Are you results-oriented or process-oriented and does it matter when it comes to serving the LORD?
Welcome to Coffee Hour and Megan’s Monday Mantra with Trench Classes United; a division of Chicklit Power Ministries. Last Sunday my 20 classmates and I got commissioned as Stephen Ministers. The Stephen Ministry trains Christian lay people to provide confidential Christian care to individuals who are experiencing difficulties in their lives. A Stephen Minister’s responsibility is to “plant” and “water”; God provides the growth. The main focus is on the process of caring rather than on the results. Stephen Ministers are responsible for the care. God handles the cure. Christian Care-giving by Kenneth Hauk teaches the difference between result goals and process goals. Result goals focus on the results of your relationship. Process goals focus on the individual you are in a relationship with. The focus is on the many actions that make up a good relationship. The successes come as a result of that process. Ultimately all results in a caring relationship are in God’s hands. To summarize Sarah Young in her devotional, Jesus Always: “Be willing to follow My lead, beloved. Trust me enough to let go of your expectations and demands. Sometimes you obstruct the very things you desire by trying too hard to make things go according to your will and timing. I know the desires of your heart. I also know the best way to reach those goals. Instead of trying to be in control so you can get what you want, seek My Face. Invite Me to show you the way forward. Be still and know that I am God.” As Christians, it is not our job to cure our neighbors, friends and family. But there are many ways we can care for them. If we focus on what we can do, God brings the results only He can bring. Your questions and comments are always welcome. Lovingly in Christ, Megan
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Faith-Filled Friday
Good, Morning Coffee Hour Friends. Grab a cup of coffee and sit with me. Thank you in advance for taking time and joining me for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Faith Filled Friday with Trench Classes United. Recently, God put things into perspective for me and my hubby. It was the weekend and we were going about our day-to-day life, but sickness had hit our home hard. It went from both our kids to my hubby, and then to me. I thought I was fine and it was just a sinus infection. However, it turned out to be much worse for me than I ever expected. Monday morning, I woke up feeling better than I felt in a week, but I had a horrible pain in my right side of my chest. I thought I had just slept wrong. That night I went to urgent care to then be rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Turns out it was pneumonia, and not a sinus infection, and the chest pain was as a result of my inflamed right lung. See, my heart was working overtime to keep up with the chaos going on inside my body. It was quiet scary for my husband and me. I love how this verse comes to life even as I write this for you: “But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?” Psalms 56:3-4 As more doctors than I can count scrambled around me in the ER, my husband shared with me his fears he had while everything was happening. He told me he didn’t know what bills needed to be paid, where anything was in the house, and if there enough money to pay the bills. I tried to assure him I’d be all right. But as I was alone in my hospital bed, I realized that I took no time for myself, no down time to just rest. I’m always busy, caught in the day-to-day work to keep everyone and everything else going. Through this hospital stint, God gave my husband and I a much better perspective. My husband realized that though I do it all and was happy to do it, I needed help…his help. God spoke to me that I need to let him help and I need to take time for me, to decompress, to rest and refresh. 6 So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT) Are you going through a sickness, a change at work, a layoff, a relationship problem, or even a broken marriage? I encourage you beloveds, through the scary circumstances, go ahead and ask God to give you His perspective. What is it that He wants you to see and or change? Change, I know, can be scary and we often put it off, but God knows what’s best for us, for me and my family, and while I detest change, I am embracing it today. I am thanking God for opening my husband and my eyes to see that we were off balance and didn’t even know it. Let me encourage you in this truth: He will never leave your side, and will never guide you down the wrong path. He cherishes us and wants the very best for you and me. “For I know the plans I have for you,” say the Lord. They are plans for a good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 NLT Ashley Invitation Thursday What do you do when you feel someone you love pulling away from you? Do you experience a push and pull in any of your relationships? Join us to learn how to “dance” well on the dance floor of life in the most important dance: Relationships! Looking forward to showing you the steps
Kim-Evinda 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 Just last week I was trying to turn in my assignment online – I’m not sure if that’s up- or downloading -- J but I managed to get locked out! For the next hour I wrestled with passwords, technical support and finally, after remembering that I forgot to pray and ask for help, I offered up a quick and frustrated cry for help. It worked, but that was just the beginning. Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Wednesday’s Word with Trench Classes United. When I finally got into my email, and then the campus’s online site to turn in my assignment, I noticed that there was a test due the next day…I swear it hadn’t been there all week and now, here it was, plain as day. I’d like to say my first response was to just be chill, not complain and just take the test…but I’d be lying. I got lost for a moment in my fit and falling in it, complaining and carrying on until I got myself so worked up that even I didn’t recognize me. I had my day planned and taking a test was not part of the plan. I didn’t have time for a test. My thoughts teetered on over to blame where I began to want to give my professor a lecture on how to manage his class! Ugh, I cringe in humility just remembering how frustrated I was. L And then the quietest thought danced across my mind…so fast I almost missed it, but it veered on over into my heart and suddenly I heard myself say: I can either spend all my time and energy on being ticked off over this or I can invest my energy and just take the stinking test! I chose the latter. I mentally rearranged my day and determined in my heart to move forward and move well as I logged back in to the test site. Now, me and test taking…well, we don’t get along too well. See, these tests are 60 minutes long and there are 50 questions! And they are not true/false questions; they are very specific with answers that all look the same until you stop, and really chew on each of the choices. But you have to chew fast because you’re on the clock. The first few questions actually began to send me into a panic but then I stopped, asked God to help me and kept clinging to the promise “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” like a mantra for momentum and I finished the test with only ONE minute to spare! I pressed submit and held my breath waiting for my results. I didn’t have long to wait: 40 out of 50! Not bad, and don’t get me wrong, I was grateful, especially considering the surrounding circumstances, but I did take the time to look at the ones I got wrong for two reasons: one, I really do want to understand what I’m learning, and two, we get two chances each test and I usually take advantage of this opportunity, not because I’m an over-achiever or anything -- J -- but I do like seeing a score closer to the 50 than 10 away. I quickly looked over the ones I had missed and determined to come back in a couple of hours and retake it. God honored my attitude change because when I returned to the test, I let out a “Thank you, Jesus” when I saw they had actually given me the same one! That NEVER happens…well, almost never, because it just did. J So guess what happened? Give up? Okay, I’ll tell you: I finished the test in 13 minutes and only missed 2! Now brings Philippians 2: 14-15 to life in my life: we do the task at hand without grumbling, He will make us shine like a diamond in the sky! 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.” (NIV) An attitude change can change everything in the moment! Learning and un-learning Kim-Evinda Relationships are like cars: they have all kinds of warning signs when headed for trouble! EL4/10/2018 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
I find annual cancer screenings as dreadful as dental appointments. I put them off until I can’t procrastinate any longer!
Welcome to Coffee Hour and Monday’s Mantra with Trench Classes United; a division of Chicklit Power Ministries. I’m sure my hesitancy falls into the “normal” category when it comes to routine cancer screening. Even though I feel healthy, I realize test results can prove otherwise. I have had tests prove otherwise. I always pray God will grant me concrete results, regardless of the outcome. Still, I arrived at my mammogram appointment tense and nervous. My mammography technologist picked up on my tension. She immediately went to work to diffuse it. As she put me through the routine procedures, she engaged me in conversation. Somewhere along the way, our conversation turned to the subject of food. I hardly remember the mammogram. I vividly remember her recipes for corned beef, cabbage, and Spanish rice! She accomplished what she set out to do, ensuring that everyone who enters her exam room leaves relaxed and comfortable. This honorable woman of God displays the perfect example of servant-hood. As Christians, we can confuse servant-hood with servitude. Servitude implies slavery and involuntary labor. Someone ensnared in servitude serves out of a sense of fear and duty. Someone serving in the spirit of servant-hood does so willingly with a sense of love and commitment. Servant-hood is beautifully illustrated in John 13:12-15. “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example: that you also should do just as I have done to you.” In Matthew 20:28 Jesus defined servant -hood when he said, “the Son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” By the grace of God, we all can rise to the calling of true servant-hood. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can fulfill possibilities otherwise unknown. We need only to allow God to guide us. The greatest among you shall be your servant. (Mathew 23:11) Your questions and comments are always welcome. Lovingly in Christ, Megan What if we were to treat every Friday like Good Friday? In fact, after refreshing my memory of the details of the most horrific crucifixion in history, shouldn’t every day be a good day? Funny thing is our Friday writer obviously thought the same thing.
Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Faith-Filled Friday with Trench Classes United and Ashley. As Easter approached, I began reading in the book of John. It is a very powerful experience to walk down memory lane of what Jesus went through, all so we could have access to His father and the gift of eternal life. As I read, I wrote this from my heart a little recap of what Jesus went through and all that illuminated on that glorious third day. I encourage you to read John chapters 17-20. Father you sent your only son to come and fix an undone world. You sent Him to show your pure and perfect love. Oh, but few believed and received what your precious son had to bring. He walked the earth fulfilling your will, spreading your righteous and holy love. Jesus came with a mighty power to heal and save; yet, the world was afraid that the power they held dear to them would be taken away. Oh Lord, you knew their hearts would be hardened and full of pride and self-righteous thoughts. Jesus came so humbly on Palm Sunday riding a lowly donkey. He came riding in as our humble King to save us all. Many came with palm branches and their precious clothing to lay before our Lord to praise Him with their sacrifices. However, the men in higher power feared Jesus’ power and plotted on how to get rid of Him. They took Jesus and had Him beaten…for crimes he didn’t commit. As He was stripped of His clothes and mocked for all to see, He never gave up on you and me. Jesus full of Gods power could have struck us all dead. Instead, Jesus endured the blows of all of our sins and a crown of thorns was placed upon His head. Thorns are like sins…they taunt, torture, and tear a soul apart. Why did He do this? So we wouldn’t have to bear our own thorns. He looked up on the cross and cried out on our behalf “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do!” Oh what love is this, that He bears our cross? As He gave His last breath, it was finished! Until three days later, when after He had died, He rose again! Coffee hour friends, though Easter has come and gone, may I encourage you to always remember what Jesus has done for you and me. As we go through our day to day life, we can tend to forget the details of all that it cost for our eternal freedom. Perhaps you’re struggling right now with circumstances in your life; can I encourage you to remember the Easter story that you would remember that you are not alone, beloved. Jesus suffered it all and knows exactly where we are and what we are going through. He will provide a way for you no matter how big the storm He awaits you to invite Him into what He’s already calmed! HE IS RISEN Ashley Join us to learn how to appreciate every chapter, and character that makes up the story of your life Hope to see you there
Kim-Evinda When you pick up the book, do you look at the back, or the inside flap to get a feel for the story? Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Thursday’s Trench Truth with Trench Classes United.
Do you take it a step further and perhaps begin the first chapter to see if it draws you in? That’s how I judge a book. But I know some people who take a sneak peak to see how it all ends without reading all the chapters in between. Without knowing it, we begin…and end relationships in this same way, picking and choosing what we want to bring to the table and reveal to the one we are trying to be in a relationship with. Sooner or later, the chapters we left out catch up to us and many times because we have tried to forget them, we repeat them! Learning how we were loved is the key to learning what to do…and not do in those relationships that mean so much to us: spouse, child, sibling, and/or friends. All of these relationships make up the classroom of our life, the only class that will ever really matter: how we love others. We’d love for you to join us to learn how to love those you love by examining your full story! Love, Kim-Evinda |
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