Life is a race which includes helping others finish! EL

Faith Filled Friday

I just love the simplicity of Jenn’s blogs and I know you will too! Come on in and thanks for joining us for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Faith Filled Friday with Trench Classes United.

I saw this bumper sticker: “If you see me on the ground, please drag me across the finish line.”

I am assuming this person was a marathoner. At first, I chuckled because that would be me if I attempted to run a marathon. :) There's a bigger thought here however.

As some of you know, I am big on sharing my journey, the ups and downs, even my struggles with faith. I believe in being real, authentic. I am incredibly grateful for the prayers others send up, for the inspiration I find everywhere, and the family/friends who talk me off the proverbial ledge. I like to think I return that favor when needed.

The Bible says in Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

This is what we are here for. This is what we go through struggles for. So that in turn we can be of help and encouragement to a fellow runner.

Life is like a race; sometimes one of us lags behind, maybe even lays on the ground until another comes along and “pulls us towards or over the finish line.”

I’ll do it for you; will you do it for others?

Thoughtfully,

Jenn

Thursday’s Trench Truth

It’s okay to not always be okay, but wouldn’t it be great to feel great even when life is hard?

Learning how to live fueled by hope even when life is trying to knock us down, coming to a trench near you…

Hope to see you there

No matter what you’re going thru, your Heavenly Father gets you! EL

Wednesday’s Word

I sat there sipping my morning coffee, wondering how I’d make it thru the day. Life had been coming at me hard, on every side, from every angle. In addition to one of my most favorite human beings – my self-adopted mom – being put on hospice care, we had to tell our little 8-year-old grandson that his mommy was no longer with us, and we needed to be as close to the truth as we could without giving him all the details.

Thanks for joining me today for Wednesday’s Word as I share from my heart directly to yours!

Have you ever gotten something just in the nick of time? Maybe it was something monetarily or emotionally, or physically, whatever it was, do you remember exhaling a sigh of relief? Or what about receiving something you had no idea you needed as desperately as you did? That’s where I was this particular morning, just a few mornings ago. I was so sad, heavy-hearted, wanting to protect our little grandson from this loss that would surely affect him, his future.

I looked down at my coffee cup, one I have drank from hundreds of times and it was like seeing it for the very first time. Only instead of exhaling a sigh of relief, I inhaled…and held my breath, startled by the obvious voice of Him who pursues us relentlessly and loves us lavishly, going through great lengths to continuously express it. And then I smiled, encouraged by His command, His reminder that He had already gone ahead of me; everything would eventually be all right.

Words can’t express how encouraged I felt, so allow me to share my coffee cup with you that you too would be encouraged…no matter what you’re going through.

I love how He speaks to me; how He is so able to get my attention; He gets me!

Love,

Kim-Evinda

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

Join us to learn how to free yourself from the need to defend yourself…in relationships!

Invitation Tuesday

Have you ever received a tongue-lasing from someone you love or care deeply about…unexpectedly? The shock value is often what escalates that not-so-kind verbal blast into an all-out disagreement and before you know it, two people who care about each other are on opposite sides of life.

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

What would it look like if after the unexpected tongue lashing, we stepped back, sort of bent down emotionally, in other words, humbled ourselves and tried to sort through our own emotions of it, and then look for clues as to why they felt the need to spill like a volcano all over you?

It’s not easy but possible and powerful for it frees you to really listen without agreeing and it frees you from that need to defend yourself.

Join us to learn how to work through those waves of internal emotions and lessen that tendency to defend yourself.

Looking forward to meeting you

Kim-Evinda

What’s the temperature of your significant relationship?

 Invitation Tuesday

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 join us for a great temperature-taking event that will test the temperature of your significant relationships.

Is it lukewarm, cold or sparked by understanding, great communication, and respect?

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

Sometimes we are moving so fast in life we forget how to be alive!

Thursday’s Trench Truth

Do you ever find yourself overcommitted and overwhelmed? Welcome to Thursday’s Trench Truth with Trench Classes United.

Sometimes it is not until we are having a meltdown that we push back and are able to experience a comeback. Most of the time, this is as a result of not knowing how to say no!

Learning to say no to others is saying yes to you!

The next time you’re asked to do something, before saying no, step back…then proceed forward.

Truthfully,

Kim-Evinda

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:

Wednesday’s Word

Welcome to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power and Wednesday’s Word with Trench Classes United. I just love Wednesdays and our time together where we can sit in a scripture for a few minutes with real life scenarios that invite us to go deeper. Grab your coffee and your Strand of Faith, because my prayer is you will tie a few knots in it today, making it even more difficult to come apart and unraveled in times of trouble.

I was so proud of my mother-in-law for flexing her brave…overcoming her fear of flying after a horrible experience 54 years prior which kept her off of any airplane…until September 22^nd, 2017!

brave

Adjective: Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage.

Noun: People who are ready to face and endure danger or pain.

Verb: Endure or face (unpleasant conditions or behavior) without showing fear

I sat in the emergency waiting room waiting…my mind and body completely in shock. Only two at a time were allowed to go and see her and I was having an incredibly hard time waiting for my turn. Since I’m the daughter-in-law, I had a bit of a wait.

I ran through the events that brought us to this moment, over and over and over, like a Ferris wheel that wouldn’t stop, couldn’t stop because of the centrifugal force pulling it around and around and around. And so my thoughts ran: How could a family reunion go so awry in the blink of an eye, with one choice, one action that would affect all of us for as long as we lived, every time we got together in the days to come?  Why did it have to be mom, one of the strongest women I know but physically weakened by age? Why was this happening? I cried out to God!

To help me in the waiting, I opened up my word game app on my phone and as if on auto pilot, I completed the puzzle quickly but for one word…and then in the blink of an eye, the letters danced into their squares, just four of them, but the impact they had as they formed the word is one I’ll never forget: Brave! “You’re going to need to be brave,” I heard Him whisper.

I wanted to yell at God but instead kept my thoughts just between Him and me, not wanting everyone in the emergency room to hear them, nor think I was losing my mind. He knew I was having an incredibly difficult time accepting any fatal outcome as a result of this tragic accident that broke 7 of my mother-in-law’s ribs. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it; that He would allow it to go this way. This was one of those faith-shakers wherein I knew in my soul that the more I struggled to understand, the more my faith would be shaken.

So instead, I waited, asking Him to help me be brave, for my husband, my father-in-law, and for all the family members who, on a dime, could turn and scream at me about my God allowing such a tragedy. It was one of the most difficult times I’ve ever, ever endured in my life.

Hours turned into days and I wish I could say I was on my knees, in His word, or doing some other spiritual thing that made me a better person, but I’d be lying if I said any of that. Instead, by the end of the first day, I had exchanged wrestling for trusting, and oddly enough, she seemed to have turned a corner…until we came back to visit her the second day, after face-timing her and seeing her sweet face with a smile that danced in her eyes. She was literally betting my brother-in-law that the Seattle Seahawks would lose their football game. J

We were so, so encouraged as we headed to the hospital the evening of the second day but who we saw at that time was someone else, or so it seemed. She had become really out of it, but we thought it was just the pain meds. We hung out for several hours, and while she was conscious, she was in and out. The team of doctors assured us they were trying to find a balance of pain medication that would keep her more alert so she’d be able to do her breathing exercises. And just before midnight, I kissed her good-night and reminded her she needed to practice taking deep breaths and move the ball in the machine to the top so we could bring her home. “Okay, Kim,” she said.

The next morning, we wanted to stop by for our last visit before coming home, and selfishly I wanted a better visit. I had to see for myself that she was doing better than the night before. In fact, I was sure I was going to see her wide awake, ready and willing for me to help her breathe into the little machine to keep her lungs free from fluid.

What I saw when we walked in stopped me like a sudden brake in a car during an unexpected traffic jam. Her bed had been lifted quite a bit and out of her mouth was a tube hooked to several hoses attached to a machine. I looked to Dad, who looked dazed by tears and shock, and then to the nurse, questions filling my eyes but somehow staying stuck in my throat. All I could say was “What in the heck is going on?”

The nurse explained that her heart rate had begun dropping just after midnight, so they watched her closely but it wasn’t until several hours later that they realized they needed to place her on life support to help her heart beat and they were running tests to try and determine what had caused the decreased heart rate.

We called the rest of the family and told them they needed to get to the hospital ASAP, and we cancelled our flight. There was no way we were going anywhere. We were in for a very long day…we needed to sit and wait…and be brave, to endure or face this most unpleasant condition without showing fear…which I didn’t quite master, but I clung to faith, choosing to pray for her instead of praying for understanding.

Coffee Hour Friend, have you ever endured such a time where you needed to be brave…trusting that His promises wouldn’t fail you; that He would never leave you or forsake you even in the toughest of life’s circumstances? The only way we could be brave in times of tragedy is by and through our faith; of this I’m certain because I’m living it now. This verse has proven itself over and over:

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6

Join me next Wednesday for the conclusion to this tragedy that required me to cling to my faith that I could be brave, strong and courageous.

Evinda