Joyful Hearts
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24
Every time my husband and I have been invited into an Amish home for supper, we’ve enjoyed the light banter, joke-telling, and laughter that accompanied the meal. Our dear Amish friends are full of good humor and often look for things to laugh about.
Having grown up in a house where laughter was scarce, I find it very refreshing to be with people who like to laugh and have a good time. In fact, I often look for things to laugh about, knowing that laugher is not only good for me emotionally, but physically as well.
There are times when I might not feel like laughing, but if I remind myself to look around, there’s always something to smile about—a frisky pet, singing birds, flowers in bloom, children at play.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 17:22 that a merry heart is good medicine. Just like the birds who like to sing in my yard, our Amish friends know how to share their joy with others. A joyful heart is truly pleasing to the Lord, and it’s an added benefit to know that it’s good for me, too.
What are some ways you have found to lift your spirits and give yourself a joyful heart?
These books with scriptures help remind what we need to be doing!
Small group bible study and spending good quality time with my closest female friends! Those things always lift me when I’m down!
Mrs. Brunstetter,
First, I would like to say that I love your books. I am currently in college to obtain my creative writing degree. When I was younger I wanted to write horrors and mysteries, but after reading your books, I have changed my goal. I still write mysteries, romances, and other things, but they all have a Christian base to them.
Thank you for your inspirational writing and your unknown encouragement you have given me. You are truly a woman of God. May you always be blessed as you bless the hearts of all of your readers.
I love your books Wanda and I share them with my mom so we can discuss the books. Love reading about the Amish.
listening to music and doing uplifting biblestudies lift my spirit.
I love listening to Praise music.. It always picks me and up and puts me in a joyful mood… Blessings, Lee
My children lift me up when I am down, or even just ho hum days…. God uses them to show me simple things to smile at…. a goofy grin, an impulsive hug, a random act of kindness, a snuggle with the pooch……or pointing out the beauty in the snow outside, or a particular bird at the feeder that I otherwise was too busy to notice.
It makes me feel good to do something nice for someone even if you don’t know them. Like the other day I was in the Christian book store I asked the lady next to me that was getting ready to pay if she had a coupon to use and she didn’t so I gave her my extra one.
I love all your books and i too look for ways to help others, like giving change to the homeless when im out.
I agree, Wanda, that laughter is needed every day – I try to find humor in most everything that happens- you know, those little annoyances every day that can plague us if we don’t laugh about them!
Reading or listening to Southern Gospel music lifts my spirits. I have read several of your books, Wanda and loved all of them Thanks and God bless.
Aside from spending time with God in prayer, I find that cooking and baking help me find my joy and peace. We have five kids in the house ranging in ages 9 through 19. Having everyone gathered around the table is one of our best moments of the day. I know that each day is a blessing, and that someday I will miss the times around the table. I never want to take those moments for granted. I look forward to reading a novel of yours someday soon! So far, I am enjoying your website and thoughts.
Going for a walk and playing with the grandkids. You never know what is going to come out of their mouth! LOVE your books.
Oh how good sound speech can be to lift the heart. I have plain amish friends as well. All the kids smiles and joviel moods are a wonderful thing.
Blessings
Linda Finn
Psalm 118:24 is one of my Absolutey favorite verses! I love your books I haven’t been much of a reader but a few months ago my friend Amber introduced me to you brooks and I’m in love! Thank you for putting the salvation message in soapy of your novels
We love your books and were fortunate to get to meet you in Bedford, Indiana at the Lighthouse in 2009. We always look forward to your newest book.
I just finished reading 3 of your books. They really lift me up!
I so enjoy all your books. I am so thankful that you chose to use the gift God gave you to share with others. Keep the books coming!
I love your books, my youngest daughter goes to sleep to your books also. We both like your books. I like reading about the Amish.
Reading your books always lifts my spirits. Taking care of my grandsons, Justin (11 yo) & Brenden (18 mo), also gives me great joy! I have been so blessed to be able to move close to my daughter & watch the boys while she works. I love the spring time & listening to the birds singing & the beautiful breeze as it freshens my home. God’s blessings are so awesome! Thanks for the gift of your writing to us, the readers! Your Amish books are the first of the genre that I ever read and I enjoy them so very much!
I have read all of your books, and have enjoyed everyone of them. I cant wait for the next ones to come out. You are an A+ author in my book. Keep on writing.
I agree, laughter is a great way to lift your spirits! I also enjoy reading books and listening to some good music! 🙂
The best way I find to lift my spirits when Iam down is to sing unto the Lord
singing seems to change my who attitude , so I put in a good CD and sing away
singing Praise to the Lord 🙂
I love Your Books !
Doreen
A Merry Heart it indeed good medicine and it also take less muscles to smile than to frown 😉
I appreciate all it takes for you to keep your reading fans happy with your wonderful books!
Hi Wanda,
I so enjoyed the Silence of Winter, but cant wait for the next one. What is happening to Luke?? We have a little dog, Sealy is her name. She is a Min P oodle, cafe color. someone dropped her in front of our home 4 yrs ago. I had prayed for 3 months for a little dog and God heard my prayers and answered with Sealy. She makes me laugh every day with her little antics. she is so loving also. I love your books Wanda. I believe I have every one. God Bless you.
Nancy
Wanda,
Going for a walk in the woods always lifts my spirits and gives me a joyful heart.
Michelle
Hi Wanda,
My mother and I love your books we find the Amish stories very interesting and can’t wait until the next book comes out. We enjoy laughter and helping those who need our help. I have a friend who is legally blind and can not drive any more and I take her to her Doctors appointments and even when she needs to go shopping. I love to drive and was a school bus driver for 19 1/2 years and now since I no longer drive school bus I feel God would like me to use my driving to help others.
I look for things every day to make me laugh. I work with kids every day. There is always something that makes me smile. I try to find ways to make others smile and laugh. Laughter is good for me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Laughter is good for the soul! Just take a look around people are funny! God has a good sense of humor!
I love looking at pictures of my sons, now 30 yrs. Old and 28 yrs. Old. I now have a 9mo. Old granddaughter. I have loved my life being “Mom”. And now I’m NeNa to my little Norah Grace.My daughter-in-law, Arysta has embraced being “Mommie”. I’ve made mistakes, but, with the Lord’s help I tried to learn from them. My children will always have my love and concern until the day they lay me to rest. They bring warmth to my heart, make me laugh, and certainly supply me with happiness and joy that nothing else can. My dear husband ,that was my high school sweetheart, has been the greatest father, and I am so grateful to God for letting us have a wonderful life together, and raising the joys of our lives.
Hello Wanda. Wish I had some Amish friends. I love to read your books, and other Amish books. They make me laugh many times, altho can also make me cry at times. It makes me happy every time I can get one. I laugh alot when I can be with my large family. Especially at family gatherings. Someone always saying something funny, or doing. And, I can’t help but laugh at my many little ones(greats). We will all be together again at Easter. Hoping all will stay well. There is a lot to come. 4 kids and 2 spouses and 2 with spouses in OK. that can’t come., 9 grandkids and 3 in OK. that can’t come), some with spouses, and a bunch of greats. We have 3 babies born in 2012 from May to Oct.
So, much happening to make laughter. Also, laughter when my girls come for sleep-overs. Also, when we have gatherings at church, and especially on game day, I really laugh a lot. Then, when no-one is here, I have my FB and so many comments to make me laugh. When I think of all of the blessings GOD has put in my family, including 7 siblings and families., it raises my Spirit. I would sure love to win these two books. Maxie Anderson Oh my, I forgot this was to be in an email. So have to have a do-over. 🙂
Wanda I absolutely love your books! I love helping out at the Lutheran School my twin daughters go to. The best part is seeing the closeness in the families and between the staff that is so similar in your books!
Thank You for your wonderful stories! I so enjoy reading about families, and their lives. Simply Plain and loving people.
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24
I try to live this everyday, even though days and nights are often very painful. God has been great to me and never do I forget his many wonderful blessings. With seven grown kids of my own and 6 step kids and 26 grandkids and 2 on the way… a blessing is always around the corner! Many family member, many friends equal so many blessings.
My children bring me so much joy! They make me laugh all the time. A long time ago I had to learn to listen to my children – really listen to them. Life can be so busy and demanding, but if you just sit back and listen for a few minutes you will be amazed. For instance, we have a mama cat and kittens in the house right now and my son Cory say’s today, “Why does the mama cat clean her kittens with her tounge?” And I say, “that;s the way they bathe themselves and the kittens can’t do it alone yet, so there mom is giving them a bath. Cory said, “yeah but she is using her tounge – that’s nasty.” I laughed so hard. These are the moments that you can’t miss in life.
Love your books! I think you are so blessed to be friends with the Amish people you know to being able to enjoy their simple lifestyle. Which I think we could all learn from the Amish people.
That’s why I love your books….laughter and a spiritual uplift.
I have a four year old and a seven year old grandsons. When I need a laugh all I have to do is listen to them or see some of the antics they are doing.
After searching for months for my ancestors I have found that I have had some Amish connections in past generations. My grandmother used to talk about our family being “Pennsylvania Dutch”, which I have been told is ether the same as Amish of very close. Perhaps this could explain why I am so drawn to this way of life. Thank you, Wanda for sharing your stories with us. It is so nice to escape reality and find myself immersed in the life of an Amish family.
I love to sing hymns to uplift myself and when I shop or meet someone on the street I smile and tell them hello and to have a blessed day.
This is so inspiring! What gives me the most joy is reading your wonderful books and enjoying spending time with my parents and church family! I’m 16 and I feel as though my values are much more different than other teenagers and it gives me alot of joy to spend time with mom and dad and I don’t feel like I need alot of friends or a boy friend to make me happy! I have God, my family,and church family. Who could bring me more joy then them! <3
Joy comes from the inside and we can truly have joy even if everything around us is falling apart. Just having Jesus as Savior and knowing the Holy Spirit is inside our hearts brings joy unspeakable. I am a fairly new “MeMe” with my grandchildren being 2 1/2 and 9 months. My husband and I get to keep them during the day while their parents are at work and I just love seeing my granddaughter (the 2 1/2 year old) get excited about the simplest of things that we as adults take for granted.
enjoyed reading your journal….would love to win your 2 new books.
All I have to do is spend some time with my grandson’s who are 20 and 9. They make me smile just looking at them and they are both so funny; witty with a great sense of humor. They bring such joy to my life and I thank God always for the gift of these two wonderful young men!
Wanda… From the time I was 18 months old until the eve of my 7th birthday Iived with my Nana. She was a Christian Irish woman who, although very poor, knew how to cook to stretch a dollar. She sewed at her old treddle sewing machine and sang whilst she did so, even though she couldn’t carry a tune in a pail! We would enjoy afternoon tea time, with tea served tea from a chipped pot and served with crackers and jam. But mostly she taught me how to love!! My life was thereafter filled with much heartache and hardships. Now I have been blessed with a wonderful Granddaughter. My son named her Emma because of my love of the Amish. We sing, we sew and we have tea parties with plenty of laughter, and I pray that one day she too will be a Nana and will have learned how to laugh whilst singing, sewing and enjoying tea parties with her grandchild!! We both read your books and thank you for being so special!!
What helps lifts my spirits are praying, and listening to Christian music like Klove and The Fish. I enjoy reading, before listenig to music.
Wanda, I have most of your books, all except the new ones. I met you at the Holmes County Flea Market and you are such a wonderful person. I hope to see you tomorrow here in Sarasota. We’ll be here 2 more weeks then I’ll go home to have the newer books that should be there by that time. You are a very inspirational person and the Lord knows how to help you share it with all of us. Love your stories!
Things I do that help lift my spirits is help others in need from helping at my church, crocheting afghans, to helping out at my children’s school. Anything I can do for others is always the best medicine, even if I sacrifice something of mine to make sure others have.
I am joyful and so excited…. in 52 days we are travelling from one side of the world to another. Yes, my husband and I are coming to Ohio, USA for an entire month – just by ourselves!! After raising 5 children to adulthood, and now raising two Grand daughters (11 & 12 years old now) we are placing the two ‘little’ gilrs as we call them into the boarding house at their school and travelling to Ohio.
We brought the girls there last year, and just loved the peace, tranquility and lifestyle so much – we are wanting the lifestyle for our family so much, that we have decided to come over, invesigate and explore and look at the possiblilty of finding a new home!!
Exciting – Yes….. Happy – Yes ….. Nervous and Anxious – Yes, (just a little) but with the Lord beside us and prayers from the Walnut Creek Mennonite Church we know it shall be wonderful.
Where do you live now? Ohio is a wonderful place to live. We’ve been here for 29+ years. Before that it was in Kentucky that we made our home. I’m a former Canadian who married a man from Kentucky. Love it here but took a while to get used to it. I have realatives from England and love hearing from them.
I love your books. I think of the many blessing the Lord has given me. A house, car, a good Christian husband, a family, so many that I can’t count.
I have to say I love your books. I love reading about Amish. When I’m reading sometimes I can’t put the book down. These books with scriptures help remind what I should do and something to think about. I love hearing the birds singing, flowers in bloom and warm sunshine that makes me smile. 🙂
Dear Wanda,
I love a good sense of humor in folks and I love to laugh!! 😀 The comedian in my family is our 23 year old son Isaiah. Oh how he can make us all laugh! It proves for a good time at the dinner table! lol it’s good for the digestion too! 😀
In Christ, Donna
Good music and devotionals are very uplifting to me. I also enjoy listening to preaching on YouTube or from my old church’s website. I do enjoy your books!
I’ve found giving something I have made to others lifts my spirit and touches my heart when I see how apprecitive they are knowing it was made especially for them.
Reading scripture and/or listen to Christian music.
Wanda I love your books! I had the privilege of meeting you & Richard last year in Holmes Cty. on a tour. It was a wondeful time and a day I shall always remember. I enjoyed all the stories you both shared with us, and hope to see you again!
My day doesn’t go right unless I start it by spending time with God in my devotions and prayer. When God speaks to us through his word it brings peace and happiness. I try to thank God for my everyday blessings that I often take for granted. Like water or electricity. I pick one thing each day and dwell on that one thing though out the day.
I have a brother that has a great sence of humor and just to get email from him can often have me laughing out loud. I enjoy times spent with my husband of 44 years. Time spent with friends and family. To settle back with a good book is a time of pleasant relaxation. Especially if it happens to be a Wonda Brunstetter book.
There are so many things that can bring joy to the heart if we will just let ourselves see the moments. Psalm 118 :24 is one of my most favorite Bible verses.
Nothing makes me more joyful and full of smiles is when I put on Praise and Worship music. My heart at times feels like it is bursting with Joy. I also feel very happy and joyful when my hubby walks in the door from a hard day at work. I know he works hard for me.
Blessings!
Judy B
Getting together with family and friends for fellowship is one thing that always greatly lifts my spirit. I also enjoy being outside and am constantly amazed with God’s creation. I try to be a thankful person too. Thank you Wanda for sharing your gift of writing.
My twin sister got me started reading your books, and now I am hooked on them! I have had numerous surgeries this past year and through your books, I have found myself closer to GOD and remembering the night I accepted as my SAVIOR and LORD! I am so thankful for you and your ability to bring life to your books. When I read them, I feel like I am right there, and can’t put the books down! My sister has been helping me collect ALL of your books because I want to share them with friends and family knowing they will comfort them as they have me. Most of my collection are used books. Now I have an iPod, so I will hopefully fill my library with your books! I pray you keep writing for many more years. GOD BLESS YOU and THANK YOU for sharing your gift of writing with so many of us. I hope that some readers find the LORD when they read them, WANDA, YOU ARE A BLESSING FROM ABOVE!!!
Mrs. Brunstetter,
Your books have helped me through a lot of hard times in my life. I would always bring one of your books with me to the hospitals when my son or husband was battling cancer. I was never much of a reader before my son was diagnosed with cancer 5 years ago. Now I love reading your books and any other inspirational books I can get my hands on. It really helps pass the time and take my mind off of what was going on. My son was just listed as cured of cancer. My husband is currently off treatment waiting for test to let us know if his cancer is gone or not. My husband was first diagnosed with cancer almost 4 years ago for the first time. Since then he has been diagnosed 4 times but we have never lost our faith that God has put us on this path for a reason and someday will know why until then we just keep pushing on.
I would like to thank you if it wasn’t for your books I don’t think I would have gotten through some of the really hard days.
There are alot of days when I feel like I don’t have alot of things to smile or laugh about. I am going through many health problems right now, and have been for the past 8 years, but when I get down and depressed, I can look around at all my grandchildren, my children and the many blessings I have sometimes taken for granted… When I wanna be alone, I can Always pick up one if your books , even if I have done read it . It totally changes my heart and mood! You were blessed with a gift of writing, but not only that ministering throughout your books! I love all of your books! Would also like to add, I love reading about the Amish, their simple way of life, too bad our works is so focused in on the fast paced world around them today …… The simpler times, the beliefs, the caring , etc of the Amish sounds so nice to me:))
Greetings from Los angeles! I’m bored at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break. I love the information you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
I’m surprised at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .
. Anyways, very good blog!
I really enjoy your books. I have read everyone, but the new ones coming out and your children’s books. Each story intrigues me . I enjoy the scripture, when I got ” A Erry Heart” I was just learning that scripture. I felt God was reinforcing it to me. Keep the books coming, love them.