With Joyful Giver PH, Isabella Gonzalez pushes faith-driven content

Aside from singing and painting, Isabella Gonzalez dabbles in writing and publishing. Proof of that is her passion project, The Joyful Giver PH. It is an independent publishing house, which produces and develops gospel tracts (leaflets) and gift books.

“I founded The Joyful Giver PH (Publishing House) as an extension of my mom’s The Holy Bible Giver Foundation, during the pandemic as I was led to focus on gospel tracts during that time,” said Isabella, the daughter of Original Pilipino Music (OPM) icon Kuh Ledesma, in an e-mail chat with The STAR.

“Mom enjoys giving away Bibles to churches and people, and I love giving gospel tracts away because it was in part through gospel tracts that I got to understand and come to really devote my life to Christ.”

Then, Isabella teamed up with good friends, and she said that with the grace of the Lord, they embarked on their initial projects.

“So, I wear many hats in our org(anization),” said she of her creative participation. “Sometimes, I am editor. Most of the time, the ideas come from me and to save time and do things better, I have partnered with friends that inspire me, that I love to learn from, so that others may benefit from what God has made them to share.”

The joy she derives from this endeavor is being able to spread the Good News as one navigates life.

“That is exactly why we come together to do this. To share God’s good news of salvation and forgiveness from our past, present and future sins by trusting in what Jesus did for us on the cross by paying for that debt of sin by His death and resurrection on the cross,” shared Isabella. “It brings me utmost satisfaction truly. It’s a joy like no other… Making books has been a deep-down heart’s desire since I was a child. So, seeing people moved by our first offering, Pray Away, has been such a heartwarming experience... more than that, really.”

Looking back on it, she said that Pray Away has almost reached 3,000 people and described their first printing foray as “one big wonderful experiment.” The second endeavor was The Flowers of Hacienda Isabella, which was published digitally for free.

“So, I am still not sure how many people it reached,” said she. “But we have been working on its second iteration which we hope to print and offer for either Christmas or Mother’s Day.”

To know more about it, please visit Instagram.com/TheJoyfulGiverPH.

“We have many, many plans and a wonderful group of authors that, Lord willing, we hope to partner with soon,” said Isabella about her passion project.

Recently, she mounted the successful concert titled “Isabella as IZ” with Zia Quizon and Thor Valiente as guest artists.

With that, it will have a repeat on July 25, 8 p.m. at Teatrino Promenade in Greenhills. Isabella again takes the center stage, with Zia and Thor, to touch and inspire concert-goers through music and singing.

Her mom, Kuh, posted on the latter’s Facebook page, saying, “Watching Isabella come into her own as an artist has been one of the greatest joys of my life. She’s no longer the little girl I once sang lullabies to — she’s a woman with her own voice, her own stories, and a stage all her own.”

Isabella, on the other hand, shared during the chat with this paper, “Singing is like coming home to my beloved family. My being able to sing is this beautiful gift God has given me that I continue to be so blessed by… and (I) am myself rediscovering every time I am given the privilege and opportunity to share this miracle of a thing with others.”

Isabella is sharing that God-given talent with others. It is an expression of her gratitude for being able to put a smile on the audience’s faces and bring happiness to them in one musical evening.

Asked about any updates on plans to record and release new songs, Isabella answered, “I hope to make a couple announcements soon and especially, Lord willing, at the show. We shall see.”

For tickets for “Isabella as IZ Episode 2,” please call 0960-8850288 or 0920-2868895.

Follow Isabella on instagram.com/isabellalgonzalez.