How to Keep Your Joy in the Lord: A Look at My Life Lately

By Lauren Rose Correa, March 25, 2025

I so enjoyed writing my last life update that I decided I’m going to write one or two of them each month. In these posts I will share personal stories from our family, behind the scenes of upcoming blog posts, details about projects I’m working on, and things God is teaching me personally. In this post I’m sharing a look at how my husband and I work together on blog posts, my gratitude for hand-me-down clothes, plus my thoughts on how to keep your joy in the Lord. I have loved being able to include my husband in the thing that I’m passionate about. It’s been so much fun to brainstorm together.

Juicing with Juan

Something that my husband Juan and I are getting back into lately is juicing. Juan bought a juicer last year and used it a lot at first. However, it got put aside for a while because of how time consuming it is to juice everything and then clean the machine.

Recently we busted out the juicer again, because I purchased some blood oranges and wanted to drink some OJ to beat my cold. While juicing the blood oranges, I was inspired that Juan could create a series of easy juice recipes. Each recipe will be based around the various health benefits that the fruit juices provide. As I’m writing this we have two simple recipes that we’ve tried out so far.

My Husband is My Recipe Blogger

You may have noticed that my husband Juan is now acting as my recipe blogger. This has been a fun activity for us to do together. Juan is amazing at inventing recipes and styling the food, and I help him write the posts and do the photography.

Juan makes some delicious air-fried wings and an easy mango chipotle mayo. I’m excited because for such a long time, my entire recipes section was cocktails and mocktails. I’m can mix drinks, but I’m not skilled at inventing dinner recipes. Juan has a knack for it, and I’m happy to give him a platform to share his talent.

Hand-Me-Down Dresses

Lexi recently received a batch of hand-me-down clothes from a friend of my mom. On top of the pile was a purple velvet dress that ended up being my favorite item. Lexi loved it too! This morning, we were stuck at home recovering from pink eye and colds, so I decided that it would be fun to try on a cute dress.

Lexi clearly felt pretty in her new outfit, and she danced and twirled around the living room yelling, “Purple, purple, purple!” I am always thankful for receiving hand-me-downs. Because of them, we only have had to buy Lexi a few new outfits each season, which is such a blessing.

How to Keep Your Joy in the Lord

I’ve been so enjoying my time with Alexa, but it’s not without its ups and downs. This morning got off to a rough start. I was drinking my homemade latte and feeding Alexa breakfast. Usually we watch Sesame Street or Bluey while eating, but I was trying to avoid turning on the TV. Alexa wasn’t having that, and she started yelling, “Elmo! Elmo!”

I told her we could watch TV if she said please, and began to turn on the TV. But for whatever reason, she refused to say please. She just kept screaming for Elmo.

“Fine!” I said. “If you won’t say please, then no TV.”

I tried to turn the TV off to make my point, but right at that second, the battery in the remote died. Not wanting to lose the impact of the moment, I ran into the other room to get new batteries. That was when I heard a loud crash.

I ran back to the kitchen and realized that I had left my favorite coffee mug too close to Alexa. There was shattered porcelain and coffee all over the floor. I couldn’t decide if I was more upset about the broken mug or the fact that my latte was gone.

Remember What’s Really Important

This was the first time Alexa broke something important to me. It probably won’t be the last. I was really upset, but I stayed as calm as I could. This incident definitely put me in a bit of a bad mood, but in that moment I really had to think about what was important.

A broken mug is just one bad moment in a season of life that has honestly been such a blessed time. I don’t want to let my emotions over a replaceable material item rob me of the joy that God has given me. That’s not to say that there aren’t tough moments in motherhood, but ultimately the joy I feel in this time of my life has to be stronger than momentary frustrations. This is a lesson that both Juan and I are learning: how to keep your joy in the Lord, even in tough moments.

How to Keep Your Joy in the Lord – How About You?

What is robbing you of your joy? Are you worrying about the future? Do you get frustrated about someone you deal with at your job? Are you feeling overwhelmed by parenthood?

There are definitely challenges that we will encounter, and it’s okay to feel frustrated. But sometimes, we can let relatively minor setbacks keep us from enjoying the blessings God has for us. When you’re tempted to magnify the bad, remind yourself of what you have and focus on praising God for the good.