Daily Inspiration: Meet Candice P. Jarvis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Candice P. Jarvis. 

Hi Candice, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was raised on the east side of Cleveland, OH and events such as gang violence, random shootings, high school pregnancy, and single-parent homes were my norm. My mom made sure to keep me in church though and introduce me to Christ. By age 19, I found myself joining the trend of teenage pregnancy and soon after, a single mother. There was always something different about me that I couldn’t figure out, and back then I didn’t like. What I did know was that I didn’t want to raise my son in the same environment that I was raised. 

In 2010 I set out for college at Kent State University, mainly because they had a single-parent program and I stayed on campus with my son. My first year in college I severely struggled. The poor education system in which I was raised revealed itself. I had no clue on how to study, manage my time, or manage the workload all with a small child. After my first year, I was academically dismissed. 

After sitting out for the required year, in 2012 I went back to college and 4 years later I graduated with my Bachelor in Business Administration WITH my son. 

In 2015 I decided to take my walk with God more serious because I was so tired of trying to do everything on my own. Though I graduated from college, I was mentally, emotionally, and spiritually damaged. By 2015 I had lost my grandfather, my closest sister at the time passes away, my mom moved 2,000 miles away, and I had a failed marriage. Food, alcohol, and sex had been my escape. In 2016 God gave me “inner healing” and I’ve been on this journey ever since. 

What I didn’t realize then was that I was a walking trauma response on a path to destruction. I was on a search for something only Jesus could fulfill. Since then, I’ve been on my own “inner healing journey”. 

Through many lifestyle changes, counseling, and a deepened relationship with God, I have learned and embraced the value of forgiveness, repentance, love, sobriety, purity, inner-healing, self-worth, and mental wellness! I blog, I coach, I mentor, and recently I published my prayer journal: 30-Days of Inner Healing Devotional Prayer Journal…all while trying to keep up with this blended family of mines. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
What’s a smooth road (lol)? On the outside, I was not set up to be successful or to even know what that meant. It was a success just to graduate high school because that was not the norm. My mom, my grandparents, and later in my teenage years, my dad did the very best they could to shield me from the harsh environment, but it only went so far. 

On the inside, I battled rejection, abandonment, sexual abuse, low self-esteem, suppression, depression, anxiety, and the list goes on. Mental illness is getting more recognition now, but it is still taboo in the black community. The skewed perspectives, pessimistic mindset, hopelessness, and becoming complacent in dysfunction was the way of life. So, definitely some struggles. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Professionally, I work as an HR Specialist in healthcare. 

Entrepreneurially, I write, I blog, I coach, I mentor. I publish. I am an inner healing enthusiast! I create content that centers around faith, mental health awareness, and self-development. I help others identify the hidden hurts, reveal how they have and can adversely manifest in their lives, and attack those hurts at the root so they can live a life free of bondage, free of guilt and shame, and an increased sense of self. 

What set’s me apart is that I like going places most do not like to go…on the inside. 

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Funny this is asked. I actually stopped drinking alcohol at the start of the pandemic. If you would have asked the Candice before the pandemic if she thought she’d make it through a pandemic without drinking, the definite answer would’ve been NO! 

My main lesson I’ve learned is how critical and necessary an AUTHENTIC relationship with Christ is. It can be easy to get caught up in the church activities that you can lose sight of the value of God. This also allowed me to see just how much we as a people are hurting and running away from the hurt. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.candicep.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/1candicep
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/1candicep
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/1candicep
• Other: https://free.candicep.com/prayerjournal

Image Credits
Jeremy Seeden