We need to cling to joy, we need to cling to the fact that even when there is social distancing and separation and difficulty and cancelling of things that mean a lot to us and difficulty getting to places that we want to get to, to be with the loved ones that we want to be with, that ultimately God's presence never leaves us, that He is absolutely the one that provides and is the joy that we have to M&A and the world could use

to some joy right now and so we get to be conduits of that joy.

Welcome to the Jesus Calling Podcast. When we are undergoing very stressful seasons of life, it can be difficult to see the light through our anxious thoughts toward a new way of living, one that is steeped in God's joy.

Our guests this week share the way that they were able to move from being stuck in the stress cycle to finding joy in their lives and work and how they became conduits of joy to others.

Artists and writer Ruth Cho Simons and Speaker and Life Coach Jess Conley.

Ruth Cho Simons had a passion for art from a very early age, but the pressure from all sides to succeed in areas that were more practical delayed her entry into the space.

Although Ruth ultimately pursued a degree in Fine Arts, Life took a different turn than she expected and she found herself seven years into her marriage with three young children before she started to think again about her creative pursuits.

During this season, after she tucked her children into bed, Ruth started to rekindle her creative side, writing about how Grace was working in her life and sharing the thoughts with her online community.

The popularity of her blog would lead Ruth to found her company Grace Laced. She writes about how God was preparing her and how waiting on his promises would bring a beautiful transformation to her life.

I'm Ruth Cho Simons, I am an artist and founder of GraceLaced.com, a website where I have gotten to share my artwork in the form of prints and lifestyle products and stationery serving women around the world with beauty and truth from God's words.

And I'm also a mama to six boys. My oldest is 18 and my youngest is seven. I've been married to my husband Troy for 22 years and in previous seasons of our lives together, he was a full-time teaching pastor and a church planter.

I was born in Taiwan and so I'm an immigrant that came when I was three almost four years old, learned English language, found my family trying to reestablish ourselves in a new country.

But you know, I was raised with a general cultural mindset both from my new country in the United States as well as just with my Chinese heritage, just a real cultural background of really wanting to achieve.

And that kind of pressure really led me to thinking the only answer is to be a 4.0 student that goes into neurosurgery or something, you know, really fantastic and brilliant will change the world by using my academic prowess.

I always left art in between, you know, chemistry notes would be drawing with my right hand, drawing my left hand and being really fascinated by the beauty all around me.

But I didn't allow myself to really enjoy it that much because in my mind, I thought my worth was so tied to what I could accomplish.

In long story short, the Lord really did get a hold of me and God and His kindness won me to Himself showed me that nothing I had to bring to the table, no matter how hard I tried, no matter what college I went to, what degree I graduated with, what job I landed, none of those things could earn me true favor with God.

And so, you know, that's just a bit of my testimony, sharing that ultimately I came about being an artist in a way that I didn't expect that I wasn't planning to be an artist.

I wasn't planning to be a mama, I wasn't even planning on going through a season of homeschooling my kids full time, any of those things, but those are truly just seasons that come about where God really breaks you of things that you think and save yourself.

And he shows you what true salvation is.

Graceless began in the midst of us being a part of lots of other ventures. We were a part of church planned. We were a part of a school that we were intimately a part of.

And all those things were wonderful things that we were a part of during that season. And my art and my writing were not front burner things.

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