It’s Rarely about the Coffee

Women are a curious bunch but God made us this way. When we call a friend to meet for coffee, it is rarely about the coffee. We mostly want the conversation and the friendship. We seem to have a need to talk to someone we trust and isn’t “over coffee,” the very best way to do that? In fact, I told my husband recently that I have a Coffee Ministry.

For the first 30 years of our marriage, Jim never drank coffee. It just didn’t seem right to me for us to be out on our weekly date night, talking after dinner, and him having a Coke while I was holding my hot coffee. He even offered to have his Coke served in a cup, but I said that that wouldn’t do. Out of love for me, he has developed a taste for coffee, as long as it has plenty of French Vanilla creamer in it.
But as much as I love having coffee and talking with Jim, I still have the need to get together with a friend now and then and have girl talk. When a friend calls you and ask to meet for coffee, don’t say, “I already had my coffee today.” Realize that it isn’t really about the coffee; she probably has a desire to talk and she chose you!

PS: Nicole Johnson’s book, Fresh Brewed Life is excellent. I have two extra copies from a Bible study that I did. If you would like one, let me know.

Patricia Harvey

The Forgiven Tractor Debt

My husband, Jon, and I needed a new tractor bad. Not a want, a need. A new house with 4.5 acres and lots of mowing, hauling, moving snow … you get the picture. We were using an ancient lawn mower that had belonged to Jon’s dad, which sounded like something from the Beverly Hillbillys! My parents offered to buy us a brand new Kubota garden tractor. After much deliberation, Jon decided that we’d accept the gift, but we would pay back the debt on a monthly basis with interest.

A year later, we knew we needed a safer car for me to drive, but we couldn’t really afford both car and tractor payments, so we decided to wait a year for the car. My parents wanted to forgive our debt on the tractor so we could focus extra money on a car. Jon is very frugal and responsible when it comes to debt, but he also struggles with accepting kindness and forgiveness from others. (Don’t tell him I said that!) So, he really struggled with this “forgiveness of debt” from my Dad. My dad kept telling us it was his money and his prerogative to forgive the debt. In the end, Jon allowed us to accept the gift of the “forgiven tractor debt,” and we were able to purchase a newer, safer car to drive.

This led me to thinking about how we are with God’s amazing offer to forgive our debt. We fight him, we think it’s too good to be true, we don’t deserve it, our debt is far too big, we haven’t worked hard enough and the list goes on. Don’t you wonder if God thinks to himself, “It’s my prerogative to do this; who are you to put conditions on it”? He has forgiven our debt because He loves us and because he can. All we have to do is accept it.

Sally Hall

Hakuna Matata

Is anyone else hearing Billy Crystal from the Lion King? I thought of that song this week because of a study my small group is doing. We are reading a book called Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. This book is based on the Bible story of Mary and her sister Martha (Luke 10:38-42). One of the chapters really spoke to all members of the group including myself, a chapter on worry. I thought it was comical what we worry about:

40% are things that will never happen

30% are about the past, which can’t be changed

12% are about criticism by others, mostly untrue

10% are about health, which gets worse with stress

8% are about real problems that can be solved


I never felt I was much of a worrier, more of just an overactive imagination. I love to do drama and would act out things in my mind. These “daydreams” can get very realistic and emotional. The book helped me to realize that this is not a case of the dreamers, but is true worry.

The book had such a great suggestion for how to combat worry. Philippians 4:6-7 says “Don’t be anxious about anything, but by everything in prayer, petition and thanksgiving present your requests to God.”

The author very practically said if you start to worry about your husband getting into a car accident, stop and turn it into a prayer, “God, please protect my husband today.” Or, if you, like me, begin to imagine some outlandish scenario, I literally say “Stop” and will turn it into a prayer, “Jesus, please protect my dog Chai from a pack of wild dingos attacking her in the back yard.”

I have only been doing this for a couple of weeks, but what a difference! Jesus, please help me to continue taking my worries to you, the only one who can actually take care of them!

Michelle Heriford

‘Tis the Season for Weddings

I have six weddings in the next eight weeks. As I think about the festivities ahead, I’m excited for the happy couples. Despite the fact that I have no ring on my finger (and don’t expect one anytime soon), I feel like I can, without reservation, celebrate the joining of two lives and the celebration of one love.

Having said that, I understand that for a lot of single ladies weddings can be difficult, dreaded, and maybe even traumatic experiences. Sometimes it’s difficult to be happy for someone who has a relationship we want. At the same time, maybe there are women who are cynical about new marriages or wedding celebrations because they are struggling in their own marriage or have even had a failed marriage.

I want to encourage you that whatever your relationship or marital status, your relationship with God is the ultimate romance! Your purpose does not lie in your relationship with a spouse, or a lack thereof, but in your relationship with God. And if you think that’s not enough, you’re wrong. I challenge you: If you’re looking for romance, let God woo your heart. If you want a friend to know and understand you at your very core — He does and will show you.

I’m reminded of Hosea 2:14: “Therefore, I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.”

If you find yourself at a wedding this season and are feeling a little cynical or find yourself dreading the event, I pray that you’re encouraged by the love of God. Ask Him to reveal His love to you so that you can — without reservation — celebrate the love of others.

Andrea Perry

The Road Less Traveled

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost

How many times do you get bored with your life; feeling that all you do is the same thing day in and day out? The Christian walk is supposed to be exciting, right? Well … the only way it can be is if we are willing to try new things and trust God as we follow His lead.

About six months ago, I started to challenge myself to try out just a few things that I had traditionally said no to in the past. The results have been a great journey of seeing God weave lives and events together in the coolest ways! I discovered that by studying His word and making a weekly choice to fellowship and interact with other believers, God was able to weave together conversations, lessons and friendships I could have never dreamed possible! Pardon my excitement here, but it has been the coolest thing! I found that after studying His word for the week and listening to Him in prayer, He would open up conversations with others who were meditating or studying the very same thing. The odds of things like this consistently happening week after week are statistically impossible … but not with our God! I’m curious to hear about others experiences with this. How have you seen Him work in your life when you’ve stepped out of your comfort zone?

Sheryl Patry

Fruit at the Pharmacy

Recently, I began working as a cashier in the pharmacy at Meijer. I know my job is to help guests get their prescriptions, but — motivated by Pastor Marvin’s sermon (http://trinitywired.com/video/041810-prayer-hd) several weeks ago — my desire is to give away Fruit.

 

Do you remember that delicious bowl of fruit Marvin had with him on the stage? And how he walked around at the end of the message, dropping fruit everywhere as an illustration of how we can allow the gospel to bear fruit in us? He encouraged us to leave Fruit everywhere we go.

 

It was shortly after I listened to Marvin’s sermon that I was hired at the pharmacy. And soon after I became employed, God spoke to my heart about leaving Fruit around the pharmacy. Every day at work I am going to meet people who need Fruit: 

• the young mother picking up antibiotics for her fussing toddler
• the tired woman who is caring for her aging mother
• the frazzled man whose wife has just had surgery
• the discouraged college student who didn’t expect his prescription to cost so much

 And because I am on the same side of the counter as the prescriptions these individuals need, I have the opportunity to give them Fruit. An understanding look and a warm smile, a kind word and a gentle touch, listening patiently and sharing a laugh, whispering a prayer for the one in front of me — these are ways I can be the love of God. These are ways I can give Fruit away while I’m working in the pharmacy.

 

How about you? Where in your life does God want to bear Fruit? Who are the people with whom you come into contact every day that need some of the Fruit you’re carrying? Let’s give it away!

 

Karen Hossink

Ageless?

As I used my cleaning solution and moisturizer this morning — it’s called Ageless — I thought to myself, “I have used this stuff for months and I don’t look one bit younger!” It’s tough being a woman in today’s society. Everywhere you look and everything you read communicates the message about looking younger and being beautiful. If you are not in a size three, with porcelain skin and you don’t have long flowing hair, you won’t measure up! I wore a size three when I was three years old … what’s up with this new sizing?

I am so glad that my confidence and my worth are not measured by my looks, because looks are fleeting and the world’s idea of beauty is certainly not biblical. Proverbs 31:30 says, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.”

As David Roper recently said in the Daily Bread, “Physical beauty all too quickly fades away; all one’s efforts to keep it are doomed to fail. But there is an inner beauty — authentic beauty that will endure forever — in the one who fears the Lord.”

We need to concentrate on The Book that reveals the truth about beauty, real beauty, and pay no attention to all the hype that magazines make. These words are lies and they just cause us to feel bad about not measuring up to the world’s standards of beauty. I see so many lovely ladies around Trinity that have a glow about them that doesn’t come from a bottle of make-up, but can only flow from the Holy Spirit within. That beauty is ageless!

Slide into your jeans — no matter the size — dab on a little make-up and feel good about yourself and who you are. You are a child of the King!

Patricia Harvey