When feeling overwhelmed, get under the shelter of His love.

 Faith-filled Friday

James 1:12 (NLT): ¹² God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Ah, patiently enduring testing…what does that even look like? Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Faith-filled Friday with Trench Classes United. Come on in for a picture of patiently enduring…

Suffering well and with a thankful heart, this is easier said than done. Last week, I found myself completely overwhelmed. I had been suppressing my workload; however, I wasn't aware that I was doing this.  A few mornings later, it all came gushing out with babbling tears. I was a complete mess.

Immediately I realized my plate was too full. I began to seek the Lord with this question: What load could I take off my plate? "Lord show me your way," I cried. 

I went to church the next day, and the message was on suffering well. Some may say a coincidence, I say not!  The message got me to thinking: Jesus suffered the greatest of all, and He suffered well. He knew His purpose on this earth was to solely spread Gods love.  He could have chosen not to suffer, but He loved us so that he paid the highest price so that when we suffer, He could be there to hold our hand and pour His love out on us, even if the suffering is at times self-inflicted.

 I pray that I could suffer as well as He did; that during times of trials and tribulations I'd remember to seek His face and to be thankful that He is right beside me every step of the way.  

 Each trail builds us into stronger warriors for Jesus, so that we will be able to sympathize, encourage, and love on someone else who is going through a trail we have already endured.

Oh, and by the way, it was revealed to me what thing I needed to take off my plate. God does hear, listen and answer!

Take courage Coffee Hour friends; He is with us. Let us remember to count our blessings every step of the way.

Love,

Ashley

Love allows for disagreements without disconnections! EL

 Monday’s Mantra

Have you ever had a disagreement with the one you love that exasperated and baffled you all at the same time? Recently I had one of those with my husband and it left me truly frustrated and perplexed, but it also taught me something! Thanks for joining me for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Monday’s Mantra with Trench Classes United.

The disagreement was definitely not what I would consider trivial but without getting into the details, we each were stuck on our interpretation and feelings about what we were disagreeing about. I was defending what was right, not who was right.

We were about a good 15 minutes into it when a light bulb went on for me and I realized we weren’t getting anywhere because we both believed what we believe, so I decided to just stop talking about it. I mean the disagreement looked something like a truck stuck in wet sand, the engine trying with all its power to get a burst of traction to move even an inch, but it just couldn’t muster up the power.

When I pulled away from the tug-of-war, a very quiet voice said these words: Love does not demand its own way.

It was the sweetest scolding I’ve ever gotten. J J J

I’d like to say that I immediately, in slow motion, went running to my husband, gushing with apologetic love…but that’s not what happened. But what did happen is these quiet words spoken in the crevices of my frustrated soul, only after I had dared to step back, took me out of the tug-of-war and affirmed my resignation with yet another whisper, an echo of a verse I had heard at a wedding: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” ^{Exodus 14:14}

Help me, oh, Lord, to love and respect him, to pull out of the tug-of-war without pulling away from him!

Love,

Kim-Evinda

Leaning into Him in the hard times helps us to love on Him in the easy times. EL

Faith-Filled Friday

 Faith is clinging to Him in the circumstances that only He could bring us through! ^EL 

Have you ever found yourself in one of the stories of the Bible? Thanks for joining me for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Faith-Filled Fridays with Trench Classes United.

I am still studying the book of Esther, and learning from the circumstances of Esther and Mordecai, both Jews. They had prayed and fasted for three days from ALL things. Esther 4:16

 Esther was about to go before the king to plead for her people and herself, a terrifying circumstance because anyone who went before the king without being summoned by him would be killed.  Let’s stop there for a moment.

Why does God allow terrifying circumstances into our lives? Well, each circumstance, grand or small, is meant to draw us to Jesus, to His Word, and to our knees. Through each circumstance God is building us into stronger warriors for Him. He is equipping us through these times to get better at recognizing and fighting the lies of the enemy. He is placing specific verses deep within our hearts to be ready to stand and fight the lies of the beast. He is, each time, reminding us and the enemy who is on the throne.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes, I say, “Lord, why another circumstance? I can’t take another one right now.” And, I am right I can’t on my own take another circumstance. The Lord reminds me of His perfect word and I am filled with hope.

Joshua 1:9 New Living Translation (NLT)

⁹ This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

I forget during my difficult circumstances, that there have been seasons of peace, and during those seasons, I love to bask in life moving smoothly without hiccups. However, without a mess, a hiccup, a conflict, or finances dwindling, I don’t lean so deeply into my Savior. I do love on Him during my season of peace, but I don’t lean as deeply into Him for my needs. Why, because they have been being met. He doesn’t want me to forget Him.

He is ever so jealous for time with us, and doesn’t want us to lose all that he has taught us to fight the enemy.   

God wants to make warriors out of us! We can only become warriors for Christ by being ever so needy for Him, His strength, Word, and guidance. I will praise Him through the storm, the unknown, and the why’s, because I know He has a perfect purpose and plan for my life. He wants nothing but to bless and love on us.

Would we truly see and experience His love if we didn’t have circumstances that only He could bring us through? 

Thank you Jesus for the storms, the trudge of mud I am working through, the unknowns, and why’s, and thank you, Lord, for holding and counseling me through each circumstance.

Ashley

A personal mission statement can be your Google! EL

 Wednesday’s Word

In a world of Google, Siri, Alexa, GPS and any other techno guide, how is it we still can get so lost? Thanks for joining Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Wednesday’s Word with Trench Classes United.

A mission statement gives a business, a ministry a purpose, a direction to head and hopefully a destination to reach. Our Board of Directors has been meeting for several months now to refine and align our organization’s mission statement. That got me thinking about my personal mission statement and what our worlds would look like if we each had a personal mission statement as believers and followers of our Loving Father.

If it is developed and created with the same three principles followed for a business, a non-profit organization, including a ministry like ours, it would include what you or I wish to focus on, what we wish to accomplish and what we’d like to achieve or become as a result of that focus.

A personal mission statement reveals where our energy is focused, helps determine our actions, our choices and behaviors. In other words, our personal mission statement reveals a lot about what is most important to us.

Wouldn’t it be fun to begin reading His promises and principles in search of your own personal mission statement? What is it that you would like to achieve in this life to prepare you for the next? What is nearest and dearest to your heart?

I’ll share one of mine with you and by all means, in the Christian economy, I wouldn’t be the least bit offended if you adopted it as your own! After all, these words are directly from Christ Himself, for me and for you!
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven”!

And might I add that you won’t always receive a “like” or a “share” or a “re-tweet”! But that’s okay because He sees it and likes it and multiplies it!

On a mission,

Kim-Evinda

What you do to be heard & understood determines how well you will be heard and understood. EL

Invitation Thursday:

Have you ever felt misunderstood by friends you deemed close? What do you do to right the wrong? Do you write them off or work through it? Learning to communicate through misunderstandings can be difficult at best. Join us tonight at 5:45 for a little friendship test to determine your strength of friendships at www.facebook.com/trenchclassesunited  and plan on joining us for a life-changing relationship workshop with best-selling authors, Milan & Kay Yerkovich (authors of How we Love) THIS Saturday from 9-3. Tickets are still available.

Looking forward to seeing you on F.B. live tonight at 5:45

 See you there

Love,

Kim-Evinda

P.S. Don’t forget to join me tonight on Facebook Live at 5:45 @ www.facebook.com/trenchclassesunited

Inviting His presence into your present will change your future! EL

Wednesday’s Word

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you…” Kim-Evinda.  (1stThessalonians. 5:18)

When I added my name to the end of that verse, my heart stopped.

It worked!

Instead of staying stuck on pause, wishing and missing, I found myself thanking and praising Him for the moments that turned into wonderful memories, and even the not-so-wonderful ones I experienced on vacation, for those are the ones where He taught and guided me into new waters of understanding.

Here’s another key that may work to unlock your heart and get it moving past the past: God knows that sometimes, this whole idea of giving thanks can really be challenging, but in this verse He tells us that while in any type of circumstance, we can thank Him for something! See, we may find it difficult to thank Him FOR our current situation or circumstance, but we surely can thank Him for something while IN the current situation or circumstance.

So let’s gather our thanks, press into Him with an attitude of gratitude, for this will bring new awareness of more blessings to thank Him for, especially His presence in our present!

Love,

Evinda

P.S. Don’t forget to join me tonight on Facebook Live at 5:45 @ www.facebook.com/trenchclassesunited

Faith-Filled Friday

The week started off great, and then out of nowhere, anxiety hit me like a ton of bricks. The lies screaming so fiercely in my face made it nearly impossible to hear the small whisper of God’s words speaking truth to me.  Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Faith-Filled Friday with Trench Classes United.

Have you ever experienced that, panic like a wave of the ocean threatening to overwhelming you?

I fought against it with all my strength and with the strength of the Lord, I decided, to praise God for all He had done for me and continues to do for me. it sounds easy to do, but during this time it took all of me to see any good. Obedience slowly calmed the storm, and then another crashing wave of lies would take me deep beneath the seas. As I cried out in desperation, I was reminded of where my help comes from; it comes from the Lord! As I was trembling, the emotion and lies were almost too much to bear and God showed up in an unsuspecting place: Facebook! God put in my line of sight a song I never heard before. Let me share a bit of it with you.

“Jesus, Jesus you make the darkness tremble! Jesus, Jesus you silence fear.”

Oh how these words resonated in my soul. I sang this with all my heart and declared Gods Amazing truth over me! Jesus, knew I needed this song right then and there, and I could feel the sea parting, and that I could once again breath, and I could clearly hear the whisper of Gods voice. He never left me, I know he sent His heavenly host to fight this battle for me.

I am learning that the enemy is threatened by us. He desperately wants to keep us distracted and unfocused,  so we are no longer focused on our one true love at these times.

Beloveds, can you relate or is this something you are experiencing now? Please open your Bibles or reach out to prayer partners; rebuke the lies of the enemy and reassure yourself that they don’t belong with you. God is our helper, protector, and truth speaker. We are never alone! Hallelujah! I pray this scripture resonates deeply in your hearts and encourages you as it did me. Speak this Psalm of truth over you today:  Psalm 121

¹ I look up to the mountains—
    does my help come from there?
² My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth!

³ He will not let you stumble;
    the one who watches over you will not slumber.
⁴ Indeed, he who watches over Israel
    never slumbers or sleeps.

⁵ The Lord himself watches over you!
    The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
⁶ The sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon at night.

⁷ The Lord keeps you from all harm
    and watches over your life.
⁸ The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
    both now and forever.

Love,

Ashley

In the journey of loving and being loved, who is your Tour Guide?

Invitation Thursday

Have you heard the exciting news? Milan & Kay Yerkovich, Best-Selling Authors of the book How We Love will be joining us as our guest speakers in our How to Love Who You Love workshop May 12^th.  Take this quick little quiz and if you answer yes to any of these questions, please accept this invitation to join us and learn why you love who you love the way that you love!

1.   Do you have a hard time becoming vulnerable and asking for help or even just a hug?

2.   Do you keep score on your own mistakes and those of others especially those that affect you? 

3.     Do you have a hard time delaying gratification and waiting for something you want?

Plan on joining us to see how these questions relate to relationships!

Looking forward to seeing you

Kim-Evinda

“Take Two” of your significant relationship’s temperature!

Maybe, just maybe, you and your significant other are in a good place right now, or maybe, just maybe, your child or children and you are enjoying a great parent/child relationship. That’s great! Then this relationship temperature-taking test can be deemed just that, a check-in to maintain great communication in all of your important relationships.

With your most important relationship(s) in mind and the last 12 months, answer the following questions:

1.       Do you ever find yourself overcommitted, overwhelmed and under-appreciated; in other words, you have a hard time saying no to others?

2.       Do you tell “white lies” to avoid conflict and keep the peace in a relationship?

3.       Do you experience some form of worry or anxiety when you know someone is mad at you?

4.       Are you the peacemaker in your home?

5.       Do you feel like your feelings matter?

So how did you do? If you answered yes to the majority of them, perhaps you’re running a little warm. Stay tuned for Take 3 of our relationship temperature series next week…but for the full picture, plan on joining us for our How to Love workshop Saturday, May 12. Get your tickets today!

Milan & Kay Yerkovich, best-selling authors of How We Love are joining us May 12!

Looking forward to seeing you

Kim-Evinda

There is a difference between servant-hood and servitude!

I find annual cancer screenings as dreadful as dental appointments. I put them off until I can’t procrastinate any longer!

Welcome to Coffee Hour and Monday’s Mantra with Trench Classes United; a division of Chicklit Power Ministries.

I’m sure my hesitancy falls into the “normal” category when it comes to routine cancer screening. Even though I feel healthy, I realize test results can prove otherwise. I have had tests prove otherwise. I always pray God will grant me concrete results, regardless of the outcome. Still, I arrived at my mammogram appointment tense and nervous.

My mammography technologist picked up on my tension. She immediately went to work to diffuse it. As she put me through the routine procedures, she engaged me in conversation. Somewhere along the way, our conversation turned to the subject of food. I hardly remember the mammogram. I vividly remember her recipes for corned beef, cabbage, and Spanish rice! She accomplished what she set out to do, ensuring that everyone who enters her exam room leaves relaxed and comfortable. This honorable woman of God displays the perfect example of servant-hood.

As Christians, we can confuse servant-hood with servitude. Servitude implies slavery and involuntary labor. Someone ensnared in servitude serves out of a sense of fear and duty. Someone serving in the spirit of servant-hood does so willingly with a sense of love and commitment. Servant-hood is beautifully illustrated in John 13:12-15.

“When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example: that you also should do just as I have done to you.”

In Matthew 20:28 Jesus defined servant -hood when he said, “the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

By the grace of God, we all can rise to the calling of true servant-hood. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can fulfill possibilities otherwise unknown. We need only to allow God to guide us.

The greatest among you shall be your servant. (Mathew 23:11)

Your questions and comments are always welcome.

Lovingly in Christ,

Megan

Why do we wait until things are bad to try & make them better?

“I didn’t know that things were so bad that we had to take a class,” she repeated for me. I sat and listened as she recounted the rest of her reasons for not returning to our current class, seriously wanting to scream with exasperation…but I didn’t. J

Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Invitation Thursday with Trench Classes United.

What came out of my mouth was the cry of my heart: Why do we think we have to wait until things are really bad to try and make them better?

The truth is we can never over-understand the ones we love, and there’s always someone in our world needing a little bit more of our understanding. There’s no such thing as a “perfect” relationship, but there are tools to use to get you closer.

Join us for a eye-opening, heartwarming, life-changing relationship event:

Name Calling!

Welcome to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power and Trench Classes United and our Faith-Filled Friday. I decided to have a little fun with you today and give you an exercise that’s sure to change your perspective. Come on in.

It was a Thursday morning, trench class day, and as I not so springy sprung out of bed, my mind began racing with the ‘to-dos’ for the day, so much so that by the time I made it to the coffee pot, my adrenalin was already running as if I’d had my morning dose of caffeine!  I made my two cups anyway, grabbed my rice cake with almond butter and raspberry jam, and off to my writing room I went.

I sat down, grabbed my little I-Pod, scrolled through the list of music, chose an album and as the music filtered out into my soul I realized I needed my quiet time more than anything. So I just sat, allowing the words to penetrate and thereafter flood my soul, inviting the presence of the very One I was there to worship. As I called out for Him, I began to call Him names…names that had significant meaning to me! Surely you didn’t think I meant naughty names? J Speaking these names of adoration out loud is a form of a powerful creation within us, just like when God spoke creation into existence (Genesis 1:1-5)

This name-calling type of worship not only ushered in His presence, it reassured my soul while reminding me of all that He has become to me, through it all, every single circumstance, life change, trauma, illness, birth, death, and despite having my almost two cups of coffee, my soul began to quiet down and my mind’s focus redirected to the moments with Him. The funny thing about this exercise is if you’re really in it, you don’t want it to end!

So can I encourage you to try and sit through one song, write down the names you have for Him, names that have significance to you, names to describe His love for you, or even names that express your need in certain areas, names that describe how He’s provided for you what He has provided for you. My name calling session went something like this: Abba, because He is my ultimate Daddy! Lover of my soul, because I truly love Him above everything, my Mountain Mover, because He has and will continue to move mountains that rise to block me in any area of my life, Provider, because He does provide for all my needs, Dependable because I can always count on Him to be there, even if I’m not always there.

I could literally go on for hours, but it’s your turn. Spend some time calling Him names, and feel your soul fill with quiet strength and confidence and your spirit lift!

Kim-Evinda

Thursday’s Trench Truth

Do relationships interfere with your peace? Tonight’s the night! Join us for A Night of Purpose and learn how to live in peace!

https://youtu.be/r57y5GI16LQ