Embracing joy in hard times

The Story of Mirth Supply

It all starts with Tati.

On April 1, 2024, she was diagnosed with Grade 4 Astrocytoma with an IDH mutation—a lemon-sized tumor in her right frontal lobe. A brain tumor the size of a small child’s fist, nestled in her mind. Surreal is an understatement.

We had just completed our 10th year as a married couple, planning the next steps in our lives… and then this. Life took a radical turn. We were on a life track, and as this occurred—or rather, was revealed to us—we were translated from that “track of normalcy” to a completely different track in a universe we were foreign to.

Since then, we’ve navigated countless hospital visits, surgeries, rounds of chemo, radiation, and now Optune therapy and maintenance chemo. We just took one step at a time. Keeping Tati’s heart before the Lord the whole way. We would never do any treatment that made her feel uncomfortable or that she didn’t want to do.

I entered into caretaker mode, deeply compartmentalizing my whole inner life. I wanted to be available for everything she needed: doctor’s appointments, childcare, extra rest—whatever it was—I wanted to be present to take care of it. And slowly, as if my heart was being choked off from its life force, I began drying up. Isolated internally, resisting relationships with anyone but my kids. The fears of unknown impending doom were circling around my head and heart, and I didn’t know how to deal with them.

As August approached, I was at rock bottom in my spirit. God woke me up in the middle of the night and whispered to me… “You need to focus on Joy.” I think I literally laughed out loud. Joy? What the hell do I know about joy? God, do you not see my life right now? Give me the picture of “joy” you see because I cannot see any joy in my life. I don’t even know how to process this!

And then He showed me this picture…

The life I thought I was living—a life “in the spirit”—I thought was reality, but it was only partially true. My life before April, when we found out about Tati’s tumor, was going well—upward and to the right. And then it took a dive down and flatlined near the bottom. And I yelled back, yes! Show me the joy?! I don’t see it!

As He continued to illustrate, I kept watching the graph, and it didn’t stop moving forward in time after it bottomed out. Mirroring my daily getting up and putting one foot in front of the other. It continued. Pressing forward. Not stopping.

God said to me, “My Joy is your strength.”

And then I understood. The only reason I had the power to move forward was because His joy compelled me. His joy propelled me. It was the strength of will to get up each morning and do what needed to be done. It was the motivation to take care of what I could. It was the one thing that gave me the power to live. His joy—the source of my strength.

I saw it. And then the graph continued past that day and into the future and started to rise and rise and rise. I didn’t understand that part then, but I am beginning to now.

What He’s gifted to Tati and me is the grace to understand suffering, peace, and joy in a completely different way. For her, to suffer through sickness. For me, to suffer through being helpless while watching my beautiful bride walk through sickness I could do nothing about. The peace? Was His very near presence in all of it. We never felt abandoned or forsaken. In fact, as the year continued, we felt a deeper connection and peace in His presence. The joy? I witnessed a different strength in her as she moved with grace through all the treatments and medications and side effects of it all. For me, the realization that His joy was the covering and fuel for me to move forward.

This road has brought about a new perspective of joy in our lives—a journey that supplied the understanding that there may actually be pain in the darkness of night, but joy does come in the morning. It’s a joy of peace and perseverance. Of faith and fortification. Of delight and grace in the midst of the storm

Out of the darkness of this journey, I heard God speak clearly: “Share my Joy.” It seemed strange at first—to be called to share joy in a time of pain and uncertainty. But God’s joy is unshakeable, even in life’s most brutal challenges. Mirth Supply was birthed to share that very thing.

Life isn’t much different than over a year ago before we found out about the cancer. But we are different. And not just a little different. Different in the sense that we were caterpillars but have now, through Him cocooning us in a dark, painful process, started to emerge as butterflies. We have been re-birthed as a different species with a completely different mindset.

So, Mirth Supply was created as a testament to that joy—undisputed, resilient, and unwavering. We believe that in God’s joy, we are unstoppable, finding strength that transcends every trial.

At Mirth Supply, we design with a purpose beyond style. We’re here to share a message: His joy is the force that carries us through, reminding us that in hardship, we can find light, strength, and hope.

Mirth is exuberant joy in action, supplied by the only one who can.

We carry it.

We have become it.

We’re stronger because of it.

And above all, we’re so grateful He gave us this opportunity to be transformed by it.

Join us in celebrating joy undisputed.

Mirth Supply.