Month: January 2014

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life

What if…

Earlier this week, while reading my Nehemiah Bible Study, I was hit by a sentence. I posted my reaction on Facebook in the form of a question. This week I leave that question with you: 

“What if your knee-jerk reaction was to trust God?”

I am not jeering at anyone. I am training myself to build the discipline of “praying first, not in reaction to”. I doubt highly that every believer is at the same stage in their walk with Christ. However, ponder for a second, what would be different in your life, and those you are connected to, if your first reaction was to trust God?

 

IVY OUT

Categories
life

Book Review of Velvet & Where I am…

Click Here To Get VELVET I am so grateful to know Holly Charles. She has penned a very personal account of what a lot of women, especially in the cultures where dark skin was shunned, can relate. While I am of a lighter complexion, it may be really think about the difficulties that have come because of the way I looked. She also takes you through a very retrospective look between mothers and daughters. Their sacrifices, their pain, their particular kind of love, and the resolution of a generation in forgiveness. This book was crafted, not written. Its diction and imagery allowed me to envision this as if it was a movie being played on my eye lids. Click on the link, order VELVET, read it, then let me know if you agree! I loved it. Read it in the equivalent of 4 hours! Kudos to Charles! I need another book ASAP!

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This place that I am in… I truly feel like there is something uniquely familiar about it. Only, this time, I really don’t know what comes next. I started off the year being excited to come out of a funk. Then I realized yesterday that the feeling of isolation is back. The “I don’t really fit in anywhere”. I look around and there are only a few around me. I know, I know, sometimes that’s best. But the human, the woman, even the little girl inside sometimes wishes it were different. I keep telling myself, TRUST IS A VERB. It’s not something you say, it’s something you do. I have been attacked in dreams, in person, and to some extent, by my own thoughts. However, When the heat is done… I will emerge like pure gold. 

So lets talk about the properties of pure gold. AURUM. It’s very soft alone. (hence it is often with other metals) It’s been known for at least 5,500 years. Gold is the MOST malleable of all metals known. Gold is a good conductor of heat/electricity and won’t tarnish when exposed to air. (facts pulled from http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele079.html) How interesting. It’s not that I won’t go through the heat, I’ll use it. It’s not that I won’t be exposed, it won’t tarnish me. I will still need others, that is where the strength will come. I will first always need God, I am bent without him. I will be able to work well with others. No matter how attractive I may become, I will also serve as a setting for the jewels that God places in my life. 

SYMBOLISM has always meant so much to me. Today, I value the covering and the people in my life who encourage me. I didn’t have the sense enough to ask for some of the relationships I have inherited. However, I thank God for them. These key people are obviously my alloys in this season. They are strengthening me. I will always need allies, and I consider them closer than friends. We were not created to walk alone. So in this season when I don’t fit in, its good to have people who will see through the invisibility cloak I feel and smile at me. 

 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. – Job 23:10 (ESV)

 

Ivy Out

 

Categories
life

When I stopped talking and listened!

This morning, on my thirty-minute commute, I began talking to God. I was praying. I remember saying to God, I didn’t want to pray in a fancy manner, or sound really impressive, I just want to talk to my Father. In between the prayer, I got quiet and things started “popping up in my spirit”. Out of that prayer, I was shown links to what I originally desired for programing for a particular ministry and how it lines up with the direction my church (that I attend) is moving in. Last night, I spoke to an individual that I look up to very much, and right after our conversation ended the person with the ability to make things happen walked passed and referenced moving forward with a ministry initiative that I am involved in. While you may judge my sentence structure, grammar, and style…don’t loose the substance.

Hop back to this morning’s prayer. In this season I want to be efficient and effective. I don’t know about you, but because I have identified multiple gifts and talents, there are soooo many things that I want to do. In the past, I would try to move on all of those initiatives and eventually burn out and do nothing. I have come to know that each gift and each talent has a particular purpose. That doesn’t mean that they operate simultaneously. I remember Joseph’s dream. Three unrelated people have compared me to him within the last year. Joseph’s dream did come from the Lord, but he told people who didn’t have the heart or mind to receive it. Joseph went to family. Often times, we go to the people who are closest to us and expect to receive support. Proximity isn’t correlated to parallel beliefs or even positive support. Sometimes we need to talk to God and ask Him whom we can share our dreams with. We also need to adjust urges to “run and tell” that which is in a season of maturity and development. Joseph’s dream did manifest, but not over night.

Some visionaries are not burdened with the inability to see the big picture, they are stuck in the cumbersome reality that there is a process in-between where you are and where that big picture comes into fruition. I am a “stage seer”. I look for the steps in-between point A and point B. The complication there is not always seeing the steps before I move forward. That is where the Lord is strengthening my faith. God gave me favor in the form of a position, gave me the passion for the work, and then gave me a pause. It discouraged me at first, because a spark usually means fire. He has been reminding me of the process. He sent my big sister, and spiritual kick, Minister Wynter Patterson-Davis to remind me that this is preparation season. I have been positioned to build the pink print (blue print) to this particular ministry. It is not time for broadcasting the dream, vision, or goal. Is IS time to pray, plan, and ponder. It is time to bring my plans before the Master and ask for permission and direction. My stamp on this project is such that I want the presence of God to be EXPERIENCED in everything we do. How befitting that for anything to happen, the presence of God MUST be present in every stage. I got all of this from this morning’s prayer.

I received alignment this morning. Not in scripture memorization, or scripted speech. I poured my heart out in thanks to my Father. Who knows my mess, my faults, my weaknesses, my pitfalls, my gifts, my talents, my visions, and my dreams. I went to the source of my strength and the originator of all I have both externally and internally.

Family, when you rely on God in the very literal sense, He can breath life into ANYTHING. I believe in the resurrection power of Christ. I believe that, that same power can revive dreams, goals, plans, and when aligned with HIS will, that THING that you thought you lost. DREAM BIG and PRAY OFTEN.

IVY OUT

Categories
life

FORWARD MARCH!!

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Pst… YOU! Yes, Y O U: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

 

I just realized that I never greeted my awesome readers in 2014! I won’t get into the awesomeness that is double seven, any new catch phrases, or even the newest cliche’, I will just tell you that I feel good. I know that the attacks have come, but my faith is in the ONE who can calm seas! The new year often brings new hope and joy to people who are burnt out or worn. It can also create the turn of a new season. Education takes a much needed break, and adult and children alike are allowed to rest. Even the government allows for down time. Then the new year, one week later, is celebrated. Whether you gathered in churches or secular parties and festivities, we greeted the new year with smiles and light hearts. Remember that feeling. Let it carry you with positive thoughts and expectations. 

For you who are new to my blog, I am unapologetically Christian. I am no where near perfect, and I don’t seek to condemn. On the contrary, it is my desire to uplift and enlighten. In this seat, I am both a writer and an open book. I pour out all I have to anyone who will read it. Here I cry, smile, scream, sing, talk, love, and share. I hope that you will both love your time here, and share it with others. 

In keeping with my core – 3Cs – I will be writing at LEAST once a week. That is my promise to you. If you catch me slipping, CALL ME ON IT! I am empowering you!

Ivy Out

Categories
life

Mental Attacks….

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Sleep is supposed to be peaceful, right? Rest is good for your body, blah-blah-blah.

I don’t really mean that, I just need you to feel my sarcasm though the blog. (insert hilarious giggle) Last night, I had another nightmare. In this nightmare, There was an evil presence in my house. I couldn’t say “JESUS”. It wouldn’t leave my lips. So on the inside I screamed it. I almost rolled off my bed (or that’s the feeling I had). I ended up downstairs and stuff was wrong. For a moment, I was paralyzed with fear. Then I remembered something. We have authority to tell the enemy to flee! That’s when the tables turned. Not only did I say Jesus, I told the enemy to LEAVE MY HOUSE. I was very specific. 

I said all of that to say this to you, YOU HAVE AUTHORITY!! When you feel attacked, speak the WORD. Jesus overcame satan’s attack by speaking the word of God. You too can speak the word and demand that the enemy flee. 

Attacks will come, but you don’t have to crumble in fear. Stand on faith and speak the truth. 

 

Ivy Out