Thanks for joining us for Thursday’s Trench Truth.

The other day, I went into my war room in desperate need of an encounter with God, not just an attitude adjustment. I was determined to stop letting life take me down and allow Him to lift me up.

Let’s be honest; we’ve all been there, right?  Those times when we are so down we can’t see up. The details aren’t important; all that’s worthy to talk about is the solution, and I am so excited to share a solution with you that you can apply in your life.

It has everything to do with worship…and on this particular day, God used Justin Lake’s House of Miracles release to draw me into Him and get my mind off me and all the arrows coming at me.

Now, because I had waited so long, it took a couple of songs, but wow, once I allowed Him to lift me up, change my altitude, my attitude changed, too.

Not only did my altitude change my attitude, but God did what He always promises: He met me there and gave me something that freed me from me, allowing me to see things from a different perspective, reminding me that my well-being and my own healing is not contingent on others…ever. It’s dependent on me allowing myself to go higher with Him, to go to a different altitude so He can change my attitude.

Oh, to see things from His point of view

Love,
Kim-Evinda

Have you ever caught yourself focusing on what’s wrong in your life, instead of what’s right? Or how about what’s wrong about another person and their actions and attitudes, especially as they pertain to you? Why does it seem to be so much easier to focus on what’s wrong instead of what’s right? 

Thanks for joining us for Wednesday’s Word with Kim-Evinda and Trench Classes United. Oh, how true it is to be blinded by what’s wrong and not be able to see what’s right. Come on in for a perspective on this common issue.

I don’t know about you but sometimes I can really be a negative Nelly. Funny, just writing about this is taking me back to when my mom used to call me Pollyanna! There were times she said it sarcastically – that was in our time of Exodus which was when I was 12 all the way to 49 -- but I’ll never forget the time she said it while she was in the hospital and I was coming to see her every day.

I was telling her she had to get better so we could spend time together when she got out, and she smiled the sweetest smile – something I had rarely seen – and said, “You are such a Pollyanna.” 

It caused me to stop what I was doing and look at her to confirm she was really being sweet…she was.
It wasn’t until later that I looked it up and it made me weep and I do mean weep. My tears turned on like a faucet full blast and humility washed me clean of all the years where I had misunderstood her. See, the definition for a Pollyanna is “an excessively cheerful or optimistic person”!

I never did get to discuss that with her because she never did make it out of the hospital, but, oh, how happy I was to be sad…for God had finally made right what was wrong all those years. See, all those years I thought she was focusing on something negative about me which kept her from me and it wasn’t that at all.

How many times have we thought incredibly negative thoughts of someone just because of what we think they’re thinking of us?  Ugh, I don’t know about you, but I’ve done that too many times to count. Without letting you into every room and detail of my difficult season, let me just say that I am having a difficult time being anyone’s Pollyanna!

But God’s Word NEVER FAILS to splash perspective. In this season where I am questioning how much longer am I to take the high road, Philippians 4:8 pulls me back to staying in my own lane, in other words, keeping my heart clean of resentments by focusing on MY relationship with Abba.

While God does not call us to be doormats for ANYONE, He does call us to get our focus on what is right about the situation, or about the person, and get it off of what’s wrong. He calls us to meditate on things that are true, noble and just – which may not describe the situation or the difficult person you are dealing with but there is ONE who is all of these things. He calls us to mediate on anything that is praiseworthy, on things of any virtue.

Friend, when we honestly seek our hearts and do this, we can honestly come up with something of virtue, something that is praiseworthy. This God-breathed command spoken to us through Paul reminds us to quit picking apart and looking for all that is wrong, for when we do focus on what is right, the guarantee we have is we will be changed!

How about you; are you a negative Nelly or a Pollyanna? When we chew on His principles and promises, we can’t help but allow them to change us into a Pollyanna while He rights what we thought was wrong 😊
Reminded of and gripped by His grace,

Kim-Evinda

Thanks for joining us for Tuesday’s Trench Truth.

What is the proximity of your relationships, especially with Jesus? What do I mean by that question and the statement before it? Well, imagine you have just had a disagreement with someone you care about; you don’t feel all warm and fuzzy about them, and often you want nothing to do with them, right?

Here’s the crazy thing, though: when we do things that Jesus disagrees with, He doesn’t go anywhere! And His love for you doesn’t change, either. But how can we remember that, let alone believe it and not run from Him when we know we’ve disappointed Him?

By remembering this simple truth: Condemnation takes you from Jesus, and others, conviction brings you back.

In other words, condemnation is from Satan himself; conviction is from Jesus Himself, and anything you’ve ever done has already been paid for because He wants a relationship with you!

So don’t wait any longer, get back to it because the longer you stay away, the longer you’ll stay away!

Thoughtfully,
Kim-Evinda

I will not test 
Yea, but I will rest 
I will not test His Omnipotence 
But I will rest amongst His endless peace 
As much as I need the breath that I breath 
I need His Spirit to wash over me 

and as the breeze 
        Kisses the sweat off of my neck 
 I take it all in
​The slick of my skin


​                        Knowing that this work 
                   Is not all for nothing
                   But by the toil of our hands 
                 And by the dirt of this land 
        We will not reprimand 
Or even question 
                  The mighty works of His plan 

         His might and His power 
                                     Can bring down the spring rain showers 
                              and just as a babe suckles the breast 
The growth begins 

And we labor 
Not in expectance 
Of recompense
           For the hardships we experience 

             No, we serve through the struggle 
The rain and the muddle
Because we see a vision 
Beyond our blue bubble 

We may not yet see
The totality of His scheme
But we have a glimmer 
A hope in this dream 
 
               And that dream becomes bigger 
           As the once blank puzzle pieces
Now shimmer With the edges 
                                  Slightly more clearer And we draw nearer 
 
Ready to jump 
But, we will not give up 
As we wait patiently 
Resting in His sovereignty 
 
Our Way Maker 
Our Peace Creator
Our love for You extends here now 
For something greater

John 15

-Abigail Rice

How many times have we heard the slogan, “The best is yet to come?” And yet, has it?
Thanks for joining us for Faith-Filled Friday with Debra Dolce and Trench Classes United.
 
What is it we are looking for when we look for the best to come? Today’s Love Letter clearly takes this earthly slogan to a heavenly realm. Enjoy and may the words soak into your soul and come out in your joy.
 
Love Letter~
 
My chosen one, be enthusiastic to serve Me, the Lord, keeping your passion toward Me boiling hot! Radiate with the glow of the Holy Spirit and let Him fill you with excitement as you serve him.
 
Let this hope burst forth within you, releasing a continual joy. Do not give up in a time of trouble, but commune with Me at all times.
 
People have thought they don't want to be a "Christian," because it would be boring. That is far from the truth, another one of those imagined lies. As you spend time with Me and dig into My Word, you will begin to see things you have never seen before. You will begin to understand things differently. I continually make things new. How could that be boring? Remember I said that if you are in Me all things are become new. What a joy that is. That alone should make you excited for you no longer have to be stuck in the old way of life.
 
As you continually serve Me with joy, excitement will fill you. Beloved, the best is yet to come, so stay focused on Me. 
 
~DebraDolce

Thanks for joining us for Thursday’s Trench Truth, which really is all about how fears affect us.

Friends, when we allow someone’s actions, words, attitudes to take up so much of our thoughts, there’s an underlying issue that is absodarnlutely fear-based and fear steals from our faith.

I’m speaking from the heart here and yet I have to be careful, not out of fear, but out of respect, because the season I find myself in is not just my story; there are other characters involved, if you will but all I have control over is me.

When we mind-screw someone else’s attitudes and actions towards us, we zap ourselves of energy but something else kicks in: Fear!  There’s the fear of rejection, the fear of not fitting in, the fear of not being good enough, doing enough, having enough. I mean fears are as endless and as deep as the sea.

We must remember to push the pause button and face this fear with a couple of questions:

1. Is this attitude/action of the other tied to events of the past and/or to recent events? ________. In other words, did they push a trigger? __________

 

1. Is the object of my fear a true threat or a perceived one? _______  In other words, am I feeling something that’s not really been expressed but is more of my own perception? _____

 
Chances are the answers to those questions will shed some light on what is yours versus what is theirs and help you to let go of your fears and ask God to intervene and make right what was wrong.

Learning to be fearless,
Kim-Evinda

Wow, what a crazy couple of weeks it has been, right? When you see the word “resurrection,” what do you think about?

Welcome to Wednesday’s Word with Bryan Rodriguez and Trench Classes United.

From politically to personally, life as we knew it is picking up speed away from freedom and morality with what seems like warp speed. Social media is flooded with stories of human trafficking becoming public without a whole lot of attention, to certain rights that involve our freedom being threatened.

Life keeps on happening and it doesn’t stop, especially when it comes to our very own circles of family and friends. And when one leaves unexpectedly, we can’t help but stop and wonder, grieve and hopefully land on hope, the hope of a resurrection, the hope and knowledge of heaven.

Enjoy the words of this poem “Resurrection” written by a new guest blogger, Bryan Rodriguez.

                                                                                 Resurrection

Joyful shout for takeoff is at hand
Briefly sleep until a quaking of the land
Wheels up as the runway has disappeared
Believers in Christ have just been cleared
 
Earthly departure can be sudden like a rapture
Past and present met in the clouds for capture
United with the Savior ready for final approach
First class all the way gone are the days of coach
 
Powerful winds create a strong gust
No turbulence, just the reconstitution of dust
A round-trip flight to finish off corruption
Then eternal life without further interruption
 
Looking forward to our resurrection…

-Bryan Rodriguez

Thanks for joining us today for Tuesday’s Trench Truth with Kim-Evinda and Trench Classes United.

Have you ever rewound a disagreement and found where you could of, should of said it better, done it better or done nothing at all?

Gosh, just this past week I caught myself reacting instead of responding…after the fact.
I rewound the conversation, including my part and immediately saw the opportunity I missed to step back instead of jump forward, to respond with some validation instead of react with disagreement and anger.

As soon as that truth was exposed, I was able to tie it to a fear. And once I tied it to a fear, I untied the knot of frustration and anger and fear by apologizing and vowing to do better the next time the opportunity comes around, which I know won’t be long.

Friends, the enemy is constantly prowling around, slithering in to see where he can trip us up. May we come to learn with our mind, attitudes and actions that to react is fear-based and to respond is faith-based.

For more encouragement, join us at www.trenchclassesunited.com

Love,
Kim-Evinda

I feel as though the world is moving
Yet I am not
Stuck on this mountain top
Or maybe I am at the bottom
in the pits of the rocks
 
I cannot tell
Because time has left me stuck
on an unmovable trail
And the cold wind
It wails
 
Leaving me breathless
Feeling a bit reckless
 
Lord, wreck me
There is nothing left of me
Take me into your eternity
And maybe then I will see
Why it is that You created me…
 
But that wouldn't be very faithful of me
To end something that you formed and fashioned
Like a needlepoint
stitched painstakingly
 
To bring about a change that was not meant to be
So, instead I pray, Lord
To move me
 
To move these mountains in front of me
To shift the plates underneath this tectonic sea
Because I
I am sinking
and time
It is shrinking
 
On the brink of being
Something great
Or maybe it is too late
 
To release this ship
From its rig
To let it sail
To see it soar
Becoming something more
 
As it crashes beneath the waves
Not afraid
Because it knows
It was made
To do
And to be
Something great
 
It's mission here
Not to climb
Or to steer
But to simply be still
Amidst the storm
And the rare spring chill
It knows
And it trusts
In the good Lord’s will
 
That no matter where the wind blows
His call
It beckons
And the sail it listens
Guiding the ship
As it takes every hit
 
"For this light momentary affliction
Is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory…"(2 Cor. 4:17)
And we are stationed here
To finish writing His story

​-Abigail Rice

Have you ever been lost, or even worse, lost and alone? It’s a scary feeling, right?

Thanks for joining us for Faith-Filled Friday with Debra Dolce and Trench Classes United. Today’s love letter is a great reminder that we need never feel lost with Him as our guide.
 
~Love Letter~
 
My warrior, hear Me saying, I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with My eyes as your guide. So don't make it difficult; don't be stubborn when I take you where you've never been before. Don't make Me tug you and pull you along. Just come with Me!
 
Can you see yourself here? I stay close to you, instructing and guiding you, advising you along the way. If I do all these things and give you the assurance that I am with you, even in the unknown. Can you not trust Me to lead you and be with you?
 
Look at Abraham and how he left his family and his country because he believed Me and trusted the promise I gave to him. He had but a few belongings and loaded up his family and headed out to parts unknown to him. You, on the other hand, have unlimited promises written in the Scripture and yet you struggle to believe or stand on even one?
 
Will I not care for you just like I did Abraham? Beloved, you have promises from Me, too, so allow your actions of doing what I ask to be counted to you as faith. 
 
~DebraDolce