Carolanne Miljavac - She Laughs: Choosing Faith over Fear

While I expected to laugh my way through Carolanne Miljavacs latest offering, I didnt anticipate the wealth of hard-earned insight and biblical wisdom coming from one of my favorite funny young women, all delivered without a filter in sight to better serve those living and learning with her. Well done, friend. Honored to co-labor with you in this glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, author of
Finding Deep and Wide

I read Carolannes book in the midst of a mental breakdown. I had been trying to control everything around me and seemed to have lost myself in the process. Not only did I find myself laughing and relating to Carolannes hilarious stories (like hobbling around with dog and husband pee on her feet), but her ability to laugh through the chaos and learn from each situation taught me that its okay to trust in something bigger than me and enjoy the ride, even when Im not sure where its headed. This book came at the perfect time.

Tiffany Jenkins of Juggling the Jenkins,
author of High Achiever, influencer, podcast
host, and advocate for life after addiction

The Bible says a joyful heart and laughter are good medicine, and She Laughs is definitely ibuprofen for the soul. Its inspirational, biblically sound, and downright funny. I know it will bless readers in whatever season they find themselves.

Susannah Lewis of Whoa Susannah,
author of Cant Make This Stuff Up

I laughed out loud so many times. Her writing feels like Im sitting at a coffee shop with my best friend feeling so comfortable and understood.

Adley Stump, The Adley Show

2020 by Carolanne Miljavac

Print ISBN 978-1-68322-980-3

eBook Editions:

Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-64352-565-5

Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-64352-566-2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher.

Churches and other noncommercial interests may reproduce portions of this book without the express written permission of Barbour Publishing, provided that the text does not exceed 500 words or 5 percent of the entire book, whichever is less, and that the text is not material quoted from another publisher. When reproducing text from this book, include the following credit line: From She Laughs: Choosing Faith over Fear, published by Barbour Publishing, Inc. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the H OLY B IBLE , N EW I NTERNATIONAL V ERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Cover Design: Greg Jackson, Thinkpen Design

Published by Shiloh Run Press, an imprint of Barbour Publishing, Inc., 1810 Barbour Drive, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.shilohrunpress.com

Our mission is to inspire the world with the life-changing message of the Bible.

Printed in the United States of America.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF
ANSLEY ABIGAIL SMITH

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.

P ROVERBS 31 :

We live in a culture overwhelmed with knowledge. Anything we wanna know, all we gotta do is ask Siri or Alexa or if youre an eighties baby like me, you might still manually google it with your fingertips. Wanna know a play-by-play of your high school crush? I dont, but Im just sayin if you do, its probably a quick glance at MyFace, InstaChat, SnapTok, or a Tweeter away. Hey, whats this rash on my kids arm? Oh, okay, it could be carpet burn, could be a flesh-eating virus. Thanks, internets, I feel much better. We know almost everyones each and every thought, opinion, annoyance, political stance, food preference, bathroom schedule, parenting dos and you-better-nots, financial status, et cetera, et cetera. (Sidenote: How in the world with all of this information does my husband still not know what I want from Subway?)

With all of this info overload, does anyone else find themselves running in circles confused, conflicted, overwhelmed, doubtful, worried, anxious, and worst of all, afraid? But scripture says, She laughs. This Proverbs woman we all aspire to be laughs fearlessly. I want what she has. I want to have peace. How can I get a little closer to making she me? In certain seasons of life, you may feel like youve lost her. But I promise she is always there. Ill tell you what Ive learned about her through my own journey of hilarious stories. I pray it will help you laugh again. A woman who has joy has peace in her heart. As long as you have the ability to laugh, theres hope for joy in your future.

I trust in you, my God! Do not let me be disgraced, or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat.

P SALM 25 :

I woke up late as usual to the sound of my mama threatening my life if I stayed in bed one minute longer: Git up and git ready before I drag you out of bed by your ankle bone! I had already managed by 7:30 a.m. to shatter any hopes my mom had that day of keeping her joy, living in peace, and not yelling. (Dont worry, I have three little girls now, so Im payin for my raisin, as we say in the South.) Turns out this was one of those days when none of my three pairs of underwears were clean, so I just had to go commando. Meh, no biggie. Not something I stressed about. So I slipped on my loose-fitting, tie-string, popular-from-The-Gap pants my friend gave me that could easily slip down and accidentally show my crack because whats the worst that could happen?

Backstory: Its homecoming week, so at the end of every day, the whole high school gathers in the gym for a pep rally. The cheerleaders shake their rear ends in the football players faces, the football players sit back elbowing each other like, Dude. Cheerleaders. Butts. Britney Spears. Yes, dude. And there was always a crazy-funny game where two people from each grade were called out to the middle of the gym to compete for their class. As I sat in sixth period getting ready to head to the pep rally, I got some sixth sense that my period was about to make an unexpected appearance. Just so yall know, I was the class clown but not popular. I wasnt secure in myself. I didnt have any good friends in that sixth-period class, so I tried to just take care of things myself instead of asking for help. I rushed to the bathroom and, sure nuff, it was a code red. Good ol Aunt Flo decided to drop in early to ruin my whole life. Obviously, like any stressed-out genius fourteen-year-old girl would, I decided to just roll up a pound of toilet paper and put it in my pants to hold me over until I could get to a tampon or a pad. Except on this one day, I didnt have any underwear on, and I was wearing loose-fitting pants. Face palm. I was all alone in the gym bathroom stall sweating, trying to breathe, telling myself not to panic.