Perseverance changes lives…yours and those whom you’re preserving for and with. EL

Wednesday’s Word

Do you ever feel uncomfortable sharing your faith with someone you fear won’t be as receptive as you’d like them to be? Do you feel reluctant to even approach the subject sometimes? I know I do. Thank the good Lord for those who don’t!

This is a reposting of a blog by Megan, one of our Coffee Hour writers. This blog though written last year is so relevant today and a truth that never gets old. I am confident you will agree.

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

Some time ago, I volunteered for the Women’s Bible Study sign-up table at church. As I assisted with registration, I could not help but overhear the conversation a woman was having with another volunteer at the table. She was lamenting how, once again, she had asked her friend to attend the bible study – and how, once again, her friend had declined.

I remember attending my first Bible Study. I did not know the first thing about the Word of God. Over the period of three years, a faithful Christian friend called me every time her Bible Study group started a new study, and every time I answered with a “No.” Even though I believed in God, I felt nothing I did was good enough for Him. I felt all of my failures were indicative of my unworthiness of Him. I definitely had a tumultuous relationship with God, and the point at which my life began to mirror my relationship with Him, I despairingly responded with a “Yes!”

When I told my husband I was going to attend a Bible Study, he asked, “What made you change your mind?” I told him I needed to find out why God did not love me.

I attended my first Bible Study because I believed God did not love me. Why was I convinced He did not love me? Because, I did not know the first thing about the Word of God! By the end of the first month, I knew how wrong I had been.

I momentarily stopped filling out a registration form and shared this story with the disheartened woman whose friend, once again, had turned down her invitation to Bible Study. I encouraged her to please...

DON’T STOP ASKING!

Perseverance like my friend’s, changes lives.

I know - it changed mine.

Your comments are always most welcome.

Lovingly in Christ,

Megan

Faith Filled Friday

Psalm 37:5 ⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him and he will do this

 Thanks for joining me today for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Faith-Filled Friday with Trench Classes United.

Growing up I took care of my siblings. Maybe that’s why others often encouraged me to take child development classes in High School, which I thrived in. Children are God’s gift to me. I love working with them. I always dreamed of being a teacher and/or a daycare provider. God answered, my prayer two years ago, and I have been enjoying running my own in-home daycare. I was content; my prayers prayed since I was nineteen had been answered. WOW! I am so thankful and overjoyed.

So why rock the boat, right? But I find that oftentimes when you are content and thankful, God opens another door, and at first sight, it may look like walking through that door will pull us out of the place of contentment. Let me share what I mean: Just recently I was meeting with my son’s Independent study teacher, and again, for the fifth year, she told me that I needed to go back to school to become a teacher. Each year I would consider it but felt it wasn’t the right time; I didn’t feel like I could take on the extra load.

Well, friends, this time, I felt a stirring in my spirit, and I have been proactive about getting the process started. I feel confident that I can do it! What is ironic about this stirring is that at this time of my life, I am in a very busy season, yet, I feel like now is the time.

I am excited for this new season of my life; I am also terrified.

This is where I will stand in faith and trust and know that God will lead me down this narrow path. God placed the stirring in my spirit, and the abundance of confidence I have in myself to conquer this mountain.  

Of course, this new faith adventure comes with the attacks of the enemy, who is doing his best to detour me from God’s plan, using things like finances, time, knowledge, telling me I am lacking in each of these. I combat these attacks by speaking God’s truths over me. The verse that God has tucked deep in my heart is Philippians 4:8 New Living Translation (NLT) ^8 “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

This instruction weeds out all of the enemy’s lies.

Has God called you to take a step of faith, a new career, a new school, a move, et cetera?

Despite how scary it may look or feel, don’t ignore the stirring in your spirit, for God calls us to great and scary adventures not to harm us but to better us, challenge us, and to make us more in His image. As we embark on our new journeys, we will have to lean ever so deeply into His strength and wisdom to get through the narrow and steep climb He’s called us to.

Take courage, He has a great purpose for you and me.

Love,

Ashley

A life guided by the Spirit ignores the calls from the flesh! EL

Thursday’s Trench Truth

Oh, to be more spiritually-minded and less focused on things that have no eternal value!

Join us for more encouragement on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Trenchclassesunited

Love,

Kim-Evinda

There’s no such thing as a perfect person; but there is a person perfect for you! EL

Wednesday’s Word

It’s that time of year again: school’s out for summer, vacations are being planned and couples are endeavoring to embark upon the waves of marriage, committing to do so before friends and family. Thanks for joining me today for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Wednesday’s Word with Trench Classes United.

I love weddings for lots of reasons, the first being it refreshes my own marriage commitment.  Last week I got to attend a long-awaited wedding. So many of us have prayed that God would bless this guy with someone to love and be loved by. What’s crazy is her family and friends had been praying the same prayer for years!

Their wedding was one of the sweetest, simplest ceremonies I’ve ever attended. It was a wedding I am certain I will never forget. The bride’s brother married them and it was obvious he was significantly emotionally invested in his sister’s happiness. Several times throughout the ceremony he had to stop to catch his breath…and dry the tears of joy.

He began his message with Exodus 14:14: “I will fight for you; you need only to be still.” These were the words the Lord spoke to Moses to give to His people as they wandered in the desert for 40 years, a long time to get where they wanted to be: the Promised Land.

He shared a common piece to both of their stories: they each had been heartbroken several times, had waited for a long, long time for the right person, and had wondered if God was ever going to answer their prayer for a lifelong partner. They both had nearly given up, tired of hearing their own prayers…but the Lord had fought for them and brought them to each other. It was in the struggle that they learned to be still, to trust Him.

Her brother then said: “I’d like to say that now that you’ve found each other, and you’re getting married, that you will have entered the Promised Land;” we all laughed. “But that is certainly not the case.” I absolutely loved the truths that followed and to summarize, he compared the Children of Israel’s journey into the Promised Land to marriage; that there will be times of pain, sorrow, doubt, going without…but remember, the Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.

So, Coffee Hour Friend, what has you struggling emotionally, physically and/or spiritually? Can I encourage you to take this promise to the bank, trusting that it will not bounce; it’s a guaranteed, already-paid for promise! He will fight for you; He has your very best interest at heart.

Love,

Kim-Evinda

Expressing love instead of an opinion will change an opinion every time! EL

Wednesday’s Word

Has someone ever offered you their opinion without you asking for it? It can be unnerving at times, can’t it?

Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Wednesday’s Word with Trench Classes United. I’m so happy you joined me for some heart to heart time.

So I’m just going to get right to it, what’s in my heart that is, so come on in for a sneak peek at my journal and a personal struggle.

Journal entry: “Lord, I’m really struggling to not stay in my head about people who profess to have accepted you, to love you, and yet…don’t necessarily live for you. At least that’s my opinion.”

What came out of my pen rendered me humbled, and I know it was Him, because Coffee Hour Friend, I know firsthand that He speaks to us in ways unique to us and since I was writing to Him He wrote through me!

Daughter, I’m not asking for your opinion; I’m merely asking you to love them!

Talk about a sweet piece of humble pie!

And then I flipped the pages back in a study I’m doing about being thankful…and I came across this answer to the question: what has been your response to new life in Jesus and in what ways is death still to come, meaning in what ways do I still need to die so I can grow?

My answer: New life has taken time. It’s been a process of dying; some things slower to die than others, and still some things just needing that one little cut to be dead that I would continue to rise in Christ.”

Conclusion: My opinion of someone else’s relationship with Christ can actually interfere with my own relationship with Christ and is of no significance compared to how I love them.  Can I encourage you, Coffee Hour friend as it says in 1stPeter 4:8: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Love,

Kim-Evinda

Relationships are like cars: they have all kinds of warning signs when headed for trouble! EL

Ignoring my fuel light almost cost me…a lot more than a tank of gas! Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Tuesday’s Trench Truth with Trench Classes United.

Have you ever done that, push your gas tank to the very last drop, praying all the way to the nearest gas station while holding your breath…as if that makes a difference! J I have, and more than once!

But if I’m honest with myself, I do this with my significant relationships, especially with my husband, where I’ll be going and going and forget to stop and fill him up so he knows he’s loved and important to me. And after a while, we fall into a pattern of distance which creates tension and before we know it, we are dizzy with discontentment.

The truth is that relationships need maintenance, too!

We don’t need to wait until the relationship is in a rut to get it back on track, and this goes for any relationship: husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, parent/child, brother/sister, co-workers and friends, too.

Join us for all the tools you’ll need for relationship maintenance!

Looking forward to seeing you

Gather your thoughts up and dump them out…to Him who cares for you!

Happy Friday beloveds and thank you in advance for faithfully joining me each Friday for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Faith Filled Friday with Trench Classes United.

I love this truth from 2nd Timothy1:7 (NLT) ⁷ For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

What a beautiful verse that I need to tie around my fingers to help remind my mind and flesh to stay in line with God’s truth.  The enemy is seeking and prowling to destroy, tear down and devour us. Have you ever noticed that it only takes one little thing for him to come in and wreak havoc over our minds and emotions? The smallest comment and/or mistake can send us down a downward spiral of lies.

This verse reminds us that we are to also take all our thoughts captive before the Lord and let Him sort them out. In other words, gather them up and dump them out because our chaos is better dealt with in His hands than in ours. A spiritual war is raging all around us and though we can’t see it, we surely can feel the blows of it. 2nd Corinthians10:3-6 reminds us of this very truth:  ³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

 Are you experiencing spiritual warfare that has come out of nowhere? Is it bringing you down or causing you to just feel down, and/or speaking negative things over yourself?  This has happened to me. I have fallen prey to his many lies and the constant storm cloud over me. The Lord reminded me of His perfect truth of what he has given us: He has given us His perfect word that is equipped with the Armor of God for you and me.

Coffee Hour friends, we are adored, loved, and cherished by our Abba. He gave us His only son; He gave us His perfect word equipped with the Armor of God to keep us safe and protected. We all forget, goodness, I forget all the time. He is so faithful to remind us and to encourage us. He speaks life and love over you and me. He is our beloved and we are His.

Ashley

Thursday’s Trench Truth

Are you tired of relationship chaos? Do you wonder if that unlovable person in your life will ever see things from your perspective? Two broken halves do not make a whole! Join us to rise above relational chaos and embrace your God-given identity! https://www.trenchclassesunited.com/transformtrenchclasses.html