Pockets of Joy by Roxane Battle

Roxane Battle was on television for much of her adult life.

As a news reporter and anchor, she traveled the world and met notable people from Jay Leno to Mariah Carey to Prince. But shortly after landing her dream job in her hometown of Minneapolis, Roxane’s marriage fell apart. Every day was a battle to keep it together on camera while piecing her life back together at home as the single mom of eleven-month-old Jarod. At one point, broke and alone, dinner was a single chicken McNugget. With wit, dignity, and gripping detail, Roxane shares her story of intentionally looking for joy during this challenging chapter of her life. Her faith was the guiding force as she searched for moments of gratitude and found a lifetime of grace. She also includes secrets to spiritual, professional, and personal wholeness for today’s woman, with chapters on authenticity, service, generosity, gratitude, self-care, yielding, forgiveness, and more.

My Review:

This was an encouraging book that shares how when you look for your joy in every experience, it changes your perspective. I thought it was pretty good. The first half of the book, Roxanne Battle shared her story and how she found her own pockets of joy. I felt like it was a little disjointed in some places. She tended to bounce back and forth between stories which made it a little hard to read. The second half she shared Seven Steps to Joy. I thought each step had many practical tips. I liked how she backed up these tips with scripture and real life examples.

A couple of quotes from Pockets of Joy that I found encouraging.

If there is one point I want to get across in these pages, it’s this: as we persevere along life’s journey, we must be intentional about looking for and finding joy. It’s not life that fails to produce joy; it’s we who fail to recognize it. If you find yourself saying, “someday I’ll be happy,” well, today can be your someday.

Learning from our mistakes is one thing, but playing an endless loop of regret over and over in our heads and beating ourselves up over what we’ve done is another, so let it go—you’ve suffered enough. Make your mistakes, then make your mistakes matter, by learning from them and moving on. The word “repent” simply means to choose, to decide to change your mind, andnot to repeat the same bad behavior. To truly live a life of joy, we must learn to let go of the past. It’s over. You can let it go. Just because you made a mistake does not mean you are a mistake.

I think that this book will be encouraging to you where ever you are in life’s journey. I know for me, as I’m working and being a mom, It can be tough to find joy in the busyiness of life. This was a good reminder to be intentional about finding Joy in every day life.

I recommend this book to my family and friends.

I received this book from the publisher for my honest review.

About the Author:

Roxane Battle is veteran TV news journalist well known in the Minneapolis region for her work as an anchor, reporter, and former co-host of the KARE 11-NBC Today show. She currently produces award-winning videos for corporate and non-profit clients through her company, Roxane Battle, M. A., LLC. Named an “Architect of Change,” Roxane is a contributor to mariashriver.com and has been featured in Working Mother, Ebony magazines, the Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press. An entertaining and inspiring speaker, she is regularly called upon to address civic, business, and philanthropic groups. She’s recently been a keynote speaker at events hosted by the Girl Scouts, TeamWomen Minnesota, and the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.

Connect with Roxane here: Website Facebook Goodreads Twitter

Purchase your copy here: Amazon Barnes and Noble Christian Book Distributors

Before you head out, Be sure and enter the giveaway here:

Giveaway:

In honor of her tour, Roxanne is giving away:

Grand Prize Package: Pockets of Joy, hard cover edition, in Pockets of Joy tote bag with Abba Jerusalem Frankincense pillar candle, and commemorative Whitaker House/Anchor Distributors coloring book.

1st Place Package: Pockets of Joy, hard cover edition, “You Are An Amazing Woman” (Abbey Press) mug, and commemorative Whitaker House/Anchor Distributors coloring book.

2nd Place Package: Pockets of Joy, hard cover edition and commemorative Whitaker House/Anchor Distributors coloring book!

Click HERE to enter!