When Joy Overcame Sorrow: A Journey to the International Christian BookAwards

There are moments in an author's journey when you stop and realize this is about so much more than a book. Next week, I will travel to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for the International Christian Book Awards, where I will receive an award for my book Joy Overcame Sorrow, the first book in my Loved Lost One Series. And as I prepare for this special moment, I find myself thinking about where this story began—and why I wrote it in the first place.

A Story Born From Loss

Joy Overcame Sorrow is a children's fiction story, but the emotions at the heart of the book are very real. The story follows Joy, a young girl whose life changes in an instant when she learns that her father has died in a car accident.

One moment, Joy is simply enjoying an ordinary day with her best friend, Bella. Then everything changes. Her world is suddenly filled with questions:

How do you keep going when someone you love is gone?

What do you do with the sadness?

Can life ever feel normal again?

And perhaps the most difficult question of all: Where is God when your heart is broken?

Those are questions children ask. They are also questions adults ask. Grief does not check our age before it enters our lives.

Why I Wrote Joy's Story

I have always believed that children need permission to talk about the hard things in life. We sometimes try to protect children from conversations about death, grief, loss, and heartbreak. But children experience loss too. They may lose a parent, grandparent, sibling, friend, teacher, or someone else they deeply love. They need stories that tell them:

Your feelings are okay.

Your questions are okay.

Your tears are okay.

And most importantly: You are not alone.

That is part of the reason Joy's story became so important to me. I wanted to create a story that could open the door for children, parents, teachers, counselors, pastors, and caregivers to have conversations about grief. But I also wanted to leave readers with something else. Hope.

Sorrow Does Not Get the Final Word

The title Joy Overcame Sorrow carries a message that is deeply personal to me. It doesn't mean sorrow isn't real. It doesn't mean grief disappears. It doesn't mean that losing someone we love suddenly stops hurting. Instead, it reminds us that sorrow does not have to have the final word.

There can be joy again. There can be laughter again. There can be purpose again. There can be hope again. And for those of us who place our faith in God, there can be an assurance that even in the darkest valley, God has not abandoned us.

Psalm 30:5 reminds us:

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

Sometimes that morning doesn't come as quickly as we want. Sometimes the night feels incredibly long. But morning comes.

From One Book to a Series

What began with Joy's story became the beginning of something much bigger—the Loved Lost One Series. Joy's journey reminded me that there are so many stories still waiting to be told. There are children carrying grief they don't know how to express. There are families trying to figure out how to move forward after loss. There are teachers sitting across from students who are hurting. There are parents searching for the right words. And there are children who simply need someone to say:

"I understand. You don't have to walk through this alone." That is the heart behind the Loved Lost One Series.

And Now… An Award

So, as I prepare to stand in Fort Wayne next week and receive this award for Joy Overcame Sorrow, I am incredibly grateful. Of course, an award is an honor. But for me, this moment represents something much deeper. It represents every child who has experienced loss. Every parent who has struggled to explain death to a child. Every teacher who has tried to help a grieving student. Every family is learning how to live with an empty chair at the table. And every person who has wondered whether joy can ever return after sorrow.

If this book can help even one child realize that grief doesn't mean the end of hope, then every word was worth writing.

I Didn't Write Joy's Story to Celebrate Loss

I wrote it to celebrate what can come after loss. I wrote it because grief changes us—but it doesn't have to destroy us. I wrote it because children deserve stories that acknowledge their pain while pointing them toward hope. And I wrote it because I believe God can meet us right in the middle of our sorrow.

Sometimes faith doesn't remove the pain. Sometimes faith gives us the strength to walk through it. And sometimes, somewhere along that journey, we discover something we thought we had lost forever: joy.

A Thank You

As I head to the International Christian Book Awards in Fort Wayne, I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported Joy Overcame Sorrow and the Loved Lost One Series. Thank you to those who have read the book. Thank you to those who have shared it with a child.

Thank you to parents, educators, churches, and others who recognize the importance of helping children navigate grief. And thank you to everyone who has encouraged me along this writing journey. I don't take this award lightly. I receive it with gratitude—and with a renewed commitment to continue telling stories that bring faith, hope, healing, and ultimately joy to those walking through loss.

Because sorrow may be part of our story. But it doesn't have to be the end of our story. And sometimes… Joy really does overcome sorrow.

📖 About Joy Overcame Sorrow

Joy Overcame Sorrow is the first book in Dr. Jerry L. Woodbridge's Loved Lost One Series, created to help children and families begin meaningful conversations about grief, loss, faith, and hope.

The story follows Joy as she faces the heartbreaking loss of her father and begins learning how to navigate life after tragedy.

For every child who has lost someone they love, this story is a reminder: You can grieve, you can remember, you can heal—and you can find joy again.