Allow me to reintroduce myself…
I’m still Yve. Y- to the V-E. But in 2024, its definitely a NEW me. (I know, I know! Even I had to roll my eyes LOL). But for real.
There are many reasons why I haven’t made any posts to this blog since late 2022 (I think its been that long….time tends to blur together) but the main reason is that I was just figuring some things out.
And now I have.
In 2022 I learned the name for the season of my life that seemed to have been going on forever: wilderness.
I have spent the last several months re-claiming and re-establishing my identity in Jesus. And if I’m being honest—and hey, why wouldn’t I be—while I’ve worn the Christian label for most of my life, I haven’t always acted like Him. And even during the times where I was convinced I was reflecting Him and His ways the most, I was blinded by religiosity & self-righteousness and more often than not, I was compromising my faith by clinging to idols vs truly being in love with Him—the real love where I felt the peace and joy that the Bible describes and I sought His company because I wanted it and knew I needed it instead of doing it out of guilt or as a chore. Rather than having a genuine relationship with Jesus, I loved my addictions more than Him, was deceived by strongholds even though I claimed to know His Truth, and I was quite fluent in performative Christian-ese even while being in bondage to sin and heavily influenced by demonic oppression.
But that was then.
Now I’m free: I’m saved by the blood of Jesus, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and delivered from sin and oppression. And I’m not going back to the torment of my old life and old ways for nothing and nobody. Lukewarm I ain’t. I’m more of a simmering, sizzling fire, snapping, crackling, and sparking at the Lord’s command.
Now that doesn’t mean I plan to go back and Christ-scrub my prior on brand social media posts, artwork, or video content. Aside from the fact that it would be too much work, I also think its worthwhile to leave it up for all to see. My redemption story is one of failures and successes, starts and stops, ups and downs, good, bad, trifling, and ugly, yet through it all, Jesus was there—patiently and relentlessly pursuing me. Sanctification truly IS a process so the hope is that instead of talking about me, people will pray for me. But even if they don’t…meh. Is what it is. And I did what I did. May it all be a testimony to the redemptive nature of God and how He can and will use all things for His purpose and glory.
Fast forward to the point of this post……
I let go of Pure Holistics, my skincare/selfcare business, at the end of 2022, when I moved from Delaware to Florida. In my mind, I was completely done with the entrepreneur life so I spent 2023 focusing on my mental, emotional, and spiritual healing; my family, and just doing me. And at the VERY end of 2023, I’m talking on December 27th and 28th (after weeks and months of prayer, fasting, and seeking the Lord in all areas: ministry, relationships, career, etc.), the Holy Spirit finally pointed me in a direction in this area of my life.
Therefore, a change has come and my focus has shifted.
Hal-le-lu-yer!
Moving forward, All about Yve:
Is still about writing & art. Still about creative expression. Still about all of the things that truly interest me: culture, holistic well-being, community, parenting, growing, learning, etcetera etcetera. But this time, it centers around Jesus. It ALL points to the kingdom of God and what He is doing all around us, in me, and thru me for His glory.
At a high-level, I’m simply returning to my first love and jumping head first into a business endeavor that is focused around what has always captured my attention and made my heart go pitter-patter: books and reading.
More details to come as I flesh this thang out. But what matters is that I wrote and published this post on 1/1/2024 . I told God that I’m all in. And I meant it.
Until next time,
Yve
