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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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SOZO

SOZO | Embracing the Hard + Holy Road to Wholeness

“Some books challenge us and leave us feeling down or numb. Not SOZO. Joy McMillan doesn’t hold anything back, but her words are filled with understanding and grace. The book challenged me without the chafing. This would be a wonderful read for anybody that needs to be shaken out of numbness or apathy but isn’t interested in getting smacked in the face with the same old tired motivational phrases or jargons…”

Mike Leiter, Worship Leader at New Life Vineyard


What if the health of your mind, body and emotions mattered as much to you as they do to their Creator? What if Jesus came to offer us more than fire insurance? What if the life you’ve longed for were available – outside of your comfort zone? What if freedom and peace and joy were already paid for? What if you were invited on a pilgrimage of sorts – one that would slowly mend and restore your whole being as you learned to walk in honest relationship with God and others? What if the pit you’ve been in isn’t a tomb… but a womb for growth and healing? 

What if you were made for more?

SOZO is an invitation to take off the mask and come out of hiding. To bravely tell the truth about your pain, your fear, your doubts and your dreams, so you can see your life through the lens of freedom and grace. It is a call to own your story, reclaim your identity, practice self-compassion, and live as the beloved. It is an embrace of both the hard work and the holy call to wholeness.


“In her third book, Joy uses her talent with words to invite you
on a journey towards wholeness, healing and growth. Through her authentic story-telling and the passionate heart she has for seeing women’s lives changed, Sozo is a call to action. With empathy, understanding and grace, Joy encourages readers to embrace the imperfect, to recognise every part which makes us whole, and to step confidently into the relationship with God we are designed for. I cannot recommend this book enough! My copy will be a dog-eared, highlighted and scribbled-in treasure on my bookshelf (or, quite possibly, never leave the side of my bed!).”

Heidi Short, Editor & Instructor at University of Cape Town

If you’re tired of keeping up appearances, are emotionally and physically weary and in need of practical tools for change, and find yourself starving for authentic spirituality, then this book is for you. You are in good company here, sweet messy friend.

After 15 years of going through the motions, writing and speaking about wounds she’d never actually given God space to heal, Joy hit a wall. In what she refers to as ‘the glorious unraveling’, the loose threads of her ragged façade were pulled and she came undone. Raw and vulnerable, this book is a love letter from the trenches, where Joy sat with the Father and examined the scatted contents of her heart, and where she continues to navigate the hard and holy road home…body, spirit and soul.

Purchase SOZO on Amazon or in the SB Shop

 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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Happiness is a moving target. Joy is not. In toda Happiness is a moving target.
Joy is not.

In today’s episode, I share a story about a farmer
who trusted the wrong reference point,
and plowed his entire field crooked.
Maybe the reason we’re exhausted isn’t because we’re failing.
Maybe we’ve been fixing our eyes on something that keeps moving.

This conversation isn’t about faking joy.
It’s about cultivating it, in grief, in tension,
in the hidden places where roots grow.

🎧 Episode 019 | Cultivating Joy on the Journey
 [in the Middle of the Mess] is now live.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #RootedJoy #FaithInTheHard #JoyOnTheJourney
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What if addiction isn’t the root, but the symptom? What if addiction isn’t the root,
but the symptom?

What if beneath the behavior
there’s pain that’s never been named?

This week’s conversation is about
truth, trauma, and the slow work of healing.

And the kind of redemption
only God can write.

🎧 Listen to 018 | Beauty Beyond the Breaking with Carol Boothroyd
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Some wounds don’t just hurt, they unravel everythi Some wounds don’t just hurt,
they unravel everything you thought was true.

This week, I sit down with trusted counselor and dear friend, Carol Boothroyd, to talk about a subject that’s common, but often left unspoken: sex addiction, betrayal, and the kind of healing that doesn’t happen overnight.

This one is tender.
Honest.
And full of hope.

If you’ve ever felt the disorientation of broken trust…
you are not alone.

🎧 Episode 018: Beauty Beyond the Breaking | When Freedom
from Addiction Becomes a Calling with Carol Boothroyd is live

#RedemptionStories #OhGoodGriefPodcast #SimplyBloomCo
Before the empty tomb, there was a basin. Before Before the empty tomb,
there was a basin.

Before glory,
there was grief.

The Jesus Way is not dominance.
It’s downward mobility.
It’s loving in the face of betrayal.
Serving in the face of misunderstanding.
Choosing humility when pride would be easier.

If loving like Jesus feels costly, you’re not doing it wrong.
It has always cost something.

🎧 Episode 017 | The Jesus Way is now streaming.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #SimplyBloomCo #TheJesusWay
How's your internal monologue? Be brutally honest How's your internal monologue?
Be brutally honest here.

Are you actually kind to yourself?
Do you practice curiosity + compassion
when your emotions + responses catch you
off guard and feel oversized for the occasion?

Are you patient and gracious with your soul's
long + messy journey of growth and healing?

Are you gentle with your heart when you mess up?
Or, do you instantly shift to shaming + blaming?

Is self-loathing a constant (albeit unwanted)
companion who lingers in the corner just
waiting for an invitation to show up with
cruel words, gasoline and a match?

For many of us, if we talked to our dearest
friends the way we talk to ourselves...
well, we wouldn't have many.

Go ahead and read that again.
Let it sink in.

/ / /

Consider this a gentle reminder
to be tender with yourself.
Speak life to your own soul.
Always, always, always be kind.

We are never more like the enemy of our souls than
when we assume the role of accuser + condemner.

Catch every negative, shaming thought you have
and see if it aligns with how God sees you (and others).

If it isn't good, kind, hopeful, constructive, grace-laced and restorative, then it doesn't belong in your head + heart.

You are, after all, allowed to be both a mess and
a masterpiece...all at the very same time.

You are so loved.
Easter reminds us that the tomb is empty. But befo Easter reminds us that the tomb is empty.
But before the resurrection, there was a towel.

In John 13, just hours before the cross,
Jesus doesn’t assert power, He kneels.
He washes the feet of Peter.
He washes the feet of Judas.
He loves them to the end.

🎙️ Episode 017 | The Jesus Way is live.

What does it look like to choose love in the middle
of betrayal, grief, disagreement, and struggle?
The way of Jesus isn’t flashy.
 It’s faithful.

🎧 Listen wherever you stream podcasts.

#OhGoodGrief #TheJesusWay  #KnownByLove
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Follow @SimplyBloomJoy

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