Testimonials

"…I am already putting forth a minute by minute conscious effort to speak kindly and respectfully ..... grace seasoned with salt !! I know in my heart it is first and foremost how Jesus interacted with everyone ..... HE ..... always treated EVERYONE with kindness and respect ..... no matter what ..... the woman caught in adultery .... ZACCHAEUS UP IN THE TREE .... and every individual HE interacted with .... I am excited ..... God is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond my expectations ...... here we go!!!"

"Yesterday I tried the "60 Second Test." My husband did not follow me after I commented on the ways I respect him and I was a little disappointed but I assumed I didn't word my statement right. This morning he was in a grumpy mood and as he huffed away to our bedroom he said, "I just want to be awesome like I was yesterday!" This is an odd statement for him so I asked for some clarification. He said that yesterday I had told him I respected him and he wanted to be the same man today that I respected yesterday. It made me smile and I thought you'd like to know. Bring on the next challenge!"

The Illumination Project is undeniably going to help our generation understand relationships. Joy is hilarious and has such great insight into the Love and Respect message. I am proud to call her a friend!

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I’m a widower, so I guess you could say that I’ve been wounded. But I want to put myself out there and find love again, and going through this series is helping me with that.  Learning about the Crazy Cycle and the core reality of our most basic needs has been truly illuminating as I move forward in this new season of life.

…I had a heart-to-heart talk with our 35-year old son this past week. I started reading “Mother and Son” while we were still at the conference and was deeply convicted just after reading the intro! I texted my son immediately and said: “only gotten through the intro to Emerson’s new book and have learned that I have always loved you deeply, but have not always respected you – as a young boy or as a man. For that I deeply apologize and have much to seek your forgiveness for. God has already shown me two very specific times. Can we talk after I get home…at a time convenient for you?” he responded fairly quickly and said: “Yes we can”. We had a great 2-hour talk…and then, just as he was leaving, he came up behind me and put his arms around me and said, “I love you, Mom.” Whew…so special!

The Illumination Project does a wonderful job making it clear that relationships are worth it, there is a way for them to work, and they don’t have to fail if both people know how to avoid pitfalls like the crazy cycle. And it was especially great knowing that it was all backed up by Biblical principles. There is a way that God intended for relationships to work, and it’s not even all that difficult to understand! It was incredibly encouraging, even for a single guy like me.

I first want to say thank you so much for writing this book for all of us mothers. I’m not a big reader but I just knew I needed to get through this. When my son was a lot younger of course our relationship was significantly different and it was all about love and he loved love. I realize in the teenage years that something was changing and I could not quite figure it out. And now I recently got married and I have three stepchildren. Each of them are boys. I have three teenagers currently and a nine-year-old boy. Needless to say my eyes are wide open now and even though I want to love each of them and I will always love them, but now I absolutely want to respect them as well…Again thank you so much.

"Just wanted to say that this ministry is really blessing my life. I have been able to share it with other people and it already blessed them as well! Please don't EVER GIVE UP! I am sure sometimes, it must be very difficult. But it is so worthy to spread this message. So many marriages being attacked and in need of information like this."

For one, as an artist, I really appreciate the thoughtfulness put into the design elements of The Illumination Project. Often design is left behind in the pragmatic work of content makers… leaving the program feeling irrelevantly dated in its communication. We are a visually driven culture, and design plays a vital role in the relaying of ideas and meaning. The Illumination Project not only brings us into content that we so desperately need to digest, but it gives it to us with a visual ‘spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down.’ Bravo.

"I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to tell you some great news. With the help of the 15 day challenge, my marriage is on much better footing.  Probably in the best place we have ever been in years.  I will tell you that the most challenging of your challenges was to apologize.  I feel like I am always saying I am sorry for something so it seemed like a broken record but I did it. Well, just yesterday, my wife looks me right in the eye and says, "...for the past three weeks you have been the most amazing husband"...You and your wife have truly been instrumental in saving my marriage. Be blessed sir."

My small group of twenty something women just finished week three of TIP last night, and I am LOVING it! The content is obviously great (way to relate to and entertain a group of easily jaded/skeptical/seen-it-all/overwhelmed twentysomethings!), the concepts are something we’re all wrestling through together, but the very best part is Joy’s encouragement to be multigenerational. We have about six older women who’ve rotated through our weekly gatherings, and that element is making this one of the BEST things I’ve ever been a part of! It’s really amazing. Having these women—from a woman who’s been married more than 50 years to a fiftysomething never-been-married woman to thirty- and fortysomething women with kids—listen, share their hearts and experiences, share their own illuminations and wrestle with the concepts and God’s truth alongside my girls is SO DARN AMAZING. For one, it takes pressure off me as the leader to ‘have all the answers’ (I’m 29 and have been married for six years... I barely know what I’m doing myself!). And the fact that these women from different places in life are getting to know one other, open up to each other, ugh.... there. just. aren’t. words.

"...I thank you SO much for helping us to understand the concepts of love and respect. While I did not have great role models growing up, I am committed to showing my husband and sons the respect that they deserve as the men in our home. I have seen the love for myself and my daughter come around in multiplied amounts, which has made our home so much happier all around. Thank you for helping families to understand and be better. Also, thank you for helping us again to rely on God to help transform us!"