I, Tiffany Joy, will share life events, updates, and short stories from my life from time to time. With searching this tag you can find the different life updates and short stories.
I'm changing this fight
into a dancce.
I will not war
not against my own life.
Instead the trumpets
will be the rhythm of my feet.
Turn the battle cries
into songs of praise.
This will be a new day,
one with no more fighting
not against my own life.
I'll allow the ebs and flows
to direct my dance,
know it's God's will.
I will follow.
I will go.
He leads, I follow,
without a fight,
just a dance.
Growing up, I thought I wanted to follow in my grandpa’s footsteps and become a vet like he was. As I grew, I changed courses and followed closer to my grandma’s path. My grandma was an artist. She would make quilts and paint pictures. Each one of her grandkids received a quilt and painting from her. It was a wonderful tradition that I greatly value. In fact, one of my most prized positions to this day is the painting she painted for me.
The painting is of her barn on an early autumn day with sheep grazing in the foreground. This barn was on the property where she raised her kids and her grandkids would visit. Her home is such a wonderful childhood memory and I thankful that I have a painting of her barn to remind me of it. I am not home until I hang this painting near a door so that if there is a fire, I will easily be able to save it. It ties me to my family and acts as a reminder of my past. It is love on canvas and I love this painting.
Want More?
If you would like to keep more up to date with what I am doing I am on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also read about my life in my series God Shows Up or in the category “Life.”
Every month I do these quick update videos on my YouTube channel. They are my version of video newsletters.
They are focused specifically on my art business, which includes both my visual art and writing. I do sometimes add personal life updates since they may affect my business.
I will be starting to add them here, on my site, so that it is easy for all to access them. Starting next month the updates will post here a bit earlier in the month. However, you can always get notified of them if you subscribe to my channel.
It has been over a year since I had my last professional headshots done for my book To Love. I just redid my profile pictures myself and it made me start to think. What has changed over the year?
I published To Love. It is a 5-year project that is completely done.
I left my kitchen job to pursue my art business full time (I’m still at my part-time church job).
I opened and post regularly to 2 Print On Demand stores.
Basically, I did a lot, and even without taking into consideration all the changes in the world I can say my life has changed a lot in this past year. Life is a crazy adventure for me right now, but I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. I love the personal growth I’m experiencing in this chapter in my life.
Want More?
If you would like to keep more up to date with what I am doing I am on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also read about my life in my series God Shows Up or in the category “Life.”
Life is a dance,
swirling and twirling
moving all around.
Life is a journey,
learning and growing
moving all around.
Life is a battle,
striving and fighting
moving all around.
Life is always changing
as we dane on journey on
fighting our battles as we stand our grounds.
Last week I mentioned the book Jesus Freaks. I’m still reading it, but I recently finished “Saying Goodbye To Toxic Boys” by Greg Bee. It is such a good book that I need to share it with you.
I meant Greg earlier in the year at a poetry open mic night at @legendarycollective, before COVID shut down most gatherings. He mentioned his book during a break and my friend and I both bought copies. There was a delay in me starting to read this book, but I’m glad I did. This book is an open and well-written book.
“Saying Goodbye To Toxic Boys” is told in an ultra-realistic style in the first person. This book feels like the author lived this story. He does not hide from traumatic topics and allowed the characters to have faced tragedies.
One thing I appreciated from this book is that the opening has a trigger warning. The author recognized that although this book is about healing emotionally, his readers may need to know about topics that could hurt their healing. It showed respect and caring for his audience.
My main take away from this book is that life can be a painful rollercoaster, but sharing life with friends and those you love makes it easier to heal. At its core, this book is about healing and growing from past traumas.
Want More?
If you would like to keep more up to date with what I am doing I am on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also read about my life in my series God Shows Up or in the category “Life.”
I love to read and figured I would share a book I’m currently reading. It’s Jesus Freaks: Revolutionaries by DC Talk. It’s a bunch of true short stories about Christians who led or helped revolutionize the Christian faith. They are great stories of men and women who were bold for God and changed the world because of it. I’ve been taking my time reading it, but so far it is great.
Want More?
If you would like to keep more up to date with what I am doing I am on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also read about my life in my series God Shows Up or in the category “Life.”
I currently work for a church in the Santa Cruz Mountains called Elevation. Elevation has been around since early 2009, and I joined the church family in late 2009. Throughout the years I have seen how God shows up at Elevation. This will be more of a background to what Elevation is rather than specific stories of God showing up.
It was the second church I went to as an adult with my friends, and we quickly became a part of this wonderful church. After a few major life changes with me, I became the admin for Elevation in 2018. That is not where the story of Elevation starts, though.
The story of Elevation has to start with the pastor, Chuckk (yes, spell check it has 2 k’s). His openness to share his past, personality, and love is one reason everyone involved with the church feels safe to be themselves.
It is a beautiful thing when a group of people can be authentically themselves as they journey towards a personal relationship with God the creator. When there are no walls or barriers to break through, you can then learn and grow with people on the same journey as you.
What makes Elevation, Elevation?
The quick answer are the people. Like every church, those involved and belong to that church makes the church what it is. Church is not about the building or even the weekly service. The church is the people who make up the community of believers we hang out with.
The skill of musical people and other creative people are part of the culture of Elevation. This is also one reason I fit into this church. We are weird creative people who love God.
We must be cool because we meet at a nightclub. The actual location of the building doesn’t matter. We just need a space to meet. Plus, more people may be all right going to a nightclub and not a cathedral or other church building.
I’ve learned a lot from being part of Elevation and see God show up a lot throughout the years of being part of Elevation. It is such a beautiful group of God-loving people.
Want More?
For more information about my amazing Church, you can go to Elevation’s website.
For more blog posts in this series, you can visit my God Shows Up page. I also have a YouTube series that goes hand in hand with this written series.
You can learn a lot from every chapter of life if you keep an open mind and look for learning opportunities. There are lessons you can learn from a single’s life. There are always lessons. Once you’re comfortable being single, you’ll be able to learn a lot. Among the things I’ve learned while being single, there are two important lessons that stick out in my mind.
Lesson 1
The first lesson is that doing things alone is okay. You won’t spontaneously combust if you go to a restaurant alone. The sky won’t fall if you go to the movies alone. It is a valid choice to be out in public doing things you want to do with no one else. You can go to the beach without other people or go on hikes with just yourself. The more you are alone, the more you’ll realize how nice it is.
Lesson 2
The second lesson is that it is important to take care of yourself. When you are single, you don’t have another person to go on dates with or to pamper you. There isn’t someone making you feel special or talking to you about your issues. The wonderful news is that you can and should do that all by yourself. You can pamper yourself and do most normal date night ideas alone. Self care is important in any chapter of your life. When you are single, it is easier to find time to make self care a part of your life and routine. You can build habits of self care and see that you can do nice things for yourself.
It is liberating to become self-sufficient. It frees you from a lot of things you may assume you need to do or think you can’t do, because you are single. There are no rules against going out by yourself or taking care of yourself how you see fit. If you do, you may even find you are marvelous company.
Want More?
This blog series stems from my book “To Love,” which has a whole YouTube Playlist devoted to it. I will also be posting more in this series on the Love Nerd page of this site.
If you read my book To Love, you know I’ve tried online dating. I tried 3 times and technically I am still on a site. I have had little luck with online dating, but I have gotten a couple stories from it.
My favorite story is one that took place during my second round of online dating. I started talking with a guy that lived on the other side of the country. It would be a long-distance relationship, but I didn’t want that to stop me. We both figured we should try to see if a long-distance thing would work.
We talked via texts for about a week, then had a video date. Because of work issues, the video date almost didn’t happen. When the date happened, I already had my pajamas on with messy hair. He was already relaxing in his bed in his pajamas, which did not include a shirt.
We chatted for a little, but he had to get off to help a friend who was texting him. After the call, I texted him to tell him I was getting ready for bed and I would talk to him the next day. He responded with saying he didn’t think we should continue the long-distance thing.
I asked “why.” He acted like it would offend me. My goal was to learn if it was something I should change. I wanted any feedback I could get too, since I don’t date too much. After a bit of prying, he told me his shallow reason.
His reason to stop talking, “neck fat.”
I immediately realized that was all on him. It didn’t offend me and I almost found his reason funny. He acted like he could break my heart. He told me he was aware of his shallowness and that he tried to get over his issues. It seemed like an actual struggle for him.
I suggested working through this struggle with God in prayer and meditation to which he responded with he had, but it’s just how God made him.
I stopped the conversation after that. If you act like something is an issue and want to change it, you can’t also say it’s just who you are. If you don’t like what you see in yourself or who you are, you do possess the power to change.
I love telling the story. I find the specificness with his shallowness funny. He did not care that I was not a twig or that I have a rounder body than he would prefer. It was specifically my neck fat.
I guess I shouldn’t have the phone like this.
Want More?
This blog series stems from my book “To Love,” which has a whole YouTube Playlist devoted to it. I will also be posting more in this series on the Love Nerd page of this site.
