About the Author

Mary is a writer and speaker who lives for good books, spicy queso, and television marathons – but lives because of God’s grace. She writes about giving up on perfect and finding truth in unexpected places at MaryCarver.com. Mary and her husband live in Kansas City with their two daughters.

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
Find more at DaySpring.com
(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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  1. Thank you for writing what’s inside my heart and soul. I love our God and seek him everyday in my walk. I suffer from anxiety and depression and recently celebrated one year on a new job that stressed me out to the point that my health was compromised. But God!! He is helping me to overcome. I cannot get away. I have to deal with this head on with Him as my guide. Thank you for your healing words. God bless you.

    • Angela, thank you for sharing part of your journey with us here. I’m so grateful we’re loved by a God who meets us exactly where we are!

  2. “wherever we are, so is God. And where God is, so is our joy.”

    So simple…so profound…and yet, so hard to remember. Thank YOU for reminding me!

    And, also, it *almost* felt like a “Well, DUH!” moment when the Psalmist says, “No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice.” :). No wonder….

    (missed seeing you like crazy, my friend. EVERYONE missed you like crazy! xoxo)

  3. Mary, I am chuckling at your wonderful words of truth! We are coming out of a 2 year stress filled season of change of staff at our church. In the back ground of that angst God inspired my boss to honor 3 workers who have been with the company for over 35 years. I being 1 of them am literally waking up in our favorite hotel on the beach this am. We’ve anticipated these 5 days of strolling the beach for 5 months now. It is wonderful. But it is exactly what we need because God is with us & we are recounting how He was with us in all the hard & heartache of the past 2 years & years of our lives really! Blessings!

  4. This is so true, Mary! We can be content right here, right now. And we can dig into God and his gifts, without ever leaving home. Thank you for your sweet reminders!

  5. Joy in the midst of regular days is just what I need revealed to me emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually and financially.

    No one can tell another person how to find their way to Joy. But I find Joy in my relationship with God. Because I have decided to accept His unconditional, unwavering and unyielding Love for me Eternally. So, I embrace my Joy in the Lord.

    Joy is my strength and my foundation for truthfulness. I’m the beneficiary of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (self restraint). These wonderful divine seeds planted in my spiritual heart make me who God created me to become for the Kingdom of God.

    Joy is not the same as happiness. Joy cannot be taken from God’s children (Believers – Christ Followers). The enemy will try to deceive us all the time because that’s his pitiful nature and his job. Please help me to remind others and to remind myself that our Joy is secure and eternal.

    Thank you Lord for planting Joy in my Heart.

    Brenda
    Your Sister in Christ

  6. Mary,

    Joy is felt internally. For example worshipping God and remembering our Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross to save us from sins. Lately I’ve felt the urge to just get away. Want to go somewhere sit around & be with hubby. But that will only give me temporal happiness not true joy. We will eventually have to come back to our daily grind. Trying to be content & even a bit joyful about my current job as I await an answer back on an interview. Learning to say Thank you Lord more often. Even for the job I don’t like. God is the one who gave it to me. Because God is in it I can rejoice.

    Blessings 🙂

    • “Because God is in it I can rejoice” — yesssss, I love those words and that truth, Beth! I hope you get good news about that interview soon!

      • Mary,

        Thanks. I pray for you all also. Glad you are feeling better.

        Blessings 🙂

  7. This is such a beautiful, honest, and meaningful devotion. As summer quickly approaches I hear the call in TV and streaming ads to go “somewhere, anywhere”. Watching or listening to a 30 second message of sun, sand, and escape can cause my mind to wander and my heart to be discontent with where I am. Sometimes it takes a while for me to snap out of my need to escape to remember the message in today’s devotional. The next time this happens I will remember “wherever we are, so is God. And where God is, so is our joy.”

  8. Hello, Mary,
    Thank you so much for your message today. I am a perfectionist too. I don’t know how to deal with it sometimes as my husband is the exact opposite of me. I tell him we are The Odd Couple as he is Oscar and I am Felix. Your message spoke to me about trying to get rid of perfectionism. How do we do that? How have you dealt with it? Would you please send me an email with suggestions, please?

  9. Your article is just what I needed to read today. Thank you and God bless you.