Something to Celebrate

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Welcome to our Monday's Coffee Hour! Jenn's computer is on the fritz so we thought we'd use this day to share some exciting news with you!
Grab your coffee and come on in!
I am blown away at how God moves, His timing, His ability to take
nothing and turn it into something, which is exactly what He has done and continues to do with CPM and Trench Classes United. Almost five years ago, after completing my first book, purchasing a URL and paying for a website, I was told I needed to blog. I was stunned into
frustration! All I wanted was to write a book and get published. Oh,
if you could have been on my run the day He and I had this little
argument. Anyway, to make a long story short, and to give Him the
glory He so deserves, let me give you a brief chronological history of
this ministry that began with a book:

From a book to a blog, from a blog series entitled Loving the
Unlovable came requests to teach how to do what I had written about
(you know who you are and I hope you see how God used you!) in which
70+ people came! From one workshop came a dba, more workshops, and
then up the mountain to a non-profit corporation, hosting eight to
ten-week trench classes which help trenchers thrive IN life and love
and OUT of wounds, weaknesses and worries!

As I look back and see how despite me He used me, I can't help but
want to celebrate and give Him the glory He so deserves for making
something out of nothing, as He continues to take this ministry out to
places without borders all the while refining all of us who are
helping others thrive in life and love.

So it is with great joy that I say: Save the date, because you're all
invited to a huge celebration !




Love and laughter,

Evinda

Seven Sacrifices to Joy

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

It’s a great day to seek joy! Grab your coffee and your Strand of Faith and let’s return to the seven sacrifices that add richness of gold to our joy. I’m so glad there’s you to take this journey with me!
Before we move on to the second sacrifice to joy, I just want to share one more thing with you about the sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13:15 reminds us that a spiritual sacrifice of praise needs to come from the heart and is prompted by the Spirit, which is exactly what happened in my situation with my hubby. And as I think about one of my recent tests in Meekness 101, I have to acknowledge that greater is He that is in me than he who is in the world. It’s His Spirit in me moving me away from me, teaching me to right the wrong, immediately, instead of resorting to old behaviors and being stuck on stupid or bitter!  In other words, we must remember the spiritual part of ourselves in all circumstances!
A sacrifice of praise not only stirs up our joy but increases our joy!
A sacrifice of praise leads us right into the second sacrifice, a sacrifice of righteousness. Psalm 4:5 tells us to "offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord."
Well, that sounds a little holy, huh? For me, those eleven words are shedding some glorious light into a dark situation that He used to help me unlearn and relearn some powerful truths that are shaping me in the area of ministry and especially meekness. But like any huge test, it requires a lot of studying, and more studying and only when it’s applied can it really sink in  it’s a grueling and exhausting process at times. Thinking about it gives me a sort of emotional hang-over. I’ve been known to mutter, “Lord, why do you have to use so many people to teach me all these lessons?”
Have you ever felt like that, a bit beat up and weary by others?  Despite the way that this most recent test ended, there were moments where I felt that this person’s bitterness was like poison, a hot, searing poison that oozed out and threatened to harden my heart a bit instead of melt it and make it right!
Whew, I know, that may be a bit too transparent for you but I’m humbled that despite me, He wants to speak to me so He can speak through me.
We will do some digging into a sacrifice of righteousness, but for now, let me share what it is speaking to my heart: See, when someone wrongs you, how likely are you to offer a sacrifice of righteousness? NOT! Well, trust me; He doesn’t give you a test without giving you all the answers! He’s an incredibly fair Professor/Teacher!
I am currently attending a leadership class (working on my Bachelor’s in Ministry; I’m seriously excited) and I am reading an amazing book called On Being a Servant of God by Warren W. Wiersbe and let me tell you, I have more of his words highlighted than not! There are so many powerfully encouraging truths in this book about ministry, and they are truly speaking to me in this class of Meekness 101, enabling me to offer up a sacrifice of praise. I can honestly see how each of these tests in this class have stretched me just a little more toward righteousness, even when I don’t get such a good grade in the current test!
In his book, Warren reminds us that “ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels.” Everyone can be a minister! He also says, paraphrasing, that people not only have problems, but can be problems and just because we are in ministry doesn’t make us any more deserving of His grace than those causing us problems! In fact, we are to remain loving channels!
He compared those problematic and difficult people to hedgehogs and I couldn’t help but giggle especially when I put a face to the hedgehog! Here’s his analogy about those difficult people, aka, hedgehogs: “the closer you get to them, the more they stick and poke you with their protective quills”! That got me to thinking … uh-oh, we’re on dangerous ground now! Could it be that hedgehogs are His chosen mascot for this school of life?
Here’s a crazy truth that I have experienced to be true and that His Word confirms: Those very people that are poking, sticking us, and hurting us don’t deserve His grace any less than us! If Jesus continues to love the wrong right out of me, how then can I not be motivated by His love to love those hedgehogs?
But here is the other side of that truth: When we get there, He’s not going to talk to us about what they did to hurt us in the way of poking, sticking, etcetera; He’s going to talk with us about our reactions to their actions!
Why? God is as concerned about the lesson as He is about the learner! When someone becomes a hedgehog in our life, what is our first response? Do we try and trap them, conquer them, one-up them, put on our horns and ram them? Or do we maybe manipulate them or retaliate and hurt them back? Do we try and sting them with our words? Do we fight an external fight hoping for an eternal reward?
What if God allowed that hedgehog to saunter right up and into our lives to help us become more righteous by becoming more dependent on Him, less dependent on our own abilities? I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s no coincidence that I’m taking the class I’m taking, reading a book totally un-required to the class but having everything to do with the class and what He’s currently teaching me. This assures me that He will continue to provide you and me with all the answers to any test He’s ever going to give us, no matter what class it is. Oh, that we would remain teachable, hungry to leave our pride outside of each class that we might learn how to offer up a sacrifice of righteousness and earn the prize!
Join me tomorrow for more of this second sacrifice.

Evinda

The Highway to Joy! From CoffeeHour @ Chicklit Power!

Happy day to you! I know it’s the 1^st of the month and it’s WOW (Words of Wisdom and Weapons of Warfare) time, but I thought it would be good to finish up with the second sacrifice that Jesus smiles over when His kids offer it! It’s a sacrifice of righteousness, made difficult and sweeter when offered up after being wronged! Grab your coffee and come on in.

I can’t believe that we are getting all this from our search for joy! I truly thought Destination? Joyful! ™ was going to be a small, fun, happy-go-lucky and lighthearted series! And now we have a series within a series, which I should have made its own series…. Oh, well, straight ahead and let’s keep going. Something tells me it’s going to make our journey towards Destination? Joyful! ™ all the more rich and beautiful, and we for sure will be better equipped.

So I left off with … Oh, that’s right, where someone had verbally slapped my cheek and stomped all over my heart with her words, and at the end declared she couldn’t be my friend. She wrote me off and that was that!

Those stomps on my heart and verbal slaps on my cheek were all the more powerful and hurtful because I was not expecting them, number one, and number two, I had truly invested in her emotionally. God has used her to teach me so many lessons in ministry about ministry so when I read her words laced with what I deemed venom, I was stung, rendered bitten by hurt and shock.

Would I, could I resist the evil temptation to lash out and instead turn the other cheek?

I tore myself away from her words I was reading in my inbox of Facebook and returned to saying good-bye to my board members. The excitement and enthusiasm I had felt from our planning and strategizing for next year all but forgotten, I walked them out a bit deflated, stumped and discouraged.

I sat in her painful words for a day and a half, grieving the many contradictions which revealed that our friendship wasn’t strong enough to travel the two-way highway of honesty.

As I mulled over her words, I looked for anything I could learn from them, in other words, I wanted to own what was mine so I could work on it and disown it. I even had myself a good long cry over the whole deal, and of course I spent much time in prayer over it. He’s revealed to me some mighty powerful truths, shown me how some things didn’t line up and why. I have offered Him a sacrifice of righteousness by NOT defending myself, not responding to what felt like scathing coals on a fire I didn’t even know existed. So I did not and I will not respond … unless He leads me to, in His time, and in His way!

Stepping back allows Him to move forward. I was reminded of this in church the other day and I love how His word gently but lovingly teaches while chastising at the same time! Romans 12:18: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men (others).” Do you see the beginning part, if it is possible? Those words do not denote a permission slip to retaliate; rather, they relieve me of the burden of trying to get the other person to see things my way, or for the other person to be nice! Only what is possible with me! It is not reasonable to expect healthy words and/or actions from unhealthy hurting people!

Oh, if you only knew how hard it was at first to just step back, let go and let God!

But I was and continue to be determined to learn this lesson of offering up a sacrifice of righteousness, a lesson that is so multifaceted; each facet shining through the different form of righteousness and adding depth and solidarity to my joy.

Join me tomorrow for the conclusion to this sacrifice … the cost of offering up a sacrifice of righteousness!

Seeking to sacrifice my flesh,

Evinda

Tiny Compromises-from Jeff's Java Hour @ Chicklit Power

Hello out there. How are you guys? My mom says our coffee hours are going well. It’s good to hear; it really is. So I was brushing my teeth yesterday, because Saturday is the day that I brush my teeth – hmmm, why is it things come to me when I’m brushing my teeth? Actually, my mind is always going, but anyway, as I was brushing my teeth, I got to thinking: I don’t think that there is anything that is out there other than ministry that is truly fulfilling. I mean, think about it. If we aren’t serving each other, then we are not serving God; and if we aren’t serving God, then we are only serving ourselves. But wait a minute, didn’t God tell you and me to love our neighbor as we love ourselves? Did you know that neighbor translates to anyone you come in contact to?
My teeth-brushing went exceptionally longer than usual and I continued inside my head, thinking about how I compromise every day, even in the smallest thing, for example, watching a video on YouTube of one of my favorite shows like The Office, or something.
Now, that doesn’t sound bad, right? I am just watching a show on America’s new favorite entertainment medium; but what I failed to acknowledge is that the person who posted that video did so without the permission from the appropriate people; therefore that video is a copyright infringement, which means it’s up there illegally.
Now, I can hear you saying, Jeff, slow down. That is a little much. I mean, after all, you didn’t post it up there, right? Right! God says that He doesn’t even wink at our sin or sin period and we are to try to uphold that same standard as best as we can because it is the Holy Spirit who lives in us and gives us life and direction [John 6:63].
I realize that You Tube and ministry are not exactly related topics but I told you this because I believe God was showing me how insensitive my heart was to things like this because I have spent so long outside of ministry. Something tells me that’s about to change, but I’ll get to that in a bit. I remember being in Teen Challenge as an intern, serving the guys there, and realizing one night that there was nothing that this world had to offer other than serving others. My spirit was so sensitive in those days and even little compromises set off that alarm in my spirit saying, “danger, danger, Will Robinson, sin is in the camp.”
I couldn’t have imagined ever leaving ministry back then and God has recently given me the re-revelation of how important it is to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ and to be a servant to those who don’t know Him that we might show them that there is something different about us. I am eagerly waiting to answer this call. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I filled out the “Serve” card, and it had several areas of ministry and then asked for me to check off any area(s) I would like to serve. Since I’m a coffee buff, I immediately checked off the coffee shop, and then in the “other” section, I just added, anywhere you need me.
Let’s see where that goes …
God, please never let me lose what it is that you want me to do. I never want to stray from your will for my life. And, God, I don’t know anything! I mean it; I know nothing in this life. Left to my own devices I am running around trying to save my own skin but so are You and You are the only one who knows how. I love you, God, and I need You. Please give me Your heart for other people that I may see them how You see them. Please give me a revelation of Your love so that it may move my heart to love others. Thank you, God.

Jeff