One thing Joy Gardner firmly believes is this: There is hope.
It's a philosophy that has guided her life — through the turmoils of adolescence, through tragedies, through experiences of stage and screen, through the explorations of new motherhood.
"Hope is very important to me," she says. And so when it came time for the singer/actress to record her first CD, "that was the message I wanted to convey."
"We touch on a lot of topics, but they all culminate in the idea of hope — in the idea that you don't have to carry all your burdens, you can take them to the Savior and let him carry them. You don't have to do it all by yourself."
"There Is Hope," produced by Greg Hansen and released by Inspirational Music Showcase/Sounds of Zion, has three songs that Gardner wrote or co-wrote as well as other songs that fit well with her theme. She says they not only reflect her life experiences but are also a testament of the power of music to help and heal.
Music has been a part of Gardner's life for as long as she can remember — or longer, actually. Her mother tells her that she started to sing as soon as she could talk. "My older brother used to beg Mother to make me stop."
She wrote her first song — and performed it in a sacrament meeting — at age 10. "I knew at a young age I wanted to continue with music, particularly with sacred music."
Gardner will be familiar to many people because of her theatrical work. She has appeared in numerous stage and film productions, including playing the role of Laneah in "The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepherd," and as the Virgin Mary in the LDS Church production of "Savior of the World." She also now teaches voice at BYU.
Looking back, she says, she sees a lot of little things that add up to where she is now. She grew up in Gainesville, Fla., where from age 12 to 18 she was in a stake youth choir. "That not only gave me an opportunity to sing but also showed me how much I enjoyed sacred music. I loved the feeling I had when I sang this king of music."
But it also helped her through some tough adolescent experiences. "The music of Hilary Week and Kenneth Cope got me through some trying times. It saved my life in a way." It's not easy, she says, to try to live unique standards in high school when all your friends are pulling you in other directions. "I had to let go of friendships in order to be true to myself. It meant a lot of loneliness. But I turned to the music, and there were such messages of hope and light. Looking back, I'm proud of the decisions I made."
Music also helped four years ago when her brother died at 18, after a football-related accident. "He was the first person that left me, but it helped me come to grasp with what faith is. Faith is not saying give me what I want; it's believing in the power of the atonement."
She says music took her to better places — figuratively and literally. At BYU Gardner became a member of the Young Ambassadors and traveled with that group. Then she got a job as a lead singer for Holland America Cruise Lines.
But although she was making good money and seeing interesting places, "I knew it was not what I wanted to do. In the beginning, I had ideas that I needed to push myself to be the best — to go to Broadway, to be a film star. But I realized that applause and recognition were not enough. At that point I knew I needed to redirect my life."
It was while she was on the cruise that she got the call about "The Testaments." She decided to go back to BYU. "And that very week, I met and started dating Quinn." They were married in 1999 and now have a nearly-2-year-old daughter, Noel.
Motherhood has been a challenge, as well, she says. "You think you're the only one that can't get your child to sleep, that can't get organized, that sometimes feels like you're suffocating. Moms need to know they are not alone."
And that's another message she believes will come from her music. Whatever your struggles, large or small, "there is always hope."
E-mail: carma@desnews.com