102: Rewriting Stories of Struggle into Victories of Faith
Jun 13, 2024Season 2024Episode 102
Lyvita Brooks / Dr. Tyra Hodge
When life throws curveballs, where do you find the strength to catch them? Dr. Tyra Hodge joins host, Lyvita to share her awe-inspiring narrative of life's struggles and the need to keep her faith in God. It’s clear that her journey is a testament to the belief that our biggest challenges can lead to our greatest victories. She shares insights about her non-profit 'Parenting Connections', and the innovation behind a streaming channel for teens—by teens—that promises a trustworthy haven for our young ones to thrive.
Resources Mentioned on the Episode and suggested reading & social media handles:
· Sign up for The Me Project Academy Newsletter for resources on decluttering your mind in order to grow in Christ, academy news and new releases of the podcast.
Thanks for listening. I pray this episode was a blessing to you. Leave a comment or rate this episode . Then pass it on. Share this link: https://lyvitabrooks.com/
When life throws curveballs, where do you find the strength to catch them? Dr. Tyra Hodge joins host, Lyvita to share her awe-inspiring narrative of life's struggles and the need to keep her faith in God. It’s clear that her journey is a testament to the belief that our biggest challenges can lead to our greatest victories. She shares insights about her non-profit 'Parenting Connections', and the innovation behind a streaming channel for teens—by teens—that promises a trustworthy haven for our young ones to thrive.
Resources Mentioned on the Episode and suggested reading & social media handles:
· Sign up for The Me Project Academy Newsletter for resources on decluttering your mind in order to grow in Christ, academy news and new releases of the podcast.
Thanks for listening. I pray this episode was a blessing to you. Leave a comment or rate this episode . Then pass it on. Share this link: https://lyvitabrooks.com/
Lyvita:
Saints, have you ever felt like God was not with you? Have you ever thought that God could not possibly get you out of this mess? What about praying for blessings? That, but all you see are more problems showing up than they are blessings. Where is God in all this blessings? Why is God in all this? Sometimes, saints, our problems, our issues, our heartaches, our disappointments can be so devastating, so overbearing, until we can't see that God is in the blessing. That's why I brought a guest on the podcast today to help us out. She's been in a place where the problems seem bigger than God and yet she realized that it was all smoke screens trying to get her to give up. Get off course, saints. You're going to meet Dr Tyra Hodge after the intro, so let's get started.
Lyvita:
Welcome to Hanging Out with Jesus podcast, the podcast that teaches you how to spend time with God in order to declutter your self-talk intentionally. Hey, thanks for listening and welcome. I'm LaVita, author, bible teacher and speaker on a mission with the purpose to help the saints break free from the things that distract us from doing what God's designed us to do, and one of those things is allowing our problems to override our trust in God. This is episode 102. Saves me, the made it past the hundred mark. I pray this episode awakens your senses to the truth of who you are and whom you belong to, so you can go and do what God's called you to do as you let go of the lies and embrace him. Now on to the discussion. Welcome Dr Tyra Hodge to Hanging Out With Jesus. Podcast.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Thank you so much, ms Brooks, for inviting me on. This is such a blessing. It is a blessing, thank you.
Lyvita:
You have such an amazing story. I just want the saints to get to know who you are now before we get into what has occurred in your life to bring you here, because your story is one that will allow the saints to see that, no matter where we are, we can go higher, just as long as we put our trust in the Lord. So so can you tell us a little bit about where you are now and, and please talk to us a little bit about your nonprofit called Parenting Connections?
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Absolutely, absolutely, thank you. So I am Dr Tyra Hodge. I am a graduate. My first degree is in biblical counseling from College of Biblical Studies. My second degree is a master's in education from Concordia University and my doctorate is from Concordia University in Chicago. I am by trade. I am an educator. I am the director of social emotional learning for our district in Texas, but I also have a nonprofit, which was started in 2018.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
But before it was Parenting Connections. It was actually Mothers Raising Children Alone. That was started in 2009., and so we changed the name so it could be more inclusive of fathers that may have been raising children alone, that may have been raising children alone, and then I just realized there was a need for all. Parents, you know, sometimes go through things and parents are stressed out, they don't know what to do, and we've noticed the tide changed. You know from when children listen to parents, and now children are listening to social media, and so we are battling a culture, and so Parenting Connections comes alongside parents that may need parenting classes or that just may need support.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
There was a time when we were crowned single parents of the year, and so that was fun. We haven't done that in a while, but most recently, parenting Connections will soon be launching a streaming channel for teens, by teens. It's a channel where teens will be creating the content. At least 50% of the content made will be made by teens and um it'll be safe content with restrictions, that um parents and parents can trust, um that their uh children will be watching, and so I'm looking forward to that. It should launch in a couple of weeks. It will be limited content in the beginning, but we'll be reaching out to schools and different school districts for students to create content and they'll also win awards based on the contents they create, so they'll have their own little media awards, and so it's going to be fun.
Lyvita:
It's going to be fun I'm excited oh, so is there going to be a special link on your website, because I want to make sure I connect that in the show notes once.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Once it um releases, it'll be on Roku, it'll be on Apple TV and it'll be on Fire TV, and so hopefully we'll be able to have a link on the Parenting Connections website that's parentingconnectionsnet. Hopefully there should be a web link so people can check it out there as well.
Lyvita:
All right. So I'm just curious did this change of idea come out or evolve within the last couple of years?
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
It absolutely did. It absolutely did. It's funny about 2020.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
2020 was very traumatic in many ways for people, but during that time I felt like the Lord, before everything shut down, I felt like the whole year before the Lord had been really working on me and preparing me for something. You know, I remember that song, waymaker, and at the time I was a DAP teacher, which is a disciplinary alternative education program, and I remember playing that morning that song over and over again, you know, and I just couldn't understand it. I couldn't understand you know, what was the Lord that was taking some things out of me. I was still, I was going through some deliverance, you know, and deliverance, you know, can happen. You know years of being with the Lord and so, and I just you know when, when everything shut down in 2020, the Lord opened up doors for me to be a radio. So I was a radio host for a couple of years in Houston on a gospel radio station, and then media opened up and I was on TV for a couple of years in Houston.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Just recently I had to kind of step down because I kept getting promotions at work, and so this idea of creating content and allow students or teenagers to create content that's safe, because we can't trust the content now that you know that's being watched. You have places like Pure Flix I'm a big fan of Pure Flix, um, and there's other, you know, um streaming channels where, uh, young people can watch content or parents can watch content, but there's not a lot of content created just for teens and so for teens, by teens, kind of wants to fill in that gap and make it safe, because media you, because media, you know media is consumed a lot all day. Yes, for hours and hours a day, and it's been a great babysitter, but it has changed the culture of our kids and what they feel is acceptable, and these things that we've accepted in our culture are not acceptable to God.
Lyvita:
You are so right about that, so so say, I just want you to. I want to emphasize that Tyra just said it came out of a pandemic, and I've been talking to you a lot about how God has talked to you about so much during that time and it's time to come out. It's time to let those gifts and talents and the things that the Lord has placed on your heart to come out. Yeah, you got a perfect example right here, right in front of you.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
So you know, miss Brooks, even now, even now I'm I I'm very cautious to seek the Lord to make sure that I'm moving in the right direction and that I'm in, that my footsteps are ordered by the Lord.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Yes, he's talking, he's talking all the time, but sometimes it can be 20 years before, sometimes that you're quiet enough to actually be able to hear the whisper of the Lord in guidance. And so during those other times, we have to make sure that we're still following, we're still following the unctions of the Holy Spirit and that we're still able to pick up on the other ways that he speaks. And so you know he, just like with the talents, you know, he, he, he gives us some things and, and sometimes we're afraid to step forth with him, I don't know how for teens by teens is going to turn out I really don't but the opportunity was there to do it and so we use those gifts. It just like you know, you invite me on your show. The opportunity was there, and so you know you can take those opportunities. But sometimes people are fearful, and we can't be fearful with those talents that he's given us, and then often not just for they're, not for us to bring him glory and for them to help others.
Lyvita:
But, but you're so right, and and that that's a part of what this podcast is about, because it's those fears. I always say that God gives us opportunities, we are the opportunities, and that God is going to bring about the increase. But we got to make that step and it's that step, there's that first step. That is so hard. It's so hard to just say I'm going to do it. Even with starting this podcast, it was like God you sure, for real, come on seriously. So once we take those first steps, we have no idea what God will do. None, none. Now you also wrote a couple of books, and one of them is called A Wounded Daughter's Diary and another one is called Out of the.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Ashes. Yeah, so big secret about those books A Wounded Daughter's Diary, this, okay, this is a rewritten story, this is those stories in this book. And so, um, out of the ashes, a wounded daughter's diary, that is all the beginning of the story, of the story of my story and it. They both kind of stop where I finished my bachelor's degree, and so a rewritten story finishes all the way up until I get my doctorate degree and so. So that's why, um, I never really promoted. It was funny that you found at a, uh, a wounded daughter's, daughtery from um home to happiness, because I'd never really promoted it. And so I just kind of kind of put it out there, didn't promote it out of the ashes. I didn't do a lot of promoting on that because I knew eventually that I was going to have to finish the story.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
And so in a rewritten story the story is completed, and so and also not just that, there's a documentary on Tubi TV which is free for streaming, and it's also on Rebuild TV and Amazon Fire TV. You can see the documentary of this book, and so it'll give you a deeper insight of the interview me being interviewed in this documentary and some other people, and it'll give you a little insight on. You know what the book is about, and so right now the story's been pitched to some producers for a possible movie. We'll see what happens with that. The scripts there's been two different scripts written, one for a limited series and one for a feature movie, and so god is good, he, he, he, he really is good. I don't know, nothing may come of them, but, um, it'll really start by if there's enough traction to the doc uh, people watching the documentaries, and so if there's an interest, and then that could possibly push this into seeing it on the big screen or seeing it on a place like Netflix or something like that.
Lyvita:
Oh see, that's a blessing. We never know what God has in store.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
And he does, he absolutely does, and I try to make sure that I don't get distracted with all these different things, because I want to make sure that I'm in his perfect will and that my footsteps are being ordered by him and I'm not going off to the left or to the right, and because distractions can come. And I know that I've been called to pray for the youth of this generation, to continue to work with the youth of this generation, and, of course, you know I feel called to ministry and I'm hoping that one day, you know, god will open up the door for me to speak, to go and tell my story and to bring hope to people of the world. And so we'll just see how that goes.
Lyvita:
So what are some spiritual disciplines or practices that you do now to help you stay focused?
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
One thing I do do I get to work a couple of hours early, so we are actually where I work is one of the fastest growing school districts in Texas and within the school district we have the fastest growing subdivision in our area in the nation, and so a lot of prayer needs to happen because there's a lot of things that go on that are not godly. But you know, sometimes we've been called for such a time as this, so I get to work a couple of hours early in the morning and I'm praying my praise and worship music and the idea is to really focus on the Lord and the tasks at hand and prayer for these students. Now, do I get distracted? I do, I do. I do sometimes and probably more than not, but the idea is to get there and to get centered in his will and to be able to hear from him and to be able to pray for this school district that I love and I love the students.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Large Hispanic community, you know first generation immigrants and they need our prayer because so much they have been through so much. I mean, you know there's the world with the cartel and with the MS-13, that's behind the scenes, but to really pray for salvation, because that's our next generation and I believe that an army of the Lord will be coming out of these students. But you know what I've seen? Students make better decisions, some come to the Lord, some change, but you know, it all began with prayer. So, no matter what, we're all called to pray.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Oh yeah, that's how we commune with the Lord. And so without that prayer, without that worship because battles are won in worship, worship, because battles are won in worship. And so we have to do that, we have to set that time aside and I believe that I probably wouldn't have been able to make it this far in education without, because that's something I've done from the beginning, not just in the last couple of years, the promotions, but when I was a class, when I was an aide, you know, almost 20 years ago, you know I began that day with worship and prayer and prayer through, you know, walking those halls. I've always had work behavior. Before I started getting promotions, I walked those halls and praying and worshiping the Lord. And then, you know, when I became a teacher, it was still I needed to begin those days in the worship to the Lord, because nothing I have did I obtain without the Lord's favor. And so I try to keep that on the forefront.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Because if you read the book, then you'll see that my past is not, it's not a perfect one at all. I made bad choices, but God, and but for his grace and but for his mercy, he still had a plan for me. You know, you look at people in the Bible like Joseph. Joseph didn't do anything wrong, but yet he had to go through. He had to go through crazy, but ultimately it was to save a nation, ultimately to save a people. Now, the choices I made in the past were not because no, no, no, some things happened that were out of my control, that they were not my fault. Yes, you'll see that kind of stuff in the book, but some things were definitely the result of my bad decisions. But the Lord used that stuff to direct me and back then, never did he ever let me know that I would be in education. Matter of fact, I struggled hard through school and so never, you know.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
But there was a moment when I asked him, you know, years ago, in 2020, matter of fact, I mean not in 2020, in 2000. In 2000, I asked him you know, now that I'm living for you and I know that I can't work in clubs, you know that I, you know, I feel like you don't want me working in restaurants late at night because I have these kids. What do you want me to do with my life? And there was a whisper that told me to go to school. And I wasn't expecting that because I didn't think I was good at school or fit to go to school. And then years later he puts me in in education, and that was the cosmic joke.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
But he called me to a set of students that were behaviorally challenged and that into where I couldn't judge them because in the past I had my own little behavior challenges, you know, in my early 20s and so. But he called me to pray for them and to guide them and to help them make better choices. And so, no matter where we are, we can be used with God. If you're a nurse, god's called you to pray over those bedpans. You know, if you're cleaning those schools, you know you're mopping and you're praying to the Lord, praying over the feet that are walking. You know that path. And so, no matter what you are doing or what you are called to do, it's not insignificant, because he's called you to be there at that moment for such a time as this, whether it's to pray, whether it's to have an encounter with somebody, whether it's to speak hope into somebody, and so you know so. So it all matters, it all matters.
Lyvita:
Saints just wanted to make this announcement because, if you are enjoying this episode, please rate, review and subscribe to this podcast right in the app you're listening to now. You can do this while listening. It helps with moving it forward so more believers can hang out with jesus while others learn. Why is it important to do so? We are now going to be on YouTube, so check out Hanging Out with Jesus podcast on YouTube. Thanks for supporting this podcast and YouTube channel. Now back to the episode. All right, tyra, we have heard a lot about where you are now, but I want the listeners to know a little bit about where you came from, what you came out of, what you are the victor of, and you know because, let me ask it this way has there ever been a time in your life where the problem looked bigger than God? Right?
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Hmm, wow.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
So there's a lot of those, a lot of those, you know, being raised in a home, unwanted, you know, and feeling unloved, and so just struggling through school, not knowing that I had dyslexia, struggling learning to read, and now I'm an avid reader, struggling in life, being homeless, often on chronic homelessness, because, you know, nobody, nobody wanted me, I didn't have a place to stay at times, and so these things can kind of leave a mark on you. But what I figured out, the decisions that you, that, that you, you make in the future. Yes, I worked in the clubs. I worked in the strip clubs. Yes, I were, you know, I worked, you know, waited tables and cocktail waitressing and and stuff like that, trying to figure out who I was and how to survive, and a lot of it had to do with survival. When I had my children, I knew that that's not what I wanted for them. The struggle I didn't want to have to be on welfare, I didn't want to have to continue to be on food stamps, and so I had to cry out to God.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
I had to cry out to Him for His help and, as a matter of fact, that doesn't ever stop. You know, if I'm going through something and I don't know what to do, I have to cry out to the Lord, because he's the one, ultimately, that has the answers. Even when we feel like we're not getting the answer or the response that we want, he guides us and he'll guide us and he'll guide you, and when we feel like we've been treated unfairly, I've been arrested. One time I got arrested for mistaken identity and for 10 years, even though it was dismissed, it still showed up on my background check, and so that was something that I did not do wrong and but yet, just like Joseph, it was there, but it's still, you know, and through prayer and some guidance, you know, I was able to get that off my record, and then I was arrested for some stuff that I did do wrong.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
So you know they weren't felonies, but enough to really make a mark, and so so, you know, there were mistakes back then, mistakes I don't make now. And you know, and I remember, you know, after I graduated with my doctorate, you know, I reached out to the governor of Texas and he gave me a pardon for that, and so so it's white, plain, as did. I'd never done it.
Lyvita:
And so you know that is good.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
And so you know I want to bring people hope. So, cause nobody's perfect. No, I'm not perfect. You know I love the Lord and I try to be guided by him. My children are not perfect, but my kids love the Lord and they the one thing I have taught them. And as they become adults. I have four children, I have one more at home that's graduating this year.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
There's times when my kids had to cry out to God for themselves, and so if anything that I've instilled into them, and I want to instill into the students that I work with, is that when that point comes, don't ever get ashamed to fall on your face to the Lord, because he will guide you. And so I watched that in my older two kids. There came times when they had to fall on their face and cry out to the Lord, and the Lord guided them and spoke to them. There was nothing that mom did. It was them going to the Lord because he knows their destinies. I don't.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
I try to, and I let them know that I had one graduate last year and my youngest. I said I don't know what God's plan is for your life. He has not told that to me and a lot of times he's not going to tell it to your parent. You got to hear him first and all I can do is confirm, maybe, what the Lord has said, or another prophet can confirm what the Lord is telling you to do. And so, because we live in a day and age where the Lord will speak to us If we reach out to him, we don't have to worry about somebody else telling us what the Lord wants us to do. They'll confirm it, but we have that door now.
Lyvita:
So, during this time, what was your mindset like? Were you, uh, were you depressed doing this?
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
yes, because the very first time, um, I want to say, was back in 2010. I had applied and the board of partisan parole recommended me for a pardon, and so that's a big deal in itself. You're talking about a thousand applications, and then they may pull 10 to maybe 40 and say, hey, we're going to recommend these and we're going to send them to the governor, and so usually around in Texas about Christmas time, that's when you get that prison. And so I didn't get it that first time from the governor and I was so and I saw in the newspaper where these other people had been pardoned and my heart was so I mean, it just destroyed my Christmas. I was depressed, I was sad and you know I never really cry about things, but I think there may have been some tears because, you know, I just wasn't chosen. And then, the second time I was recommended for a full pardon, we were changing governors and come to find out, the Board of Partners in Parole recommended me for a pardon and parole recommended me for a pardon.
Lyvita:
And then.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
But the governor pardoned people as he was going out of office, and so my application just sat at the governor's office for another year, and so I couldn't even apply for it again. So you can apply every two years, I think, and so the last time I was like you know what? I know what it takes to at least get a recommendation for the board of partners, but I'm going to make sure this man sees me, and so this time, you know, I let my senators know. I was relentless, and so I had graduated from my.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
I waited until I had graduated with my doctorate and so in 2019, the governor pardoned me. So this is kind of new, and so that was new and he pardoned me, and so, matter of fact, a friend showed me before I was even pardoned.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
And so, and the governor connected with me on Instagram and I thought it was fake. I thought it was fake. Tell me, how do you know? Give me proof that you're really the governor, me proof that you're really the governor. So that's right. But and so in his office that called me to let me know, hey, we just want to let you know that the you know, the governor of texas, um, he's, he's, you know.
Lyvita:
So it was wow, it was amazing it was really amazing and so and I know that just changed the trajectory of everything that was occurring within your life.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
It really did. You know now, it really did. And so, like I said, that was just a few years ago and the end of 2019. And so we went into 2020. And so, with everything being shut down, the expungement took longer than it should have, because the government offices weren't working and everything was being done through email, and so it's clean.
Lyvita:
Miss Levita I gotta go back to work. I gotta go to work.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
Thank you so much for inviting me on. Y'all can reach me on Facebook, Instagram, my YouTube channel could use some subscribers and some likes, and it's Tyra Hodge. Be Dr Tyra Hodge and so and find me on social media. I'll follow you back and see what y'all are doing.
Lyvita:
And Ms Labita, thank you so much and be blessed, please be blessed in the name of jesus, all of you and your viewers well, saints, that's a first. We ran out of time. Thank you, dr tara hodge, for being on this episode. Saint. She truly is a blessing. We've learned from her today that, no matter what life throws at you, you keep moving forward.
Dr. Tyra Hodge:
You never give up.
Lyvita:
Just keep moving forward. Put your trust in the Lord and he will show you how to get out so that you can be that opportunity for Him to bring about an increase like you have never seen before. So, saints, never give up on your dreams, never give up on what God has placed in your heart. Just take that first step, y'all, the first step. Let's pray. Thank you, father, for this opportunity to have a podcast episode with Dr Tyra Hodge. Blessed is she. Keep a watch over her, father, and let her light so shine so that others will know that you are real, father.
Lyvita:
I pray that the saints who are listening are touched by something that we've said, that it sparks them, and it sparks that flame within them to just go and do what you called them to do by simply doing their first step. It was in Jesus' name we pray Amen, saints. Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, then get your free weekly newsletter to help you declutter your mind, make sense of your heartaches and improve your self-talk, so you can go and do what God's called you to do. All this and more can be found, including my contact information, on hangingoutwithjesuspodcastcom or the show notes. So, until we meet again over the airwaves On hangingoutwithjesuspodcastcom or the show notes. So Until we meet again over the airwaves, intentionally and daily, hang out with Jesus, shalom you.
