“Evidence”

“I see the evidence of Your goodness…All over my life, all over my life.
I see Your promises in fulfillment…All over my life, all over my life.”

Josh Baldwin “Evidence”

A couple of weeks ago, Tommy, Brooke, Elsie, Amanda, and I came together for our January special of Joy Behind the Mic.

If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s something we started around Christmas with JoyBehind the Mic: Christmas Unwrapped where the entire Joy99 on-air team gathered inside the studio and pulled recorded a one-hour special to share with you.

We plan to continue this since it’s a great avenue for team building, but also a fun way to go deeper alongside you.

In any case, something really special was revealed to me during the recording of the January Special, Joy Behind the Mic: Joy Starts Here.

During our conversation, we started chatting about finding joy amidst challenging seasons of life. As I began to contemplate my answer, I realized something incredible that God had planted, nurtured, and provided over the span of 6 years.

I have had two major life challenges in the past decade…One was a dissolved marriage in 2019, and the other was job loss in 2025. I would like to share with YOU how God inspired something in one, to support me in the other.

During the challenging season I experienced with the dissolved marriage in 2019, I found myself as a single dad of two moving into a condo unit that provided by the good Lord himself. Truly. I still can’t figure out how I managed to find something that was so affordable, functional, with amazing neighbors, AND close to my kids’ schools.

Well, in an attempt to bring a little life into this season, I set out to Lowe’s and purchased (3) house plants. One of them was a Dracaena Fragrans, commonly known as a “Corn Plant”. It’s a great beginner plant because it’s super easy to care for.

This “Corn Plant” (that I believe my kids and I named “Derek”) is still around, even surviving a 45-minute move in 2022.

Fast forward to May 2025 and I noticed something growing out of “Derek”. My initial thought was either a bug’s nest or a fungus growth. In my attempt to keep “Derek” healthy, I did some research and it turned out that “Derek” was flowering.

Over the coming days, I watched and documented on social media for friends and family as this pod grew further and further out.

Then, Monday, June 2nd, I experienced job loss for the first time in my life. It was hurtful and confusing and I remember driving open almost viewing myself in third person. It was weird. I arrived home and settled into the mess of it all.

Over the next couple of days, I continued to watch and document “Derek’s” fascinating blooming of dozens of tiny white flowers that gave off such an amazing aroma that it filled our living room! They even closed at night and would reopen the next day continuously giving off their pleasant smell.

At the time, I remember being grateful to God for providing this beautiful distraction, but it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that I realized that it was also evidence of God at work.

Not only had the same plant that provided some comfort in 2019 provide comfort in 2025, but I was even more amazing when I realized that “Corn Plants” rarely flower, especially when indoors. Check it out…

“Corn plants indoors tend to flower rarely if ever, so if yours does flower, it's a sign the plant is in excellent health and responding to its optimal growing conditions. Some growers with mature plants older than five years report blooms every few years, some never at all, and some see blooms once per year, so it's a variable situation.” (Source)

Since the realization of God’s handiwork, I haven’t been able to shake that He had planted a “seed” in 2019 that I was able to reap in 2025 and it felt worth sharing with YOU for two reasons…

• …Maybe you are going through a “seed” season right now, and “reap” season is coming. Keep going!

• …Encourage yourself in a “seed” season by looking back and around for the “evidence” of God’s faithfulness in your life, it’s there!

That “evidence” is something that lasts too! Both as a reminder for future “seed” seasons, but also…when I close my eyes, I can still “smell” those flowers, and boy were they a sweet, sweet smell.

Thanks for spending time reading!

~Jeremy