There’s something about this year for me, something strong that is inviting me, imploring me, pushing me, even daring me to SHOW UP.
2014 doesn’t feel like one of those years I can kick back with my feet up and just see what happens. This year is asking for much for than that. I could easily set SHOWING UP aside for next year, or the year after that… but the time when I push off big challenging life things for future years is long gone. There’s just no time for that. This year is asking me to get out of my box, get out of my comfort zone, and to be present in all of it.
I like what this year is asking of me, and by ‘like’ I mean that my eyes are extra wide and I’m a little (a lot) nervous.
SHOWING UP is a choice. It’s a bold choice. It takes guts. In my experience, SHOWING UP can be accompanied by feelings of self-doubt. Fear inspired self-doubt… the most annoying kind. Feeling like: Who do I think I am? Do I really have enough to offer? Do I have enough faith? Do I have the right words? Is there enough kindness in my heart? The answer is YES of course! I am everything I need to be. I am are enough. I am SHOWING UP! That’s it. And where I show weaknesses, God steps in and is like.. BOOM! Thank heaven for that.
My first exercise in SHOWING UP this year involves a long plane ride and a few vaccinations. All next week I’ll be in Uganda with Compassion International. Compassion is a Christian organization that works through churches to support children and families living in poverty. It’s an organization I’ve supported for years and I really believe in the work that they do. I’ve got my passport, my camera, and my heart (I’m totally going to need that) and I get to connect with super cute kids and learn about how they live. I’ll be blogging about my experiences in Uganda all next week and I’m really excited to share with you. There will also be regular food posts next week, because I know that we’re a hungry bunch, but Compassion is important to me and I thank you for being a part of this experience with me. Thank you for your encouragement, support, and prayers. You are amazing. SHOWING UP: Uganda.
Fellow bloggers in Uganda include: The Nester, Emily from Chatting at the Sky, Jeff Goins, Bri McKoy, and Shaun Groves. We’re all on this adventure together and our goal is to get 400 new children sponsored. We’re in it!
How are you SHOWING UP this year? Let’s be big and great in all the ways we live.
Sarah
Love this post! I really am working on the idea of showing up as well. Especially when you are new in town it really takes a lot of energy to go out there & build community all the while making sure to keep showing up in people’s lives who live across the country.
Tracy
Joy you really are amazing and inspirational! Your words are true and I appreciate that. Much needed today…thank you! I hope your trip has been everything and more for you!
Tammy
Love what you are doing about “showing up!” You being brave is such an example to the rest of us! Looking forward to your example!
lauradanielle
My first time visiting your blog and one of my own SHOWING UP moments was confirmed as I read! Very very excited about that and also happy to have found your blog. Best of luck with your year – I’m already prepared to be overwhelmed by mine and it’s only January… :)
Jasmine
In our weaknesses He is most glorified. can’t wait to read all about it!
lizytishknits
What an awesome trip you are taking and for such a good cause! Can’t wait to read more about it.
Keia
This is beautiful! I think we should all approach the year even everyday with that attitude of showing up! Thank you for the inspiration I hope your trip was amazing!
Helen @ Scrummy Lane
Wow!!! Can’t wait to read your updates from the trip! Have a wonderful time!
Mary
How cool! What a great opportunity and of course you have enough compassion!
Daniel and Judy
We will be keeping you in our prayers, Joy. XXOO, Daniel and Judy
Kate
I appreciate your enthusiasm for helping people, but I think people in privileged situations need to think carefully about how they can do the most good. What helps a Ugandan family more: a week of voluntourism or the money one spends on the plane ticket to get there?
Emily @ Life on Food
I hope you have a good time and learn and see a lot. My brother just left Uganda after living in Kampala for 2 years.
Faith Kathleen
Aaaand tears. Thank you for this, Joy. These are words I needed to hear.
-Faith
Amy
This is awesome. I can’t wait to read about your experience. I love how you’re so candid about your faith in action. I’ll be praying for you next week!
Charlotte
so glad you’re taking the step and showing up! god is going to honor your faithfulness and use you to encourage others. don’t be shy about sharing your heart and his word! you rock.
kayla
What an awesome opportunity! My prayers are with you, safe travels!
Megsiemay
Joy! Uganda is awesome. I went with my church to work with Watoto in 2011. And I’ve been to Ethiopia with Compassion in 2012. That organization is stellar. You will be forever changed! Can’t wait to hear about your trip!
TaylorMay
Joy, thanks so much for having the courage to show up, and post about it too!
Just started sponsoring a new child this year, and my past experiences with Compassion have been just truly awesome.. what an exciting and clarifying journey you’ll no doubt have!
I’ll be sending prayers up on your behalf.
Amber
Joy, I lived in Kenya for a few years and was lucky enough to visit Uganda for a few days. It was incredible! Try to eat something with delicious ground nut sauce on top. It will change your life! Africa is amazing, it will break your heart and fill you will more love than you can imagine all at the same time. Enjoy your trip!
Miss Sophisticate
It’s always so amazing to give back. It’s even more wonderful when you’re the one who will be gaining so much in return! Inspiring post, Joy!
Heidi
God Bless in your work and travels. The overseas mission trips I’ve done have been some of the best experiences of my life. Life changing, heart-breaking experiences but full of those Big teachable moments where I actually stepped back from what I thought was so first-world important into the real substance of life.
Aimee Wimbush-Bourque
This. is. so. awesome. I’m so proud of you. I remember you and Tsh having a little talk about this over brunch when we were in Vegas. What you said made sense, but this makes way more sense! I’m every so impressed with your motto to show up. Have fun. Safe travels. We will be reading along and being inspired.
Stephanie H
Thank you for inspiring me. I needed to read this today and I am loking into going on a medical mission trip. I have been saying for years I want to do that. I think you have given me the courage I need to finally do it. Thanks
Amanda @ Once Upon a Recipe
i’m inspired! have an amazing trip!
Heather @ The Soulful Spoon
Joy, I NEEDED to read this today. This year is the year I want to make LIFE happen. I turn 30 on New Year’s Eve this year, and I’ve promised myself this is the year I’ll move to NYC and make my dream of writing happen before I’m 30, and watch the ball drop in Times Square with a new light in my eyes. THANK YOU for this post. While our dreams aren’t the same, our perspectives are.
Fear of failing, fear of showing up, fear of the unknown, and fear of BEING enough have all kept me from just DOING it. Thank you for inspiring me. You are amazing!
I will be praying for you as you are in Uganda next week. YOU HAVE A BIG MISSION and are such an inspiration to me, more than you could know. Your posts always bring so much light into my heart. I hope you have a beautiful time and ENJOY the ride!
Cheers to making life happen in 2014!!<3
Heather McClees
Judy @ Season of Sweets
Good for you Joy! I too would be a bit nervous. But you go and let God grow you, He’ll be with you every step of the way :)
Judy @ Season of Sweets
tracy
you inspire me, maj! i can’t wait to see what you post and see how life rewards you for showing up! PROUD OF YOU, BOO.
Christy
This is such a great thing you’re doing, Joy. Good luck and safe travels!
Paige C
What a beautiful, inspiring post. You’ll be in my prayers during your visit! It sounds like it’ll be a life changing experience both for you and those you meet. Safe travels, Joy!
Mallory @ Because I Like Chocolate
Wow that is so exciting, good for you and have fun!
Melinda
Joy, just below your post in my Facebook feed was this one from one of my favorite sports teams. This world gets smaller every day. Vaya con dios!
http://www.fcdallas.com/news/2014/01/jonathan-top-mission-trip-uganda
Annie
Love love love this. Sometimes your posts hit so close to home, I needed a little inspirational push and I think this was it! :)
I will be thinking of you next week!
Dana Shultz (@danarshultz)
Super cool, Joy! We’ve supported Compassion for a while now, too. Such a great organization! Looking forward to your updates. Have fun!
Melissa
So excited for you! I can’t wait to read about your experience!
We LOVE Compassion up here in QC!
Our Compassion ‘daughter’ is turning 16 this year…
M.
Suubi
Woooohoooo…Imagine my surprise seeing the map of my country when I opened my mail :-o Please look me up if u can….I am in u.g Kampala and I am such a fan! Duuno how to get u my deets but do look me up!!!!
meredith s.
Joy. This is why your blog is the first blog I check every day. Your delicious food and your heart and passion for life are inspiring. Know you have my prayers as you go to the country that stole my heart long ago! Enjoy!!
Amalia
I’m so impressed by you and your desire to do good in the world. Make sure you have your heart – Africa is a beautiful, tough place to visit — and it is life changing.
Thanks for emphasizing showing up and compassion today — these are both things I needed to be reminded of! My heart is traveling with you all to Africa!
katie mazur
You said it Joy!!!! Way to put IT into words… awesome and very inspiring.
Jessie
So so amazing, I can’t wait to read about it when you get back! A friend of mine started an organization in Gulu, Uganda called Remnant International, they teach women whose husbands have left how to sew and screenprint so they can support their families. You can buy their products online: http://www.remnantintl.org/
I will be heading to Africa myself this summer! I’m going to Swaziland in South Africa with Advocates for Africa’s Children. Swaziland has the highest percentage of HIV/AIDS in the world and has left behind so many orphans. AFAA provides resources for the community to feed themselves, starting with a well, then crops and sometimes a goat or chicken farm. Once they’re able to feed themselves they can begin to sell at the local markets. They’re all about empowering the community and working alongside their needs. http://www.afachildren.org/
trevor
Uganda is one of the nastiest countries on Earth when it comes to gay rights issues. They are a hair’s width away from enacting a law that would punish homosexuals with life in prison. (Previous versions of the bill called for the death penalty but international outrage caused them to ‘soften’ it.) The bill also calls for prison terms for people who ‘counsel or reach out to gays and lesbians”. Real nice, huh? It is now very well documented that most of this nasty anti-gay hysteria in Africa that is making news these days (Uganda, Nigeria, etc.) was put into play by American extreme-Christian groups who have been going there to export their virulent homophobia and whip up fears while they preach Christian values. I will be very interested to read of your trip there and see if you pick up on any this in your work. I admire you for giving assistance to people in need.
maryw
Thanks for saying what I was thinking.
Sini?my blue&white kitchen
This is exciting and totally amazing, Joy! Can’t wait to read your posts from Uganda.
Travel safe,
Sini
Kari
Been following a while, but first time to comment. You are going to have the time of your life! I have traveled with Compassion before and they are ‘bonkers awesome’ ;-)
Please, if you see a little 10 year old named Enock, give him my love. We have sponsored him for about 5 years now.
joylydesigns
Uganda is an amazing place– so welcoming and friendly too! Have a transformative time. I can’t wait to hear about your experience!
kwatt219
Good for you for GOING for it in a big way. with eyes and heart wide open! Best to you in your travels – be safe and do well. Looking forward to lots of pictures.
Gry
I love that you are going and I love that you share everything with us readers. I believe in showing up, pushing your boundaries, challenge yourself on a personal level. I would never have done that by myself (I think), but I was so lucky to be a mother to an autistic child who helped me see what’s really important in life, and to challenge me to be my best and do my best every single day.
God bless you Joy for being such an inspiration.
Taylor
How exciting & inspiring! Although, I’m not going anywhere across the world to help kids, I have plans to volunteer for a local foster care group and their awesome summer camp that they have for abused and neglected children. I can’t wait!
xoxo
Taylor
http://www.welcomehometaylor.com
cheryl
I’m so excited for you!!! It will be a great experience. I hope to do more with my church this year too — through our local justice and compassion team.
Stephanie Taylor
I’m so excited for you, Joy! I’m sure you know this, but there is a good chance you might not want to come home. This is what I’m praying for you:
“But He said to me ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9
One of the things I love about your blog the most is how you “boast about your weaknesses.” Your blog is like a breathe of fresh air, and it blesses and encourages me in so many ways. Thanks for being you, because you + God is more than enough for the work He has planned!
Megan
awesome! I work very closely in my professional life with many people from Uganda. It’s people are wonderful.
Jordan
Joy, I couldn’t have said it better myself. This is EXACTLY how I feel about 2014. I hope your trip to Uganda is amazing! What an incredible heart you have. Thanks for sharing it with all of your readers!
Emily
That’s amazing! I have been feeling inspired to show up in big ways in 2014 as well. I took a road trip late last year and caught the travel bug. I told myself that 2014 would be a year for spontaneity and traveling to places I’ve never been. I can’t wait to read about your experiences in Uganda. Safe travels.
Mary Margaret
be bold joy! I’ll be praying for you!
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”
teachersu45
My daughter spent a few weeks in Kenya over the summer of 2012. She loved every moment of it. (Except the immunizations she had to get beforehand.) She went with another nonprofit/Christian organization, The Mocha Club. (Membership is the cost of 2 mochas a month – hence the name.) We learned about them from Dave Barnes, an independent musician out of Nashville. (He wrote the song God Gave Me You that Blake Shelton later recorded.) She was able to spend time in a preschool, a high school and a vocational school run by the organization in the Kibera and Haruma Slums in Nairobi. She also spent time in a remote village outside of Nairobi where they run a project that supports orphans who have been taken in by extended family. They give the families the support they need in order to continue to care for the children.
I am excited to hear how your experience is.
Brittany K
Hooray hooray hooray!!!! So incredibly excited for you, and can’t wait to follow along next week. Thank you for sharing this on your blog! I’ve been a follower for awhile, and am so thrilled to get to know you in a new way :) Best wishes, and I’ll be praying for you and those precious people you’ll get to meet!
Elizabeth
Fly safe. feel good. share.
Caitlin
One of my favorite organizations! Can’t wait to hear all about Uganda and the wonderful things Compassion is doing there!
Whitney
Great and challenging post. How will I show up this year? Perhaps in the “small” ways since I am a new mom of a 6 month old and still adjusting. I think I will have other new moms over for lunch on a regular basis so they can get out of the house, practice getting out of the house with their little one, and be fed yummy food they might not have time to make!
Also, I know you love reading and book recommendations, have you read “Kisses From Katie”? It would be fitting as she lives in Uganda and I think she may have adopted 13 girls. Quite inspiring. She also has a blog http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com
Bri McKoy
This post was beautiful, Joy! And brave. I am excited to see what God has in store for you :) See you tomorrow, dear.
Jess Sullivan
So excited for you, Joy! I’ve partnered with a sweet girl from Rwanda through Compassion for about seven years, and I can’t wait to read about your experiences! May God bless your journey.
kimiko
You are amazing! Looking forward to seeing your adventure. I definitely feel the call to Show Up this year… Just trying to figure out what it means to me. Keep rocking your awesomeness!
Sarah Bates
Safe travels, Joy! Can’t wait to hear all about your experience.
Christy
Joy, I’m so excited for you! We just started sponsoring a kiddo this year. Our church had a huge ‘Show up’ campaign so I love your post! My word for the year is Move! Move out from the shadows, move into uncomfortable places. Show up for others. Can’t want to hear all about your journey!
Annie
Love when a blog post is unexpectedly what I need to get the day started :)
BeccaV
Safe travels and have a wonderful trip!
Joey Diana
Blessings and best wishes!
Rachel
Yeah! How awesome and exciting. Travels and the people I met completely changed my world. Enjoy and make lots of memories.
Lilli
I’m SHOWING UP by moving 2000 kilometers to Melbourne to follow my dreams as a patissier. Scary excited.
Rumi
Hey joy , have been reading (and cooking from) your blog for years and I love love love the recipes and your sense of humour! Commenting for the first time though, super impressed with what you’re doing and I’m sure you’ll pull it off in style as you do! Who’s looking after the cat in the meantime? :)
katie
what a great post to wake up to on a friday morning. i’ve been wanting great things for 2014 but so far have struggled to “show up” – i appreciate the motivational words. just the thing i need to read this am. safe travels!
scaredycatkitchen
We’re behind you all the way Joy! Awesome words.
Michelle @ A Healthy Mrs
Have an amazing trip — can’t wait to read your updates! Safe travels!
Rose
thank you so much for this encouraging post! What a great reminder of our weaknesses that can be overcome through grace. Thank you for speaking up about your beliefs!
Alessandra
…wow, what a trip down memory lane! I’ve spent five years in Africa, many countries but the first place was Bukavu (you can actually see it on your map, it’s between Rwanda, Burundi and DRCongo).
You’ll see…one week is just not enough…you’ll want to stay more, much more. It’s eye opener, and not because of poverty and under-development. It’s actually the exact opposite: happiness and resourcefulness. Eye opener because we think we have it all, but maybe we don’t…
Alessandra @ the foodie teen
did a double take when i saw your name! it’s quite unusual so i thought i had commented already, haha!
Meggie
Absolutely seconding this comment after spending time in Kenya-about wanting more time and the surprising ways eyes are opened. Have an amazing trip and thank you for being an inspiration with your words and your life!
Grace
Rock on, girl. Such a great post and such a great opportunity! Thanks for the reminder and encouragement!
http://sometimesgracefully.com
Emily
Wow! That’s an amazing way to start the year! Can’t wait to hear about it!
Sara {Home is where the Cookies Are}
Good for you!! I can’t wait to see it unfold through your eyes. What a great thing to show up for. Hugs and prayers for you on your journey. :)
Ilea
really great! oddly enough, i live in east africa (but am from san diego,ca) and am a regular reader of your blog. i started my journey here in east africa in uganda, so it holds an extra special place in my heart! i hope you have an amazing time. we live in kenya now, so if you ever find yourself here it’d be really fun to meet you! i love passing your blog around to my expat friends, we all find comfort and delight in your amazing recipes :) xo ~ilea
maria
hello joy! i’m an spanish follower of your blog, and i love it. i love all your recipes and the way you write and your photos… but this is the moment i have to reply and with my terrible english style say. GO FOR IT! i believe is my year too and i’m not going to uganda, my kids… but i believe in that change. i have too much to offer and i want to do, and i’m ready.
thank you joy to remind me this is the moment
Alex
Sounds amazing, Joy! I just started sponsoring a child this year (Ethiopia) – she is the sweetest little thing and someday I would love to go visit. Have an amazing time and take lots of pictures!!
dani
Wow! I’m sure it will be an amazing ~ maybe even life-changing ~ experience for you. I’m sure you will totally be up to whatever it takes and have enough to share with anyone who needs it. I’m in awe! Can’t wait to hear about your trip! Safe journey!
Nadine
Wow, you just wrote exactly what I was not able to put a finger on. I am going to start my PhD this year. Or more acurrately next month. And just yesterday I had this first meeting and was kinda freeking out. But you are absolutely right. I am everything I need to be and for the rest of it I do not need to care. Sometimes I need to repeat it in my head like a mantra: God WILL take care…
So, knowing I am not the only one going through a lot of SHOWING UP helps quite a bit. I wish you all the best, an open mind and a loving heart for your journey to Uganda! Nadine
Trina
That is amazing! So great that you get the opportunity to see your compassion child ( I’m assuming thats what you’re doing!) I’ve also have an African little girl ( West Africa) And would love to visit her. I know the experience will blow your socks off and you’ll return completely different. Super excited for you!