Embracing the Waves of Change

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Wow, we are just a couple of days away! Whew, grab your coffee, or whatever you’re having and come on inside. I still have so much to share with you

before our celebration is here…but I won’t keep you long! Grab your SOF too, and let’s tie some knots in our strand of faith about change!
So as we have been planning and working together for this celebration, we have experienced some of the greatest challenges regarding change…unbelievable! God has such a great sense of humor and knows me well. He wants me to continue to talk from my heart to yours, to speak from experience transparently.

As I was researching some of the greatest challenges as it relates to change, I couldn’t believe how many I’d encountered and gone through; some I sailed through and some I crawled through, completely on my knees, with much resistance! :-)  Many researches do these stress scales based on life-changing events and for each change, the assess the amount of points  (I don’t know how they come up with the point system) allotted for that event. On this particular site, this group of psychologist/psychiatrist had approximately 63 life changing events and while I won’t give you all 63 – we’d be here all day! – I thought it would be interesting to list the top ten stressors/life changes and their point value.

1. Death of a spouse was given the highest point value: 100!
2. Divorce was next with a point value of 73.
3. Marital separation was next with a point value of 65
4. Imprisonment – hmmm, I wonder how many of these were marriage-related – with a point value of 63
5. Death of a close family member tied with #4
6. Personal injury or illness scored 53
7. Marriage itself had a score of 50, confirming marriage is tough…but is also a beautiful teacher in the classroom of life, if we are willing to learn!
8. Dismissal from work was scored at 47
9. Marital reconciliation – hmmm, that’s interesting scored at 45. Could insecurity, fear of failure be why that’s even a stressor?
10. Retirement is the last of the 10…but there are some other good ones, and retirement tied with marital reconciliation at 45.

Now, I don’t wish to leave you with stress…so let me give you a powerful quote about change…and I pray you will join us for this life-changing event on how to embrace change…oh, and don’t forget, there’s a concert featuring Bryan Duncan and brunch too!

Progress is impossible with change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything!

(George Bernard Shaw)

Get your tickets today…they’re $5 more at the door!  

http://chicklitpower.com/events/anniversaryparty/

Love,

Evinda

Embracing the Waves of Change

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Thanks for stopping by for Coffee Hour and this mini-series, Embracing the Waves of Change with a special invitation to learn how to do so! Grab your coffee, or your favorite beverage, and your Strand of Faith and let’s go learn some more about change!

I had this vision a week ago that has everything to do with change and it helped to confirm the value of change, as well as the necessity for it: picture a body of water…standing water, non-moving water. From a distance, it may look peaceful, and possibly even pretty. But when you get up close and peer down into the water, it is anything but pretty. In fact, it may even repulse you as you even begin to imagine what is beneath the surface of those murky, dirty and often green waters.

Why does standing water look so unkempt, untouched, dirty and grimy? Could it be because there is nothing new being poured into the water to move the water?  It takes change to create change!

What prevents us from allowing change to change us, remove us from a state of staleness, preventing us from hitting a wall of burn-out? Oh, Coffee Hour friend, please prayerfully consider this invitation which will talk about not only the necessity of change, but how to embrace it so to be like new…daily!

See you there!

Evinda

A very special thank you to our sponsors!

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Invitation Thursday

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Thanks for stopping by for our special Invitation Thursday where we will be talking about embracing the waves of change as well as extending you an invitation to come celebrate with us! There is so much to celebrate…and yet, change is not something that many of us do celebrate! Grab your coffee and your SOF and let’s tie another knot in your strand of faith!

The dictionary definition(s) for the word change are: “to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone: to change one's name; to change one's opinion; to change the course of history.”

That last definition literally screams the loudest to me, especially in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling which will forever change history as it relates to marriage and family…not a change I can or ever will embrace, nor do I wish to blog on this subject. Romans 12:18 tells us that we are, as much as is possible, live peaceably with everyone…including those we disagree with who are trying to change the God-created definition of marriage and family! There are just some things we can’t change when a change that we disagree with touches our lives in profound ways. So what is it we do? Do we crouch down and submit? How is it we can “embrace” this decision which will surely bring waves of change?

The only answer I hear whispering in the hallway of my hurting heart is: Put our eyes on the Healer, not the stealer…and let’s take the gavel out of our hands, quit pointing fingers and instead invest that energy into prayer!  We ultimately know who wins in the long run.

Coffee Hour friend, friends of CPM and Trench Classes United, please accept this invitation from my heart to yours and join us for a concert, brunch and a workshop too…  http://chicklitpower.com/events/anniversaryparty/

Changing toward heaven…

Evinda







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We've Got Plenty to Celebrate

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Happy Monday and thanks for joining us for Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power. Grab your coffee and your calendar and let’s talk a minute about some important dates coming up that we would like to include you in!
It’s mind-boggling when I think of how CPM and now Trench Classes United has evolved, and though the journey’s been wrought with twists and turns, it has been filled with so many lessons in the classroom of life. Isn’t that how life is, like a classroom and each day we show up there is something to learn; each day/lesson gives us something new, and sometimes takes something old from us. We have so many things to celebrate.
Last week I was away in Cabo for a book signing and some fun in the sun and even there, lessons peeked around unsuspecting corners, challenges rose, some of which I walked right through, and a couple where the walk looked more like a stumble. Oh, His mercies are new every morning and I know that I know that I am NOTHING without Him and all I want to do is be in His will, not mine. He knows that for He has the inside video of my heart. With that heart, let me share what’s around the corner for CPM and Trench Classes United with this proviso: Without U, there is no US!
July is going to be such an exciting month! We will begin something new and exciting: Trench Classes United will be hosting THREE classes: Transform I & II and How to Love Who You Love. There is so much more I could tell you but I have to wait … until He fully develops the plan/vision!
Another exciting thing happening in July is our five-year anniversary!

We have so much to celebrate and I can hardly wait;
So mark your calendars and save the date.

July 25^th, from 8:30am to 1pm
The invitation is for everyone
We have a Christian Artist, brunch and a workshop too
On how to handle the waves of change that come to me and you
Wouldn’t it be great to flow freely when these waves hit
Instead of panicking, freaking, or having a fit
Yes, change is God’s design to accomplish many things
Come learn to ride the wave of change with an eagle’s wings
So mark your calendar, and invite a friend or two
Remember that to have an US, there has to be a U!
Have a great week, and hopefully Jenn will be back with us to share more of her journey!
Looking forward to celebrations,

Evinda

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

The Adulterous Woman From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Welcome to Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power and thanks for stopping by for your break today, the first day of our new series, The Adulterous Woman. Sounds interestingly scandalous, huh? Grab your coffee and come on in.

Before I introduce you to a couple of very important people in this true story, allow me to give you some historical background so you don’t feel as though you are coming into the middle of something. Come with me to a time long, long ago, to an annual feast, a party, if you will. It’s called the Feast of Tabernacles, aka, Feast of Sukkah. Let me give you a little background on this particular feast because I think it will add to the framework of The Adulterous Woman.

During this feast, many Jewish families construct a sukkah (סֻכָּה), a small hastily-built hut in which to eat meals throughout the festival. The sukkah is used to remember the huts [plural: sukkot] Israel lived in during their 40 year sojourn in the desert after the exodus from Egypt. The celebration lasts for eight days in Israel and nine days in the Diaspora (the dispersion of Jews living beyond Egypt).

During the first and last days of Sukkot no normal “work” is permitted as required in Lev. 23:39. In other words, these are days of rests, which is where “Sabbath” comes from. The intervening days of Sukkot are called Chol Ha-Mo’ed, half-holidays during which usual work activities are permitted.
There is incredible spiritual significance to each one of the festivals introduced to Israel at the time of the Exodus and observed by Jesus and the First-Century Church. Deuteronomy 16:14-15 reminds us that this particular feast was/is to be a time of rejoicing for the blessing of God’s provision and sovereignty for and over our lives and because it is memorialized by rejoicing, it is considered especially important to give charity during this time of year.

I hope you weren’t bored with this history that surrounds this particular party we’re going to attend. The older I get, the more I appreciate knowing the grass roots of cultural traditions and religions, especially when they are rooted in Biblical principles. Many believe that the Old Testament is no longer relevant to our lives today, but when I take these pieces and add them to what we are going to be talking about in this series, I see all kinds of relevance sparkling, reminding me of the importance to rejoice over His provision and sovereignty in and over my life. How about you?

Join me Wednesday as we continue laying the foundation for “The Adulterous Woman.”
Intrigued,
Evinda

P.S. Don’t forget to join us live today at 1:00 Pacific time at www.blogtalkradio.com/Chicklit-Power for more chit-chat on breaking free from co-dependency!