Welcome to a Life of JoyIvy

Since the fall of the first Adam, the consistency in the desperate wickedness of man have proven over and over again that without Jesus man cannot function effectively. If you read through the books of the Bible, it’s easy to spot the fruits of wickedness of man. None of the prevalent sins fighting our world today are new. Recycled and rebranded? Yes. We’ve done a good job giving new names to the different forms of sins that plague our society but these sins aren’t new they are ancient.  Our world is searching for answers in everything but the one who made everything. Things like our ancestors, ourselves, the universe, man made gods, money, creatures, animals etc. What baffles me is that those things only came to be because the one who made everything made them be, yet we worship anything but the creator himself. The good news is, the creator who existed before the fall of man and still existing is ANCIENT BUT VERY RELEVANT and is the answer we need. It’s saddening that a lot of pe...

  Google says home is the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household, but that changed for me at the age of 16. I had to leave the people, places and the very things that I called home. Joy filled my heart at the prospect of being able to get a higher education, I packed my bags with things that would remind me of home in hopes to mask the pain my heart was also feeling. Hours later. Here I was in a foreign land, my new home. A new continent, country, state, city, culture, people, food, and a new climate. Months turned to years and this foreign land become my home. The people my people, the culture my culture, the city my city. I made friends that became family. The city became a beauty I looked forward to beholding. I looked forward to the different season the weather had to offer, and I soak them all in. Despite the challenges that came with leaving my home country, I was able to make home of this new city.   Minnesota is known for its...

A process as simple as fixing my gaze on Jesus in the place of prayer can become a battle when my mind is fixed on everything but Jesus. Remember when Paul said in Romans 7:15b "for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate"? he was referring to me, because that's the only way I can make it make sense. The more I choose daily to die to myself the more I just want to be out of this flesh and be in my glorified body because this flesh is not it at all. (Don't worry I'm fine) You ever start praying and your mind start parading different thought with the mission to distract you from praying. I was praying the other day and the only thing on my mind was the Quaker Oats I was going to eat after praying, may I also add that, that's my least favorite meal. So, why was that the main thing on my mind at such a time? this flesh!  That's one of many temptation of what a life of daily dying to flesh can look like. Although, in moments like that his streng...

 HAPPY NEW YEAR FAMILY! I have spent days thinking of how to write on this topic and I still don't feel like I have my thoughts organized but I want to stop postponing, so I'll try my best to articulate my thoughts. So here we go. What is Sadness? Leonard Holmes definition best describes my thoughts, " Sadness is an emotional state characterized by feelings of unhappiness and low mood. It is considered one of the basic human emotions.  It is a normal response to situations that are upsetting, painful, or disappointing. Sometimes these feelings can feel more intense, while in other cases they might be fairly mild." Growing up, expressing sadness was frowned on and often seen as weakness. Some people even went as far as using part of the Bible they deemed fit to prove their point or some use bible verses that can yes encourage in those moments of sadness but in this context is used to show you that you are not christian enough for allowing yourself feel sad. The fact th...