Knowing what He desires in the spiritual will help us move in the natural EL

Monday’s Mantra 

~Love Letter~

Come closer, My beloved…

Those who are motivated by the flesh only pursue what benefits themselves. But those who live by the prompting of the Holy Spirit are motivated to pursue spiritual realities. And this must be sought after by pursuing Me, by desiring the deep things of the Spirit.

Come, My love, come and spend time with Me. Make it a daily habit that We can spend time together so you learn My voice, My leading and where I'm taking you.

Before you go anywhere in the natural, I desire you to come and know what I desire in the spiritual. I have much to share with you as you make that place of giving to Me. Never let your life become so busy that there's no time for Me, for you lose your sensitivity to Me and then you are doing things in yourself. And then before you know it, My beloved, you are wore down and out. Build yourself up in your most holy faith by singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs. Dance before Me just as I sing and take delight in you. Let your love for Me spill out even as My love for you fills your heart and life.

From God thru…

Debra

Disagreeing is not permission to disassociate! EL

WEDNESDAY’S WORD

Colossians 4:6: “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

Have you ever been in a discussion that suddenly got heated, but you were white-knuckling through it to keep your cool?  How do we throw some water on the heat of the words?

Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Wednesday’s Word with Trench Classes United.

So I was in the midst of such a conversation, but before I tell you the ending, let me give you some backdrop so you can understand the context: I had gone to a conference for women and had taken someone very special to me. After a sweet time of worship, the first speaker got up there and began sharing the purpose of the whole conference, to begin a movement wherein we would build others, serve and sow in a time of so much confusion, and she went on to state homosexuality as the biggest part of that confusion. It was like she had an arrow for this group/behavior and she was aiming for a bulls-eye!

Well, this person who was with me is in between that lifestyle, has lived that lifestyle for more than 20 years – as a result of being physically, emotionally and sexually abused. And that’s not to excuse her behavior/choice but to understand it. I dropped the gavel a long time ago on such controversial issues and let God deal with them for He is the only one who knows their heart. It’s not my battle or my call; my only call is to love them.

The words definitely hit her heart and not in a good way, but she exerted some self-control. She said she knew to take what she could from the speaker(s) and to leave the rest on the floor. I breathed a sigh of relief, until on break she brought it up and began to get pretty angry about it. In fact, the more she talked about it, the madder she got!

To make a long story short, on the last day of the conference I posted something positive on Facebook about it, and tagged the speaker who had spoken out so vehemently about this lifestyle. I said nothing about that; I focused on what was good, the things I had taken from the conference.

The next day I was shopping with my BFF and I got a phone call from the one I had taken to the conference. She wanted me to help her understand why I would post “such nice things” about the conference when I didn’t agree with her.

I shared that I didn’t disagree with everything she had said, but if I were ever given a chance to speak into her life about this particular subject and give her thoughts to help her think twice about casting judgment so righteously, would she listen to me if I bashed her on social media?

“Well, that’s true,” she acceded…but not for long. Within minutes she got herself all worked up again – my friend could hear her as we were in line waiting to pay for our stuff – and I literally had to ask her to lower her voice as eyes began turning in my direction.

She said, “But you are guilty by association,” to which I asked her what she meant. “You shouldn’t alienate any group of people from God by being like that. You need to disassociate yourself.”

God intervened in such a powerful way by giving me these words: “We are called to be salt to the world, to be light. Just because I don’t agree with her doesn’t mean I get to disassociate with her.”
Silence…

“Hey, it’s my turn to pay so I’ll call you back later.”

It felt so good to not only say those words but to live by those words!

I pray they give you something to think about and help you thru your next difficult conversation.

Love,

Kim-Evinda

The melody of our lives should bring harmony to others’ lives.

TUESDAY’S TRENCH TRUTH

In other words, we do not enforce our own agendas, opinions and beliefs on another but allow our lives to speak into theirs.

Join our community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/trenchclassesunited  for more encouragement for the journey!
Love,

Kim-Evinda

A love letter from the One whose love never dies

 Monday’s Mantra

In the day of technology, it’s always nice to get a letter from someone we care about and even better if it’s someone we love.

Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Monday’s Message with Trench Classes United and Debra Dolce, our featured blogger Mondays and Fridays. Wow, does she have a letter for you, from His heart, to hers and now yours.

~Love Letter~

Good morning, My Beloved.

What is impossible for people is possible with Me. Meditate on this! My love and all of My abilities are so much stronger than you could ever ask or think.

Beloved, you could never ask for greater than I have! I have store rooms full of things that My children have not asked for and they are available for you and for your family. Why do you not ask? Do you doubt when you pray?

I created the world and everything in it and I took the time to name the stars as I hung them in space; are you not more valuable than they? Oh My beloved child, I have loved you with an everlasting love! My love for you never wanes. I never grow weak or weary. I am your biggest champion, I stand before the Father interceding for you and when you put your faith into action, when you believe My Word and stand on it declaring My promises, I am cheering and whooping and hollering, Yes!

Beloved, My love is so great that it extended from Heaven to the cross and there is no other name given under heaven, for My love is pure, and I will never leave you or forsake you.

May this letter encourage you today in all you do,

Debra

Sometimes we’re so focused on what’s wrong we can’t see all that’s right! EL

 Faith-Filled Friday

Philippians 4:8: Finally, ________, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklitpower and Faith-Filled Fridays with Trench Classes United! Grab whatever drink you have for your break, a journal for notes and your strand of faith and hopefully you’ll leave with a couple knots tied and your faith that much stronger.

Have you ever caught yourself focusing on what’s wrong in your life, or in someone else’s for that matter, or what’s wrong about another person and their actions, especially as they pertain to you, instead of all that is right? Why does it seem to be so much easier to focus on the wrong instead of the right? 

I don’t know about you but sometimes I can really be a negative Nelly. Funny, just writing about this is taking me back to when my mom used to call me Pollyanna! There were times she said it sarcastically – that was in our time of Exodus which was when I was 12 all the way to 49 -- but I’ll never forget the time she said it while she was in the hospital and I was coming to see her every day.

I was telling her she had to get better so we could spend time together when she got out, and she smiled the sweetest smile – something I had rarely seen – and said, “You are such a Pollyanna.” 

It caused me to stop what I was doing and look at her to confirm she was really being sweet…she was.

It wasn’t until later that I looked it up and it made me weep and I do mean weep. My tears turned on like a faucet full blast and humility washed me clean of all the years where I had misunderstood her. See, the definition for a Pollyanna is “an excessively cheerful or optimistic person”!

I never did get to discuss that with her because she never did make it out of the hospital, but, oh, how happy I was to be sad…for God had finally made right what was wrong all those years.

See, all those years I thought she was focusing on something negative about me which kept her from me and it wasn’t that at all.

How many times have we thought incredibly negative thoughts of someone just because of what we think they’re thinking of us?

 Coffee Hour Friend, God calls us to get our focus on what is right about any of our circumstances, or about that person we’re in conflict with, and get it off of what’s wrong. He calls us to meditate on things that are true, noble and just – which may not describe the situation or the difficult person you are dealing with but there is ONE who is all of these things. He calls us to mediate on anything that is praiseworthy, on things of any virtue.

This God-breathed command spoken to us through Paul reminds us to quit picking apart and looking for all that is wrong, for when we do focus on what is right, the guarantee we have is we will be changed!

When we are focusing on what’s wrong, we rarely have eyes to realize what’s right…and what’s right usually far out-weighs what’s wrong, especially when we let go of what’s wrong and let Him make it right!

Thoughtfully,

Kim-Evinda

In order to progress forward, we must look back, not fall back!

 Thursday’s Trench Truth

But why are we so afraid to do this? The truth about our past is this: It keeps coming up in your interactions with your significant relationships and we can’t disown something we haven’t owned. In other words, we can look back while leaning forward…and learn from it all.

Join our group for more encouragement at www.facebook.com/trenchclassesunited

Love,

Kim-Evinda

Founder/CEO

Your heart can beat against you!

Wednesday’s Word

 Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

Thanks for joining us for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Wednesday’s Word with Trench Classes United. Grab your coffee and your strand of faith. Trust me when I say that this Word definitely tied a knot in my faith…and in my heart! I actually wrote this last year, but oh, its truths are timeless!

Have you ever bought into the lies your mind tries to speak into your life?

A couple of weeks ago, it was crunch time; everything was coming at me at once, just like every other time right before jumping into the trenches with others to get better at life and love. This time was different, though. My heart was heavy, and had been for a few weeks. It wasn’t until the day of class, just hours before it was supposed to start, that I realized why. One by one all of the silent questions I had been asking myself over the preceding weeks began to surface, questions that planted seeds in my heart: “Why is this so hard?” “If this was really of/from God, surely I wouldn’t be this stressed out so maybe – well more than maybe -- I’m on the wrong path.” “Maybe I made this whole crazy journey up. Maybe I’m supposed to just go back to working as a court reporter and forget this whole ministry thing.”

Before long, I was convinced of all the lies I filled my heart, and it didn’t take time until my heart had convinced me they were true…and I began to “feel” these truths! What an incredibly sneaky process. The heart really can beat against you!

I did drop to my knees before class, asking Him to help me, to get me thru this first night, to reveal HIS heart to me, entwine His heart with mine so I could test if all I was “feeling” was accurate…or not. I surrendered all the questions and showed up for class, despite all the lies I had bought into and not wanting to or feeling like it, and let me tell you, so did HE…show up that is!

We had 43 registered and five walk-ins! It was amazing, encouraging and a great way to give the enemy a sucker punch!

It wasn’t until sitting in church the Sunday after that I got sucker-punched with this verse, a verse I had always questioned, and not fully understood. How could the heart be wicked? Isn’t that where love resides? I just love how He ministers to us just the way we need it, when we need it for the reasons we need it!

See, the heart only knows what we tell it so therefore, if we buy some lies and deposit them in there, the heart will take them, just like a thief, and deposit them into our emotional being and rob us of so much…so very much.

Are you catching what I’m throwing? Oh, let me tell you, my heart was definitely depositing every last one of those stinking-thinking thoughts and questions and dropping them in there like a swooshed-in basket ball, nice and heavy they dropped right in!  Before I realized what happened, my heart had taken those lies to the bank, and robbed me of all my joy and confidence in my calling.

What sort of lies is your heart trying to get you to buy? Oh, that we wouldn’t even lend an ear to things that are not of Him, and not be fooled by the robber who waits to steal our joy and derail us from our calling. Instead, may we be a people that drop to their knees and give those lies up!

With my heart cleaned…

Kim-Evinda