Joy Jams: The Secret Ingredient for a Happy Heart

Claire Black: Welcome to True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together we’ll explore God’s truth for us, one drive at a time. Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

When you hear the word “joy,” what do you think about? Playing outside in spring? Flowers and sunshine? Christmas? Those are all really wonderful things, but did you know that you can have joy even when your life is difficult? 

Today Dannah Gresh and Staci Rudolph are talking about an ingredient of life that can make your heart burst with happiness, even in hard times. It’s an important part of “A Recipe for a Fruitful Life!”

We’re on the second in the list of fruit of the Spirit that’s found in Galatians chapter 5, verses 22 and 23. Let me read them to you. It says,

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Let’s listen in as Dannah and Staci talk and have fun in the kitchen. I wonder what they’re baking today!

It’s time for Season 15, Episode 3, called “Joy Jams: The Secret Ingredient for a Happy Heart.

Dannah Gresh: Oh Staci, I’m so sorry. I didn’t have time to plan what we’re gonna bake today. You got any ideas?

Staci Rudolph: Hmm, well, we’re already gonna have plenty of sweets this week. What you got going for supper?

Dannah: A simple vegetable soup. Nice and easy.

Staci: I’ve got it! I may not be much of a baker normally, but I do have a really great cornbread recipe.

Dannah: Oh, yeah, you’ve always promised to make me some of your famous family cornbread. Don’t you make it every, I don’t know, is it Thanksgiving or Christmas?

Staci: Thanksgiving. It really shuts the house down. 

Dannah: Shuts the house down. But wait a minute! Cornbread? Staci, is corn a fruit?

Staci: Uh, well, let me tell you something, Dannah Gresh. As a cornbread specialist, I happen to know that botanists do, in fact, classify corn as a fruit. And it would go so well with that soup you’ve got going on over there. 

Dannah: Well, okay then, cornbread it is! Now, I hope I have the ingredients you need!

Staci: Oh, it’s pretty basic stuff. Let me just pull up the recipe.I have to keep a picture of it on my phone so I can send it to anyone who asks how I make it.

Dannah: Alright. Let me see that. Oh yeah, we should be good. I’ll pull out the flour . . . cornmeal . . . here’s a bowl . . .

Staci: Okay, you mix the dry ingredients; I’ll do the wet ingredients.

Dannah: We could go ahead and get started on today’s fruit of the Spirit while we’re cooking. 

Staci: Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that. Joy!

Dannah: Yep. Let me see, I think I have Galatians 5, verse 22 in my mind here. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy . . .”

Staci: Right.

Dannah: I think we need to talk about joy on this gray, drizzly day! Farmer Bob started a fire this morning, so that’ll be perfect for a cozy conversation once we get this stuff in the oven!

Staci: Ooh, yeah.

Dannah: Okay, you got your wet ingredients ready?

Staci: Yep. Here they are.

Dannah: Thank you. 

Staci: And here’s the pan. I already greased it.

Dannah: Oh, good.

How long does it need to go in? Twenty minutes?

Staci: Let me check. Yep, that seems good to start off with.

Dannah: Great. Alright, joy. Hmm, the Bible talks a ton about God’s love, but does it talk about His joy that much? What did you find, Staci?

Staci: I discovered that there are actually a lot of verses about God’s joy, but for some reason people don’t seem to talk about those verses much.

Dannah: Okay, that’s good there are some. But first, maybe we should talk about what the word “joy” means.

Staci: Right. I gotcha. Some things that are a part of joy are happiness and delight . . .

Dannah: Rejoicing, gladness.

Staci: But we can have those things from, I don’t know, a good cup of tea and a biscuit.

Dannah: Or a pot of soup and some cornbread on a cold day!

Staci: Yeah. But the kind of joy that Paul talks about in Galatians is extra special. It’s something that comes from more than our circumstances. 

Dannah: Yeah, sometimes when my life isn’t very good—when the circumstances are not ideal—I feel JOY! It’s like . . . not happiness . . . but deeper. It’s something deeper. If I could describe it, it’s kind of like a warmth in my belly that God is in control even when I have no idea what’s going on!

Staci: Yes, that’s it! I’ve had that experience before, too! 

Dannah: Of course, because it’s the fruit of the Spirit, all of that fruit—love, joy, peace, and so on—come from God the Holy Spirit, like we talked about already. These fruits are the result of God’s Spirit in our lives. Not the result of life being just so.

Staci: And there are lots of places in the Bible that talk about God’s joy. The kind that comes from Him.

For example, Jesus told a neat story that shows how joyful He is. Basically, He said that if you have a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, you’re going to go look for that one, right? And when you find it, you’ll be so happy that you’ll have a little celebration! Then Jesus said, “Just so . . . there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

Dannah: So that means that when God works in someone’s heart so that he or she begins to trust in Him, God has a celebration! He is so happy to make us His children!

Staci: Yes, that’s amazing, isn’t it?

Dannah: Yeah. Ya know something? I’ve had a really hard year. Some things were sad. Farmer Bob was sick, and I didn’t want him to be. But God worked in my heart. Not only did He give me that warm feeling that He was in control, but He also used all the hard things to show me where there was sin in my life. And this verse reminds me that even if we are Christians, sometimes we need to repent of our sin. And that makes heaven happy!

Staci: Yeah! Uh, Dannah. Can you read Psalm 16, verse 11?

Dannah: Sure, Staci. David wrote this to God. 

You will show me the way of life,
   granting me the joy of your presence
   and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Staci: So, “the way of life” is how we live after God saves us from our sin. Of course, that happens when we become Christians and repent of our sin for the first time. But your story, it kind of makes me wonder if we don’t get to experience that over and over when we recognize sin in our lives and then ask for God to forgive us.

Dannah: Interesting. Yeah, and just like that verse said, when I let God show me how to live, then I can enjoy spending time with God. In one translation of the Bible—the English Standard Version—this verse actually reads, “In your presence there is fullness of joy,” which basically means that it’s the most joyful thing ever to be close to Jesus!

Staci: Now, you might not always feel the most joyful every time you spend time with God.

Dannah: Yeah, that’s because we’re not perfect yet, like we talked about the other day. God is in the process of making us more like Him, but it is still a process. 

Staci: But I’m always glad when I do I spend time with God anyway. And sometimes it really does make me so joyful as I learn more about Him or thank Him for what He’s done for me. And then I get a little taste of what it will be like to be with Him forever in eternity!

Dannah: Yup. And thatis one thing that makes this joy special.

Have you ever known someone who was going through something really hard—like maybe someone she knew was really sick, or people made fun of her for some reason I don’t know . . . but she was still joyful in the middle of it?

Staci: Yeah, the first person that comes to mind actually is my mom. When my grandpa was sick, she just kind of had this sense that everything was going alright. You know and the rest of the family, we were just kind of scared. All of us were sad. But she had a sense of like we’re going to be okay. God has got it. 

Dannah: I love your mom, Staci. She is truly special. 

Staci: She is.

Dannah: We don’t normally expect people who are going through hard times to be happy. But for God’s children, their true joy comes from God, not the things that are happening in their lives.

Staci: Which means they don’t have to be totally depressed or afraid or anxious by whatever is happening!

Dannah: Yes. Bad things do happen, and it’s totally okay to feel sad sometimes. But if you find joy in God, you can still hope and trust in Him, and be joyful about what He’s done for you, even while you feel sad. 

Staci: Yeah, I found a verse about that. It’s Romans chapter 5, verses 3–5. It says:

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

See? We have joy because of God’s love for us!

Dannah: And, we can have joy in suffering, or hard times, because God has a purpose for us in it. He allows suffering so that we’ll learn to depend on Him more instead of ourselves. So we can be glad about that, too, because it’s actually for our good.

Staci: Yeah. That’s a hard lesson to learn, but it’s so important.

Dannah: It sure is! Staci, look! I see snow mixed in with the rain! I hope it turns into more.

Staci: Me, too. That’d sure be pretty.

Dannah: Yeah. Okay, sorry I interrupted you. I just had to point out the snow.

Staci: It’s okay. But I was about to say, Dannah, that as I was learning about joy, I kinda ran out of time and didn’t get to answering one question. Maybe you can help.

Dannah: Maybe.

Staci: We keep talking about how the fruit of the Spirit is something God does in us, not something we just have to try to do. So, joy would be the result of God’s presence in our lives, right?

Dannah: Yes. 

Staci: That kinda makes it sound like people who don’t trust in Jesus can’t be joyful, though. But I know people who don’t even believe in God at all, but they’re really sweet and cheerful, kind and joyful, it seems like. So how can that be?

Dannah: That’s a really good observation, Staci. Remember that all people are made in God’s image. So, God makes us with parts of who we are that are a little bit like what He is. Sin messes that up so we can’t truly look like Him without His work in our hearts, but sometimes little pieces shine through. And God has made some people so that it’s easier for them to be cheerful or kind.

But, being cheerful and kind doesn’t save anyone from the punishment for sin. Only Jesus’ death on the cross does that. 

Staci: Yeah.

Also, people who aren’t God’s children can’t have the true joy that comes from knowing God. And being sure that He is in control.

Does that make sense?

Staci: Yeah, I think so. So, you’re saying someone can look joyful and not believe in God at all, but that’s not a “fruit of the Spirit” kind of joy. 

Dannah: Yep. In the hardest of times, God’s Word says you and I—because we KNOW Jesus and His forgiveness—we do get to experience a special kind of joy, a sense that He has it all under control.

Staci: Okay. Thanks for clearing that up.

Hey I’m starting to smell that cornbread! Hasn’t the timer gone off yet?

Dannah: Oh, it does seem like it should have. Let’s check.

Staci: It’s perfect! What’s up with the timer? You trying to ruin my world famous cornbread or something? 

Claire: Joy is one of those things that we don’t think about a whole lot. But I hope you understand now why it’s such an important part of being a follower of Jesus. Because when we love God, it makes us happy to spend time with Him and get to know Him! And we can still have that kind of joy even when really difficult things happen.

Dannah and Staci didn’t have time to talk about all the ways God gives us joy. So, can I encourage you and your mom to sit down with your Bibles and learn more on your own? The book of Psalms is so full of passages that talk about joy! I don’t want you to miss out on them! In fact, let me challenge you to read Psalms 90–100 and circle every time you see the words “joy,” “rejoice,” or “delight.” Then look at what the psalmist is talking about when he uses those words.

Now, I know you’d like to try out Staci’s cornbread recipe. It’s something she makes every year for the holidays. You can find it when you go to the transcript of today’s True Girl episode at ReviveOurHearts.com. It’s called “Joy Jams: The Secret Ingredient for a Happy Life.”

Have you ever felt stressed or anxious? Be sure to come back next time, ‘cause Dannah and Staci are gonna talk about the fruit of the Spirit that helps with that. 

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts, calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!

Crusty Cornbread

2 cups flour
2 cups finely ground yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
2¼ cups milk
2 eggs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon bacon fat or butter

Preheat oven to 400° F. Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet in oven and heat for at least 30 minutes while you make the batter.

Whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat milk and eggs. Add melted butter slowly while beating to avoid cooking the eggs.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients; stir just until evenly combined.

Remove skillet from oven, add the bacon fat to the skillet, and swirl to coat. Pour the batter into the skillet and spread evenly across the pan. Bake 25–30 minutes, until lightly golden and firm and springy to the touch.

Serves 6–8

Recipe from Down Home with the Neelys: A Southern Family Cookbook, by Patrick and Gina Neely. ⓒ 2009, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

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