9 to 5 Faith Podcast: Episode 4

Paige C. Clark 00:36
This is Paige C. Clark and you’re listening to the 9 to 5 Faith podcast. So welcome everyone. So glad you’re here and joining us. I have my friend Ivonne on with me. How are you doing today?

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 00:50
I am doing fabulous Paige. Thank you for having me.

Paige C. Clark 00:54
Yes, it is a beautiful day. I don’t know what the weather’s like. there for you. But is the perfect spring day here.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 01:01
It’s freezing here. Oh no. It’s freezing. It’s in the 20s who are getting some flurries but it’s okay.

Paige C. Clark 01:09
Oh my goodness. I’m actually going up to the snow this weekend. So I am going on vacation to experience what you have every single day.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 01:19
Oh, hope you enjoy will be

Paige C. Clark 01:22
a blast. So Yvonne, tell me a little bit about yourself about your background what you do? Yeah, let’s let’s jump in there.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 01:33
Yeah, um, well, I’m Ivonne Rivera Newberry. I am married, I met my husband 20 years ago, while in the army. His name was Jason. We have two beautiful kids. Our son is a freshman in college in Oklahoma studying mechanical engineering. And he’s 18. And our daughter is a senior in high school. And she wants to be a large and small animal vet. And I am a nurse by trade. I’ve worked for the state health department. So I helped to oversee over 50 clinics across the state of Kansas. It’s a grant program. And so I just helped to make sure that all of the practices are in line and with nationally recognized standards of practice. And so that’s a little bit about

Paige C. Clark 02:31
how long have you been doing that?

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 02:35
I’ve been with the state health department for five years I’ve been in, I’m gonna say in public health. Since 2012, okay, Nurse awesome. 2007. So yeah,

Paige C. Clark 02:48
so sometimes, and when you were mentioning your kids, I was like, I was thinking if they were older or younger, and I’m like, I’m gonna have to talk to you like, next year when your daughter isn’t at home anymore, because I feel like that this conversation is going to be radically different at that point.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 03:06
Oh, yes, we’re definitely in the season of kind of preparing to be empty nesters, which is big. It’s a big thing. And so different stage of life. Different opens up new opportunities, though, right? And so, but yeah, it’s a different stage of life.

Paige C. Clark 03:26
So maybe we’ll have you back on and then we’ll talk about it. Yes, I’m curious, because I don’t have any kids at home. We just have two dogs. What are we what are they called is like dual income without kids is that

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 03:48
there’s like some kind of dogs can be like kids.

Paige C. Clark 03:51
There’s some acronym of like, when you are like still to working people and you have no kids at the house. And anyways, that’s me and my husband right now. So I feel like I like that I’m able to talk to people who are almost empty nesters and who still have kids at home and because it looks so different for every one that says yes.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 04:14
Yeah, so really does.

Paige C. Clark 04:16
So tell me a little bit about like, as of like today with like one kid at home and you and your husband and your husband? I’m assuming like works full time or is sometimes deployed maybe or traveling?

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 04:32
Sorry. We’re both out of the army. We’re both Okay.

Paige C. Clark 04:35
Okay. Yeah, yeah,

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 04:36
yeah. He’s a detective. Very cool. So

Paige C. Clark 04:39
he’s working very long hours.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 04:42
Yes. Yes, yes. So he’s he we both work full time. So our schedules you know, sometimes it’s 40 Plus, especially if you add in travel. His job does require for him to travel across the state as well. You And in mind is to actually next week, I’ll be gone for the entire week. And so preparing to visit to clinics specifically and so. So yeah, so it can be a lot of hustle and bustle. And, you know, as it relates to our so let me just also say, so we’re almost empty nesters. But also we just changed churches and

Paige C. Clark 05:28
okay. Yeah, a big thing.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 05:31
And we’ve been with the church that we left since 2017. Big deal, because yeah, are my faith as a believer in Jesus started, really, they’re like, Oh, my God, but I really didn’t accept them until 2017. And, and so it was, it really helps to bring our family just walking in a certain way, and had wonderful when we still do wonderful church family, which we really saw the fruits of that, especially when our son graduated, we had a graduation party and having everybody over our home. It was just beautiful to see that. And it was important, because my parents, they don’t live here. They live in South Florida. And they got to see that so. Yeah. So let me just say, when we were in the height of really being very active in our church, we were in a ministry, that was an eight week course and allowed people to come and explore their faith. Okay. I myself went through it with my husband and with Jason. And it really helped me. And we were recommended by other leaders to help facilitate that. So we started there. We soon thereafter joined a couple’s small group, couples Bible study, and not too long after that the facilitators, the leaders stepped down. And so Jason and I said, we’ll step up and we’ll take the reins. And so we did that. I then also started a women’s Bible study. That was weekly. That was every Thursday evening. The couples Bible study was twice, twice a month. And then we had the eight week, you know, talk about your faith ministry, which was every Sunday, I ended, it would finish eight weeks. And then you’d have another

Paige C. Clark 07:45
rush cohort.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 07:47
Yeah, yeah. And so that, and on top of that, we were mentoring a young couple. And that happened organically. And that was also weekly. That was like, every Sunday evening. Yeah, we would have dinner together and have Bible study together. And just, it was beautiful. That lasted for years. That’s awesome, instead. And so all of those ministries really kind of came to, like an organic, like, and yeah, literally this past year, like in 2022. So yeah, I really, when I say we’re in a new season, we’re in a new season. Yeah, for

Paige C. Clark 08:29
sure. And like, when you’re saying, like, oh, we have the ministry on Sundays, and then we met with a couple Sunday evenings, I’m like, when you say it’s the Lord’s day, it is the Lord’s day, you are going to church in the morning ministry in the afternoon. You know, couples mentorship in the evening, like, committed to the Lord.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 08:50
Yes, I mean, and this was all in because, you know, we would rotate back and forth is to house and it was a younger couple. So they had a younger child, and it was just easier to go over to their home and they don’t mind. And then our children would come and help help baby. So while we were doing the actual Bible study, and so that was, yeah, I mean, that’s a really

Paige C. Clark 09:13
beautiful thing, though, to have, like your kids involved in that regard of like, they don’t have to be the ones participating, but they get to see you and your husband as a model for that.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 09:27
You know, and that I think people don’t realize your children and doesn’t matter how small or how old they they are watching. And I think it’s a great reminder of when you say that modeling, actually, that was one of the things that my husband and I, we would kind of sometimes hold each other accountable. It’s like, what are we modeling? When we say this or do this what are we modeling? But you’re absolutely right. There have been other couples who have been we’ve encountered in, in the church and we’re friends with and They were in a crisis or they were struggling with something and they would invite us over to talk. And in our children were also invited. And so they got to see us minister to other couples as well. So it wasn’t just this one. But that happened in different scenarios with different couples. But this one couple in particular, it was it was for years, I would say at least three years that we went every Sunday. And so

Paige C. Clark 10:27
that’s, that’s awesome. So how did? How did that kind of like, stack up as you were taking on kind of like these different responsibilities within your church community? And just kind of organically happening? How did that kind of stack up against kind of your career and your husband’s career and looking at it of like, did you ever get to a point and be like, Okay, we like seriously need to, like, evaluate and like, pray if we’re going to step into these things because of these other responsibilities and commitments we have.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 11:05
Yes, there’s definitely. There were definitely, I would say, months or some weeks that were just haywire. And it was very difficult because, and I guess maybe it does sound like a lot. I think to some people, it didn’t sound like a lot. And I was like, well, if when you’re doing a couple’s group, you’re it’s not just the group setting, but you’re also meeting with those couples individually. If you’re, if you’re doing it, like really, you know, what I mean, like Riley, you know, trying to, you know, have an engaged group engagement history. And the same thing with a women’s Bible study. You know, I was meeting with those ladies, weekly, a lot of them were from the couple’s ministry. I think I’m gonna say so. And I don’t want to get too much into our background. But when I say we started in, I came to the Lord in 2017, it was a one ad. Okay, it really truly was one ad. And what I mean by that is, we went from our, I’ll speak for myself, I went from Yvonne first career first. You know, I was amidst. In 2017, I wasn’t in this role, I was in another role. And in that role, I was very busy. Like, I had five departments, five direct reports, 33 FTE, underneath me, and meetings, constantly, staff issues, you name it. And on top of that, I had graduate school, and had a fellowship that had its own projects, I was president of the National Nursing Association. Now. I mean, when I say I was chasing in my priority, was definitely climbing the ladder. At one point I wanted to, I thought, I’m going to do law school when I got accepted to law school, and I was going to do law school. I was I was very, very ambitious. And there’s I don’t want to give that a bad connotation. Because there’s nothing wrong with being driven, you can be trained, but what’s the why behind it? What, what’s your real purpose behind that? And so when I came to Christ, all of that kind of, I’m gonna say, there’s just avalanche changes. And so getting my personal relationship with the Lord in line, then putting Jesus in the middle of our marriage, and getting our marriage in line, married for 20 years is not without its valleys, we had started in valleys. Okay. Several, I can think of three times particularly that we, we could have been divorced. And, and then getting our household in line. And finally, coming to a point where we were parenting from a place of putting God first. And so, so, so I guess when when we were doing the ministries, it was very, like, that’s what we were supposed to do. That’s why we’re in the perfect place to do and I will say, as those you know, you know, the other activities, I graduated, I got my master’s degree. The fellowship finished I did my, you know, project and presentation on that and be being president of the nursing that also came to an end and then I left that role. And I actually it was a long commute, and I left that room All because I needed to be closer to home. My husband had some health issues and had two serious surgeries, revealed a heart condition. And so I was like, I just need to be closer to home. And so finally it was putting God first. Right? Then my husband, then my kids, and then everything else. Yeah. And so when I interviewed for this role, I actually, I think, very bluntly said that, yes, it I need a job that is flexible. You know, I can travel, I, my little ones are not little, you know, I don’t have any qualms, you know, jumping on a plane, and not just around the state, but they would have me go into conferences across the nation. And I was like, I don’t have a problem with that. But I don’t want to be made to feel guilty if I need to go to a doctor’s appointment for my husband, to see a volleyball match, watch my son play football. I, I’m gonna take the time off. Yeah. And they said, as long as you give us notice, and just let it like, just let us know, just communicate, we don’t have a problem with that. So

Paige C. Clark 16:02
yeah, I was at a place that called it when for time, and it was like, as long as it’s a win for you and a win for the company and a win for the customer, then you’re good. So boom, like that. Yeah, kind of, well. One thing that I wanted to kind of talk about, which like I wasn’t necessarily expecting it, and tell me if this feels accurate for kind of your industry, because I know the healthcare industry is a little bit different. But I work in a very, like corporate kind of setting. And, and what I’ve come across is kind of that ladder climbing that you were talking about earlier of like, what’s the next step that you’re gonna get? What’s the next step instead of just allowing your purpose to flow through your job? Have you encountered that at all? And, and kind of how did that mind shift kind of switch for you? And like, did you find any pushback from like, or like awkwardness? I felt I feel awkward when I do like performance reviews and stuff, because I’m like, there’s like, what do you want to do? And I’m, like, pay my bills, like?

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 17:11
Yeah, I’m gonna say in, in academia, and when I was within the cohort, with the fellowship, because that was, I was one of 25, in that fellowship that were selected to be a part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, public health nurse leaders that was, you know, this this thing for two years. And it was phenomenal. It was a great opportunity, lots of growth there. And that’s where I felt, I felt like I need to be publishing, you know, I published two academic articles, but I’m like, I need to be publishing more, I need to get my PhD. I need to, you know, I need I need to do all these things. I need to become a professor, I need to Yeah. And I felt that that pressure, I don’t, since I’ve come here at the State Health Department, and I came from the local health department. I feel like I have the bird’s eye view. I don’t feel that pressure. I feel like I have a great relationship with the people that I consult for and assist and, you know, doing their clinics, and I helped new directors, you know, as they get acquainted with the role and what the program is, and I don’t I don’t feel that pressure. Yeah, we? Yeah, it’s just it’s different. I would say when I was more in the nursing circles, right, specifically, nursing circles. In graduate school. I got I got a little bit of that, too. Yeah, I definitely had that. That push and it’s a little bit like, you know, look inside deciding where they’re doing and what am I doing? Right, you know, but But honestly, the, when I finally accepted Jesus when I took on that new identity, when I took on that new identity, and I can remember when I said the prayer in church, and I said, you know, I don’t understand this all. I don’t have it all figured out. I was 41 years old. But I know this is all pointing to you, Lord. And I know that I have to trust you. And if I do this, there are no half measures, but I’m all in. Okay, and so if I’m gonna call myself a Christian, like I’m, that’s not a small thing to me. Right? It’s not an empty thing to me. And it’s not salad bar time. I’m going to take a little this and a little that right out. Not that because I don’t prefix menu.

Paige C. Clark 19:56
You get with

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 19:59
us Get what you get, and it’s all of it and some of it you’re gonna wrestle with. And that’s okay. That’s okay. And when I went all in, I was all in, because I came to a point of, you know, is what I’m doing? Does it even matter? Right? I mean that that’s kind of where I got to I’m feeling what I learned about myself is I’m very purpose driven. I’m incredibly purpose driven. And so now, my purpose is not, you know, getting Not that there’s anything wrong with getting published or getting a PhD, or whatever, you are becoming an attorney, or what you know, and nothing wrong with these things. But I think my reasons for seeking those things were, were really not in line. And so when I finally came to Christ, it was like, okay, Vaughn, you know, he put me in this role. And I’m, I’m good in this role. I’m, you know, I’m good at my job. But now, I’m doing it for different reason. I’m doing it for this. And I’m able to in and I’ve learned, and I struggle with this a little bit, because I’m not the why here. And what I learned over the years is the Lord needs his saints everywhere. You can’t We can’t live in a bubble. We’re called to live in the world not be of it. Right. Right. We have to live in it. Yeah, we are set apart. And, and then we have the Great Commission, me now, before Jesus ascended, he says, you know, go and make disciples, right, you know, baptize them and, you know, the teach, you have to go go out, spread, spread the gospel, spread the good news, and disciple. And that’s, that’s where I found my new purpose, my new purpose, not as much advance realizing, although, sometimes that comes out. Right. But discipling and that’s, and that’s actually, so right now, my husband and I are leading, we just put together a discipleship group and talk about that, you know, I am mentoring young woman who I met in church, the church we just left and, and just discipling her, you know, so people who have already accepted the Lord, and are hungry, to learn more and to grow in their walk with the Lord. In challenging, that’s the other thing challenging those who are a little complacent. Right, right. Look uncomfortable. So guys, yeah, yeah. You know, so

Paige C. Clark 22:45
you said some things that I’ve actually been noodling on this week, a lot. So it’s quite fitting that you mentioned it, but it’s, it’s the whole thing of like, why the reason why we want to achieve certain accolades, and either our education or career and I, you hit, you hit the nail on the head is our identity of like, where is your identity coming from? Do you have that ambition? Because that is how you attain your identity? Or do you already define your identity by Christ? And then the rest kind of follows?

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 23:25
Yeah, that’s, I think, I think that what would I have found in I don’t know, if we’re, you go to church, if you find this, sometimes I have found and sometimes I’m to have a surprise, I’m not as surprised now. But people who’ve been Christians for a long time, a long time. And I don’t know if it’s getting into a rut, or just kind of they go to church, because that’s what you do. But they kind of keep the Church activity, prayer, whatever, they kind of keep it there, like that. That’s the place where they, they do those things. And there’s, they may enjoy the sermon, you know, worship and whatever. But outside of that, there’s not there’s not much else. Maybe they’ve been, you know, the tithe and really be a part of, you know, you know, something, some community, you know, volunteer or something. And that’s all well and good, but I found a lot of folks just kind of comfortable. Yeah. And if I found some that even when you start really talking to them, I found a theology. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay, you know, so and so that yeah, so So Why where’s your identity were trying to. And that’s something that I, I’m a big proponent of, it’s actually what inspired I’m writing a book for discipling new believers? And what are those first steps that you have to take? You know, one of those habits, so that your new identity in Jesus can be deeply rooted, so that you’re not, the thorns don’t just grow around you, and the worries of the world and life. Just happen, you know, and then it overtakes that excitement that you had, because I’ve seen a lot of that I’ve seen people get really excited at first. And there’s no one to walk alongside them. There’s no one to say, Hey, you got to, you got to disciplines are you getting into the word? Are you praying? Are are you trying to find community within other believers? Because that’s all of those things are needed? Yeah, to really there. They become your guardrails as you go along in this walk with them.

Paige C. Clark 26:11
Right, right. It’s not a it’s not a checklist. It’s a set of guardrails.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 26:16
And, you know, and I’ll say this, because at first, you’re right, it’s not a checklist like, check. I went to church, right? You know, but if, if in the beginning, it has to start as a choice. I’m okay with that. Yeah, I can remember a time in my prayer. Like I was very good at waking up, having my quiet time reading the Bible praying at nighttime, right before I go to bed, I don’t want to think about news. I don’t want to think about my to do list. I don’t want to think about anything else. I want scripture to be the last things that I think about before I close my eyes. And I was really good at bookending. And it was a great start. But in the middle of the day, I would get like on the hamster wheel and just go Go, go go go. Yeah. And I felt like I wouldn’t I would remember. And so I had to put even like alarms on my end. No, it sounds silly.

Paige C. Clark 27:13
No, not at all. You’re not the first person that mentioned that. On this podcast. Actually, we talked, I’ve talked at length about checklists and alarms.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 27:24
I mean, it’s a thing like to hit pause to get your attention and be like, Hey, have you said thanks to the Lord? Have you you know commune W? You know, like, God’s God’s there in your checking in? Are you? Are you asking him what his thoughts are on this project or whatever? Yeah, you know, are you giving him thanks. So, I had to do that. And you do that just until then it becomes natural, right? And then it’s no longer a checklist. It’s just what you do?

Paige C. Clark 27:55
Yeah. Yeah, I always like to say, my love language is checklists. So I love to see I love, I love lists, I have them everywhere. And it’s just because it frees up space in my brain to kind of focus on what I’m looking at. But also reminds me to step away from that and go spend my time with God or, or whatever else is on my list. So no shame to those who have lists. It is a valuable tool.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 28:25
Now Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, it’s, it’s necessary that you have to start someplace. Yeah. And if you weren’t raised, and if you weren’t raised going to church, you aren’t raised, you know, in a home that put God first. Yeah, you know, that, that, that makes a world of difference like it, you know, it’s not natural, it’s not so. So it takes a lot of intentionality to incorporate that. And so it’s not just gonna come you have to intentionally put the effort to make that happen.

Paige C. Clark 28:59
For sure. And I want to talk about that middle you were telling you about your book ends let’s talk about the middle How does your faith show up during your work day?

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 29:14
Sometimes Sometimes it’s interruptions. That sounds whatever but it’s not I’m thinking of Jenna. You know, divine interruptions. Sometimes it’s interruptions whether it’s a text, whether it’s a song that pops in your head, whether it’s I have posted some things all over my, my work computer, and with scriptures and different things on there. If sometimes it’ll it’ll just, somebody will come up or somebody will text me and That’s sometimes how he shows up. He shows up and either people or a song. Lunchtime. I hate me. I’m just being straight giving thanks for my food. Yeah. And, and provisions. Being able to, I can’t remember her name. I think it’s Margaret. Feinberg. Okay. I can’t remember her name. But I listened to her on Discover the word one time. And she’s like, how wonderful. We have a God who made us so that we can enjoy delicious food. We don’t have to go around looking rocks. I thought that’s true. Right? I enjoy eating.

Paige C. Clark 30:44
I had a ministry leader who said, you always have to eat, like you need, you know, two to three meals a day, you always have to eat might as well do it with someone else. So if you’re in the office, like people were saying, like, oh, I don’t have the time to, you know, kind of commune with anyone or reach out to anyone who’s like you gotta eat. I always really liked

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 31:08
that. That that’s true. Like not to. So he was saying that like as a as a way of fellowship, like, yeah, to eat with somebody else. Yeah,

Paige C. Clark 31:18
yeah, felt fellowship, or like outreach or like, if you if there’s someone you want to talk with, or minister to, you know, have a have lunch with them, because everyone has to eat.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 31:33
You Britain, actually, that that is another way. That is another way I will have I thoroughly love and enjoy to have coffee or lunch or breakfast with women and men, one that I’ve maybe just met, you know, I met a woman at a navigators conference and found out that we lived in the same city. And I’m like, oh, you know, this is awesome. And so I went and had breakfast with her and, yeah, and just talking about all things faith, and you know, and what a wonderful way to, you know, really nourish that sense of community. That’s, you know, even outside the walls of your church, you know, so to speak. Right. So. So, yeah,

Paige C. Clark 32:21
I love that. And I mean, feel free to not answer this if you don’t want to No, no, you said you work for the state. So have you ran into any issues or any hesitancies even with talking about your faith, seeing that you work for a government agency?

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 32:43
Ah, I if asked directly, I will answer, I will answer honestly and equally directly. Other than that, I don’t bring it up overtly. And I when I use words, like I learned this actually from another, I went to a conference in San Francisco. And when I started listening to this one speaker, he started using words like, fellowship, and things. Those are not, or, you know, things that are honoring, or just the terms that he disciple or yeah, yes, yes. I was like, I was like, Wait a minute. He’s a believer. Yeah. And it’s, and it was, so I was so new in my own faith. But I felt like a child, like realizing something and I walked up to him after he spoke. And, and I said, I can’t remember how I even phrase it, but I kind of like asked him, I was like, Are you a believer? Are you Christian? And, and he said, and he just, he smiled and nodded. And I said, I said, but you don’t you don’t outright say it. Because there’s ways because there’s ways to fold in the message without directly saying it. Yeah. I I model, yeah. I model Christ who lives in me. And I allow people to ask, yeah, and, and they do, you know, I had one time an error was made in an order. And I was in this this is not directly in work. This is actually I’m gonna say, buying flowers, right? The the buy flowers. And the flowers weren’t delivered on time. It was, you know, for my mother or whatever. And I just said, Hey, you know, this is not right. And at the end, she said, You’re so nice. She goes, You’re the nicest person to talk to you got wronged and As flowers weren’t delivered, and I, and I said, That’s not me, that’s Christ who lives in me. It’s him who allows me to, you know, show that grace, because he’s shown me that. And here, I’m gonna say at work, I’ve had people who, you know, just in chit chat will mention something that their daughter’s going through a surgery or something. Right. And I’ll say, I’ll pray for them. What’s her name? Pray for her? I’ll say that. Yeah. And, and I noticed others may be, you know, ears will perk. What I do the site visits. I don’t make a big show of it. But I do pray over my food. Right. I pause. Everyone’s digging in. And I want to dig into but I pause. Yeah, and I pray. There are some nurses and in staff that I visited, they have mentioned, they mentioned it, and so I will meet them there. Right. So I, I will tell you that on my door and my office door, I put across that says, harvest blessings are something on it like during the fall, you know, for Thanksgiving. I’m going to say that’s a big thing for me. Just because in my previous role, I did feel muzzled. I think I felt muzzled. Because I was the assistant director, like, Yeah, I had 33 people underneath me, right. And I never wanted to be accused of trying to impose my fate and anybody. My one regret, and it was because I felt muzzled. There was a moment where I was traveling with a friend, she was she she wasn’t directly underneath me, but still, my position would was over hers. You know, I’m saying. And so she asked, she asked about, she’s like, I don’t I don’t get how people can be so excited about God. Like, I’ve tried to go to different churches. And I don’t even remember how I answered it. But I remember I was so walking on eggshells, and I did not answer it. I did I, I was not obedient. In what the Word says about, always be ready to share the hope that you have in Christ. Always be ready. Right. And, and I, I missed that. And I so regret that. And I talked that over with Jason. And he says, If they ask you, because they asked you, right, that’s different. You’re not imposing anything on them. And so that’s something I’ll definitely remind people. If so, if someone were to ask me, I’ll definitely share. Yeah, and I’m okay, sharing, I have my Bible open on my bookcase. When I come early in the morning, I have my quiet time with my Bible open, right. I’m reading it stays open. It’s there. I’ve got scripture, I’ve got things that definitely you know, I think represent, you know, where I’m at, in my faith. Yeah, you know? Yeah.

Paige C. Clark 38:21
And I think it’s, I think it’s not so much because cuz I can hear the cynics listening to this and be like, Oh, that’s very performative. But it’s not, it’s allowing the space to how you would regularly live your life. And then it actually, I, in my opinion, gives permission for either community, with other believers to happen, or for people who may not be believers to feel safe with you in saying, hey, you know, my daughter is having surgery, would you mind praying for her or something like that?

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 39:02
And, you know, I do notice that he would then tell me, Oh, my daughter’s doing better have your eye updates. You know, I can remember there was another gentleman who, I can’t remember what we were talking about. And he mentioned, he goes, I know, I know, God’s at work here. I forgot what he said. And I said, why I believe in God, too. And he goes, Oh, I know, you do. He knows I know, you do your and I thought, I’m thinking how do you know that? I do. You know, but, but he knew, you know, and so, so it’s very, there was a woman I actually went through a period where I had a scare. I thought I might have breast cancer. I mammogram came back abnormal and I was beside myself. I was just so big. beside myself and another nurse who worked on the hall. She actually her program is all about breast cancer. You know, and so I just went and I just like, I just needed just to share, you know, and prayed with me, and, you know, cried with me and prayed with me. And so she’s just been moments. Moments like that. I also think about my physician during one of these, one of the three major valleys that my husband and I had, I had an appointment with my family physician, which I love her to pieces. Been with her since we moved here. And she asked What’s wrong, and I just, gosh, you know, all the problems that we’re having. And she just, she said, Oh, Yvonne, she goes down, she, you know, she goes, You will never be enough for your husband and your husband will never be enough for you unless you have God. In the middle of your marriage. She goes, God is what makes you enough for him and him enough for you. Yeah. And, and she said, can I pray for you? She spent in a busy practice, she spent over 30 minutes with me, cried with me, prayed with me. And I think about that. I’m thinking, how would How would other physicians have responded? So there’s yet another example of in a professional setting, right? That a need like that comes and someone is bold enough, comfortable enough to share, to share the truth. You know, and I wasn’t a believer then. Right. I appreciated. I appreciated her tears. I appreciated her prayers. Right? After I became a believer, I wrote her long, long cord, thanking her and saying, now I get it. Yeah, no, I understand what you mean, you know, so. So I think, I think it’s, it’s hard your state health department, it, you know, there’s a culture, there’s a certain culture, within government, I think that’s kind of, you know, but, but there’s still, you know, and I’m not gonna lie, when I put up my cross, I’m waiting for the day that someone says, that offends me or, and I’m right, I’ll cross that bridge, when I get to it. Yeah, I’ll cross that bridge. When I get to it, I will sing his praises. And I will talk about the goodness of God and to my last breath. And, but that’s, that’s me further along, in my walk to

Paige C. Clark 42:52
write right now. Not at the beginning. And I was I was thinking when, when we were talking about, you know, just having people kind of identify a light inside of you, as, as a believer, I was thinking of, you know, when you ever have like, something that’s monogrammed, or has your name on it, like a name tag, or like, it’s on your sweatshirt or backpack? And then someone calls you by a name near like, like, how do you know, you? Know, you? It’s kind of funny, but I think that’s like a little bit of an example of like, how we can walk around with Jesus on ourselves and on our behaviors. And then, when people need it, they come up and like, you’re like, wait, like, how, like, how did you know but but also it’s because of how, how you carry Jesus’s light through your day and through your work.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 43:51
Yes, yes. And not not shy away and look for the opportunities. Like I said, I regret the one time where I felt like it was a missed opportunity. And I even tried to set up a lunch to kind of make up for it and talk to her and it just felt like it fell flat. Like it was truly a missed opportunity. Like when she asked the question was when she was like, really curious, you know, right. And my trying to in my very human logical way, you know, trying to correct that was with all of its good intentions. It just fell flat and it was just not the same. But that’s okay. I learned from that.

Paige C. Clark 44:40
Also the Holy Spirit still moves, despite us.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 44:46
Oh, yes, I’ve had I’ve had the Holy Spirit muzzled me. Yeah. Yeah. Don’t say that. Don’t ask this. Don’t Don’t. Don’t say that. How does she feel? about this. Yeah. And I’m like, and I ask, and then tears come and I’m like, okay, there it is. That’s, that’s what that’s that this is what this is about. You know, and but but as it’s happening, I’m like, What is going on? I wanted to give her that what for you? Right. And Holy Spirit’s like, No, not today. Not today. You’re gonna Hirsch and you’re gonna ask her this question?

Paige C. Clark 45:30
Yes, yeah. Um, so to kind of round out this conversation, I always like to leave our listeners with a takeaway of something that they can implement in their faith walk in their day to day walk, whether it’s on their commute, or how they act in meetings, something that they can take away, to help move them closer to God. And what would be that takeaway, Yvonne?

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 45:59
Hmm. I. So spending time with him, intentionally, making God an absolute priority. And that means, I think starting your day, bookending your days with the Lord starting in the morning, and ending at night. And it’s a great way to frame your day, great way to start your day. And also a great way to end. And so does it have to look in this very prescriptive way? No. You know, I’m at a point where I’m spending an hour in the morning. Did it start that way? No, Heavens, no. Right. Opening up, the Bible was super intimidating to me at first. And so maybe it’s five minutes. Maybe you’re saying a prayer and just saying good morning to the Lord while you’re brushing your teeth. Maybe you open up our daily bread app, you know, or another, another little small 200 300 word app that shows that shares a scripture, you know what I mean? Right, right. It’s just that those few minutes. What I have found is that, that the Lord honors that. And it yields such fruits, when you give him that time that you learned to delight in that, that communing with our Lord, because He loves you know, he wants us to turn to him. Yeah. And we grow as we do that. And so starting our day to kind of set that tone. And then I would say, before you go to bed, I don’t know what people’s routines are. But some people watch news or set up their clothes for the next day or whatever. I like to end it with scripture. I don’t want to know about what horrific thing has happened in the world. I don’t want to know about my to do list or the thing I have to present on the next day. Give me scripture, give me his word. Yeah, let me go to sleep. And I I you know, pray sometimes God talk to me in my dreams. Yeah, visit me and my dreams and talk to me in my dreams, you know. So I would say bookend your days with the Lord, start with him and end with him.

Paige C. Clark 48:23
I love it. Vaughn. Thank you so much for joining us and and we will talk again in a year when you’re an empty nester and talk about your routine then, because I’m very curious how that’s gonna look.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 48:36
Yes. Well, thank you so much, Paige, this was absolute joy. And I absolutely love talking about all things faith, all things, discipleship, and also professional development. So

Paige C. Clark 48:48
where can people find you and your new book that will hopefully be coming out in a very soon timeframe?

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 48:57
Yes. So Yvonne Rivera. newberry.com is where you can find me I blog. And book I am working. I started out with it. I thought it was just going to be a 20 page thing. God said no book. Sound like. So I am amidst. I’m trying to expand that right now. But I’ll definitely be making announcements. So but yeah, your website? Yeah. via my website. I’m on Instagram, and I’m also on Facebook salsa.

Paige C. Clark 49:29
And we’ll link all of that in the show notes. Thank you so much, Yvonne.

Ivonne Rivera-Newberry 49:33
Thank you so much. Thanks for joining us.

Paige C. Clark 49:36
If you liked what you were listening to make sure you subscribe and hit those five stars and we’ll catch you on the next episode.