wild applause here} Yes, that’s right… My brave little book, XES : Why Church Girls Tend To Get It Backwards…And How To Get It Right… Read More

Marriage, Writing

20 Wise Marriage Tips {from a Divorcee}

20 Wise Marriage Tips {from a Divorcee}

In the same way we don’t tend to take dieting advice from someone who’s clearly overweight, or business pointers from a company that’s just filed for bankruptcy, we don’t tend to put much stock into marital advice from someone who’s no longer married.  It makes sense, right?  Well, not always. My mom forwarded this to me last week and it… Read More

Faith, Grace, Keepin' it Real, Love, Marriage, Redemption

{Unedited} Snapshots of the Caribbean

{Unedited} Snapshots of the Caribbean

My hubby and I just returned late Sunday night from an incredible week away in celebration of our 10th anniversary…and while I won’t bore you with jealousy-evoking details of swimming with turtles, gloriously unnecessary naps, and the fact that I only gained 5 pounds after devouring enough food to feed a small country – chased by at least one dessert… Read More

Marriage, Photography, Travels

10 Things We’ve Learned in 10 Years of Marriage

10 Things We’ve Learned in 10 Years of Marriage

Tomorrow we will have officially been married for 87,360 hours. Also known as the less-enormous-sounding ‘10 years’ {insert wild applause here}. A whole decade, people. I know, right? Ten full years for wee punks like us. Who knew? No, we weren’t 14. We were 22 The past ten years have been the most beautiful, most excruciating, most awe-inspiring, most intense,… Read More

Faith, Friendship, Keepin' it Real, Love, Marriage, Printables, Quotes and Scriptures

4 Ways to Love Your Husband {When He’s Being Unlovable}…plus Printable

4 Ways to Love Your Husband {When He’s Being Unlovable}…plus Printable

This post is alternately entitled:  “You’re Being A Punk…But I Still Love You”. A sweet friend of mine texted me a couple of months ago with a plea that read something like this…”please write a post on loving our husbands when they’re being unlovable.  I need it and know a few women who could really use the encouragement right now”,… Read More

Designs, Grace, Keepin' it Real, Marriage, Printables, Quotes and Scriptures

To the Scrumptious One

…whom my heart adores! 9 years ago today, I stood before you in white – adorned with miniscule pearls, an annoyingly poufy veil, and a tan so dark it appeared my head couldn’t possibly belong to the same body – excited beyond belief to become Mrs. McMillan. And the sound of those two words together…”Joy”, followed by a sing-songy “McMillan”…still… Read More

Faith, Keepin' it Real, Love, Marriage

My Children Are Going To Need Therapy

It occurred to me, while sending my hubby a desperate “pray for me…and while you’re at it, pray harder for your children” text earlier this week, that our little loin-fruit are going to require an exorbitant amount of therapy as they age.  Compliments of their mother. I have no idea what the state of your relationship with your hormones is,… Read More

Keepin' it Real, Marriage, Motherhood

The Smolder

Okay, ladies…fasten your seatbelts, and keep your hands and feet in the vehicle at all times.  I’m getting wild all up in here. I’m about to show you…”the smolder”.  On camera.  Oh yes.  I did. Be still my beating heart! {swoon} That is all.  Good night.

Love, Marriage

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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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May you remember that God is not only the God of d May you remember that God is not only
the God of destinations, but of detours.

When life takes you somewhere you never intended to go,
may you recognize that you have not been forgotten.

May you have eyes to see the people in front of you,
hands willing to gather the sticks,
courage to shake off the snakes,
a heart willing to welcome and be welcomed,
and faith to believe that even here,
especially here, God is at work.
What if the place you keep calling a detour is act What if the place you keep calling a detour is actually part of the story?

Paul was headed to Rome. Instead, he ended up shipwrecked on Malta.
It wasn't the destination. But it mattered.

A reminder for all of us: don't waste the waiting,
the detour, or the place you didn't choose.

🎙️ 042 | Make Malta Matter | Finding Purpose in Divine Detours
  The latest Oh, Good Grief Podcast episode is out now.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #MakeMaltaMatter #SimplyBloomCo
Instagram post 17924817765424628 Instagram post 17924817765424628
What if the years you thought were wasted… weren't What if the years you thought were wasted…
weren't wasted at all?

In Part 2 of my conversation with Leah Harvey,
we go deeper into what it means to trust
God when the outcome is still unknown.

Leah has spent years carrying the ache of infertility,
and she doesn't offer a tidy answer or a spiritual shortcut.

Instead, she talks about restoration.
About eternity.
About choosing Jesus over her preference.
About looking for treasure in the middle of the story.

And about the surprising realization that there
may not have been wasted years after all,
because God was present in every one of them.

He is.
Even here.
Even now.

🎧 Part Two with Leah Harvey is live now.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #StruggleWell #StayRooted #SojournTogether
Instagram post 18091972097640684 Instagram post 18091972097640684
What if trusting that God is good doesn't mean bel What if trusting that God is good doesn't mean
believing He will give us everything we ask for?

That's one of the questions my friend Leah Harvey
and I wrestle with in this week's episode.

Leah and her hubby, Jake, have walked through years
of infertility and the kind of unanswered prayer that
doesn't just hurt once—it asks you to keep
trusting God over and over again.

We talk about grief, surrender, the questions we sometimes feel afraid to ask, and what happens when we stop trying to put tidy answers over messy pain.

This is a tender conversation about choosing Jesus over our preferences, embracing the mystery of God, and learning to believe that His goodness doesn't depend on whether He gives us the thing we're asking for.

Part One of my conversation with Leah Harvey is live now
🎧  040 | The Goodness of God in the Waiting

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #StruggleWell #StayRooted #SojournTogether
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.
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