CWG member Nancy Ward believes in the Joy of the Lord. She sees it as a source of personal inspiration and motivation to be sure but more than that, as a vital, tangible force. This force, experienced in the ebb and flow of our daily lives and recognized as such, can not only change our own lives but possibly, the world around us.

“The JoyAlive blog developed from my desire to share my own struggles and victories in a more personal way than my other writing projects,” she said recently. “As a Catholic writer, website editor and now blogger, I am hosting this site to create the Joy Alive Network among readers. Here’s the twist: as we share our stories of discovering, nurturing, and experiencing the miraculous ways the Lord reveals his presence in our lives we create a network of spiritual support. The synergism of the Joy Alive Network increases our capacity for Joy. So the Joy Alive Network lives and grows through the comments, guest blogs and personal stories shared on JoyAlive.”

She’s inviting her readers to send in their own experiences of the Lord’s Joy. “Together through the Joy Alive Network we can discover and nurture that awe-inspiring Joy arising from deep within our hearts. It will overflow into our lives, our writing careers, our friendships, our families and our relationship with God. As we share our stories we share the joy of our hearts with one another,” she said.

Readers can send in a three hundred to five hundred word article describing their experiences. Longer articles are also welcome. It is in sharing these experiences that she believes a spiritual network can be created. With the telling of each story the network, comprised of the very Joy of the Lord alive in each of our lives, will grow.

Nancy Ward

Nancy Ward is a Catholic convert who earned a journalism degree, staffed the diocesan newspaper and later the Sheen Center for Evangelization. As entrepreneur of The Work Works freelance service, she wrote, edited and managed corporate, non-profit and educational projects for 20 years. She publishes her own work in numerous Catholic and secular magazines. The newsletter she created for a large Catholic covenant community evolved into GodsDelight.org. Her blog, JoyAlive.net, hosts the Joy Alive Network of spiritual support. Find her also on Catholic Moms, New Evangelizers and at the Catholic Writers Guild. She will also be attending the fourth annual Catholic Writers Guild Live Conference, August 29-31, 2012, at the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington, TX.

Annette Tenny is a regular contributor to the Catholic News Herald, the Charlotte, NC Diocesan newspaper. She has worked with middle and high school kids in sacramental preparation as well as the 'little peanuts' in Children's Church. Annette is currently discerning becoming a Secular Franciscan and plans to begin her Lay Ministry studies in the fall of 2012. She is also working on her first non-fiction book geared to those discerning or currently in the RCIA process.