“The Joy Box Journal” looks to help find joy in dark times

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A Western Kentucky University graduate returns home to help others find joy in their lives.

“About 20 years ago I started writing because my son was born with medical problems and he only lived for three years. So I started journaling a little bit of the stories that were going along with his life and the struggles that we had, but also the blessings,” author Adria Wilkins says.

She says her biggest moment of joy during the creative process was actually when she met with her publisher.

“I had told them that I wanted to have a box in the book. There’s actually a box in my book and you put that together and there are 40 devotions in here. As I began to finish up the book, the publisher said, ‘Do you want to put your book in memory of someone or in honor of someone?’ and I said, ‘Oh, yes” and that would be my son, Blake,” Wilkins says.

She hopes that readers of the Joy Box Journal are able to tell future generations about what makes them joyful in the darkest of times.

“I want people to reflect on their life. This is about them. It’s not about me. I have had many people tell me that this book looks simple, but yet when you start writing and pondering some of the joyful things that have happened in your life and some of the not so joyful things, but you have dug a little deeper and said what joy was able to find even through this difficult situation,” Wilkins says.