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life

Growth moment… Today

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” -C. S. Lewis

Today, as I inhale, I realize how much being supportive of others can lift their spirits. As a teacher, I can name countless lessons that my students teach me. However, today, I can just simply say… My students learn more from the supportive encouragement from their peers than from me. Yes, it is true that I provide lessons and learning, but when they are looking for that cheer section…it gives them courage.

Elizabeth encouraged Mary. Bartimaeus encouraged the masses…with the reality that Jesus heals. Barnabas’ story is comforting to many. It is Christlike to encourage, even at the expense of your own feelings.

Today, I celebrate with many. I lift high the celebration of everyone who is being blessed today. The Lord is in my hallway and I am rejoicing NOW!

IVY OUT

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life

Blessings!

Often times we wonder why we endure things here on earth, then we are reminded by the many verses available, that the servant is not greater than the master. They lied on Jesus, beat Jesus, disbelieved Jesus, mocked Jesus, even judged Jesus, why would we miss out on the enemy’s ploys? The good news, we have hope in the One who delivered us. Our trials are not for naught, trouble doesn’t last forever, and God STILL answers prayers.
 
On that note I share something with you that blows my mind every time. For the past month I have been praying for several targeted things. I prayed about clarity concerning a city that KEPT popping up. Even recently, for ten minutes, I kept seeing that city’s name. A few weeks ago, plans were made for a kingdom movement in that city. I was invited to be a part. I had been reading in Kelly Minter’s Nehemiah Bible study about ministering at home. What had I been doing HERE. In areas easily accessible to me? I know there are needs abroad, but the US has TONS of people who would be forever changed by being introduced to Jesus. I was honored to be asked to attend, humbled by the woman of God who extended the invitation, and even more blown away by the Lord who targeted my thoughts. (Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for YOU..)
 
Of course, in the array of things that I pray about, I have been praying that God keep His hand on me. I know for a fact that the devil doesn’t attack the idol. I also know that I have a lot of growing to do. There is comfort in the presence of God. There is comfort in knowing God answers prayers. So like most children do, I began to ask to see God. I wanted tangible evidence that the Lord indeed heard my prayer. People had been prophetically (not pathetically) speaking that God heard me, but there is nothing like first hand experience. I asked and God has been answering. Today, while checking mail at work, I found a check. Talk about on time. I just believe God is providing for the things He has called me too. 
 
The shift started a month or so ago. I can’t tell you what tomorrow holds. All my plans are in pencil, God holds the pen and calls the shots. I have learned and am still learning. 
 
Humbly submitted, 
Ivy Out
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life

On that note…

I had the pleasure of being really busy this weekend. However I will never be to busy to say thank you. For each of you who follow my journey, share my blog posts, or just acknowledge growth with me. Thank you!

 

More coming soon. 

 

Ivy Out

Categories
life

I don’t just want to love you….I want to LIKE you too!

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Image retrieved from google via: http://www.darlaromanomft.com/couples.php

I want to actually like my husband. 

I read as much as I can on marriage. My goal is to one day be in a God centered marriage and start a family. Over the years, I have attended several ceremonies, showers, and witnessed linage growth of loved ones and strangers. I have also consoled through divorce and separation proceedings, prayed through relationship break ups, and dried countless tears. The most disturbing phenomena that I have encountered while meeting the many people that I have in my short thirty years, is married people who don’t like each other. 

Heaven help us. Marriage, the ministry and the relationship, isn’t supposed to be a chore. You should LIKE the person you join with. It’s a bonding process. Two are to become one, not designed to separate. Society paints marriage like salad dressing. Two individuals who get shaken together to make one unit…until one settles out and they separate again.  I see marriage like the joining of two metals to form an alloy. The two metals, under fire, join and become a new thing. 

When it’s time to go before God in covenant (not convenience) I want to like and love the person that I bond with. I have enjoyed the presence of God via prayer today. Before I close my eyes today, I will pray for those who are married or entering marriage. I pray that spouses get back to a place of learning one another. I do not feel like anyone has arrived, so there is always more to learn. I will pray that God’s will for marriage is restored. That the wives will submit to a husband who submits to Abba. That the nasty stain of divorce is dissolved. That healing will take place in the home. 

The marriage is a strong foundation for the legacy of children. Our children either pick up where we left off, or start where we started. Lets increase the success by being the model. 

Categories
life

Stop! EVERYTHING!

So… Today after being in “controlled chaos” within a swarm of hypersensitive, hormonal, vocal eighth graders (and overtly frustrated teachers), I realized that God showed me a view of my life.

I DO NOT FUNCTION at my best during chaos. Because I have been in some crazy experiences, my brain continues to function, think things through, and I react quickly. YAY! That’s good right? It would be if it didn’t come with grumbling, side comments, and well…. I don’t hold back how I really feel.

The Bible reminds me that only a fools speaks their mind (Proverbs 29:11), so it is wise to pray that The Lord guide my thoughts and speech. The truth is, life isn’t chaos free. It just so happens to be a part of the valley experiences that come with breathing.

Today I saw just how unkempt I am during mental clutter. When too much is going on, thinking is scattered like a strobe light. It signals a clean up on aisle 8. New beginning. Start with the one thing you can control, your thoughts. Slower breathing. Deeper reflection. Immediate action.

It’s not that we ask God to stop the chaos. We ask Him to custom fit us. Make US better.

Love you from a place of deep breathing and kitchen cleaning. 😉

Ivy Out

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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

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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