3:2 Finale

Well well well… We have come to the finale of this 3:2 series.

As I have reflected back from the start of this year up until today, I think that it’s safe to say that my life has changed dramatically. It all started with a simple but complex “YES GOD”. All the excuses had to be thrown out the window. If you would’ve asked me a year ago if I would drop my life in Houston to move to a state where I didn’t really know anyone, my answer would’ve been “Umm absolutely not”. The way that God has shown me that trusting Him no matter what honestly leaves me speechless. All of the people that He has placed in my life and the mind blowing events that have taken place right before my eyes, ignites a bigger flame within me. Transparency moment: I have become afraid at times and not wanting to keep pushing for the things that I know that I need in order for me to utilize my fullest potential. My prayers have even changed. This new season requires a different version of myself and it also magnifies my areas of weakness. Let’s just say I’m uncomfortable right now but I refuse to give up. Yes it is hard, but I look back at all that I’ve gone through and have accomplished and I WILL NOT GIVE UP.

My 32nd birthday was on Monday and it was not only a regular birthday, it signified so much more. Here is a picture I took in Times Square.

I had lots of emotions and thoughts swarming around in my brain.

My top 3:

  1. Wow!! This is my new way of life that I’ve been praying about and now I’m actually experiencing it.
  2. I definitely stand out and don’t feel like I fit in with the people here.
  3. It’s going to take me a while to get use to Public transportation because we’ve gotten off at the wrong stop 2 times. I’m afraid of the Subways LoL!!!

This entire week and a half that I’ve been living here has tightened my relationship with God even more and has opened up so many conversations about God and pursuing obedience with so many people. Their responses are just mind blowing and how just my walking on water experience has opened their hearts to obedience. I must say, I’ve already experienced disappointments and don’t like them BUT there’s a reason for it all.

Now that I am officially 32 years old… I don’t have any fancy smancy things to say other than… THIS WILL BE THE YEAR OF EXPERIENCES LIKE NO OTHER!!

Enjoy the pictures from “My Birthday in the City” edition with my Desi that came out here Friday to help me celebrate my birthday. She left Wednesday afternoon. I love her so much and I’m so thankful for our sisterhood!!!

3:2 Discussion question: Comment about what God has spoken to you through this series. Also if you have any topic ideas that you would like for me to post about, let me know!!!

I pray that each of you were blessed by my blog and ‘Til next time maximize your time here on Earth by doing things out of your comfort zone.

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3:2 The newness

Raise your hand if you have ever become overtaken by the newness of something. Whether it be a new job, car, pet, home, promotion, relationship, career, gadget and the list goes on and on. Have you found yourself stuck in that initial moment when you experienced the newness of whatever you had? What did that do you in the first moment of interacting with it? Did you have a sense of wholeness? Or feel that you have arrived honey? Whatever you felt in that very first moment, we can all agree that the initial emotions and feelings went away.

At what point do we get past the initial feelings and into the reality of the power that our newness can and will have over us?

I’m asking these types of questions to get your mind and actions from being stuck in the initial moment that align with putting actions behind the newness.

So as you know by now I have moved to New York just a few days ago. My lifestyle since I graduated college has been that of GO,GO,GO. “Go after it”, “make it happen”, “do whatcha gotta do” etc. As I’ve had these few days to reflect and just sit quietly before God, I have realized that I don’t know how to be ok with not doing anything. I think I’m afraid that I may become too comfortable with not doing anything that I literally do nothing. I’ve had to push myself out of the mood of just laying down into make plans and write them out. I’m not saying don’t do anything, the way that my life has been set up and the current season that I’m in, I can’t afford to settle into the newness for too long. That will completely go against the purpose of why I’m even in New York.

I am being very transparent tonight! I absolutely love it here already and I know that I can get distracted easily. Please check in on me to make sure that I am still walking in my purpose. I have so much to do for the Kingdom but the difference this time is, I have God’s power to make things happen to help build His Kingdom. I know that it’s not my doing but it’s the Holy Spirit that is within me. I had things backwards before, it was me doing things in my own will, not God’s. I know better now!!

3:2 Discussion question: What newness have you settled deep into lately?

‘Til next time my loves remember to push past the newness smell and into the natural scent of where you are called to be.

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3:2 Jump in

Hey y’all!!! I’m going to miss hearing y’all LoL!! Today was pretty chill for me. I rested more and allowed myself to be ok with doing that. I didn’t realize how much my lifestyle was based on service. So now that I’m in a completely different region and season of life, I am going to have to learn how I fit in.

Ok so I couldn’t sit still that long. Ordered me an Uber and off I went to church. My roommate told me about Uberpool so I decided to try it out tonight, the lady that joined my uber didn’t talk at all. She only said hello when she got in the car and thank you when she left. No eye contact or pleasant smile. That drove me crazy not to talk to people. So when I got “there” my driver dropped me off across the street from it, mind you this is an extremely busy intersection. I asked him if he could get closer and he said no, so I got out and held my bible and my purse close as I said a prayer. I had to look like I knew where I was going and like a New Yorker while inside I was praying that I wouldn’t get hit by a car or robbed. So let’s just thank God I didn’t get hit but a car seemed like it was very close to me but I wasn’t going to look at them. As I walked inside the church now late, Bible study had already started and I absolutely loved it. We actually studied different stories in a different way and had discussions. I will forever be a life long learner. I love learning! Afterwards I was introduced to THE sweetest people that welcomed me in with open arms. A family even dropped me back home so that I didn’t have to uber again. God has a way of doing things perfectly and timely.

Jump in…. As you learn how to swim, in order for you to even begin the process of learning, you actually have to jump in and get wet. A lot of times we don’t even want to jump in, we just want to hang out around the pool. Do you find yourself waiting for someone to TELL you to jump in, waiting on someone to PUSH you in or you are TERRIFIED to jump in? Either one that you are identifying with, they each require a certain type of person to carry it out.

For example I could’ve told myself that you should get all settled in before going to visit churches, or do more research on the area of town of these churches, rest more or even it’s absolutely too cold to be out tonight. But I decided to jump in because I’ve decided that my walk with God should not depend on how I feel or others. If you’re struggling with jumping in… ask yourself the discussion questions that I will post at the bottom.

This was my outfit for tonight! I had on gloves and eventually put on my hood while I was standing outside waiting for the sweet wife of the husband that dropped me off at home. We actually got snow today and it was such a sight for me to see in person.

3:2 Discussion questions…

  1. What are you holding back from jumping into? Whether it be a goal, your purpose or something that you are fearful of doing. Identify that and pray directly towards that to break that chain on fear.
  2. Do you think that you are only affected by the fear of you jumping in?

‘Til next time my loves remember to jump in and learn the process of what God is trying to teach you so that you can teach others.

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3:2 The coast is all clear

It’s official ladies and gentlemen I am a New Yorker!! I still feel like I’m just here visiting so like any other normal person that feels like this… what do they do? They unpack and move furniture around LoL!! That’s exactly what I am doing right now. I absolutely LOVE to decorate so I can’t wait to make it my own.

I am going to have to get use to this time difference. It was already dark by 6 o’clock and only one thing comes to my mind with darkness and New York… can you guess what it is?………………THE ATTACK OF THE HUGE GIGANTIC SIZED RATS. Well quick story about that… I originally ordered some pizza from a Pizzeria not too far from my place and it was getting closer to the deliver time and I hadn’t heard anything from them. I go look on the app for any updates and it says CANCELLED. My little heart dropped and was like wait, why? All I wanted was some pizza. But I guess they close at 9 and I placed my order and it didn’t tell me that they were about to close. So I was all in my feelings thinking “I am a brand new New Yorker how dare you treat your fellow people like this LoL”. After those thoughts one fact still remained… I was STARVING! I looked for another restaurant and I settled on Wing Stop can’t go wrong with them right?!? *Blank stare* 😒 first off let’s talk about how I ordered the wrong meal, secondly my fries were cold, thirdly my drink was just tossed in my bag spilled all in the bag. Here’s some pics of this disaster.

As I’m closing the door what do I see running it’s little big happy tail across the walkway down the stairs… Stuart Little 🐀 it wasn’t close to me but I saw it and jumped. As long as they stay outside we are good.

I think that it’s safe to say that I have already experienced the New York life. I rode in a taxi with a CRAZY driver, thought I was about to die in his vehicle, saw a rat, heard some loud old school RnB Dru Hill music from someone’s house LoL oh and stood in a super LONG line and waiting at the airport for a taxi. Thanks for the welcome New York.

Now I can get to the meaning of the title. I’m not sure how God communicates with you but with me especially today was a still small voice but very affirming and direct. As I was gazing out the window looking out into the open sky at these types of views

I thought to myself why aren’t there any clouds like I’m use to seeing when I fly. I kept thinking that and I even dozed off and took a nap and woke back up to the same type of view. So I really asked God saying basically what’s up with this view? Oh boy why did I ask that? Because right after, God just began to drop in my spirit the significance of that clear view that had been around for hundreds and maybe thousands of miles.

He started off by saying The coast is all clear for you Candyce. You have and are doing what I’ve been fighting so hard for you to walk into. Because of your faith and obedience… Your coast is clear. I thought that was the most affirming and sweetest thing to feel and to know that God sees me and He cares all about what I’m doing. He has fought for me and will continue to make my path clear.

I’m not going to share all of them tonight but here’s one more:

Your path is only smooth and clear with me (God). He is the only one that sits high and looks low at all that is going on in our lives. We can’t make our paths clear and smooth on our own. Step aside and Let God make your coast clear.

Last pictures of the night. I know that a part of my purpose is to help others get out of their comfort zones and live the dream that God has for them. I bought this shirt that has several “Dream” prints along the sleeves and around the bicep and tricep muscles area. An early birthday present from a very special new sister friend/little sister was the charm called World Traveler and look what it has on one side of the suitcase… LA, PARIS AND NYC. That charm is so special to me because it is representing this new season.

3:2 Discussion questions: What has God shown you about clearing the coast for you? Do you believe Him even if you don’t see any evidence of the coast being clear?

I am very curious to read your comments to these questions.

‘Til next time my loves remember to always wait on God to go ahead of you to make sure that the coast is clear. I will go deeper on that tomorrow!!!

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3:2 Is this really happening? 

My morning totally started off in a freak out mode. I won’t go into details but long story short I was looking for a very important document and couldn’t find it. So I had a cry out to God moment and said “God you are looking right at it so I need you to show me where it is” and right after that, He led me straight to it. I literally tore up my room trying to find it. I praised Him for helping me find that.

My praise this week has come from a new place in my heart. I can’t sing certain songs without crying because they touch my soul in a special way like never before. I know that my new season that I am walking into requires a new and deeper level in God.

As I think about all that I have to do still, I don’t think that it’ll all get done. But I know that when I shift my focus off of what I’m lacking and onto I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, I am able to tackle each task with confidence. My prayer is for guidance and a clear mind to get everything sorted out and ready to go Monday morning!!

Saying more of my see you later to some precious people that are so dear to my heart.

Honestly the hardest thing about moving is missing everyone. I can’t even imagine how Jesus felt when He told His disciples the He had to leave them. The way I’ve been crying cutting up and feeling like there’s a HUGE hole in my heart doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of Jesus’ heart. It’s so hard to look past that and accept what’s ahead of me. That’s why the title is “Is this really happening?” My heart is still in a state of disbelief but my spirit is in a state of the best is yet to come so get ready. My flesh has been defeating me on most days so far. I will choose to be lead fully by my spirit and switch my focus. I am super excited and ready for this new chapter but I had no idea that all of these emotions and new levels of who God is continuously molding me to be would be involved so deeply.

This is the season that God showed me how He views me and I think that’s the toughest part to accept. I am humbled and excited to see what He has next for me. I know that He is already making things happen on my behalf and will continue to open the doors that I’m supposed to walk through.

3:2 Discussion question: When change is involved, what are some things that can cloud your view of your circumstances and your future?

‘Til next time my loves remember to walk in the Spirit!!!!

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3:2 No goodbyes

Today has completely filled me up. Even though I cried this morning again, my day has been full of such AMAZING conversations and fellowship. 

As I chatted with one of the young ladies from my church whom I absolutely love, we talked about when it’s time to depart from others and how difficult it can be. This is her senior year and she’s feeling the same way I am. But we are both hopeful that we will see each other again. We ended our conversation with laughter, hugs and a see you later!!

My dear sweet friend took me to lunch today and the conversation was so timely and full of confirmations and “GIRL I haven’t verbalized that to anyone before only God knows that I thought about that” types of moments where God was speaking through her. My mouth dropped several times and the blessings that I received just warmed my heart. So much came from our time together and I thank God for our special friendship. 

My last see you later moment was with my women’s small group family. It’s just something about when people lay their hands on you and pray over you. I absolutely LOVE these ladies SO MUCH!! They are truly my inspirations, prayer warriors, protectors and so much more. God knew that I needed each of them for such a time as this. Oh yeah and I DEFINITELY cried like a baby tonight. 

I got to say see you later to so many people this week and it just makes my heart so full knowing that I am leaving my legacy and brought some change/spice to my church family. 

God is showing me more glimpses of who He is and reminding me that He sees me. God sees what you need and all that you are doing for the Kingdom. He knows that it’s not easy but His rewards are unbelievable. Stay in His will for your life by being obedient and saying YES when He tells you to do something. I’m living proof. Watch God happen. 

Stay tuned for more……
‘Til next time my loves remember to say see you later and not goodbye. Goodbye is permanent and see you later is temporary. 
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3:2 Write it down

If you know me, then you know that I LOVE to write. I LOVE journals and pens!!! Pens just make my world so much better!

This pen was a gift from my friend Jessica.

Ever since I can remember, I have loved to write. I especially enjoyed writing on walls at home and furniture and yes I did get whooped for that. When I began to journal in high school, it helped me pour out my heart in a way that I felt safe. Sharing what was going on inside of me with others was not something I felt comfortable doing. Once I got to college, journaling was quickly replaced with all of my Biology and Chemistry notes, new friends and a new environment for me to try to change my past. Yeah that didn’t work out very well but during those years, I thought I was really changing and doing better. Oooh boy was I wrong!!

Next comes post graduation life aka the real world with real bills and real struggles. I found myself trying to get back into the journaling swing of life but that was short lived. There were too many new things going on around me. I moved to a new city hours away from home, I had a real full-time job in a career that I didn’t even go to school for or any training, dating and new friends on top of so much more. I was all over the place and distracted by so much. During that season I was depressed, broken down even more, faced failure in the most difficult and trying way possible. Inspite of that I pushed through all of the pain into God and truly desired a real intimate relationship with Him. I never had a real intimate relationship with Him before and only with a few people in my life up to that point.

As you read the title of this post Write it down, what came to mind? Well God downloads information inside of us that He wants us to bring it to life with our uniqueness that He has created within us. Only you can do what God has designed for you to do in a way that only you can with your personality and looks. Nobody else can do what you are called to do like you can. I REALLY want for you to get what I’m saying because I know that someone that is reading this post needs this. I have struggled pretty much my whole life with identity issues and how I didn’t understand why I looked this way and not like others. Especially when it came to my personality, I am am extremely silly person that is very spunky but at the same time I can go real deep with you in .005 seconds. A lot of people aren’t use to that and I included myself in that because I wasn’t use to it due to never meeting anyone like myself. God has used my personality in mind blowing ways that I am grateful for. He knew that I could only cross paths with certain people that needed to experience Jesus through the Spirit that’s within me and the way that I deliver it all.

So let’s get back to the title. I was told several times tonight that I need to write down the visions that God has shown me so that I won’t get distracted and off course. Ask God to reveal the different parts to your vision meaning who is apart of it and what you are desiring. My main take away from tonight’s Bible study was I can’t share my vision with everyone. God will release me to tell those individuals that will be apart of it. Everyone can’t handle and understand what God is doing in your life. He will separate you in order to elevate you to the level that He needs you on. That was for somebody 😊

3:2 Discussion question for tonight… Have you created a vision board for this year and wrote out the plan for it? Disclaimer… your plans and God’s plans may not match up and His plans will ALWAYS overthrow yours any day so make sure that you hold very loosely to your plans and trust that if God throws you a curveball, you will be ok with His greater plan.

Proverbs 16:3 NIV Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.

‘Til next time my loves remember to grab your favorite pen and sit quiet before God and let Him pour into you!!!

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Oh and let’s just say that I DEFINITELY made up for the fewer tears that I shed on yesterday… Today – signed the big cry baby!

3:2 Blind faith

I am glad to announce that I’ve only cried one time today!! That’s a record for me LoL!! Today has been such a special day for me. It all started off at work when my work family had a breakfast celebration for me. The food was delicious and the decorations blew me away. Here are some pictures

Each week in our staff meetings, we take turns doing a devo for the group. Today was my last one. As I was thinking about what I was going to teach on, I asked God what do we all need to think about right now? So I did my devo on blind faith. I asked several questions about what does that mean to them and I asked myself the same questions. The responses were right on point and had a very interesting take.

So let me ask you what does blind faith mean to you?

My take on it is that in order for me to grow in my relationship with God, my faith has to be my foundation. When I’m called out of my comfort zone and out onto the water, I will not look at the size of the assignment but at who’s calling me to it. I will not know all of the details BUT my faith in God and the trust that I have is what’s leading me blindly to wherever God is calling me to with Him. My move to New York is definitely an example of this. He is strategically revealing bits and pieces about this new chapter. My trust and faith has been taken to another level right now and continues to grow.

I just love how God continues to remind me that I’m still on assignment here in Houston and He still has daughters that need to experience Jesus in a life changing way. Today was the perfect example of that. My bestie and I taught a class together tonight and I absolutely loved it. We feed off of each other and are very passionate about Jesus.

We only got to the third point due to some amazing conversations that were being had among us. Being obedient even when it doesn’t make sense is what God wants. I never thought in a million years that I would be teaching at this level and to this audience. So much joy and laughter filled my heart tonight.

As I was walking through the office, I walked by this picture and said “oh WOW, how timely is this”!!

In closing, during the discussion on blind faith one of the elders at my church which I call “The Don Father” answered the question by saying that sometimes we think that having blind faith while we are figuratively walking  in the forest that we won’t run into any trees or trip over a log. That’s not the case, things will come up in life while we are on our faith walk. Trusting God and continuing the journey is blind faith. We open ourselves up to be extremely vulnerable when we walk blindly with God because we don’t know what situation will present itself.

3:2 Discussion questions:

  1. What is a situation that you can think of that has required blind faith?
  2. What was the outcome of it?

‘Til next time my loves, show someone that you love them!!!!!
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3:2 The process

I cannot believe that I am one week away from my big move. Throughout this whole entire process of transition, God has shown me how much I’ve grown deeper in him and that I’m at a different level in Him. My faith has been tested, stretched, grown and pruned for such a time as this.

Last week God blew my mind with my living arrangements. I’ll be living where I wanted to live at an AMAZING price with a person that I know AND in such a beautiful home. So you can’t tell me that having faith in God doesn’t payoff. Being obedient even when it doesn’t make sense is what God wants. He has everything worked out and He reveals His plan at the perfect time.

I had a BLAST as always with my Moni tonight. She and I have been best friends pretty much our whole lives. It’s so amazing how God has us work together in ministry. Tonight was supposed to be like a planning night for our class tomorrow BUT laughter and celebration took over.

This is our favorite sushi restaurant

The process that you will have to go through is a very tough one and I would not have a settled spirit if I didn’t tell you that. But the beauty of the new you and walking into greater is SO worth it all. You will cry, be angry, happy, excited, sad, confused and many many more emotions. Keep pushing past those feeling of wanting to give up.

I am honestly still pushing and have not arrived. The faith and trust in God that I am experiencing right now shocks me everyday that I wake up as I say “WOW I’m moving to NY”. I didn’t know how it was going to be done but it’s working out perfectly. The real mystery lies in what exactly I will be doing once I’m there. To be continued on that…….

‘Til next time my loves, trust the process and not the pain. Fall in love with the process!!!
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3:2 Leaving my legacy

Let me start off by saying I have been THE biggest cry baby today. I’m not sure if you’ve ever been in my current situation and how God is moving you from your familiar into the unknown. My time back in Houston has been full of mind blowing experiences.

From not having a job when I moved back to how God used me to mentor so many children and adults, has definitely played a HUGE part of why I was such a cry baby today. The start of Hey! G.I.R.L. last year has taken off at a rapid pace.

I didn’t realize how much of an impact that I was making. Today I was taken to lunch by my little mentee’s. God knew that we needed each other. Even though they are sad, upset and confused about how God calls us to do things that we don’t understand at the moment but all in due timing He will reveal it to us.

I know that my legacy will continue to illuminate in Houston as I depart to my next assignment. The evidence of God is my legacy that will be still be in place years and years from now. It is so humbling that God decided to use me to show people that He is the only way.

Be prepared for lots of pictures from some of my assignments in Houston. I am so honored and blessed to have met some amazing individuals. There’s no way that I could post all my pictures. I tried to put them in chronological order as much as I could. Enjoy and there’s 2 questions at the end.

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Eduvention Mentoring and Consulting

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Five Star

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Eduvention Mentoring and Consulting

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Pathway to Hope

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WHCC lead team

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Soul Link

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Love y’all so much

3:2 Discussion questions: What do you want your legacy to be? How are you working towards making that a reality?
‘Til next time my loves, put smile on someone’s face!!!!!

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