Finding Joy on the Good and Bad Days

Would you rather have happiness or joy? Once you listen to this episode, you are sure to have a very clear choice. So many of us are dealing with new situations, uncertainties, insecurities, and difficult times that we can’t control. We might feel like we can’t hold onto happiness or joy. But what if we took a different approach so that we could keep ourselves centered, faithful, and joyful on the good and the bad days? 


Singer and author Lee Cruz uses the Instagram account @sheisabutterfly to encourage others to look to God for help in very real and everyday ways. She shares her tough life experiences and proves that she has learned to trust God enough to live a life of joy despite it all. And although she’s not perfect, she helped us recognize that in many cases, “the beauty is in the imperfections.” 

 Butterflies flutter around in a way that brings joy and beauty. But we all know that a butterfly started off as a crawling caterpillar, transitioned to an isolated and confined cocoon, and eventually transformed into a beautiful butterfly. We hope that this episode helps you understand what phase of life you’re in, lean on God to be your source of joy, and embrace the bold, beautiful butterfly within!

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Transcript

Lee Cruz [00:00:02]:

Every season has a purpose to prepare for the next season just like our natural weather seasons do. We don't wanna fight against that. We also want to pray for patience to endure whatever we're going through because there's a lesson in everything. Instead of asking the why is this happening to me, we need to be asking god, what are you trying to show me? Because I know that you love me. I know you want the best for my life.

Sandy Kovach  [00:00:29]:

Welcome to imagine yourself, where we help Hope you imagine your next chapter of life with grace, gratitude, courage, and faith.

Lanée Blaise [00:00:38]:

Thanks for joining us at Imagine Yourself. I'm Lanee here with Sandy, and we are always looking for people and situations and opportunities We're shining light in this world. And today, we have an enlightening guest, Lee Cruz, Who's a singer, an author, an encourager with a story that shows us how to find true joy. Thanks for taking this time with us, Lee. We just wanted to introduce you to Imagine Yourself.

Lee Cruz [00:01:09]:

I am so honored to be here speaking with you Both, I truly am. Like, I, you know, I had to kinda contain myself.

Sandy Kovach  [00:01:18]:

No. You don't have to contain yourself. Don't contain it

Lee Cruz [00:01:20]:

Gonna let it all out.

Sandy Kovach  [00:01:23]:

We're gonna do that. So speaking of letting it all out, I mean, you are a lot about joy. And I wanna talk about first, like, the difference between happiness Enjoy and how life isn't always happy, and, you know, sometimes we're in the middle of some pretty Difficult circumstances. How do we keep our joy as opposed to happiness?

Lee Cruz [00:01:44]:

One of the things that I tell people is that happiness is temporary. We want the eternal joy, and I say that because I realized for myself, I was working out of my old identity. When you work out of your old self, you work out of of a lot of guilt and unworthiness, and I had a very rough beginning. And I had people in my life who said I wouldn't amount to anything. And my old self was Trying to find my value in people and what people had to say about me, how people made me feel. And I realized, But today, that does not matter. What matters is what god thinks about me and what the Bible says. You know, he says we're fearfully and wonderfully made.

Lee Cruz [00:02:37]:

We are a royal priesthood. We are a child of god, and Joy comes from knowing your value and your worth. And the problem that we have in this world in society, because we're present in it, is gaining that value and that worth from how we're treated, how people react to us, And that's really not where the truth lies. So when you work out of the correct truth and the correct identity and saying, okay. I'm imperfect. I'm flawed. But, you know, my savior lives in me, and he is perfect, and he is who I represent, and he is who I live my life for. Now I'm drawing out of the correct identity.

Lee Cruz [00:03:25]:

So, you know, again, it's that whole, are you drawing from the spirit? Are you drawing from the flesh? And I asked myself that in a lot of situations so that I can understand the difference It's between coming from a place where I know who I am or the flesh, which is, gosh, you know, I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I'm capable of getting through this. Yeah. So the joy comes from knowing who you are in Christ and your identity, and how loved and how valued you are.

Lanée Blaise [00:04:01]:

Lee, the reason that We just wanted to make sure that we got to talk to you and share with you is because you're so honest. You're so kind. You have that understanding when, you know, the people do definitely go through things. Sometimes they're struggling. Sometimes they are Dealing with bad circumstances, and you have your own story. I love before and after. You know, like, the before and after photos, Before and after stories, and you have a truly beautiful and incredible story.

Lee Cruz [00:04:37]:

The before is somebody who was searching for joy, but confused it with happiness. 4 years ago, I went through a clump of losing my mother, who I was caring for in hospice for a year. The dissolution of my marriage and losing my home. And, again, I was just at a complete place of surrender. I had no idea what to do, And I just had to let go and let god. Right? Because I just had no direction for my life. A lot of people refer to the walk in the desert. I had 3 years of a walk in the desert where it was basically about deconstructing who I thought I was.

Lee Cruz [00:05:21]:

You know, 2nd Corinthians 5 17 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Well, what does a new creation look like? A new creation is no longer trying to work out of your flesh, out of yourself, out of, you know, feelings, but truth truth in who god says we are. So just like a child, you know, doesn't worry about, is my parent going to feed me today? Is my parent going to, you know, have shoes and clothes for my back today? We, as children of God, need to understand Our father is always providing for our needs. Maybe not the way or the timing that we wanted in, But the prayer and petition, he does come through, and he knows what's best for us because he is our creator. He is our father. Finding your joy is knowing how loved and how valued you are. And once you know that place, You perform differently. You look at things differently, and now joy now resides in you, and what a wonderful place to work out of.

Lee Cruz [00:06:28]:

So that's where I am in life. I basically I called this year kind of releasing the butterflies. So I use the butterfly, and I know many people do. It symbolizes, you know, transformation. I use the butterfly as a reminder that I am not working out of my old self anymore, but out of the identity that I am loved, that I am cherished, that I am the beloved child of god, and that changes everything. So doing the music, doing the book are just Expressions of me just thanking god for everything that he's done and paying it forward to others in hopes that they can find their joy.

Sandy Kovach  [00:07:14]:

And speaking of others finding joy, when somebody is going through something, Lee, It's not easy to tell them, as you know, with everything you've been through, hey. Just be happy. So what do you tell people in that situation? Don't worry. Be happy. Probably not. Right?

Lee Cruz [00:07:31]:

Yeah. No. Not not at all. You know, there's seasons. I tell people just like the seasons of the weather. There's seasons in our faith. There's a time to mourn. There's a time to grieve.

Lee Cruz [00:07:41]:

There's a time to be quiet and be still and be with god. And that every Season has a purpose to prepare for the next season, just like our natural weather seasons do. We don't wanna fight against that. We also want to pray for patience to endure whatever we're going through because there's a lesson in everything. Instead of asking the why is this happening to me. We need to be asking God, what are you trying to show me? Because I know that you love me. I know you want the best for my life. I don't know how to get there.

Lee Cruz [00:08:15]:

And it's resting and knowing, first of all, that he is the great provider and that he is a faithful oh, father. And I think it's because we we push ourselves to get to a place maybe we're not ready for. And sometimes, you know, that whole be still and know that I am god plays a big part in us enduring getting through Healing. So I tell people, you know, that there's seasons, and we don't wanna rush those seasons. We do wanna ask God during those seasons, What are you trying to show me? And that changes everything.

Lanée Blaise [00:08:54]:

Leigh, you have a very concrete example Of the way that your life used to look and some of the things that you were doing career wise and everything like that, And how you made an absolute shift and even involved things as far as your name. I want you to tell everything that you Can to help us all see in our own lives how that might, parallel?

Lee Cruz [00:09:20]:

Sure. Well, the first of all, to start off with The name I go by the professional name Aleeza. And about 7 years ago, I had a prophetic vision, And, you know, I was also taking time to just listen to what God was telling me. In this vision, not knowing what this vision was at First, it was a fire, like a forest on fire. And I thought, oh my goodness. That's a little scary. I don't it's does that mean something's Coming that's gonna be destroyed and, you know, it was kinda daunting for me to see. And then in the next vision, I looked at the ground.

Lee Cruz [00:09:57]:

The ground is all charred, but there was a sprout. There was 1 green sprout that was in all of the blackness. And he said when I was done with my praying time, he was gonna give me a new name because I never cared for my name because my name is so short. So I said, wow. You're gonna give me a new name. Okay. I'm ready for it. He says, Your new name is going to be joy, because you see joy is your weapon.

Lee Cruz [00:10:26]:

And I want you to lead a ministry on joy and what joy looks like, how to receive it, and how to work out of it. So your new name is going to be joy. Now I'm kind of a a rebel child. So Oh. Oh, joy. Okay. Well, that's lovely, but it's Still 1 syllable in 3 letters. So, you know, God's like, hold on, Lee.

Lee Cruz [00:10:52]:

Hold on. What I want you to do is I want you to look up the Hebrew name for joy, and I want you to write this down. So when I came out of my prayer, I looked it up, And I was just taken aback, and I was in tears because as I wrote out the name, the name was Aleeza, So a l e e z a. For 1, he kept my name in this new name that he had given me. I realized it was at that point that god was showing me, even in the vision, he explained that the fire was, I'm going to take away all of the False narratives and all of the lies that you have been in bondage by the enemy and looking for in other people. And I give you this new name because it starts there. Your identity, who I see you as, who I love you as, who I know you as, who I created you to be. And it's from that place that you're going to start a ministry.

Lee Cruz [00:11:56]:

And I thought, wow, who am I to start a ministry? And, you know, I left my job in January. I finally said, lord, I know you're calling on me. I've gotta leave. I'm in a comfortable place. No one likes to leave comfort. Right? So Oh, definitely. Right? But I knew the lord was calling me to do greater things, and there was only so much that I could do between you know, in 4 walls of a 9 to 5. So coming into this year, releasing the butterflies, it was about Not to be cold, but I I wasn't gonna care anymore about what people thought because I knew what my father thought about me.

Lee Cruz [00:12:38]:

And he put all of these gifts in me that I've kept covered for all of these years. It's like, what am I afraid of? It wasn't about success. It was about actually stepping into it and doing something and saying, wow, I did it. You know, the goal wasn't to put out a book that was gonna be New York Times bestseller or to put out music that was on the top 40 charts. They are simply expressions of me sharing my testimony and helping to lead others to recognize their identity in Christ and the joy that comes from that and being free.

Sandy Kovach  [00:13:20]:

So tell us about how to get your book and your music. You have a YouTube channel, all that stuff.

Lee Cruz [00:13:25]:

Yes. So my YouTube channel is Lee Erica Cruz. I mostly do a lot of my blogs on my Instagram account at she is a butterfly. It's hard to post, you know, blogs on on YouTube, do. But I do have, you know, some shorts on there. The music videos are there. And the books the book, it came out in June, and I'm really Excited about this. I wrote children's books for most of my childhood as a way to I grew up in a a really broken home when it was my escape.

Lee Cruz [00:14:00]:

And so I wrote all of these books. Unfortunately, I lost them in water damage, and I always wanted to put out a children's book. So the book came out in June, and it is called The Walking Butterfly. It is available on Amazon. And even though it's a children's book, I say that many adults will get the message out of it. It's about a butterfly who is not living out Her purpose, she walks instead of flying, and she keeps her wings rolled up, and it's because she doesn't want to expose her flaws. But sometimes the beauty is in the flaws. Right? The beauty is in the imperfections.

Lee Cruz [00:14:40]:

And so the story is just about a little girl and a butterfly who become friends. And in that loving friendship, the butterfly finally unrolls her wings, And she exposes the beauty within, and she finds her purpose, and she flies. So it's an inspiration for other people that God has given us so many gifts, and we all we all have a purpose in this life. And the book is just representative of It's never too late to express those gifts and do what you've always wanted to do.

Lanée Blaise [00:15:19]:

You are an Absolute inspiration to the younger generation and to us. Again, like I said, I just love your honesty. I love the fact that you have lived out what you're talking about. You know, a lot of people, that means a lot to them to understand that When you're getting encouragement and that's how I found you, getting encouragement from you at Instagram with she is a butterfly is just Remarkable. And you and I were talking a little before the recording started about how things have been really hard, in the past few years, of course, just in people's lives, and not even just the normal stuff that you hear about on the news, but lots of people I mean, there are Cancer facilities just full of people dealing with illnesses. There's people dealing with marriage problems and things with their children. We need light. We need encouragement, and we really appreciate it.

Lanée Blaise [00:16:13]:

You've got songs called Joy and called Love Another Day, Call on you. Stand. We had to just bring you in and let everybody, get the message for the day.

Sandy Kovach  [00:16:27]:

I love the, imagery of the butterfly. I've been thinking about that as I've been, listening to you talk to the imagery Of the butterfly who's literally not losing using their wings because they're afraid that they don't look right Or they're flawed, or people will judge them, or Right. Right. But that's their purpose is to fly. So what a great analyst analogy for The very real problems that people go through in life, and that you seem to be on the other side of that. You seem to have flown away like the butterfly, I but there's a lot of other folks who are still rolling their wings up, I think.

Lee Cruz [00:17:07]:

Oh, sure. Sure. And, again, I think that comes from Them just not knowing to how to work out of their identity in Christ because they're still working out of their old selves. Now This was a long journey for me. I'm 52, and this didn't happen until about 4 years ago when I really was anchored In truly understanding where I needed to work out of, when you're working out of your old self, you carry a lot of guilt. You carry a lot of shame. You carry a lot of unworthiness, and that keeps you stuck in a place that's hard to perform out of. So, again, changing your mindset and and knowing that in Christ, you are a new creation, resets everything and opens up everything.

Lee Cruz [00:17:54]:

And the strength that you derive from that love and that value that your father in heaven has for you, It's huge. But, you know, everybody has their own faith walk. And even though we may go through a lot of parallel things, It's a process, and we just have to trust the process through prayer and faith.

Lanée Blaise [00:18:13]:

Well, that is true. And every episode, we have a time called takeaway time. And I just wanted to know if there's any one overarching thing, whether it has to do with the seasons in our life or With our faith walk or with even your own personal experience is something that you wanna make sure that everyone takes away As they go on with the rest of their day to day.

Lee Cruz [00:18:36]:

Sure. That you have a purpose in life, that you are loved and you are valued, and that you were given your own unique fingerprint so that you can make your own unique impact in this world. And if you can understand that you are so loved and so valued and to start changing your mindset of coming from a place of asking god, what are you trying to show me? It changes your situation in front of you and the situation that you're going through. Nehemiah 8:10, the joy of the lord is our strength.

Lanée Blaise [00:19:21]:

I just wanna say thank you so much for sharing with us and being a part of Imagine Yourself. And, everyone, Just go ahead, and as you go through your day, remember what Lee has told us. You know? Remember about the before and after situations in your own life. Remember about the seasons of purpose in your own life, and remember that god does take care of us. Maybe unexpected things do happen, but in the end, we are his children and god takes care of us, and we just want to Let you float on out like a butterfly on that.

Lee Cruz [00:19:55]:

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for for having me on the podcast. And joy. Joy. Joy. Work out of your mouth. That's the word. That's the song.

Lee Cruz [00:20:07]:

Yes.

Sandy Kovach  [00:20:09]:

Thanks so much for sharing the time with us here at Imagine Yourself. If you're looking for more information on Lee or what we do here, it's all at imagine yourself podcast .com links to where to subscribe, whether it's our blog or our podcast. We're on almost every platform, and, hopefully, A place for you to connect with us. Let us know how we're doing. Send us a note. Give us a review. Join the conversation on social media. All our links are in the show notes and at imagine yourself podcast