by Ivonne Rivera-Newberry | Aug 15, 2023 | Faith, Family
Reconciling the past few days reveals the meaning of bittersweet. We blinked and our baby became a young woman. She turned 18 on Friday. We moved her into her dorm at Oklahoma State University on Monday. We hustled to park in the loading zone right at the start of our...
by Ivonne Rivera-Newberry | Mar 2, 2023 | Faith, Prayer
When I started to pray more intentionally, I didn’t even know there were different aspects to prayer. I knew to give thanks and to pour my “asks” to the Lord, but that was it. There is a useful acronym A.C.T.S., I later discovered, that can be used to help walk us...
by Ivonne Rivera-Newberry | Feb 13, 2023 | Prayer
When you think of prayer, what image comes to mind? Is it someone you know? Maybe you think of a movie like “It’s a Wonderful Life” where the main character George Bailey prays a “ditch prayer” after realizing $8,000 was misplaced (“ditch prayers” were introduced...
by Ivonne Rivera-Newberry | Feb 6, 2023 | Faith
I have always prayed. Even before I knew who Jesus was, I prayed to God throughout my life. I believed that God heard my prayers, but my understanding of God and how He worked was extremely narrow and limited. My discipline or practice of prayer was equally narrow and...
by Ivonne Rivera-Newberry | Jan 26, 2023 | Introspection
The hubbub of the Christmas season wound down and the confetti swept up as 2023 unfurled. A new year conjures thoughts of a clean slate and fresh start. We are in the tail end of January and some people have already quit the new year resolutions or goals set from...