Lisa L. Ivey
God has a purpose for everyone. Romans 8:28
Welcome to my website, and thank you for checking it out!
I will be constantly adding more pages to this website,
like our wedding pictures, and my art, some oil paintings I have done
Keep checking it out, as things will change
I was born and raised in Modesto, California. I was the fourth sibling of five daughters. We lived in Fruitland, Idaho for a short time while my Father; Liegh Arlow Gerjets pastored a Free Methodist Church there for a few years. When I was 8 years old, he moved our family back to California and we have lived in the Modesto area since that day.
I had a wonderful childhood; I look back now and feel peace when I think of it. I have many fond memories growing up and thank the Lord for them, as my Father is no longer with us today .
My Father was wonderful, He loved to Golf, he loved to attend church and be with people. He loved to tell jokes, although no one really understood half of his jokes, they loved him for his effort and good humor. My Father also loved to sing, even though he couldn't carry a tune, I can remember he would sing his heart out with everything he had every Sunday morning in church, eyes closed and tears pouring down. Standing there, my head just touching his elbow, I would cry as well, just watching him.
My Mother was awesome. There is no other word to describe her. She cooked, she sewed, she doctored, she pampered, she cleaned, she helped out at church, she ran functions at church, held bible studies, worked part time sometimes, and made every bad situation good without us ever finding out it was bad to begin with.
When I was a child I knew nothing of anything that was going on in our home. As a child you live day-to-day wondering what your next inventive adventure will be as you race outside to meet your friends. Or run to the nearest park for a day of swinging and playing in the sand. My parents together were your typical Mom and Dad. We attended church regularly and came home every Sunday to a house fill with the aroma of baking Pot Roast, about 30 minutes of cooking side dishes, my Mother had a feast fit for a king on the table for all seven of us. My parents were wonderful at hiding their arguments; I can honestly tell you that I never heard them argue once my whole childhood while my Father was with us. We never needed for anything, we always had everything we wanted. In my eyes we were the perfect family. Happy, Loving, content, peaceful, wealthy. My parents are wonderful parents.
There is one of many stellar moments of my Mothers creativity that I have to mention. Of course when I was younger I had no idea we were poor, my parents did well with hiding any problems they were having from us, so to us we were wealthy, we were your normal, happy, functioning family. One year we couldn’t afford a Christmas tree, of course I didn’t know that at the time, I was told later when I was older as to why my Mom did this that year. She told all us girls that we were going to be making our own very special Christmas tree that year. At first I was puzzled as to how we were going to do that, but I knew whatever my Mom was going to do, it was going to be awesome. She gathered all our Christmas tree ornaments and garlands and tinsel. She showed us how to pin the ornaments and garland to the front bay window curtains in the family room. We decorated that curtain fashioning a triangle, in the shape of a Christmas tree, as we hung each piece, a Christmas tree came alive. Afterward she brought out all the beautiful presents she had wrapped and placed them at the floor in front of our home made Christmas tree. It was the most beautiful tree we had ever made. I was so excited. That was my mom then, and that is how she is today. She will make the most of every situation without anyone knowing the reason behind it. Almost every single piece of clothing we wore as children was hand made by her, she made our blankets, she made our toys, she made our Barbie clothes and the furniture they had. She could create anything and everything she set her mind to doing. She could whip up a meal to feed an army from three fish and two loaves if that’s all she had. I love my mother with all my heart.
My parents divorced when I was in the seventh grade. My Father left without saying goodbye. This was devastating, as none of us girls had a clue they had been having problems for years. Again, that’s how well they hid their problems from us. I love them for doing that for us. But the pain of their divorce is a memory still in my heart. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->I saw my Father a total of five more times in the next twelve years before he went to be with the Lord. I miss him so much today. My Mother has re-married since then, and I have the most awesome step-father in the world. Robert Corkery. He has been a strong support in my life through each and every circumstance I have been through with his unconditional love. He is my Father now, if not in blood then in heart. To me there is not much difference. With him I inherited two wonderful Step brothers, Todd and Steve Corkery, and their families.In the event of a bad situation, again something good came from it. Something wonderful, I love them all. <!--[endif]-->
I married at the age of 19 years old. My husband Tim and I were married for seven years and share three children together. Timothy who is now 16 years old, Tyler who is 14 years and Tessa who will be 12 this year. My children are my heart. They bleed; I feel it. They cry; I cry. My marriage was short lived, and the divorce was the beginning of a steep, fast slide down hill in my life. I guess you could say I wandered in the wilderness for about ten years after the divorce. It was painful and unwanted; I rejected it for a while and lived in loneliness and self-pity for years. I raised my children outside the church. Working two jobs most of the time trying to make it financially. I worked part-time, collected welfare from the state and attended a school for Dental Assisting for 8 months so I could take my State Board Exams and get licensed as a Registered Dental Assistant. I received my license in the fall of 2000. Things got a little better, I earned more money but it always seemed that every time I got ahead financially, something would come along and knock me down. Rent was increased, or the car broke down, or doctor visits put me behind again and I’d land right where I had been before. I was a constant struggle trying to stay afloat. I lived life trying to cover my depression, my fear of loosing everything, and not being able to provide for my kids. I also still struggled with the pain and anger from my own divorce. That dark cloud of rejection always seemed to linger above me wherever I went. I started doing things to drown the negative feelings I had. I wasn’t near as strong as my Mother had been during my childhood, nor creative; my children knew when things got bad. I couldn’t hide it. It was cold and dark when bills weren’t paid. We were hungry a few times, and I couldn’t hide my depression or desperation from them either. It was too hard to make light for them in my dark world. I had friends, who helped, and family that helped financially, their father also helped, and thank you Lord for that even when I wasn’t leaning on you, you were there for us. I attended a few churches every once in a while, three total, in all those years. Sneaking in to the back row trying to be unseen. The minute someone approached me I would dismiss myself. Knowing well enough God was trying to reach me, but too ashamed of my past to face Him face to face. I had no clue about grace and mercy. I couldn’t comprehend it.
My sister Melanie is the prayer warrior that prayed me through to Him by the light he was shining in her. I watched her, I saw how happy she was, she had joy even in bad situations. She had that peace I longed for, and I envied her. I couldn’t understand how she had that. It looked familiar to me. The last time I had that peace was the morning before my Mother gathered us girls to the kitchen table to tell us our Father wasn’t coming home. I wanted that peace again. I attended Ceres Christian Church on Easter Sunday with her in 2004. That day, I found that peace I remembered having when I was a child. The Lord, for me to hear that day, inspired every word Pastor Rob Hidahl spoke. That day in that church when someone embraced me I grabbed on and held on for dear life. Literally, it was a dear life I held onto. It was Jesus. I soon became aware that God had been calling me for years to come home. Every instance he ever touched me in the past ten years as I had struggled, came to light in my eyes. I remembered things he did that I hadn’t given him credit for. My life was about to change for good, because now, God was my center. Not me anymore, but Him. I made a commitment that day to him. I asked him to lead me, to be the center of my life, to give me strength, and show me how to be the person he created me to be.
I began attending Ceres Christian Church regularly. I was baptized on June 28th 2004 the day I was reborn into the family of God. All my old self washed away and a new person emerged from the water that day, one filled with the Holy Spirit. I still remember the song that was playing as I came up out of the water.
“ Blessed be your name.
In the land that is plentiful.
Where streams of abundance flow.
Blessed be your name.”
As the weeks went by I learned how very true that song is. My life was visibly changing. I had those streams of abundance flowing. I had everything I needed, what wasn’t there to pay bills, I really didn’t need, because out of nowhere, statements came that stated I had a credit for some reason. I received a raise at work for my hard efforts. I had this sense of peace, I really felt God was showing me a little piece of this land of plentiful that He talks about when we get to heaven. I knew He wanted to show me that I am in His care. I am now very active in the choir and the children’s ministry, and where ever I am asked to help out. Ceres Christian Church adopted me and my children that year, I am now a member of a family that is at least around 600 brothers and sister’s if not more.
I met a man at Ceres Christian Church, Ezra Louis Ivey, who sparked my attention the very first moment I met him. I had been in many relationships throughout the past ten years, all of which were failed attempts at trying to fill an emptiness I had inside me. When I made that first commitment to Christ that empty was no longer there. After attending church for about two years God crossed Ezra and my paths when the time was right. We met for lunch and a movie the day of my 36th birthday, our first date. and dated for the following year. There has never been a time I needed the Lord’s strength more than that year we dated. We dated God’s way, as Ezra called it. Something I had never heard of. What was god’s way anyway? Ezra began to show me. And that’s when I fell in love with him. We restrained from intimacy, from kissing, and from much more as we dated that year. It was the most trying time for me, but Ezra made it easier to understand, he was such a gentleman. He reminded me when I needed it, that God is in control, and that there is a purpose to His way of courtship. He gave me a book to read about courtship by Josh Harris, and the light came on, I completely understood. From then on I waited for what God had in store for Ezra and I. God made our relationship so beautiful. It was like watching a flower bloom. Our friendship grew stronger and stronger as the months went by. Maybe God didn’t have marriage in mind for us, maybe he did. It’s definitely what I prayed for. Wherever God wanted to take us was what I wanted to find out. I knew that if I did it my way I would just mess things up. It’s what had always happened in my past. I knew that if I trusted God this time, I wouldn’t get hurt again no matter what happened. I knew that if God didn’t intend for our relationship to lead to marriage, he intended it for something else, I knew he had a purpose for everything we go through. I knew God put us together and I knew that if I trusted God in this relationship he would show me what that was. Ezra and I were married on September 22, 2006. I finally found out what God had in mind. We had a beautiful wedding at our church, my children were there, my family and my new church family was there to share and everyone cried tears of joy with us as we became one that day. We now live together in Turlock, California. in a house we bought last year. Ezra is an architect so we hunted for his love, and found an 80-year-old bungalow style three bedroom home in one the oldest parts of the city. Needless to say there are about four remodeling projects going on right now as a result of his creativity. We are also praying that soon God will bless us with a child of our own. I know now that our plans are not always what God has in store for us, so we wait faithfully for Him to reveal what He has in store.
I love to write, sing, oil paint and garden. My biggest accomplishment so far is the publication of my first children book. The Christmas tree That Didn’t Get Picked. It is a story inspired by my daughter, Tessa. The first year we had been attending church, we were driving home the Sunday after Christmas and as we drove by a closed Christmas tree lot, my daughter looked and saw all the trees lying on their sides. Her question inspired my story, “Mom, what happens to all the Christmas trees that don’t get picked?” We talked about it on the way home, and agreed that it would make a cute children’s story. I encouraged her to start writing once we got home and she did. But as with all her little projects, she tossed it aside the next day and was on to something else. I picked it up and started writing one day just for fun. I had been thinking about it and had some really good ideas to put into the story. It went from there. For the few weeks I wrote every night after work, changing scenes, adding ideas, editing, and coming up with new characters. The main lesson in the story is that God has a purpose for everything, even Christmas trees. I used the Christmas trees as characters, and created lessons on truth telling and acceptance and much more as the story unwinds to teach that our plans are not always what God has in mind for us. A lesson I learned quite often, over and over again in my own life. After my marriage my husband encouraged me to complete my manuscript and get it published. The associate pastor at my church, Pastor Dave Broyles, has written two books, he is a very intelligent, talented author. His two books, Death Rides a Painted Horse and Miracle at Tomb Stone (available at most book stores) are wonderful western pieces to read. I knew he could point me in the right direction at trying to get my manuscript looked at by a publisher, and he did, he gave me the web-site to look into. I had quite a bit of doubt that they would even be interested in reading my material, as I have never written anything in my life, except in school. English, by the way, was the only subject I did excel in. I had always been told in high school, and by many people I have written to, that I had a way with words. That little encouragement is what I hung on to in the hope I had for this whole thing to come through. My book was published last November 2007. I submitted my idea to the publishing company, Publish America, and they asked to see the whole manuscript, two weeks later I walked into the house after work and there was a message on my answering machine telling me that they had accepted my manuscript for publication. I was all by myself, I sat down, I stood up and walked around, then I sat back down again and took a deep breath, then I screamed out loud. I did it!
My book is now available for purchase through many bookstores. This last Christmas, I held two book signings, which were wonderful and exciting. People were very interested in my book. I am now working on a second book and plan to have a series of books with the same characters, all with different lessons taught in the bible. I hope you can take the time to read my book as you find it has a message in it for everyone, not just children.
Thank you for visiting my Website. There isn't much yet, but I am learning as I go here so bare with me.
My prayer is that you find the time everyday to read Gods word. Remember he has something in store for everyone; after all He is our creator. There is a reason we are here. There is a purpose for why He created us. Find out what yours is, and live for Him.
Please feel free to check out my profile, my pictures, my links and of course my new book I have just recently had published.
The Christmas Tree that Didn't Get Picked.