Candace Payne - Laugh It Up! (with Bonus Content)

Im so fortunate to have gotten to know the real woman behind the mask after her hilarious video took the internet by storm and reminded us all to LAUGH with abandon! Candace has a lot to teach the world about living joyfully, laughing loudly, and cherishing the small things that make life worth living!

PATRICIA HEATON, Emmy Award-winning actress and producer

On May 21, 2016, I posted this on my Facebook page: Have yall seen this video of a lady finding such joy in her newly purchased Chewbacca mask? .. Im willing to bet shes a believer. That kind of joy comes from a much deeper place... Whats interesting about the spring of 2016 is that I was in a deep depression when I came across that viral video. Looking back on it now, I know that the joy I saw in Candace flooded Light into my pit of despair and beckoned my spirit to rise out of the dark. As you read Candace Paynes story, you will see why she is able to find joy in the simple things. I know firsthand the power of joy in the midst of pain. That is why I believe that God has spread Candaces contagious, Light-shining spirit for the world to see at such a time as this.

MANDISA, Contemporary Christian recording artist

If you think Candace Payne is nothing more than a viral video, you are sorely mistaken. I recently spent time listening to her lifes story and was stunned by the unspeakable pain she has endured and the breathtaking triumphs she has experienced. Candace Payne is more than a mask, and Im confident that her new book will cement her as a go-to inspirational voice for years to come.

JONATHAN MERRITT, contributing writer for The Atlantic; author of Learning to Speak God from Scratch

Candace truly does have the gift of spreading joy, and that is something that the world needs more of at this time. Im happy shes using her platform to make people smile. This book will open peoples eyes to see joy in their own life. It makes me proud to be her friend.

SADIE ROBERTSON, bestselling author, speaker, and founder of Live Original The Tour

Thanks to a viral Facebook video, the world got to see a glimpse of the joy and spirit of Candace Payne. Ive been fortunate to know and feel that joy and spirit in person both before and after the video took over the internet. Theres more to Candace than one video. Candace has a gift. A gift for living her life with a smile on her face and a shine in her heart. Laugh It Up! will give readers an insight into that smile and shine and hopefully help even more people find joy in everything they do in life. And real and true joy is the most infectious and viral thing on the planet. Lets spread it together.

BARRETT BABER, country music artist and songwriter

Dont be fooled: Candace Payne is more than a laughing Chewbacca mask, and this book is more than stories to make you giggle. These profoundly rich and vulnerable pages are an invitation to drink deeply from the well of joy. Even in the lean seasons, Candace reminds readers, Joy is beckoning us out to play. These are words for the weary, the hopeless, the dreamers, the fighters, and everyone in between. Laugh It Up! is an invitation to come back home and embrace our birthrightjoy. You will laugh, cry, and remember the long-forgotten gift of playfulness as you journey through these pages and find yourself coming home to hope. This book is a rare, life-giving gift for the soul.

JENNY SIMMONS, musician, author of Made Well and The Road to Becoming

Candace is more than just a joyful person; she is a JOY-FILLED person who has a passion to make the world a better place. Laugh It Up! will remind you to find joy in the small moments and guide you on your way to become someone who experiences defiant joy and hope each day.

HAL DONALDSON, president, Convoy of Hope

ZONDERVAN

Laugh It Up!

Copyright 2017 by Candace Payne

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

ISBN 978-0-310-35236-5 (audio)

ISBN 978-0-310-35167-2 (ebook)

EPub Edition October 2017 ISBN 9780310351672

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Payne, Candace, author.

Title: Laugh it up! : embrace freedom and experience defiant joy / Candace Payne.

Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan : Zondervan, [2017]

Identifiers: LCCN 2017031992 | ISBN 9780310350569 (softcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Joy. | Shame.

Classification: LCC BF575.H27 P39 2017 | DDC 152.4/2dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017031992

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked The Message are taken from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals mentioned in this work.

Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Author is represented by Jana Burson at The Christopher Ferebee Agency, www.christopherferebee.com.

Cover design: Curt Diepenhorst

Cover photography: Meshali Mitchell Photo

Interior design: Kait Lamphere

First printing September 2017 / Printed in the United States of America

To anyone who has ever experienced, lost, or forgotten what living a life full of joy feels and looks like.

To the one who feels overlooked, undervalued, or has a chronic case of the Mondays.

To the ones who live fearlessly, without shame, and find every opportunity to throw their heads back and laugh it up...

I dedicate this book to you.

May you find joy in your journey wherever it leads.

I dont know about you, but its not every day I get to hang out at the Facebook headquarters while a British man in a Wookiee costume rides a bicycle next to me as I try to remember what it feels like to balance each pedal. Yet, thats exactly where I found myself.

Facebook had invited me because five days earlier I had visited Kohls. Stay with me here; this will make sense in a minute. Kohls is a department store that is sort of like Disney World for stay-at-home moms. I needed to return something as well as do some rare shopping for myself. I had just celebrated my thirty-seventh birthday (forty was looming ever closer), and I wanted yoga pants, acutely aware that I needed to be more conscious of my health and become more active. Yoga pants are forever a mystery to methey seem perfectly designed to expose all the places where one has