Journey of Joy

Amanda Opelt enlightens audience members with her candid and humble approach to dealing with and talking about grief. Come join the conversation, and let us know your story of grief that may add to the complexity of how people grieve.

EDJ and I had a revealing conversation with Meghan Tschanz about sexual experiences and the deconstruction of our faith journey. This is EDJ's and my chance to debrief about other topics that came up and to go a bit deeper. Please join the conversation.

EDJ and Joy team up to give Meghan Tschanz a whirlwind of questions.

Meghan Tschanz is the author of Women Rising and the host of the well-loved Faith and Feminism podcast. After growing up in the conservative evangelical church, she came to a reckoning with her upbringing while serving as a missionary working with exploited women. Since then she has been set on dismantling harmful systems within her faith and is currently pursuing her MDIV. She and her husband live with their little girl and two rescue dogs in Athens, Georgia.

I have EDJ with me and we are having heart-to-heart conversations about our views of God being challenged. We welcome you to comment and join the conversation.

EDJ / Eady Jay loves to write about spirituality, sexuality, family, health, and music. She has a degree in Christian Theology, 30ish years of legalistic celibacy under her belt, personal experience in weight loss of 65 pounds, and years of professional experience building a business as a piano teacher. She is also a loving daughter, sister, aunt, wife, and parent who cared for her terminally ill mother and is raising a child born with a cleft lip and palate.

Over the years she has deconstructed the concept of hell leading her down the path of universalism. Then she deconstructed purity culture and many of the “isms” and became a queer-affirming, feminist. She is still on an Evangelical Deconstruction Journey (EDJ), reforming ethics rooted and established in the God who is love, grace, and truth personified.

EDJ is this writer’s initials and an anacronym for Evangelical Deconstruction Journey. Eady Jay is a pseudonym derived from the initials EDJ.

Today, EDJ is back with us and will be sharing her reflections on the book that she is recently reading by Carol Anderson, White Rage.

EDJ is a heart winner. With her Australian accent, you will likely be won over to her critical thinking perspective and likely will fall into the web of conversing with her in your head. You will love this episode!

EDJ / Eady Jay loves to write about spirituality, sexuality, family, health, and music. She has a degree in Christian Theology, 30ish years of legalistic celibacy under her belt, personal experience in weight loss of 65 pounds, and years of professional experience building a business as a piano teacher. She is also a loving daughter, sister, aunt, wife, and parent who cared for her terminally ill mother and is raising a child born with a cleft lip and palate.

Over the years she has deconstructed the concept of hell leading her down the path of universalism. Then she deconstructed purity culture and many of the “isms” and became a queer-affirming, feminist. She is still on an Evangelical Deconstruction Journey (EDJ), reforming ethics rooted and established in the God who is love, grace, and truth personified.

EDJ is this writer’s initials and an anacronym for Evangelical Deconstruction Journey. Eady Jay is a pseudonym derived from the initials EDJ.

I just started with the chicken journey, and let me tell you all the fun wonders I have found out about my flock. This is not the total story, but it will give you a great glimpse into the lives of Joy and the Chickens!

Time to order some bees~ 

I took a bee-keeping course in 2022, and now, I'm set to keep some bees. What a new way of living and thinking, and the first step is getting the flowers, flower boxes, and food set up. But that is not all, it is also time to actually order the bees!

I love to be interviewed, and this is an opportunity in which a student asks me questions about how I got started in Winston Salem, NC composting as a start-up facility.

Unlike Paul, I wasn't shipwrecked, however, I found myself on an unsuspecting trip to Thasos Island due to full hotels during Carnival, a celebration in Greece that precedes a religious holiday of fasting. Taking one bus after another, not knowing where I was going, and trusting those that I asked, I got on a ferry, and went to the island of Thasos, arriving late at night, and had no place to sleep. 

While here, asking a bakery woman to lend me her phone and advice on places to sleep, and with only one bed left within walking distance, I found myself at an expensive hotel. Once here, I slowly discovered why this hotel was so compelling, and why this island was so attractive to those wanting to return for the celebration that I wanted to share it with you. If you find yourself in Greece, you might want to listen to this podcast in case you want to go to Thasos, in the Aegean Sea. I couldn't make it to Patmos and Santorini, but this is a close third for a relaxing stay in winter. 

My walk along the seaside brought unsuspecting guests to my podcasts. Two youth talk about Thasos Island, and a fisherman teaches me, through observation, to bait a line with bread held onto the line with styrofoam. 

El Sr. Edwin habla sobre su granja y lo que atrae a personas de todo el mundo a su estilo de vida.

I steered a ship! And besides that point, you get to hear the deeper connection of a relationship being built, and visiting a people, and not a place. Enjoy!

How amazing that I took this trip to Greece. I never thought that I would be here. In fact, I was looking for many reasons to not come, from canceling the flight myself, to the airline canceling the flights twice on me, to me just wondering if I could just ask for a refund. 

But I am glad that I made it. I loved every minute of eating sheep yogurt, bougatsa, traveling on train or bus, or walking the many streets in search of some other type of bakery or food item that I hadn't seen yet to try. 

For all of the people that have allowed me into their homes, their lives, and their families, thank you. I truly loved every minute of being and sharing with you, and I hope to see you again one day. If not on this earth, then in heaven. I hope that you agree.

If you haven't heard Part I yet, please go there to familiarize yourself with the societal complications of Greece, and the beauty that you will find in a small town. In this episode, you will hear more about the culture. I hope you will enjoy it! 

What to hear a little more about small towns in Greece? Well, you will be introduced to a hotel worker who operates a family hotel in a small town called, Kavala. You will hear us talk about immigration, race, and societal life here. We open the interview with me buying a traditional bean salad from the small meat and deli market across the cobblestone path where people walk through the shops. I think you will enjoy hearing about their life and wonder here, and my questions as a traveler. 

Thanks, and make sure you check out the other episodes during my journey abroad in Greece and Europe. 

I made it. I beat all odds that bet that I wouldn't go, and I did. I was scared, but I traveled anyway. It was a beautiful experience, and I am happy to share it with you. In this podcast, you will hear some of the adventures that I took while in Ancient Corinth. That's right, where Apostle Paul was writing to the Corinthians. I hope that you will stay with me as I journey through Europe, meeting new folks, eating different foods, and walking the streets for hours! 

There aren't many people that I know who don't like chocolate. I love it. I make it, and now, I have seen how to grow it. I feel so blessed and honored to share at this moment with people from El Salvador...and now you can see it as well. Hopefully, you will meet Anita and Augustine real soon through these podcasts!

I have to thank my friend who I met in France for sharing with me the importance of knowing about how chocolate is made.

While in El Salvador, Anita, whom you have to meet if you have not already, arranged for us to visit his farm. What a surprise to find his work, his views, and his family all creating and living sustainably. It was a beautiful experience, and I'm happy to share it with you. This podcast is not the full recording, nor is it an interview. It is a recording that I took, that he allowed me to share, and to help bring context I have included my voice as commentary and discussing with you as my audience what he discussed with us when we visited. 

I hope to have an exclusive interview with him soon, so please stay tuned!!

He created this video on Youtube, please take a look here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh1wya85V_0

I spent all of January 2023 traveling in El Salvador. I mainly spent my time with a family in a community in Morazan. You might have heard of this region, as it was the region where the civil war took place back in the 80's that ended in 1992. 

Welcome to my journey of exploring the life and culture of the people in El Salvador. 

Wrapping up 2022 never felt so good and promising. Hallelujah. I share three lessons that I take away from 2022. 1) Lessons related to love 2) Lessons related to life, and 3) Lessons related to being in relationship with others. 

I'm glad you could join me on this part of my journey. Thank you. 

An interview with one of my favorite people who I glean wisdom from, Fly Girl. This is someone who wants to remain anonymous and is from a small tobacco city in NC. You will hear about four areas of living that are important to her: Spiritual, Mental, Physical, and Financial. I hope you will enjoy this podcast as much as I did in talking with her. 

We tend to wrestle a lot with whether or not we are hearing from God. We need to settle this in order to move forward with clarity. Here is an excerpt of a conversation where I challenge my friend and I to settle that in our hearts, for our own sake to help diminish the amount of pain we cause ourselves because we are wrestling with that question. 

Shoveling never felt so good. Until I got sick. That is a different episode. But for now, enjoy the steps to shoveling horse manure in preparation for your compost pile!! 

Does Jesus know what it is like to also betray someone?

A trip in the country is what it took to scoop up some manure for my compost pile. Then I take you on a journey as I educate A&T students about composting and what temperatures mean. 

Thanks for joining! 

Many folks think that composting is just for those that love the earth and trees, or maybe gardeners. But my argument is that composting is act of food and land justice, and we all, especially those who are fighting for racial justice, should be looking for ways to dispose of waste that makes our frontline efforts last longer. 

We all know that organizations and agencies are doing good work around food charity: giving food to those who need it. However, what I confronted within the food charity model was shocking, and saddening, and put me on a quest to make sure it is more well known about the politics and governance of food, which is used as a resource, commodity, and necessity for survival. 

My hope is that you will join the conversation and share your thoughts, and hopefully, we can change the climate and parameters around how food is distributed and redistributed so that all have access to optimal survival. 

Thank you for listening. This is a listener-supported podcast, so thank you for leaving a token of your love. You will see a link to donate further below. :) 

As a small business owner and starting podcaster, I thought it would be delightful to share stories from the Holistic Produce Pantry that I am part of. Hope to Thrive is a faith-based organization and we took on a food pantry in March 2020. It started out with just giving Personal Protective Equipment and COVID19 monitoring and mitigation (hand sanitizer and thermometers), and then quickly turned into food once the opportunity was given. 

This episode is sponsored by Slow Food USA. Their generous support helped to bring an interview and the recording of our team to your ears. I am grateful for Anchor and their wonderful podcast site which made it easy for me to record and edit. 

What you will hear are snippets from an All Volunteer Meeting that we often hold to discuss challenges of the pantry and to onboard new volunteers. I am narrating the missing pieces of how this story is weaved together. 

Please don't forget that this is a listener supported podcast, and you can leave your financial support on my podcast site. 

In addition, our Holistic Produce Pantry would love your support and you can make a donation directly to the Holistic Produce Pantry at this website: https://www.hope2thrive.com/donate/

Proceeds from this podcast episode will also go to the Holistic Produce Pantry at Hope To Thrive. 

Thank you for your support, love, and all that you are in this world to help bring justice and peace to others. 

HI Everyone!

This is my journey of joy. I'm Joy T. Williams and I am thrilled to be talking with you about so many topics. So pull up a chair, turn on your best engaging self, and let's begin some great conversations!

Within this short segment I discuss whether or not it is worth doing a podcast and the profound question of, "Who will listen?" A must hear if you are contemplating whether or not podcasting is for you. 

I had no idea that I would ever read myself into the adulterous text laid out in Hosea and Nehemiah. But I have begun to see that in many ways, I am the adulterer that is described in these texts. I explain my reasoning briefly and connect to pop culture in how there aren't many discussions around how to heal after adultery. I would love your take on this topic. 

Here is the link I mention in the podcast: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/infidelity/art-20048424. 

Here is my journey of composting and how to do it at home as one example. Here is the cartoon I mentioned in the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqJUeRltxs8. 

Everyone had to shift something during the pandemic. As an ED of a grassroots organization, Hope To Thrive, a food pantry was started in my front yard. Here is the basic origins of that process! 

A reflection on theology of creativity and how God has created us to be creators in this world to produce good fruit. 

The fear around loving a man, in the midst of doubt. 

In the midst of sickness, death, and going through family drama, I was able to find one moment in which healing and care could both reside with my mom. This is a short snippet of that experience. 

Confronting different problems in my life.  A prayer and exploration of how to learn during the moment of confrontation. 

Where I am in my Christian walk that started this journey of podcasting.