Joy is the present tense, with the whole emphasis on the present. -Soren Kierkegaard
Welcome to Undaunted Joy!
What if we weren’t intimidated by the task of living with full-throated joy?
In weekly short essays, Shemaiah Gonzalez recommends a fresh view on life, through her own experiences and discovery of finding joy in both the ordinary and mysterious. In energetic prose, Gonzalez finds delight in naps, her middle school sons’ morphing bodies, and encounters with strangers—and encourages readers to see the joy present in these moments as well. When we turn our attention to the joy around us, she suggests, we become attuned to God’s constant presence with us and in all these things.
Yet this is not toxic positivity or a Pollyanna complex. Gonzalez is no stranger to the darkness present in the world. Rather, knowing both darkness and light helps us acknowledge the disparity between the two. In Undaunted Joy, Gonzalez dares to stare darkness in the eye and respond in joy as an act of defiance.
This Substack birthed Undaunted Joy THE BOOK which will be published with Harper Collins/Zondervan in April 2025
There is a deep power in Joy. Seize it!
Free subscriptions: a short prose to make you smile and ponder every other Sunday.
Paid subscriptions: a prose every week and occasional “Joy Comes in the Morning”, excerpts from my morning pages.
