Undaunted Joy - by Shemaiah Gonzalez (Paperback)

About the Book

The world seems to suffocate joy---but joy is not an indulgence; it is a way of life. In Undaunted Joy, Shemaiah Gonzalez offers readers a view of the world through her lens of joy and calls on us to join her in this revolutionary and necessary work.

Book Synopsis

Does joy just seem too difficult to come by these days? Does it seem irresponsible or naïve? Maybe you don't feel like you can be joyful, don't know how to, or don't deserve to?

In this collection of short essays on defiant joy, Shemaiah Gonzalez reflects on how she gradually learned to see joy not as an indulgence but as a necessity--a way of life and the fruit of faith. But her journey to joy was long. It had been so absent throughout much of her life that it felt foreign at first.

Through her own stories, Gonzalez discovers along with you how joy is the fruit of knowing God. Like God, once you start looking for joy, you might start finding it everywhere. Like God, sometimes it initially feels unsafe.

"Perhaps these stories, of finding joy in laundry and Van Gogh's paintings of sunflowers, in daydreaming, and even in the darkest of places, will allow you to see life anew. Perhaps you will, like me, no longer wait for the big things to happen but will find there is abundance today. Each day holds joy in the mundane and the magnificent--we just need to learn to see."

Over the course of these 37 essays, Gonzalez, vulnerable and lively, will draw you into a new way of seeing that will revolutionize your everyday. It's time to claim God's goodness and share it with abandon, not in spite of the brokenness of the world, but because of it.

It's time to live joyously.

Review Quotes

'I loved this book. It both moved me to tears and made me chuckle; it will forever color the way I see life. I highly recommend becoming a part of Shemaiah Gonzalez's revolution of joy!'-- Sally Read, editor of 100 Great Catholic Poems

'Imagine joy as a glass of bubbly champagne, and here's your friend Shemaiah, inviting you to drink up. She doesn't write about a cheap, easy joy. Hers is hard-earned, the kind you take hold of and cherish because you know its value. This kind of joy she offers, it left me wanting more of it in my own life too.'-- Traci Rhoades, author of Not All Who Wander (Spiritually) Are Lost and Shaky Ground: What to Do After the Bottom Drops Out

'It's rare to come across a book that so thoroughly embodies its own message. Shemaiah Gonzalez's study of joy is a joy: to read, to engage, to behold. Her clear-eyed insistence on choosing all that is good--and offering unapologetic resistance to the demands of evil--cuts through every false complication to reveal the beautiful truth at the core of things. Let her show you how to do the same.'-- Katy Carl, author of As Earth Without Water and Fragile Objects

'My favorite sentence in Shemaiah Gonzalez's Undaunted Joy is 'He wanted to paint joy.' It might surprise you to know that she's writing about Van Gogh and his art. That's what Gonzalez does with this book. She can take a person almost universally known as a symbol of desperation and see the brightness in him. We live in fraught times--we've always lived in fraught times--but Gonzalez teaches us that people have always found their way to joy.'-- Sherman Alexie, author of National Book Award winner The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

'Shemaiah Gonzalez's deliciously poetic debut book, Undaunted Joy, is ripe with delight. Some may think of joy as a naive, indulgent refusal to deal with the wounded world. Doesn't joy see? But this is the entire point, says Gonzalez, as she invites readers to behold God's world and squeal their pleasure. To meet Gonzalez in these pages is to long for her joy--and the hopeful faith that makes it possible.'-- Jen Pollock Michel, award-winning author of In Good Time and Surprised by Paradox

'The 'gracious fading light of sunset, ' homemade quilts, and freshly cut grass are only a few of the many inspirations for joy that Shemaiah Gonzalez details in this beautiful book. But as cozy and reassuring as these reflections are, Undaunted Joy isn't an invitation to gloss over or deny our own or the world's pain, loss, and suffering. Rather, Gonzalez invites readers to experience joy as an antidote to anxiety and despair. When you reach the last page, may you--as was true for me--be persuaded by the author that joy isn't a luxury but, truly, a necessity and a way of life.'-- Jennifer Grant, author of Dimming the Day and Finding Calm in Nature

'The call to joy from Job to Jack Gilbert and Chuang Tzu to Ross Gay runs through world faith traditions, world poetry, and the lives of saints and sages as one of our greatest antidotes to despair. In this quiet, family-oriented, often humorous book, Shemaiah Gonzalez has boarded that good ship. May its voyages grow in number and never end.'-- David James Duncan, author of Sun House and The Brothers K

'These charming meditations remind us to deepen our awareness of the ordinary wonders that surround us always. Shemaiah Gonzalez does not deny the presence of difficulty or sorrow but offers moments of joy as a companion to the ups and downs of life. This book inspires a brightened sense of the sacred in all things that will bring more delight to our days and our world.'-- Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit

'Undaunted Joy must have been a joy to write. It is a joy to read. For one, Shemaiah Gonzalez knows that you can find joy in the new, improved garbage bag. You can find it in both 'the mundane and the magnificent'--the adjacent, empty airline seat on an international flight, a car wash, your favorite pants, a Costco trip, naps, and daydreaming! And you will find even deeper joy in the more serious things: motherhood, housekeeping, the Sabbath, worship, the Word. If you pay attention to the news or the people bringing you bad news, you can easily feel guilty about your joy. You can lose your joy. You have to fight for it, or merely hunker down and abide when troubles come. It's easy for us to stake our happiness on all the wrong things: politics, our identities, clicks, views. Shemaiah Gonzalez knows what the psalmist knows: We sometimes need more than even family and friends to get us through pain, suffering, a pandemic, spiritual warfare, terror attacks, doubt, and death itself. We need faith in a living and loving Father who offers us transcendent, undaunted joy.'-- John Poch, professor of English and creative writing, Grace College