love – Joy Skarka

Joy & Zack’s Love Story

/ Love, Marriage, Your Story / 3 Comments

If you’ve wondered where I’ve been these last few months, I was planning a wedding and marrying this godly man! Now, I’m trying to figure out how to manage work, blogging, seminary, friends and family. My heart continues to desire for women to find freedom in Christ, thus the blog will continue.

My dear blogging friends, I wanted to share with you two videos. The first video is our personal testimonies and our love story and the second is from our wedding. Enjoy!

Thank you for all your support in this journey. God gets all the glory. I will continue writing for Him and for you, my readers.

Love,

For the College Freshman Girl Who Was Raped

/ College, Healing, Rape, Sexual Abuse / Comments Off

I’ve been there. I was a college freshman who was lost searching for what would give me an identity. What would give me hope. What would make me feel loved. As a college student, one desires to fit in and find her place and to meet a guy.

At least, that is what I wanted. (more…)

Why Jesus Is More Satisfying than Dating

/ Christian Dating, How to Know God Personally, Love, Relationship with Jesus, Singleness & Dating / Comments Off

As a 15 year old girl, I thought I loved him. He was the first boy I held hands with, my first kiss and my first boyfriend. As a high school girl, I dreamed of being together forever. Every night we would talk on the phone for hours, giggling about our days and never running out of things to talk about. He knew more about me than anyone else at that time, even to the point of being able to read my mind.

I was naive, but I was in love.

(more…)

Why Follow God in College?

/ Christian in College, College, Devotional, Love / 2 Comments

The transition from high school to college can decide who you are, who you will become, and who you will follow. You must decide now, before you enter college, if you’re going to follow God in college.

With the start of the new semester, many women will leave home and move to a new place to begin their college years. I’m so excited for you all to begin this new journey! When you go to college, big parts of your life will change. You’ll experience more freedom than you had while living at home. With this freedom, you may be challenged in your faith. (more…)

God is Love + Random Journal Day

/ Love, My Guest Posts / 6 Comments

Take a peak into my journal as I join Random Journal Day, hosted by Enthusiastically, Dawn. This month I got the chance to be the Featured Journal Keeper and share 8 simple steps explaining how to journal scripture. You can read the post here and link-up your own journal entry.

Our journals are filled with beautiful stories of God’s redemption in our lives. I fill my journal with prayers, God moments, and scripture. Want to know why you should journal? Read more here.

Let’s peak into my journal!

Read how I journaled through scripture, specifically 1 John 4:8, to better understand God’s love. (more…)

Never Give Up On Unbelievers

/ Bible Study, Christian in College, Devotional, Friendship, Love / Comments Off

Do you ever wonder if God cares about the people who don’t love him? While being a college student, I wondered this daily. I questioned, “Jesus, will my classmates ever know you?” I recently read through Psalm 62 and found encouragement, hope, and some answers.

The main point of the passage – we can never give up on others because God never gave up on us. (Tweet this!)

(more…)

God’s Love Letter to You

/ Bible Study, Body Image and Self Worth, Dear Friend Series, Devotional, Love, Relationship with Jesus / 11 Comments

You know those nights where you feel so unloved and alone? When you wish you could have someone to hold you and tell you they love you? The love we experience on earth will never compare to God’s love for us. Our hearts have been made to cry out for a love that can only come from our creator.

A guy may seem like the best fix, but only God’s love is a lasting solution. This truth is written all over the Bible.

Did you know that the Bible is God’s love letter to us? Isaiah 43 is a great example of a love letter from God. When I study scripture, I like to read it and then write it out in my own words. This helps me better understand what I have read. For this particular chapter, I read the passage as if God hand wrote me a love letter in beautiful calligraphy. I wrote it in my journal in the exact same way. You can do the same thing. (more…)

3 Ways to Love Your Dad

/ Love, Ministry Resources, Your Story / Comments Off

Happy Father’s Day weekend!

It’s important to show your dad some love every day, but since it is Father’s Day weekend – Daughters lets go out of our way to love our dads.

Here are 3 Ways to Love Your Dad

Ask him questions. Ask your dad questions about the things he loves. This will show him that you care about what he cares about. For example, my Dad loves playing music. He recently tried out as guitarist for a local band. The band gets together and plays for fun, but I secretly hope they’ll make it big. Either way, I have a rock star for a dad. When he came home from the audition, I made a point to ask him about it. I asked how he did, what they said, how they sounded together, etc. I may not be as interested in music as he is, but because I love my Dad, I care about what he cares about. What is your dad interested in? Go out of your way and ask him about it.
Spend time with him. My Dad loves to golf, so every fathers day we go golfing. Think about what your dad likes to do. Could you spend time doing this with him? Plan something for the weekend that your dad would love. Has he mentioned something that he’s been wanting to do? For example, my Dad mentioned how he wanted to go to a concert downtown. So, I found one for us to go to. Brainstorm different things you could do with your dad this weekend. You could even make him a delicious breakfast or some fancy cupcakes. What dad doesn’t like to eat!
Share Jesus with him. This may be the hardest, but it may also be the most important. There are many ways to do this. Invite him to church or share your story. Depending on where your dad is on his journey with God, you can ask different questions to have Jesus centered conversations. Here are some examples: What have you been learning in your recent Bible reading? How have you been growing closer to God? What question would you like to ask God? After he has talked, then you could share your answer to the same questions. Share how Jesus is working in your life.

I hope you all have a wonderful Father’s Day weekend! Comment if you have any other tips or ideas. xoxo joy

A Love Story

/ Love, Your Story / 1 Comment

Every girl dreams about the day she will find her Prince Charming. The guy who will love her for who she is, call her beautiful, and put the twinkle in her eyes. She dreams about the day he will sweep her off her feet, and the day they will fall madly in love, get married and ride off into the sunset.

Media is constantly telling us that our lives should be a love story. Countless movies, TV shows, and songs try to tell us that we need a man to save us from the misery of a single life. That we need a man to complete us. But what the media fails to mention, is each and every one of us are already part of a love story. An even bigger love story than any thing media could show us. Media tells us we need a savior, but they fail to mention correctly who he is.

Our Prince already came for us.

Romans 5:8 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

He loved us so much that he didn’t just give us roses and a horse to ride off into the sunset, but he gave us eternal life.
Our prince loved us so much that he died for us.
He loved us so much that he moved Heaven and earth to prove it.
Jesus Christ is our prince.
Jesus Christ is our savior.

Proverbs 8:17 “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.”

He is always there for us.
He will never give up on us.
He loves us for who we are.

Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

He puts that sparkle in our eyes and a smile on our face.

We spend so much time dreaming about the day our Prince will come, that we never realize our Prince is already here. Our lives are already love stories!

Jesus Christ is our love story!

Jesus is knocking: Will you let Him in?

/ Surrender Life to Jesus / 3 Comments

At church I heard a metaphor that I really loved, so I thought I would share.
Picture your life to be a house.
You are a house. And to have a relationship with Jesus, Jesus has to be living in the house. He doesn’t just keep his stuff in one room, no he has it spread out all over the house.

But some of our houses don’t contain Jesus.

Some people think there houses (lives) are too messy to invite Jesus in. They say they can’t invite him in until they clean up there house. Little do they know that Jesus is the only one capable of cleaning the house. He is standing outside knocking on the door holding a bucket and a broom ready to clean. If this is you, open the door and invite him in.

Other people might have let Jesus into the house, but have kept him only in one room of the house. This means they have only let Jesus clean up one part of there life. If this is you, let him have free reign to your whole house.

Surrender your life to Jesus. let him into every single room, every single part of your life. I know this is challenging. In fact I’m preaching to myself as I type this, but I know it is worth it. When you let Jesus have control over every aspect of your life you will feel freedom.

I hope this was encouraging. Subscribe below to keep up with me and say hello! You can also subscribe via e-mail or wordpress on the right side of the blog page.