10 min read ⭑

Whoever said nonfiction had to be boring lied, and Shemaiah Gonzalez is proof. As an award-winning writer, she infuses creativity and delight into her essays, newsletters and books. Among some of her most notable literary achievements: she was nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Prize for her nonfiction essay “Dios Mio”; she won the Third Place Catholic Media Award for Best Spiritual Life Column in 2021; and Pope Francis chose her story about her college English professor in 2018 to be included in his book “Sharing the Wisdom of Time.” Nowadays, you can find her writing tidbits about joy over on her Substack, “Undaunted Joy,” or read her upcoming book by the same title. 

Today’s main topic? Joy. Join us for an engaging conversation with Shemaiah about the food that takes her back to her LA upbringing, the inextricable link between exercise and her mental and spiritual health, and the journey God is taking her on as she talks to strangers (plus why her 15-minute daily sauna time is a must).

QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT

There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?

At least once a year, my husband and I take our sons back to Los Angeles to visit family. Our first stop is for lunch and is always the In-N-Out Burger right by the freeway. If you are from LA or love In-N-Out when you visit, you know exactly which one I am talking about. You can actually watch the planes take off and land from the parking lot. We order off the “secret menu” animal style, which means our burgers are grilled in mustard, then served with grilled onions and extra Thousand Island dressing. We share a few orders of fries and maybe a vanilla shake. We love sharing this place with our sons, who were not born in California and do not have this place seeped into their psyche like we do. We tell stories of eating there late at night with friends or look up the Bible verses referenced on the bottom of each package.

Our second food stop is my husband’s parents’ house. We eat dinner here. My mother-in-law, who is now in her 90s, will pull things out of the fridge for us to eat. She warms up beans, makes corn tortillas from scratch, pulls out jars of homemade salsa and cuts up fruit while we talk and catch up. As food is prepared, the rest of the extended family will hear that we have arrived in town and begin to show up, often with more food from our favorite places, like a fruit tart from Porto’s. My mother-in-law loves through food — something she has instilled into her children, especially my husband, who also loves to feed us.

QUESTION #2: REVEAL

We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activity (or activities) do you love engaging in, which also helps you find essential spiritual renewal?

In the last several years, I have realized just how strong the correlation is between exercise and my spiritual and mental health. I must exercise nearly every day to keep my balance. There were a few years when people were mad at me because I spoke the truth and they didn’t want to hear it. I started praying for them while running on the treadmill. An amazing thing — which I can only say is God — happened. I am not mad at them anymore, even though many lashed out to sabotage work or my reputation. I don’t see them as enemies anymore. I feel compassion for those people.

I like how strong running and lifting weights make me feel. I have begun to enjoy getting sweaty and stinky and tired. It makes me feel alive. Any problems seem smaller after my workout. I have begun to see my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit more and more and how caring for my body affects my spiritual life.

Reading also connects my spirit. My world is enlarged each time I fall into a book. It doesn’t matter if it is fiction, poetry or nonfiction. I understand other ways of thinking and how each of our stories reflect our connection to the ultimate story of Christ. I find myself jotting down lines as I read. When I get lost in a story, I slow down and the rest of the world melts away.

QUESTION #3: CONFESS

Every superhero has a weakness. Every human too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite, and how do you hide it?

I am an extremely disciplined person with a set schedule. My childhood was very chaotic, which is how I learned to manage. But ask any of those closest to me — it can be a problem, even for me. Especially for me. Boundaries and discipline are good, but I also need to learn to balance openness and adaptability. Who knows, maybe even a little spontaneity! I can’t even say that word! The joke is, I can only be spontaneous on vacation because that’s when I have put it in the schedule.

Welp, this is going to be a bit blunt and honest, but I don’t have a whole lot of tolerance for some people. I make judgments about people, and of course, I am rarely wrong. If I quickly find them boring, I do not have patience or apathy.

I’d like to be high and mighty about it and say that it is mostly a lack of tolerance for prideful people, but isn’t it really just my own pride talking and its low tolerance? My closest friends will point out that I can talk to a homeless person I just met on the street for an hour, but if someone says they don’t read books, I haven’t any time for them. This is true. It’s not pretty; it’s prideful, but it is true about me.

QUESTION #4: FIRE UP

Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your current obsession? And why should it be ours?

I’ve spent the last few years meditating on joy. It started in January of 2020 when I really felt God called me to learn the depths of joy. Then 2020 happened. I thought, Oh, God must have been mistaken. Ha! Of course, I was wrong. I felt like God said, “You are going to learn how to have joy through this and then you will show others.”

So I started a Substack called “Undaunted Joy.” I thought I’d use it as a spiritual practice. I’d simply write an essay of less than 500 words about where I found joy that week, and it took off. Now I have a book coming out in April with Zondervan. I took the short ideas on joy and expanded them into 40 essays of finding joy in the mundane — almost silly — things, like my favorite pants (I know you have some too) and then joy in the magnificent, like the joy of letting God love you.

I’m excited to share these stories with people. When I’ve shared them in the past, people tell me their own stories, and I know God is present as we share where he’s revealed himself to us, in small and large moments.

All I want to do in life is tell and listen to stories. These are holy moments.

QUESTION #5: BOOST

Cashiers, CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?

Over the last few years, while focusing on joy, I discovered that I usually notice joy through God’s presence in my life. But lately, I have been noticing a new thing, perhaps because I have felt convicted about that weakness I just shared. I have been trying to be open to conversations with strangers, wherever that may happen — the grocery store, the gym, on a walk. I am trying to learn a bit more apathy and patience. I have been asking God to show me his imprint, the Imago Dei reflected with them — and I have been having the best conversations!

These conversations unfold in a way that can only be explained as God. There have been times lately where I’ve been looking at a pastry case in a coffee shop and hear, “Be present. Look up!” Before I know it, a conversation starts with the barista. Strangers have told me stories about first loves or losing their faith when nothing really seemed to prompt that conversation. God is teaching me to be less judgmental and more patient and apathetic through these encounters. Not only do I feel invigorated by these encounters, but I also feel less lonely and more connected with other people and my community through them.

QUESTION #6: inspire

Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied habits that open our hearts to the presence of God. So let us in. Which spiritual practice is working best for you right now?

I feel a little bratty sharing this one because it sounds somewhat bougie, but right now, it is my sauna time that is nourishing me most.

My gym has a sauna. Each morning after my workout, I sit in the sauna for 15 minutes before my shower. The space is quiet and isolating from the rest of the world. I cannot take my phone in there because of the heat. I must simply sit for 15 minutes — and it is not particularly comfortable. It is hot, of course, and my heart rate is settling down after my workout. I am extremely aware of my body, but at the same time, I’m almost in a dream state as I tolerate the heat.

I find the things that surface in that space interesting. I pray for specific things and people, but mostly I just sit there with God. I am just there. And I am finding that I need that space so much. I do not want to skip the sauna or I do not feel ready for the day. I am simply there with God. I look over the rest of my day, my schedule and my to-do list and lay it at his feet: “Only you know what today holds; may I be ready for it.”

QUESTION #7: FOCUS

Looking backward, considering the full sweep of your unique faith journey and all you encountered along the way, what top three resources stand out to you? What changed the game and changed your heart? What radically altered your life? What changed your reality?

Only in the last decade did I discover Northwest Catholic writer, Brian Doyle. I felt as if I found a kindred spirit. He wrote about faith in a completely different way than I had experienced before. He wrote of finding God in ordinary, small moments. The big moments do not come around that often, and often when they do, they aren’t particularly good. It was a relief to read of delightful, tender moments when so much is gloom. I couldn’t get enough of his work. If someone is looking for a place to start, I’d recommend either “One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder,” a collection put out after his death in 2016, or “Book of Uncommon Prayers,” a tiny collection of prayers that showed me how to view moments of humor and pain as marked with God’s grace.

I read the collection “Joy: 100 Poems,” edited by Christian Wiman when I was first daydreaming about joy. The introduction by Wiman alone is worth the purchase. The poems cover the gambit of the last 100 years. They look at joy from so many different angles you begin to realize that joy is all around us!

It would not be an overstatement to say that I am obsessed with Gustav Mahler. No, I am not really a classical music buff. Neither do I play an instrument. But there is something about his music and discovering the stories and background to his symphonies that moves me in a particular manner. How he pulled from so many different influences is inspiring. The podcast “Embrace Everything: The World of Gustav Mahler” is feeding my obsession.

We all have things we cling to to survive (or even thrive) in tough times — times like these! Name one resource you’re savoring and/or finding indispensable in this current season, and tell us what it’s doing for you.

When I spin with anxiety and fear, I turn to the song “Tremble” by I AM THEY. I put my AirPods in and listen, and for four minutes, I am reminded of who God is: the One who silences fear.

The lyrics are simple and repetitive but rich in scriptural imagery. The name of Jesus is “a light the shadows can’t deny.” This echoes the book of James (2:19), which says even demons fear God and tremble at his name. Or the demons called Legion in the Gospel of Mark that beg Jesus for mercy, so he casts them into a herd of pigs.

The lyrics “Breathe, call these bones to live” recall when the Lord told Ezekiel to prophesy over the Valley of Bones (Ezek. 37). When Ezekiel obeys, the Lord breathes life into the bones. Tendons and flesh and skin begin to cover them, and they live once again.

When the song finishes, I know the panorama of salvific history is massive. My problems or fears are so small. God can handle them, and he will. I take out my AirPods and move on refreshed.

QUESTION #8: dream

God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So, give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?

I believe these encounters with strangers are leading to a new book. They are teaching me about myself, my own pride and weaknesses, and also teaching me about God, his image within each of us and what it is to be human. I am unsure where it is going, but I am loving the ride. I am open — and dare I say “spontaneous” in a new way. All I know is that when I trust God, when I surrender to him, my life is much more exciting and interesting. So I really need to get over my fear, anxiety, pride and self to see where he is taking me.

So much of life in Western cultures is dictated by a clock, a calendar, or whatever time-constrained method you use to make sure you’re doing exactly what you need to be doing when you need to be doing it.

And while there’s certainly merit to this style, there are also plenty of constraints. Do we have space in our lives (and the willingness) for God to lead us into something unexpected — like starting an impromptu conversation with a cashier or swapping stories with a stranger on a bus or praying over someone at work?

Because those opportunities are there. And they have the potential to change lives, both our own and those of the people we interact with. The question is, how will you give God space to move your heart this week?

Shemaiah Gonzalez is a writer who thrives in moments where storytelling, art, literature and faith collide. She holds degrees in English Literature (B.A.), Intercultural Ministry (M.A.P.S.) and Creative Non-Fiction Writing (M.F.A.). Her popular Substack, inspired her forthcoming book Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight (Zondervan, 2025). Her work has appeared in America Magazine, Image Journal’s Good Letters, Ekstasis, The Curator and Loyola Press, among others. A Los Angeles native, she now lives in Seattle with her husband, whom she has known since she was 14, and their two teen sons.

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