When you study joy in the scriptures, you’ll discover that joy is not what most people think joy is. Christians typically think of joy as a sheepish grin plastered on the face of someone having a good time. Others think joy is simply a response. But coming from someone who learned joy the hard way, I can tell you it’s much more than that.

You see, a few years ago, I (me, Staci, the co-owner of the company) was homeless. I’d moved to Sarasota Florida but unfortunately jobs were few and far between. As such I had to spend 57 days living in a shelter and out of a 5 x 5 storage unit. Because Sarasota is a tourist town, the only jobs available were in housekeeping. Thankfully, I secured two part time positions which afforded me the opportunity to work less than 20 hours a week on both. And though small, I was still thankful for the minimum wage and occasional tips.

During that time, my days consisted of: Having to be out of the shelter every morning at 4:30 am. Waiting on the 5:30 am bus to take me to my 5 X 5 storage unit so that I could get a change of clothes. Thereafter, I’d fix a sandwich and sleep a few more hours and ride another bus to the library so that I could put in more housekeeping applications. Once I secured the housekeeping jobs, I’d clean rooms until about 1 pm and then catch the bus back to the library; only to have to wait there until intake at the shelter which didn’t begin until 6 pm. So from 1 – 6pm, I had to find something to do to stay busy while not appearing homeless in a tourist town where Blacks were definitely the minority.