Monday’s Mantra In the day of technology, it’s always nice to get a letter from someone we care about and even better if it’s someone we love.
Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Monday’s Message with Trench Classes United and Debra Dolce, our featured blogger Mondays and Fridays. Wow, does she have a letter for you, from His heart, to hers and now yours. ~Love Letter~ Good morning, My Beloved. What is impossible for people is possible with Me. Meditate on this! My love and all of My abilities are so much stronger than you could ever ask or think. Beloved, you could never ask for greater than I have! I have store rooms full of things that My children have not asked for and they are available for you and for your family. Why do you not ask? Do you doubt when you pray? I created the world and everything in it and I took the time to name the stars as I hung them in space; are you not more valuable than they? Oh My beloved child, I have loved you with an everlasting love! My love for you never wanes. I never grow weak or weary. I am your biggest champion, I stand before the Father interceding for you and when you put your faith into action, when you believe My Word and stand on it declaring My promises, I am cheering and whooping and hollering, Yes! Beloved, My love is so great that it extended from Heaven to the cross and there is no other name given under heaven, for My love is pure, and I will never leave you or forsake you. May this letter encourage you today in all you do, Debra
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Monday’s Mantra I’m so excited to introduce you to a new writer for us…not new but new to be featured in our blog. I’ve known her for years and let me tell you, God speaks to her and through her so without further ado, come on in for Monday’s Message with Chicklit Power and Trench Classes United, a love letter for YOU!
~Love Letter~ Good morning My chosen one. I have made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. I have also planted eternity, a sense of divine purpose, in your heart, a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except Me - yet man cannot find out, or comprehend or grasp what I have done or My overall plan, from the beginning to the end. I have no limitations, so I am able to work all things out for your good and My glory. It is okay that you don't know the "how" I will work all things out, but that I WILL. For I said in My Word that I will never leave you or abandon you, and that I will supply all your needs according to My riches. Don't be limited by what you think and don't limit Me, but believe what I say and trust in Me. Beloved, I love a good challenge and I know you think things may be impossible, but nothing is too hard for Me. Believe in Me! Trust in Me! Let go of limitations and let the eyes of your heart see what your physical eyes cannot. See My love; concentrate on My love; be filled with My love and walk in the fullness of My love. Jesus Written through Debra Dolce Monday’s Mantra I went in there ready to get it done. I was looking forward to seeing Renee, the manager of the imaging department, and I just knew she was going to be as ready as I was to accomplish what the tech was unable to the week prior. Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Monday’s Mantra with Trench Classes United. Have you ever noticed that when we don’t know how something’s going to go, or how something’s going to feel, or why something is happening the way that it is, that anxiety rises up in you, especially if it’s about something serious? I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t anxious at all, but there was definitely a difference this time in that I knew a more about what to expect…at least I thought I did until they put me in a different room with a different mammography machine. “I don’t have to go on the table?” “No, there’s an angle I forgot to try last week that Renee’s going to try.” Just then Renee walked in and we hugged like we were old friends. Immediately I was at ease. There is something to be said about experience, and hers was definitely apparent when after getting me and my itty-bitty all situated…albeit painfully, she got the image she needed on the second try. “I got it! Stay right there while I go show the doctor.” “Uh, it’s not like I can go anywhere,” and we both laughed. The tech from the week before came over to me and placed her phone close by, proud of herself for remembering what genre of music I liked…Christian worship. Renee came back with the doctor: “Okay, we’re going to get started.” Again I was embraced and held by a song and suddenly the unknown didn’t seem so bad. The name of the song is “Oh, my soul” but these words sang at the beginning really calmed me: “There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know.” I was once again blown away by the appropriateness of not just the powerful words of the song, but the timing it. I was definitely in that place, my itty-bitty squished and compressed, waiting for the needle that would numb just the top layer, and totally unprepared for the pain that came with the insertion as it went deeper, twisting and pulling, shooting a pain that brought immediate tears to my eyes. This moment catapulted me into His comforting grace as I stared into the sweet face of Renee and she talked me thru it. Within moments the actual biopsy part of this procedure was finished. It was after that, while Renee applied compression to the wound that we sat and had the sweetest fellowship, exchanging mini testimonies and professing our love for God and His infinite grace displayed thru important people in our lives. I mean it was the sweetest relief after such a painful procedure that it truly made me move on from the pain faster than I ever have from any pain. In recovery, Renee explained she would walk the sample over herself to the hospital and that I should hear something in 3-5 days. We hugged and I couldn’t help but smile as I left the imaging center that day because though my itty-bitty was bittier and minus some tissue for sure, my heart was full of gratitude. Grateful, Kim-Evinda Monday’s Mantra I’m so excited to feature one of my favorite bloggers this week, Jenn Woosley, and I know you will enjoy her blogs today and Friday as well. Thanks for joining us for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Monday’s Mantra with Trench Classes United.
The other morning I was sitting on my couch, as I do nearly every morning. In the quiet, I read inspirational things, talk to God, and think. My thoughts are all over the place…and often there are tears. Today was no different... I was thinking about the people I love most, and the loneliness that comes from their absence. Then, I read something, the gist of which is that God is thinking of ME every single moment, and that I am in His thoughts constantly. Now, supposedly I know this; it's in the Bible, how God cares for me, but for some reason, it stood out to me today in a different way. Suddenly, I pictured Him wishing to be with me the way I was wishing to be with my loved ones. Does He wish to be next to me, give me a hug, hear about my day, my thoughts? Is He lonely without me? What if He is? In church, the sermon was on Romans 8:16-17. In The Message Bible it says: "God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who He is and we know who we are: Father and children." The tears came but this time because it hit me how beautiful this is. God gives us relationship with others to help us understand Him. It's true that He longs to be with those He loves, me and you. And the warmth of this truth, knowing we're never really alone washed over me and filled me to overflowing! May you always know you are never alone! Jenn Monday’s Mantra Have you ever ignored the little gut feeling that tries to warn you not to do something? Well, darn it; I just did that and as the day continued, the warning got louder and louder and louder!
Thanks for joining me today for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Monday’s Mantra with Trench Classes United. Please, come on in and get comfy for a true story, from my heart to yours that actually may take us to Wednesday’s blog as well. I was pretty tired this particular morning and by the time I was dressed and ready to head to my deposition in Temecula, I had made a decision: beginning in two weeks, I would no longer work more than one day a week; I would trust God to meet us in our financial needs and hunker down as we prepare to launch a program that will truly help others live more transparently, love healthier and laugh more. Oh, how many times have I said I would do this? I groaned aloud as I loaded my car and got the dogs situated. But I mean it this time! Sound familiar? Oh, thank you, Abba, for your grace that out-waits our unfulfilled promises to you and to ourselves. I asked Him to help me be a light to someone in that room today. Looking back on the day, there were actually plenty of warning signs of a tough road ahead. For starters, I’m not sure how it happened, but my GPS sent me on a crazy hunt for my location. I mean it had me going on and off the freeway and what felt completely out of the way and instead of being early enough to be calm, cool and prepared, my equipment set up and a job dictionary built, I arrived with only 10 minutes to accomplish all of that. Talk about hot flashes running down my back! But it doesn’t stop there. As I’m getting set up, I turned my computer on and it’s telling me “Preparing updates; 30% complete; don’t turn off computer.” WITW? (What in the world?!) And then just like that, it let me into my court reporting program…and then proceeded to freeze! At this point I had only five minutes to be ready and waiting for counsel and the witness. To top it off, when I finally took a moment to look at the caption and let it sink in, I groaned – to myself of course, as I realized we had a minor in the witness chair with a claim of molestation by a teacher. As I was frantically trying to get my computer to cooperate – ever have one of those moments? – I invited God into my frustration and literally offered up some honest-to-goodness begging! HE HEARD ME! I was ready to go by 10:01, thankful, trying to put the previous warnings behind me and focus, focus, focus! Within the first hour, I could tell that this witness had definitely been molested…but the teacher wasn’t the first person who had molested her. When I hear cases like this, it confirms my knowing that dysfunction is a cycle, whatever flavor, and is cross-cultural, non-denominational and worldwide. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t keep the cases stored up in me, allowing their truth to weigh me down; but I do use this information for others good and His glory. Several times the witness and her counsel had to confer off the record – which means we stop and they go outside and chat. No big deal; I begin editing my transcript so there’s less to do at the end. There were some questions that you could tell that while she may not have been lying, she was trying to be very careful with her response as it was a tricky question; and then there were others that she just flat-out didn’t get. To top it off, she is an African-American high school student with lots of Ebonics and once fired up, wow, all I can say is my fat fingers were all over that keyboard and my machine was smoking as the speed indicator kept flashing. They actually got up to 310 words per minute!!! Towards the end of the day, as we tread on the waters of this witness’ promiscuity, her attorney asked to confer with defense counsel outside. I was totally a proponent for this girl, but as the case began to unfold, I began to realize she has been a troubled child since grade school, and the teacher was not the only contributing factor. In fact, when a jury hears her case, her promiscuity may deter them from the facts, from the root of it all, but is really a symptom of it all. Oh what a complicated web of dysfunction that I long for the world to understand. I’m not sure what came over me but in the first few minutes that both attorneys were out of the room, I took the liberty – I could get in trouble for this – to begin talking with her and at the risk of incriminating myself, let me just say, it was a pretty powerful conversation and as I said the last thing, I returned to my computer screen and the door opened and the attorneys returned; I breathed a sigh of relief, and we went back on the record. By the time we finished for the day, I was pretty wiped out. I sat in my car for a moment, allowing the air conditioning to cool me from the inside out, shaking off the oppression of the case, and then pressed my destination of home. I didn’t even give it a second thought, just expecting it to take me home the right way, not the long way. I began to return phone calls and it wasn’t until I had been on the phone for a while, that I realized I had followed the voice on GPS and gotten off the freeway. But WITW Why? Unbelievable! It took me home the same way we came and I’m still perplexed as to why. So what should have taken about 45 minutes turned into an hour and 45 minutes! Needless to say by the time I got to my next mistake, I was pretty wiped out! Have you ever noticed that one mistake often leads to another? Join me Wednesday for part two of this blog where I will share something that I am still trembling about, and probably will every time I think about it. What comforts me is I know that I know that He was there at the beginning of my mistake, and He certainly met me in the midst of another one. Love, Kim-Evinda MONDAY’S MANTRA Wow, it’s August already! Thanks for joining us for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Monday’s Mantra with Trench Classes United. You’re in for a treat today with some thoughts from our friend, Jenn Woolsey.
People love to quote the Bible verse about how God hates divorce. Well guess what, He does. But not for the reason it’s usually used... but because He hates the pain it causes His children and the future generations. I was in a co parenting class today… listening to tips on getting along and focusing on the child in a “reorganized family.” I found it helpful and I believe it’s necessary. But, I can’t get this nagging thought out of my head: what are we doing to prepare people for the fact that marriage is so important; that it can’t be taken lightly? It’s not about the excitement of feeling in love or filling a void, or even creating a family. It’s about choosing to love even when you don’t “feel” like it. I listened to the stories of other couples, I know my own story. I was woefully unprepared. I chose unwisely. How can we prevent this in the first place? Oh to spend more time on the answer before we are faced with the dilemma of this epidemic of divorce. Thoughtfully, Jenn Monday’s Mantra Have you ever watched a child jump off of something and into the arms of their parent? Perhaps you’ve actually been the recipient of that innocent, uninhibited and untainted ability to trust.
Welcome to Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Monday’s Mantra with Trench Classes United. I’m so happy you joined me today. Every time I see a child unabashedly jump it just squeezes my heart with such a beautiful word picture of how our Father wants us to trust Him. Perhaps you are a person who has a hard time trusting… No matter where you are in your journey, spiritual or otherwise, there are four things that we can trust about God which will feed our faith and fuel our hope; these attributes are nonnegotiable and are never, ever going to change. Nothing or no one can change them.
Thoughtfully, Kim-Evinda Monday’s Mantra Just two days away is the day we celebrate our individual freedom as well as that of our nation lest we never forget the cost. And while this freedom does include freedom of speech, I can’t help but wonder if we’ve become imprisoned by our political prattling. And no, this isn’t going to be any sort of political blog, so please, come on in and stay for a few minutes as I share from my heart to yours.
You can’t turn the T.V. on, or even do a Google search without some words of anger and conflict dancing across our eyes and into our mind, the seat of our soul. There is a fire of rage building in our country inflamed with opinions on every level. When did it stop being okay to agree to disagree without becoming so full of anger and hatred? Why do we have to try and force our opinions onto others and blast them for theirs? Why are we so inclined to return evil for evil? I was talking just the other day with someone and he was sharing his frustration about all the compromising that’s happening around us, politically and otherwise, and he kept sharing, and sharing and I mean, the more he talked about it, the more frustrated he became. When I felt it was appropriate to do so, I quietly said, it’s great to be concerned about our world, but are you concerned or consumed? We know who wins, so what if we were to just live, and not speak, our convictions lest we become guilty of the compromising we see around us? Thanks so much for joining me for Coffee Hour with Chicklit Power and Monday’s Mantra with Trench Classes United. May you find freedom from engaging in the opinions of the world and risking compromising your convictions, and remember, when concerned turns into consumed, that can be the beginning of compromise. Love, Kim-Evinda |
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