Nana Holds

Thanks so much for joining me today for a little break at Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power. I hope your year is off to a great start. As for mine, well, I’m already seat-belted in because it started with a couple of jolts, but that’s for a different day! Grab your coffee and come on in.

There were several little God-prints in the paperwork process, like getting all of his mommy’s information, but we had a little help from family in the CPS system! It still amazes me as I look back on it all how smooth it all went. Anyway, after the paperwork was completed, and served on all parties, including his mommy, we waited with bated breath for her phone call.

And before I tell you about that phone call, I must rewind a bit and share some powerful history. See, this person was number 2 on my unlovable list and moved up to the prize-winning number 1 spot when my mother passed just two years ago. And she’s remained my number 1; at least she remained my number 1 at least up through this point in time. We had several conflicts which I struggled to resolve Christ-like, and for the most part, I think I did okay, though I am certain there was/is room for improvement.

Getting back to the phone call, the person who called us was not the same person we had dealt with in months past – did I mention in the past, and her parents confirmed this, she was diagnosed with a personality disorder? I’m so not saying that to bash her, either. She’s not who or what God created her to be. So suffice it to say, I’m never sure who I’m going to be dealing with. She was a bit contrite, definitely combative and defensive, which is her normal persona. She was also incredibly amenable to the idea of George and I being Bry’s guardians. Trust me, that was not the message she was giving at the very beginning of this nightmare turned beautiful!

We hung up the phone somewhat amazed, and then realized that change of heart did not come from anything we did but had to have been from God above who works in mysterious and sovereign ways. Her whole agreeing to our guardianship was yet another confirmation that we were doing what He was calling us to do and not only that, He was in it, all around it and guiding us through it! We weren’t alone and He would continue to equip us!

There was one sticky request she left us with that was definitely going to put us in the middle of something we didn’t want to be in the middle of . . .

Join me tomorrow for more of Nana Holds.

Evinda

Invitation Tuesdays-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Welcome to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power and our new Tuesday series. Well, not actually new but renewed! Grab your coffee and come on in. I want to share a little bit about our next event.

So the title is “Revival for Relationships!” I don’t know about you, but I have a few that could use some “revival.” We’ve all heard that term before, but I’m not so sure we’ve heard it as it relates to relationships, so I thought it would be fun to check out some of its meanings. I’m going to go to my favorite book, the Hebrew and Greek Concordance.

Wow, “revival” isn’t in there but “reviving” is, but only in the Old Testament so I’ll look in the Hebrew concordance…

Oh, my, this is beautiful: “Preservation of life, hence, sustenance.”

Wow, there’s some food (sustenance) for thought, pardon the pun. Every relationship needs preservation, needs sustenance, revival!

Please mark your calendars and join me for this event . . .






Excited,

Evinda

Nana Holds

Thanks for joining me for a little break at Coffee Hour! We are officially into 2013 with the first day back to school, and the return to work after the holiday. Oh, these little coffee breaks are so important. Grab your coffee and come on in.

As the weeks turned into months, in the background the paperwork to become Bryden’s legal guardian began. I have to share how that started, though, because it was nothing short of a divine appointment. It happened because of a deposition I reported.

My office had sent me to this particular job because it was a new client – I think they think I have PR skills, but actually, I just like to talk with them and ensure great service. Anyway, there we were, in the midst of the deposition and our new client was firing away with his questions. His client was sitting beside him and on the other side was this young woman who with every answer was sounding more and more like Bryden’s biological mother. It wasn’t of course, but her issues were like those of his mom. It was through the course of the questioning that a light went on in my head and then my heart. I wasn’t there just to report this deposition; I was there to retain this attorney for he specialized in guardianship matters, and he was a fellow believer!

After the deposition was complete, and the witness was long gone, I told our new client of my situation and before I left, I met with his paralegal and the process officially began!

Here’s the super crazy thing about that: Just the day before, I had gone to the courthouse, found out where to go, stood in line, spoke with the person at the window and thereafter walked out with a stack of paperwork an inch thick! No exaggeration. With every step I took to my car, I became more and more overwhelmed with this mountain of paperwork. It was another one of those moments where I looked up and said, “Really?” Even though I knew in my gut we had to do this to protect little Bryden, all I could see was this mountain of paperwork and I can get really overwhelmed with things like this. I am not a procrastinator by nature, but this is the sort of thing I tend to put off like it was the plague.

I got back to my car and I knew what I needed to do. I needed to find someone who could complete this paperwork. It was going to be vital to my sanity. I’d rather work an extra deposition or two and keep my sanity, and not put the sanity of everyone else who is in my world at risk, rather than have to plow through the inch-thick stack of questions and take the risk of missing something or answering something incorrectly because of a lack of understanding.

So I did some checking on my smart phone (definitely smarter than me in some things!)  What an amazing thing, this technology stuff where you can receive answers at the snap of a finger just about! Anyway, I had actually found a paralegal that was close by and made an appointment to meet with him in just two days.

But God had another plan and intervened the very next day! I just love it when He shows up like that!
Join me tomorrow – oops, Wednesday for more of Nana holds. Tomorrow I have a special invitation for you!

Smiling,

Evinda

P.S. Please join me and Steve today at 1:00 Pacific time for our Blog Talk Radio show. We are talking about breaking free from the most silent yet loud disease of co-dependency. Even if you think it doesn’t concern you, tune in with us. You’d be surprised! www.blogtalkradio.com/Chicklit-Power

Power Friday From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Welcome to our first Power Thought Friday for 2013! Thanks so much for taking the time to stop what you’re doing for a few minutes and have coffee with me. I hope you enjoy the power thought today and feel free to take it with you! Grab your coffee and come on in.

This is a new year but we are going to be sticking with power thoughts that help us break free from co-dependency, at least for a few more weeks. Co-dependency is such a viral infection infecting everyone we come in contact with and communicate with; therefore it is so very important that we recognize these symptoms and steer clear of them and/or break free from them.

Co-dependency is a silent addiction that screams the loudest in our actions!

And just like any addiction, the first step in recovery is admitting there’s a problem.
Join Steve and me on Monday for our Blog Talk Radio show, Destination? Joyful! ™ for our continuing conversation on this very subject.

Breaking free,

Evinda

Super Glue for Christians-January WOW-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Thanks so much for joining me for a little break at Coffee Hour. Grab your coffee and let’s get back to our Words of Wisdom and Weapons of Warfare! His Word really does WOW us, huh!

Let’s break it down and find those diamonds. For those of us who have our “fire insurance” and know where we will be going when this life is over, it’s easy to understand that we can’t be separated from Him in death, or even in the terrors of death, and of course, if we’ve made that confession, then He is with us in this life as well, but read it like this: For I am persuaded that neither death nor life will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I wondered why “life” was included in this verse, and after a bit of digging, its anything that happens in this life, sorrow, pain, trials, tribulations. It also is in there to imply the “comforts of life” as well! I love that!

Now, let’s look at the next section: angels, principalities nor powers. Honestly, I’ve always thought that principalities referred to demon-like principalities, but in looking this up in the concordance – by the way, this word is in the Old Testament only one time, in Jeremiah – this principalities refers to any head of something, headship. That’s not to say that there are not demonic headships but my mind wandered to our political situation, and I’m not going to go there with you except to say that even the things that the government is doing and laws that they are enacting now and will enact in the future cannot separate us from His love. I don’t know about you, but that encourages my soul. Sometimes, I can almost feel the fast pace in which we are moving towards the end and our final destination, and though I know who wins in the end, it’s still disturbing. These words are like super glue to my soul, stopping the peace from flowing out and sealing my heart in faith.

This is reiterated in “nor things present or things to come.” And I love that height and depth are included. That’s the heights of prosperity and/or the depths of adversity and disgrace!

“Nor any other created thing” shall be able to cut our love off to God nor His to us. The only thing that separates us from that love is sin. Now I can hear you say I just threw a dust bomb on you and made this all muddy, but let me clear it up quick: When we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sin. So when you become aware of your sin, you are now accountable to confess it so He can remove it and let His love flow! God loves us through Jesus, our mediator, the one between you, me and God.

Yes, I am convinced that we are going to be okay because NOTHING can separate us from the greatest love ever known, the love of Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God. As we begin a new year, let’s cling to these words, but not only cling to them, let’s memorize them and then call upon them when something threatens to undo us.

Convinced,

Evinda

Super Glue for Christians-January WOW-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Welcome to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power and to our first WOW (weapons of warfare and words of wisdom) for 2013. I’m so glad you could take the time to stop by for a little coffee break. Grab your coffee and come on in.

I don’t think these words have ever resonated in my heart like they do now in this world we live in, a world moving faster and faster toward the things spoken about in the book of Revelations. Each time I hear about the political catastrophes, the world-wide tragedies, the horrific morally-debased things taking place right in our backyards, I am gripped with fear, almost as if I am momentarily paralyzed, but only for a moment because I know that I know that I know who is going to win in the end.

I think that’s why these two verses have become like Super Glue in my strand of faith, holding me together when life tries to tear me apart, or when I make the wrong choice, or someone I love dearly hurts me, or when I lose someone I love, even if temporarily, or the news announces something else the president is doing that contradicts the Word of God. I mean the list can go on and on.

Let’s face it, and I don’t mean to be a bummer, but we are living in a society that is spinning further and further away from spiritual morality. Which is why we need these weapons of warfare, these words of wisdom; otherwise, we are going to wind up spinning with the rest of the world.

The issue with these two verses is you have to own them; and you can only do that by getting to know the one who will never leave us or forsake us. When I was a new believer, I don’t think I could have owned these words, honestly, but that was years ago, many layers ago and I’m so glad I stayed in the process, allowing Him to tie those knots in my string of faith, tying me to Him in a way that I never want to undo. Yes, it’s a process to get to the point of no turning back, to be able to say with all sincerity: “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord!”

I know that I know that you and I can take that promise to the bank! Join me tomorrow for a couple of diamonds within our WOW.

Persuaded,

Evinda

My New Years’ Prayer From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

It’s hard to believe we are starting another year together. Time seems to fly faster as we get older. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I began Coffee Hour?

That Chicklit Power Ministries began? As we begin this New Year, I can’t help but reflect on the prior one and do a bit of inventory. How else can I prevent myself from making the same mistakes? Gain victory over struggles? Appreciate the journey? Grab your coffee and come on in.

To reflect is to marvel at His hand in my life, and not just the distant or recent past, but my present and my future. As I do this, the words overflow out of my heart, through my fingers and onto the keyboard, and thus out to you. Here is my New Years’ prayer for you and for me:

As this year begins, Father, be my beginning and my end

Entwine my heart with yours and be my very best friend

May my life be an act of worship speaking louder than my words

A fragrance more pleasing than the sweetest of all created herbs

Help me begin each day lingering in your presence

Worship you more and more, letting go of resentments

Help me not to get lost and drown in any and all sorrow

For your Word promises you will bring joy in my tomorrow

Help me seek your Word for answers and your unfailing advice

When I’m lost and wandering in problems rising to great heights

Help me keep an eternal perspective despite adversity

And to remember any trial I endure is only temporary

Preparing me for greater things is your refining fire

May an eternity with You be my consuming desire

Help me not be directed by pride, but seek true humility

Knowing I am nothing without You residing within me

May I continue to remember I don’t need to know it all

For You don’t call the qualified but you qualify those you call

When physical or emotional pain threaten to rob me spiritually

Pick me up and hold me, mind body and soul completely

Help me just be still, and soak up all life’s precious moments

And help me, Abba Father to not be guided by my emotions

Father, I have one more wish as we begin another year together

Help me to love the gift of my husband that honors you a lot better

For when I get there we won’t talk about what he did or didn’t do

But about how I loved and cared for him through the power of You

Yes, Father, You began a great work in me a long time ago

And I’m thankful for your grace that helps me to know

That as another year begins, I need to remain teachable

For you will carry me beyond anything unreachable

Oh Abba, help me to remain on the wheel each day

For you are the Potter, and I long to be the clay

Mold me and make me more into the likeness of you

So others will see you in each and everything I do

I pray this for me and for you… Now let’s get seat-belted in for the ride through 2013! Join me tomorrow for our first WOW of the year!

Evinda