Real Women meets weekly during the year, but we give all our amazing leaders and volunteers a respite for the summer. We want to stay connected and thought a newsletter from our Real Women Team would help. We will send this out monthly with tips, encouragement, a song playlist, book resources, testimonies of how God is working in our midst, and fun ideas to get away from our busy lives for a “minute” to practice the Sabbath.
The theme for June is REFRESH! This means to give new strength or energy to; reinvigorate; get new perspective, try new things; a break from normal chaos to allow rest. If we don’t plan these times to refresh, life just keeps going, and we can burn out physically, emotionally, mentally, and/or spiritually Of course, we never want that to happen, but if our schedules aren’t committed to the Lord and organized by Him, we do what is in front of us and eventually find ourselves exhausted by the grind.
If we want to be healthy and godly women, wives, moms, and friends, we need to practice Matthew 11:28: Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” He wants to help us refresh, so let’s learn how to give Him our weariness and burdens by spending time with Him and asking Him to organize our day, every day! As Charles Spurgeon says, “ I am compelled to put my responsibilities where I put my sins, on the back of the Lord Jesus Christ ” Jesus, though perfect, practiced rest and refreshing after ministering, healing, teaching, rebuking, and loving the people around Him when He would go away to a quiet place to pray (Luke 5:16). Sabbath is also a gift that the Lord gives us to practice refreshment and rest. We wrote an article on ‘How to prepare for your Sabbath‘ (pg 06), so take a look at how to put this command into practice and experience the refreshing your soul needs.
We pray you all continue to enjoy your time in God’s Word, prayer, and memories with your families and friends this summer! We are praying for you and are excited to hear testimonies when we return in the Fall for our weekly Wednesday groups, beginning Sept. 18 at 9:30am and 6:30pm. If you attended the final semester Real Women and took a prayer card for another sister in Christ, please be in prayer for her as you anticipate God’s faithfulness in her life!
Real Women is a ministry of Trinity Church that seeks to encourage women in their pursuit of healthy relationships with Jesus first, then others. If you don’t know Jesus, we’d love to tell you about Him (see Gospel section; pg. 9)! The Bible tells us in John 15:4 that when we abide or remain IN Him, we will produce fruit in our lives, but if we don’t stay connected to Him we won’t be fruitful. He will guide us, comfort us, and protect us! This is encouraging because it gives us a foundation and direction for all of our other relationships.
As we all pursue Jesus, we come to Him as we are (REAL women) and leave changed by Him! Only God can heal our brokenness, calm our anxiety, forgive our sins, love us unconditionally, be a perfect Father, guide us in personal holiness, and SO much more! No time spent with Him is wasted. He already knows us inside and out, every hair on our head, every desire of our heart, every pain and joy we experience. Like any other relationship, the more time we spend listening and talking to Jesus, the more intimately we get to know Him and His plan for our lives. We encourage you to be REAL with Him. He cares more than you can imagine and will never stop!
We closed out the RW Spring semester with Prayer & Worship and by handing out prayer cards for each person to take and commit to praying for over the summer. We’ve already had some testimonies come through, and we wanted to share one with you.
As a mama of young kids and an infant, I find that having private time to spend with the Lord is difficult to plot out. I was so excited for the last week of Real Women and the extended worship and prayer time. All the kiddos were checked into Trinity Kids and it really gave me the opportunity to give my heart up to Jesus and praise Him completely
God was so kind in those moments while I sang worship songs to Him and my arms stretched towards Him. He gave me a picture in my mind of my little toddler, raising her arms up high with an expectant look in her eyes. I felt the Spirit prompt me to imagine what she feels in those moments when her hands are raised toward me or her daddy. Love, the need for encouragement or security, trust. When she lifts her hands, she knows her needs will be met, that my husband and I love her and want to comfort her when she needs it and that she never has to do anything to earn the right to belong in our arms; she just gets to be there because she belongs to us.
I felt the Spirit prompt me once more that many of the reasons she raises her hands to her earthly daddy and mama are the same reasons I lift my hands to God the Father. I lift my hands to surrender to Him, to focus on our relationship and open myself up to His presence, and to be held in His loving arms Most importantly, for me, it’s a show of trust.
My little girl wouldn’t raise her hands if she didn’t trust that I could pick her up with my strength and hold her there. She wouldn’t continue doing it if she thought I’d drop her or turn her away. She counts on me to be there when she needs me, and I can do the same when it comes to my Heavenly Father.
This vision and conversation with the Holy Spirit brought me to my knees in tears of joy I realized how much I had withheld my full trust in Him because my earthly father was not someone I could always count on. I expected him to fail me and not be there when it really mattered, and I realized that I had subconsciously allowed this sort of mentality toward God to creep into my prayer life. I often prayed things like, “God, I know you can do this, but if you don’t, I still trust you,” and then I’d go about my life planning for the prayer to go unanswered. I expected Him not to show up, but He sweetly reminded me that I’m His daughter. Just like my heart desires to be there for my little girl in all my human imperfections, God is a Father who will ALWAYS show up and never fail, even if it’s not always the way we want or expect Him to show up.
Now, every time I see my little girl raise her hands, I’m reminded that I can lift my hands to my Heavenly Father for any and all things. He’s working in and through my kids in incredible ways to show me this, and it’s such a blessing. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have that “quiet time” with my Father, and I hope we have more Prayer and Worship Wednesdays in the future!
Has the Lord done something amazing in your life?
We’d love to hear about it!
Email us at realwomen@trinitychurch.com
Taking time to Sabbath is a gift from God (Mark 2:27), but honestly, no matter what season we find ourselves in, taking regular time to rest can be a challenge. If God did it as an example to us during Creation, we know He will help us. “And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when He rested from all His work of creation (Gen. 2:3 NLT).
Here are a few different ideas for your next Sabbath day: Look at your week in advance to determine a day and plan to dedicate time to the Lord and rest.
1. Determine what things need to be done in advance so you don’t get caught up in tasks on that day (prep dinner the night before, get that last load of laundry done, get work and appointments done, get everything ready beforehand if you are leaving for your Sabbath).
3.
2. Pray through what a Sabbath day means to you, what you enjoy, what helps you rest, what helps you focus on the Lord. Some ideas are:
reading a book (see Resource list on pg. 8 for ideas) turning off your phone so distractions can’t come at you playing games
hiking or enjoying the outdoors bike riding
spending time with people you enjoy worshipping to music
praying and journaling practicing gratitude gardening spending time in prayer and listening
Just keep trying until you find things that are restful. Make it a weekly habit and see how it changes the outlook of your week!
However you chose to find rest in the Father, do it to honor and glorify Him. “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
1 Cor. 10:31 (NLT)
We asked some of our leaders what they do to refresh, and these were their answers:
When my heart and soul need to be refreshed, I wake up early and begin my day in prayer on my knees before the Lord. I take a few minutes to surrender and give thanks for His faithfulness I enjoy reading scripture out loud and within my home and turning on worship music to fill my mind.
I also like to take time to connect and unburden through conversation and prayer with my husband. Taking time to have fun as a family brings my soul refreshment, too �� - Jill
If you refresh by listening to music, we put together a Summer Playlist for you. Scan the QR code to check it out!
I love to go to the park and spend time with the Lord I sit in my car and worship, read my Bible, and talk to the Lord. It is so refreshing to my soul. �� - Julie
When I want to relax, I put my phone on “Do Not Disturb” and watch the sunset while listening to the birds. My husband calls me the Snow White of the desert because I love my hummingbirds and hummingbird feeders.
I also love going to the botanical garden or the butterfly exhibit! - Rachel
When my kids were little, my time to refresh was often in the laundry room while folding or in the kitchen while chopping, where I would allow the chaos to move to the background of my mind so I could pray and ask God to minister to my soul. God says to pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17), and as a young mom, I desperately needed to learn that, or else my words would be complaining, sharp, or discouraging. If my soul wasn’t anxious, then our home wasn’t either
I’ve always liked to take walks with Mark to talk about life, everything good and hard. As my kids have grown, I like to sit outside in the sun (even during the summer), recall my thankfulness for the week, offer my burdens to the Lord, read Scripture or a book on personal holiness, and pray for people. Now that I have grandkids, I find them very refreshing and full of pure joy! Love, Grace
We’d love to hear from you! What do you do to refresh?
One of the books that our Real Women Leaders are digging into this summer is “Intimacy with the Almighty” by Charles Swindoll. We encourage you to find something that you’d like to “dig deeper in” or learn more about and study that topic during the summer. The attributes of God are also a good topic to dig deeper into, and they go along with the current sermon series, Real God.
Other books to consider are:
Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow
Find Rest by Shaunti Feldhahn
Take the Day Off by Robert Morris
The Lord’s Prayer by RT Kendall
Awaken by Priscilla Shirer
He Speaks to Me by Priscilla Shirer
Scan the QR code for additional resources
In a world filled with bad news, it is so refreshing to get some good news There's a special word in the Bible that means "good news,” and that word is Gospel. It’s simple to do, yet deep and humbling to receive and live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ! God created us to be part of His family, but when sin entered the world through our first parents, Adam and Eve, it separated us from Him. Because God is holy and perfect, the only way to bring us back into His family was to send His son Jesus to live a perfect, sinless life and to die on the cross for our sins and resurrect (defeat death). It was the greatest act of love and grace possible…our sin for Jesus’ life! That’s how much He loves us, but it requires us to believe this Gospel truth and trust in Him as we answer God’s prompting to be in a relationship with Him. If you don’t know Jesus, He already knows you, so you can start talking to Him through prayer
Tell Him about the burdens you carry, the sins you feel ashamed about, the pain you want to heal from, and that you want to surrender these things to have Him be your perfect Heavenly Father Tell Him you believe He is God, that He sent Jesus to rescue you, and that you want to be in a relationship with Him. Listen to Him as you pray and read His words to you (Bible). If you need a Bible, let us know via email so we can give you a Bible. We’d love to celebrate you as a new sister in Christ! Keep praying, read the Bible, and join us at church so you can get to know other Christians who are learning along with you.
Thank you for making the Spring 2024 semester amazing! We’re looking forward to what the Lord has for us this Fall!
Remember to keep praying for the prayer requests that you received on the prayer cards at the last RW meeting of the semester. If the Lord has already answered your prayer, like you read earlier, please email us at realwomen@trinitychurch.com and share your testimony with us. We’ll keep it annonymous. Thank you!
I don’t memorize things easily, but I’ve noticed that memorizing scripture is so much easier when I ask the Holy Spirit to help me and I actually put the verses into practice!
This verse can be hard to put into practice if we like to be independent, but being connected to God is the best place to be! He truly is incredible at taking our burdens and refreshing us.
Love, Grace
MEMORY VERSE: THEN JESUS SAID, “COME TO ME, ALL OF YOU WHO ARE WEARY AND CARRY HEAVY BURDENS, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.” - MATTHEW 11:28