For those who have followed me here since 2017, you’ve watched my journey as I’ve endeavored to follow God’s call to let JOY loose around me and build a joyful life.
It started with this blog, when all I had was that phrase and a ton of questions about how someone who felt so joyless could ever let joy loose.
So I studied and prayed and wrote, over and over again, as the Lord ministered to my own soul.
Some things already made sense to me
I could see how my church ministry let joy loose. That made sense. And in a growing way, my blog made sense too. I read your comments, and had lots of behind-the-scenes conversations with readers about how my words were helping them build a joyful life. I was so thankful.
And when I began to get my own physical and emotional wellness on track in 2018, I knew I wanted to widen my perspective in order to help women with their physical and emotional wellness too, in addition to their spiritual wellness. After all, we are holistic beings. When one aspect of our wellness suffers, so do the rest. All contribute together to a joyful life.
Wellness with Young Living
So you watched me launch my Brand Partner business with Young Living, however clumsily. But the joy that grew in my own life as I was privy to hundreds of women and families getting healthier by making simple and intentional shifts to plant-based products truly delighted my soul.
And when I began to mentor other women to build their businesses with Young Living, and to see how encouraged they were to be able to provide income for their families in a season of economic uncertainty, I exploded with purpose myself. Not only were these women healthier in their bodies, their minds, and their spirits, but now they had begun to find fulfillment in their own purpose too. Joyful life was spreading.
Faith-based Life Coach for Women
In 2020, I accepted the Lord’s prompting to increase my influence by training to be certified as a Life Coach.
This began for me during a season of difficulty in my own family, as we faced the pandemic and watched my sweet mother deteriorate and then pass away from cancer. She had left a beautiful legacy. And I wanted to do the same.
Joy was my lifeline. And the network I’d been building over the years literally held me together at points.
The coaching certification gave me training and greater confidence to be able to come alongside other women facing uncertainty, unhealthy habits, chaos and overwhelm, and big decisions. They needed a champion and an advocate to help them think with clarity, learn to say “no”, and get the courage to say “yes” as we unlocked their unique radiance and purpose in this world.
I could not do it any other way than to be a faith-based Life Coach for women. Nothing else made sense with my understanding of God’s call to a joyful life.
It’s all one thing: Joy
It’s clear to me how God has brought all of these paths of mine under one umbrella, JOY.
Writing
Ministry
Business with Young Living
Life Coaching
I do it all with incredible gratitude to God for the way He called me and rescued me for joy.
And so ElizabethRhyno.com is born to be that umbrella, where you’ll especially find me writing and steering you toward Life Coaching so that your joyful life can explode too.
May I please continue to help you build a joyful life?
If I’ve helped and encouraged you with my writing or my worship leading, then I pray you’ll also trust me to help you with Young Living and with Life Coaching.
It’s all one thing to me. It’s ALL about your joy.
I live to let joy loose in the women around me by helping them discover holistic wellness, find their unique purpose, and redesign their lives to live it out.
Why is it that some people seem so focused and purposeful, and that I feel so chaotic and overwhelmed? If I hire a life coach, how would it help me live with greater purpose?
I used to think that to hire a Life Coach was a dumb idea. Why in the world would I spend money to get someone to tell me how to do my life? “I am decent at living – don’t really need help with that, thank you very much.” Ha!
Well, hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it?
At some point along the way, sitting in the middle of a fog of depression, lack of motivation and clarity, I realized I probably could have used help sooner.
How did I even get here?
Well, my pride had gotten the best of me, making me think I could figure out my life and purpose on my own. I didn’t want anyone’s help.
Looking in the rearview mirror, I see that I missed the clues that could have shown me it was a good idea to hire a Life Coach.
Do you see any of these clues? Friend, don’t ignore them like I did, ok?
1. You always answer the question, “How are you?” with “Sooo busy!”
Ooff. Anyone else realize how much we idolize busyness? Like full agendas and breathlessness are virtues or something. Almost like if we aren’t over-scheduled, we’re not doing it right.
When was the last time you looked at your calendar from a position of peace, and not from a place of perpetuity or pandemonium? (Do you like all the alliterations?)
Friend, ask yourself these honest questions:
Is there a void you are trying to fill with your busyness?
Are you afraid of quietness?
What exactly do you think that busyness says about you?
Get curious about those.
2. You live in a state of chaos or overwhelm
This relates to #1, but it’s not entirely the same. Chaos and overwhelm are regular companions.
Chaos: a state in which everything is out of order
Overwhelm: incapacitating emotional or mental stress
Do either (or both) of those sound familiar? Things out of order & disorganized? The inability to move because everything is tooo stressful?
This is not how you were created to live, friend. This does not reflect the peace and the joy that Christ offers to us in this life.
Your life coach can ask gentle, hard questions to help you to uncover what’s behind these things, and point you in a healthy direction forward. We don’t need to live in fight, freeze, or flight mode.
3. You can’t articulate your personal mission statement
You’re not alone in this one. I’ve actually found that far more businesses than individuals can articulate a mission statement.
A mission statement actually points us out of chaos. It helps us align our direction with our values. Developing one is honestly one of the most clarifying tools I have found in building a life of joy and purpose.
4. You feel like you’ve lost yourself in motherhood
Mamas. Motherhood is a beautiful gift. And with the number of friends I know who yearn for the opportunity, I sometimes struggle to call moms out of the crowd for fear of hurting someone else.
But mamas – we know that motherhood is a gift, and also so hard. And it’s so easy to get lost in the busyness and the mundane day-in-day-out of it. And when multiple kiddos rule our every moment, we sometimes forget to function as unique individuals. We can’t think, we can’t stay rested or tidy, and the goal of keeping everyone alive and fed so easily takes over every other thing.
It also often lures us into escape mode, which is definitely not ideal.
Because God created us even before He created our kids. And we have unique passions, gifts, and skills that are not only meant for our families, but for people outside of our families as well. We are made for community, and we have special roles to play in the community to bless others, and for advancement of the Kingdom.
If we limit ourselves to just our homes for the period of 18-25 years or so that we have our brood growing under our roofs, we will easily lose sight of the impact we can simultaneously have on people outside of our homes.
(PS This is not a SAHM vs Working Mom convo. This is a purposeful woman convo – and purposeful women can work outside the home or stay at home. It comes down to living with intentionality into the specific thing God calls us to.)
You just don’t have to put it off until the kids are grown.
5. You want to discover your unique radiance in the world
This relates closely to #4, but is definitely not only for moms.
Maybe you aren’t even sure what your unique value-add in the world would be. You haven’t necessarily clarified for yourself what it is about you that makes you you. You aren’t sure what it is that you could do, or how you could live on purpose to make a difference in someone else’s life. You have a sense that there is more, but you’re not sure what it is
A Life Coach is uniquely called and qualified to help you uncover these things about yourself so you can be set loose to radiate.
6. When you imagine yourself in 2, 5, or 10 years, the picture is fuzzy
Oh gosh, friend! We are invited to dream with clarity, with imagination, with vivid color! Our God is so creative. And if we are made in His image (spoiler alert: we ARE) then that means we get to dream about our future and joyfully plan for it; Not obscure, vague dreams, but clear, on-purpose ones.
If you aren’t sure how to give yourself this kind of permission, it’s time to hire a life coach who can really help you get out of your head and into the world!
7. You really would love to redesign your life and vocation to be something you love, but you have no idea how.
You know those people who seem to thrive at life? Or who seem to be able to create the exact life that they want to live, blending vocation seamlessly with passion?
Maybe they are working from home or on the road, and it never seems like “work”.
Maybe they are visiting lots of fantastic places.
Maybe they are having a crazy meaningful impact on people, doing what really makes them thrive, and makes the people around them light up.
–> How do you think they got to build that kind of life? Not accidentally, I assure you.
Instead, they decided that their future self was worth investing in now.
They decided that fear and insecurity weren’t going keep them stuck anymore in a place of discontentment.
They got brave, challenged their uncertainties, became creative about resources, and dove in.
(And they aren’t looking back, are they?)
That kind of confident, vibrant, meaningful living isn’t just for a select few – in fact, I believe it’s really the way we are intended to live. God created us to be masterpieces, and He created good works for us to do.
With such a kind, vibrant, colorful, imaginative, and abundant God, I just can’t see that He meant for us to live in gray monotony. It doesn’t fit His character.
BONUS reason: You are at a point of transition in life, and transition feels scary.
You know what? Transition doesn’t have to be scary. It can actually be a thrilling gateway to something new.
But it does take wisdom and care to proceed. And it often takes another perspective to help us see past our blind spots. It takes the nudging and confidence boosting from a third party (or even a couple of third parties) to help us quell the limitations and do. the. thing.
Life Coaching and Purpose
I became a Life Coach because I truly believe that we are made to thrive at life, and that a purposeful, colorful life now is possible as we build a joyful & lasting legacy.
I love to come alongside women to ask the questions and help them move from chaos and overwhelm into simplicity and insane purpose.
I love to help women create the calendar that makes them light up, do the things that they love that most fully radiate who God created them to be.
If you are curious at all about what it would look like for you to get brave now to invest in your soon-to-be future self and hire a life coach, man alive, I’d LOVE to dream about that with you!
I’m easy to find right here, and it would be my JOY to talk about this with you!
When you choose to show up in another person’s life, you may leave a forever imprint.
You showing up lets joy loose. So where are you showing up today?
Building legacy
This gentleman, Othillo, was an immigrant into Canada from the Czech Republic. He became a close friend of my parents’ back in the early 1970’s.
He and his wife didn’t have children, but they treated my older sister and me like their own.
Showing up with joy
Othillo had endless jokes, laughter, energy, and the kind of creativity we absolutely thrived upon. He told stories, built us forts, laid hopscotch down on his carpet with painter’s tape, and could incorporate chocolate milk into breakfast like nobody else.
The wheelbarrow game was one of our favorites, and his desire to let joy loose in us imprinted me deeply.
This film was recorded about 43 years ago and Othillo’s joy still echoes in me.
Showing up with legacy
It’s part of what I remember as I answer the call to let joy loose around me.
Let joy loose.
Live your legacy on purpose.
Tell me in the comments: Where are you showing up today?
I felt that choosing to do things that brought me joy was frivolous. Also selfish.
I believed that real value was found in hard work, so there wasn’t really room for play time. I didn’t know how important it was to build joy. How sad!
Find the Lie
I’m going to go ahead and be super honest with you here that I STILL wrestle with this lie from time to time. That joyful things need to be held off until after the hard stuff is done. Like I need to earn joy.
I. KNOW. The one who’s always talking about letting joy loose is on the joy struggle bus sometimes.
It’s almost like something wants to hold me back from living out my purpose…Go figure.
Replace it with Truth
Let me tell you what I tell myself when the struggle rises up:
Elizabeth, Jesus came so that your joy would be complete (John 15:11).
Today is a day that God made for you, so go ahead and rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24) because He is your glory and your joy. (1 Thess. 2:20)
And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope (Rom 15:13).
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice. (Phil 4:4)
Why are you so downcast, O my Soul?
Another way to get in the habit of joy-building is to regularly journal your gratitude. Grateful souls tend to be joyful souls. Developing a rhythm of gratitude each morning sets us up to see our moments through the day with a better perspective, in in general to grow in increasing joy.
There is something so uplifting about speaking Scripture over your own downcast soul. Joy is such a good medicine (Proverbs 17:22) The Bible is alive and active and has the power to uplift even the saddest or most weary hearts. And when these words of truth and gratitude breathe joy back into my bones, it frees me up to step more fully into the life-giving things around me that fuel my enjoyment and express my God-wired purpose even more.
Do more things that bring you joy!
Next time you are discouraged, or overwhelmed by the hard, why don’t you give one of those methods a try too? Jesus desires for us to be full of His joy, and to do more things that bring us joy!
Tell me in the comments: What do you to increase your joy??
My struggle with mental health after my babies were born stayed silent because I was afraid to ask for help. Honestly, I thought this was just how I was so I needed to live with it.
But the seething postpartum rage was like volatile lava under the surface that had the potential to announce its destruction at any moment. Add in the mind mess of complete inadequacy as a mother and the pressure to “have enough faith in Jesus”, and it was a recipe for disaster.
It’s ok to have Jesus and a Therapist
It’s ok to have Jesus and a therapist
Mama, I’m sporting a sweatshirt today that says “It’s ok to have Jesus and a Therapist.” (Thank you, Grace Story Ministries!)
For a long time I bought the lie that a good Christian wouldn’t need any counsel outside of God Himself. That any uncertainty, emotional turmoil, or mind mess pointed only to an insufficiency of faith, and meant I needed to pray harder.
That assessment and advice are flawed human constructs and are in opposition to God’s design for us to be in community.
God Uses People
Friend, very often, the Lord actually brings healing through another person He has called and equipped with resources to help: a therapist, a doctor, a friend, a mentor, a pastor, a teacher, a wellness advocate, a coach.
He invites us to vulnerability, where we seek help from someone else.
And He invites us to open our eyes to see who He’s already placed in our lives.
In fact, He simultaneously infuses us with the wisdom, experience, and resources someone else needs on their own healing journey too.
He brings life through us even as He brings life to us. Which means I don’t need to have it all together. Or to pretend like I do. It simply rests as an invitation into connection with Him and with others.
My own journey with my emotions, thoughts, and physical health has actually opened me up to community and to purpose in a way I couldn’t have predicted.
What about you?
I wonder what will happen for you as you step into vulnerability, and lay hold of the help that’s around you in the people God has placed in your life?
Check this blog post I wrote a few years back:
God brought it back to my remembrance today. And I celebrate what He is birthing now out of that difficult season.
