Joyful Life | Marnie Hammar

Joyful Life Magazine

The Joyful Life Magazine posts inspiring devotions on Instagram (@joyfullifemagazine) and encouraging essays on their blog written by a team of gifted writers I admire and adore. I am deeply honored to be on the Blog Contributor Team and the Devotion Writer Team, and have linked those writings here.

Riding the Waves of Raising Boys: How to Stop Being Controlling as a Mom

Sep 15

Riding the Waves of Raising Boys: How to Stop Being Controlling as a Mom

[Featured on The Joyful Life Magazine blog] I was sitting on my hospital bed, still wearing those blue hospital socks with the grippy...

Lessons from the Shepherd About the Rod and Staff

May 6

Lessons from the Shepherd About the Rod and Staff

All those years in church, all those sermons on Psalm 23, and I still never got it.⁠ ⁠ Somewhere along the way, when I read, “Your rod...

The Ministry of Too Many Fish

Apr 5

The Ministry of Too Many Fish

Jesus knew how to make a scene, didn’t He?⁠ ⁠ He’s sitting in Peter’s boat, just finished with teaching a crowd on the beach, when He...

For Those Days When Faith Feels Naive

Feb 22

For Those Days When Faith Feels Naive

There are days when my faith feels naive. Days when the tragedy and darkness of this world feel more real than my citizenship in His...

Chasing Winter's Sun

Jan 16

Chasing Winter's Sun

In winter, I play a little game in my house. It’s a secret game—one that I didn’t even know I played until recently. It’s called: “Wander...

The Weary World Rejoices

Dec 22, 2020

The Weary World Rejoices

My rush to pull out the ornaments and set up the tree and string the lights isn’t actually rooted in holiday cheer this year. The allure...

God's Answers in My "Why's"

Dec 10, 2020

God's Answers in My "Why's"

I was on my knees again over one of those confusing, painful situations that just hasn’t resolved. I was asking God, again, why He had...

The "Happy Jesus" Guy in the Chicago Loop

Nov 17, 2020

The "Happy Jesus" Guy in the Chicago Loop

My first fancy job required a daily train ride into downtown Chicago. On Fridays, as I joined the throng emerging from the train station,...

Learning Resolve from Fallen Leaves

Nov 9, 2020

Learning Resolve from Fallen Leaves

My footsteps cracked acorns as I came up the hill. The morning light highlighted the greens and reds and golds ahead of me.⁠ ⁠ I delight...

The Way Out of My Mess

Oct 20, 2020

The Way Out of My Mess

I used to hate the question, “Have you prayed about it?” Because when people would ask me that, most likely, I hadn’t. I loved Jesus, but...

On Needing an Untamed God

Oct 2, 2020

On Needing an Untamed God

I used to want a “tame” version of God. My love for checkboxes and predictability and control was drawn to the parts of God that I could...

Am I Doing This For God or With God?

Sep 25, 2020

Am I Doing This For God or With God?

I was camped out in the ER with a teenage boy who did not belong to me. During a flag football game gone wrong at the senior high...

The Sweetness that Comes When We Taste and See

Sep 8, 2020

The Sweetness that Comes When We Taste and See

For years, I’ve stared down pineapples at the grocery store, telling them that I’d enjoy them more if they’d just be a bit, you know,...

On Flourishing and Forcing

Aug 24, 2020

On Flourishing and Forcing

Late last summer, we planted a new hedge. Well, bushes that would grow together to form a sort of hedge-type thing, anyway. For almost a...

Finding Peace Even in Shifting Sands

Aug 20, 2020

Finding Peace Even in Shifting Sands

I never thought I would buy face masks at Old Navy. Or sneak a side-eye at the current supply of toilet paper at Target. Or gravitate...

The Hope of Happy Endings

Aug 11, 2020

The Hope of Happy Endings

When I was a child, one of my favorite books had a hardbound gray linen cover with embossed gold lettering. Inside, bound in between the...

On the Legacy We Leave

Jul 28, 2020

On the Legacy We Leave

This year, when we piled everything into the car for our vacation, we added all five sets of golf clubs. As much as I don’t love how much...

God's Work When Goals Sit Dormant

Jul 10, 2020

God's Work When Goals Sit Dormant

It’s been sitting there since March, its teal linen cover collecting dust, and its spiral-bound, tabbed pages stuck in the past. Every...

The Ministry of the Ordinary

Jul 2, 2020

The Ministry of the Ordinary

I feel it slipping away. Like an unstoppable tide, I see reopening arriving, and I fear what it will take with it as it rolls back out....

The Little Big Things We Share

Jun 3, 2020

The Little Big Things We Share

I walked into my office and found a yellow sticky note with a tiny penciled apology from my nine-year-old. During “school” at home that...

Let Me Take and Eat

May 30, 2020

Let Me Take and Eat

Every day they come, this family of deer that lives in the woods behind my very suburban house. They live in a small, narrow strip of...

The Beauty Inside This Chrysalis

May 19, 2020

The Beauty Inside This Chrysalis

As I look out the window—the view from which has become a gift—and see the sidewalks that connect to the places I remember, I feel torn....

On Longing and Abiding

May 19, 2020

On Longing and Abiding

[This post was featured over at The Joyful Life Magazine on May 15, 2020.] A year ago, my husband and I looked at each other over our...

On Being Overtaken

Apr 18, 2020

On Being Overtaken

For this suburb dweller, the winding country roads I drove offered refreshing contrast to my side-walked, manicured normal, with their...

Lessons from Not Liking Birds

Apr 16, 2020

Lessons from Not Liking Birds

I don’t like birds. ⁠⠀ ⁠⠀ It’s a whole long tale that goes back to when I was 5 and there was a crow stuck under a bucket in my sandbox....

Still He Commands the Sun

Apr 5, 2020

Still He Commands the Sun

I slowly walked through my local grocery store. After seeing that the toilet paper aisle was empty, I filled my cart with an attempt at...

Reclaimed, Not Perfect

Mar 31, 2020

Reclaimed, Not Perfect

When we chose the worn table that sits in our kitchen for sharing our family meals, we chose weathered barnwood beams that had lived a...

A Softer Way for Wounds

Mar 22, 2020

A Softer Way for Wounds

We stood at the kitchen island cutting vegetables for dinner when I looked down at my youngest’s hand and saw a weird, gray spot. I asked...

Throwing Darts, Receiving Grace

Mar 15, 2020

Throwing Darts, Receiving Grace

My middle son and his friend were playing in the basement, throwing darts and larger objects that should not be thrown—like plastic...

On Measuring Ourselves

Mar 5, 2020

On Measuring Ourselves

As I round the corner, I see my youngest holding a pencil and a cloth tape measure. He is leaning up against the molding that marks the...

The Beauty in our Winters

Feb 3, 2020

The Beauty in our Winters

It was winter when my grandfather died. As I prepared my heart for that goodbye, I bundled up for a brisk afternoon walk in the woods....

Shiny Shoes are Should's

Jan 20, 2020

Shiny Shoes are Should's

I remember those shoes. They were glossy white, patent leather, with straps that slipped into tiny buckles adorned with sparkly...

His Majesty for Just Me?

Jan 13, 2020

His Majesty for Just Me?

I felt like a little kid when, on a recent flight from Ohio to California, I snagged a window seat. I’d look out and pretend that I knew...

Oh, Come Let Us Adore Him

Dec 12, 2019

Oh, Come Let Us Adore Him

I stayed up late again to watch a Hallmark Christmas movie, ignoring the pile of dishes that had crawled from the sink to the counters....

Lift Your Gaze

Dec 5, 2019

Lift Your Gaze

As the number that is my age climbs higher, the number of times that I can go around in circles sinks lower. So when we went on a fall...

Looking in the Right Place

Nov 21, 2019

Looking in the Right Place

"Navy blue soccer sock, we know there are eight of you in this house, and yet, you have succeeded in eluding our search efforts once...

Walking in His Light

Oct 8, 2019

Walking in His Light

As my kids packed their backpacks for school, I snatched a glance out my dining room window. The sunlight was just peeking over the...

Faith or Fear?

Oct 7, 2019

Faith or Fear?

As I sat on my deck, a robin foraged noisily through a wet pile of leaves in my yard, pulling my attention away from my heavy thoughts....

The Appearance of Growth

Sep 29, 2019

The Appearance of Growth

I bought these adorable, low maintenance succulents that look so uniform that they appear artificial. As they took their place on the...

Splinters & Stillness

Sep 24, 2019

Splinters & Stillness

My eight-year-old son sits next to the bathtub, his left foot resting on the edge, sobbing, “I hate my life.” We’re on day four of...

Spiritually Dry Summer? Choosing Delight Over Checklists

Jun 7, 2019

Spiritually Dry Summer? Choosing Delight Over Checklists

Maybe this summer will be different. Maybe this time summer will be filled with long, glorious days of sticky s’mores and campfires and...