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“I know that this is a privilege, and one that’s not due to merit,” Joy admits. “I realize that not everybody gets to do this. But I did grow up quickly, and there have been moments when I’ve had to deal with anger over that. I was college-bound, wanting to go to that Ivey League school and use that scholarship I’d worked so hard for. I would find myself so jealous of friends at college who would talk about professors they loved and trips they were taking just because they could. But God had different plans, and I signed on to a different life. He has to continually remind me that His ways are not my ways and the path I’ve taken has included some of those life journeys I had hoped for.”

Those journeys have included some pretty monumental moments in Joy’s life, not the least of which is her marriage to husband Nate Yetton in June of 2004. Some of the best and most memorable music happens when life and art come together, and it’s no accident that Joy’s newest album, Genesis, has taken well over two years to come to fruition. That two years brought maturity, experience, and confidence to a performer who already owned a sense insight and artistry shared by few.

“There have been some pretty solid jumps in terms of my life experiences,” Joy shares. “So much has changed from growing up a bit and becoming more independent, to meeting the man that I’ll grow old with. There have been lots of steps made – not in terms of miles, but in terms of life. I feel like there have been a lot of new avenues to walk down, and I’ve hit a couple of dead-end streets and had to turn around.”

In his classic My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers poses the question, “God’s purpose, or mine?” Our focus, he suggests, should not be on the end goal, but on trusting God through the process. And it’s that same truth that Joy has learned and can share with her audience. “I’ve wriggled around underneath God’s thumb at times,” she admits, “but that’s the creativity of life – when we learn to trust God and abandon ourselves to him. I’m excited about the path I’m getting to walk now. I giggle at God sometimes and think he must have the biggest sense of humor. My big blueprint plan didn’t really turn out the way I thought it would, but it’s better than anything I’d ever hoped for.”

Genesis will undoubtedly create new opinions and deeper appreciation of Joy’s artistry from both critics and fans alike. Produced by Matt Bronleewe (Natalie Imbruglia, Michael W. Smith), it is the first album on which Joy has co-written every song. Its progressive pop rock sound combines programmed elements with acoustic guitar, piano and even stringed instruments recorded in Prague.

“Working with Matt was incredible,” says Joy. “I’ve never had more fun working on an album. He really encouraged me to find myself and to find the music. It was very much a team effort. It was almost like he was a sculptor—I brought my mold of clay that looked like a coffee mug and he made it into a fruit basket.

“I think this album may cause people to blink twice,” she adds. “It’s a real change for me, but I think (and I hope) there’s a musical style here that evidences growth. Over the past couple of years, I really began to just dive into music and realized for the first time that what I love to listen to could be translated into the kind of music I wanted to make.”