Choosing Cheer: Experiencing the Joy of Jesus in the Everyday and Unimaginable

by Nicolet Bell

Choosing Cheer is a transformational guide to incorporating more of the joy of Jesus in your life through the study of Biblical scriptures and real-world experiences.

Do you know Jesus but wonder where joy is? Do you find joy when things are smooth sailing but when life gets choppy, does joy seem out of reach? Are you overwhelmed with the state of the world? In this thoughtful and uplifting guide, Nicolet Bell, who chooses cheer as her life’s guiding principle, helps us understand why we should choose cheer, she identifies what is stealing our cheerfulness, and she offers tools to help us choose cheer daily, even when life is challenging. 

Jesus tells us, “In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), and Bell has taken this teaching to heart. In a thoughtful and inspiring way, she explores real-world difficulties, including her own infertility struggle, the life-threatening illness of a friend’s child, and the everyday aspiration to incorporate the love of Jesus into all of our relationships.
 
In every chapter Bell leads us in a cheer practice with breath prayers, scripture quotes, gratitude exercises, and a cheer challenge that reflects the importance of finding joy in Jesus despite our circumstances. With the compassionate wisdom of a trusted friend, Bell guides us to find peace and wisdom in Jesus’s teachings, and to intentionally embrace all of life’s moments, knowing that our faith will sustain us.

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2025

Reviews

[Kristen Walley · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It is easy to let our challenges or troubles control the outcome of cheer in our lives, but Jesus reminds us that regardless of our circumstances, even really terrible ones, we don’t have to live in fear. We can experience and enjoy freedom in Jesus and joy in His presence. We can have cheer and spread cheer when it comes from a place of promise.”

This book has so many beautiful stories and examples of how we can have the joy of Jesus in our daily lives AND in our suffering. She walks us through the main things that “cheat us of cheerfulness” and ways we can turn to Jesus to restore His eternal joy in our hearts. Nicolet gives us scriptures, prayers, and other examples on how we can connect with the Lord and to “choose cheer” in the everyday and in unimaginable.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a good resource full of good encouragements and helpful reminders. It’s generally sensitive and thoughtful when discussing how to have joy in Jesus and why believers sometimes struggle to have joy. There are some useful specific suggestions - for example, breath prayers centering on specific Bible verses. I also appreciated Bell’s vulnerability sharing about her fertility journey and miscarriage. She raises some difficult and valid questions, such as why a baby is allowed to suffer, and generally addresses such topics with compassion for believers enduring suffering.

However, some parts of the book didn’t reach me as much. Bell’s advice to smile at strangers, or to remember that suffering is good for us in some way, isn’t untrue or wrong; it just doesn’t feel helpful to me in a place of deep suffering and feeling distant from God. It will probably still help someone else though - and overall, Bell is very understanding about the difficulty of choosing joy in painful circumstances.

This is overall a great resource for Christians. I give it 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. Thank you to NetGalley and Morehouse Publishing for the free eARC! I post this review with my honest opinions. This review will be posted on Amazon upon the book’s publication.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a bit of a shock to have Bell start her book by reminding us of Jesus' promise that we will have trouble. That is one biblical promise we might not put on our refrigerator. But along with that promise are others. Jesus also said we could have peace and joy because He is with us.

Bell believes we can choose cheer as our daily outlook. But that is a challenge and her ideas to help us do that is what this book is all about. She shares many of her own experiences illustrating how she chooses cheer. I like that she gives practical ideas set in the framework of breath prayers, memorizing Scripture, cultivating gratefulness and spreading the joy.

This is a good book with many practical suggestions to experiencing the peace and joy of Jesus that comes through choosing cheer.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

[Sussie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great to read to refresh my mind. It reminded me to be grateful and choose to have joy even when that seems like the farthest thing I want to do. I enjoyed the structure of the book and how everything was tied together. The gratitude challenges were my favorite. Overall if you need a boost on how and why to choose the joy that Jesus has available then this book is for you. I recommend it!



Thank you to Nicolet and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book!

#ChoosingCheer #NetGalley

[Jackie Layton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book, especially if you're trying to avoid toxic people, whether in social settings or work settings.
It's an encouragement to focus on joy even when life is a challenge.

[Jessica Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to remind us that even in hardship we can choose joy.