Real Connection v5 by realconnection

INTRODUCTION

Part of our motto at Trinity Church is about legacy because God cares about future generations. “We open our Bibles to learn, and we open our lives to love so that lives and legacies are transformed.” As we look through all the stories and legacies in the Bible, there are both good and bad examples that we can learn from. As we raise up the next generation to love and follow Jesus, it’s important to think and pray about kids, grandkids, great grandkids, and great-great grandkids! There’s hope in Christ and vision for the future when we think beyond our own lives and families. . Ps 102:18 proclaims, “Let this be recorded for future generations, so that a people not yet born will praise the Lord.” We are going to dive into some Bible families in this newsletter and see what we can apply or avoid for our own legacy.

Also, we are on the precipice of the election so please remember that as we vote God’s values it impacts legacies! This resource will help you determine which candidates best represent (not perfectly) God’s values on life, parental rights, and religious freedom that we are to imitate. It also clearly explains the crucial ballot measures/props that are deceptively worded to confuse you, along with voting locations and deadlines. Please be informed and pray for our country! Click the link to access the AZ Voter Guide

ABOUTUS

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. 11)! 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!

TESTIMONY SPOTLIGHT

We closed out the RW Spring semester with prayer and worship while handing out prayer cards for each woman 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.

My legacy has so many miracles that it’s hard to fathom how God actually put it all together, even though I realize He can do all things as God! I grew up the youngest of 3 girls, a very shy pastor’s kid, in a small city 15 miles south of Seattle WA. My dad didn’t grow up in church but had planned to become a Catholic priest (no marriage or kids). God had other plans for his life, because he got saved at a bar when a man gifted in evangelism shared the Gospel with him. He eventually went to seminary, and felt called from Dallas TX to “live and die” in Seattle and plant a church He planted and pastored for over 44 years at a small family church called “Trinity.” My dad, one of 12 kids from a farm in Ohio, led his dad to Christ and had a Christian mom. Most of his siblings knew Jesus but some didn’t. My mom, on the other hand, grew up as an only child in CA in a strict Christian home and told others about Jesus often. Her mom told her that “the man she was supposed to marry would be speaking at a conference in CA” which is where my dad was visiting and speaking with some well-known pastors at the time. A very short time later, they got married and moved to WA. I became a Christian at age 3 and genuinely loved Jesus. I prayed but didn’t spend time reading the Bible, so my relationship with Him was shallow as I went into high school. I went to public school K-12 and had both Christian and non-Christian

friends, and was sadly not a great example to them. Several years after graduation, I repented to them, but only a couple of them had a relationship with Jesus. In the years where I wasn’t being a good example, I met my husband during my senior year. He claimed to “know God” but wasn’t yet in a relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior. In naivety and sin, I didn’t ask more questions and began to date him.

He was born in North Dakota, moved to Eastern WA as a small child, and eventually ended up in Seattle only a few miles from where I grew up. We went to the same library by my house often, so we believe we must have seen each other as kids before we met. He was the oldest of 5 kids and was raised infrequently attending Catholic church When he graduated from high school, I gave him his first Bible (irony was that I wasn’t reading mine much) that he got saved reading in college. The church we attended together in college had an incredible pastor that discipled my husband in how to study and enjoy the Bible, as God’s inerrant and living words to us. His mom was saved and healed at a women’s prayer meeting, and his dad became a Christian a few years after we got married. How did we get from WA to AZ? God was working on our legacy and it blows us away how it all came together!

*Testimony is from a courageous woman that we will leave anonymous (not pictured)

Do you have a testimony about Real Women? We’d love to hear about it!

Email us at realwomen@trinitychurch.com

When I fast forward to today, 31+ years of marriage and 5 grown kids (3 married to amazing Christians) and 4 grandkids later, I feel completely blessed that God has given us a legacy of Jesus-following children, who are raising their kids to do the same! Grand-parents, and some of the great-grandparents, on both sides followed Jesus and prayed for generations to know Him. As we raised our kids, we always prayed for and taught them to follow Jesus, but to actually see it is the greatest joy and honor as a parent! Seeing them train up their kids (our grandkids) to love Jesus is even greater! Legacy is God’s specialty, even though we do so many things to derail His plan when we sin and wander. Witnessing God’s goodness and faithfulness through generations of our families, even when we didn’t know Him yet, is what gives hope to “not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Gal 6:9).

God works in mysterious and incredible ways to bring legacies together, even though there’s often a messy middle. Let’s pray for this generation to have softened hearts toward Jesus, and let’s tell them about Him while being an example for them. Let’s pray for future generations, that only God knows who they will be, to know and serve Jesus. Let’s pray that we get to witness legacy after legacy of Jesus-following families, and let’s stand firm together!

ARE YOU THINKING OF YOUR LEGACY?

The Bible gives story after story of broken, sinful, and redeemed legacies that are lessons to us now of what to do and not do. Adam and Eve let sin into the world (Gen 3) when they said yes to Satan’s temptation. Quickly their legacy was affected (Gen 4) when their son Cain murdered his brother Abel. We need to take our sin seriously and repent when the Holy Spirit convicts us so we can help prevent future generations from repeating them.

As 1 Corinthians 10: 6 says regarding the Israelites wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, “These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did…” When we think about the story of the Garden or the wilderness, there was nothing but beauty all around them, no distractions of phones, social media, tvs, jobs, advertising, or vices. There were merely people and nature, but their hearts still grumbled and sinned against God! They had the opportunity to train their legacy to worship God in the most pure ways as He provided for them abundantly, but their hearts chose sin. Thank you Father that when we focus on You and Your plan, it brings blessing and wisdom to our legacies.

An example of an imperfect yet better legacy is Noah and his wife. Genesis 6-9 tells their story of long obedience and being given God’s grace for a special mission to build an ark. It only took 5 chapters of the Bible for everyone on the planet to become evil according to Gen 6:5, “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.” God’s heart was broken, and He was sorry He made humans that destroyed themselves and their legacies by not following Him. But God chose Noah and his family to start all over again and required them to build an ark with very specific instructions, which took over 100 years! God in His great mercy, through a flood and an ark, allowed for brand new legacies to be built, and many generations later we were born as a part of it! Gen 9:12-13 says, “Then God said, ““I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. I have placed my rainbow in the clouds.

It is a sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.”” Thank you Father for starting over so that we could ultimately be a part of your family legacy!

Yet another example of God’s faithfulness despite lack of faith in His plan is Abraham and Sarah. Read their story in Gen 15-22 and see how they are examples of real life when it comes to sin and redemption in a family lineage. God had promised them a son, but they thought God was taking too long so they created a “solution” to “fix” the problem. Unfortunately, they created a bigger problem including adultery and giving birth to a non-covenant son. They made their legacy way more complicated than it needed to be, but God in His faithfulness (AGAIN!) kept His promise to bless them through the line of Isaac. Thank you Father for keeping your promises even when we are not faithful!

Finally, the story of Jesus’ parents, Joseph and Mary (Mt 1&2, Luke 1&2), allows us to get a glimpse of their obedience to God’s calling to raise Jesus. Mary started with a humble heart when the angel Gabriel appeared to her to tell her she was going to be a pregnant virgin and give birth to Jesus saying, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true. ” (Luke 1:38) They had other children as well, and scripture (and history) show that 3 of the sons (James, Simon, Jude) loved Jesus as their brother AND Savior, making a huge impact for the Kingdom! Thank you Father that you sent your Son to rescue us, and gave us the Holy Spirit to empower us to raise up more legacies to love and follow You!

God’s Pursuit of Me: A Story of Faith and Legacy

Looking back, I now realize that God was pursuing me long before I ever recognized it. Raised by a third-generation single mother, who herself had no relationship with God, faith was not a significant part of our lives. My mom worked hard, doing her best to raise me, and in many ways, I followed in her footsteps. As I grew older, she began to see the direction my life was taking and suggested I go to church. Though she wasn’t actively involved herself, she thought it might be good for me.

At that time, I didn’t feel the need for God or church. I remember telling her, “I love the world too much. I’ll serve God, but not today.” I was completely absorbed in my own life and didn’t understand what I was turning away from.

But God wasn’t done with me yet.

Not long after, I met the man who would become my husband. In those early days, God allowed me to experience what it meant to love the world more than Him. I could have easily followed the same path as the generations before me a single mother with an absent father due to his own struggles. Those difficult times, however, were the very things that drew us closer to seeking God. We realized that what we were doing wasn’t working and that only He could change us.

That decision marked the beginning of our faith journey. Our marriage was not without its challenges, but through every trial, God was present. Even when we didn’t fully recognize it, He was guiding us.

Today, as I reflect on the past, I’m amazed at how far we’ve come. My husband, who wasn’t a believer when we first met, is now a man of God who serves the Lord wholeheartedly. Together, we’ve raised our children to know and love Him, and now our grandchildren are being brought up in the same faith. God’s pursuit of me not only changed my life—it has impacted generations.

God’s Pursuit of Me: A Story of Faith and Legacy (cont)

Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this legacy of faith when I was a teenager, far from God. His plans were so much greater than my own. What I once saw as worldly infatuation, God has turned into a life centered on Him. And now, my children and grandchildren walk with the Lord, continuing a legacy that only He could have created.

We put together a Summer Playlist for you. Scan the QR code to check it out!

As I reflect on where I started and how God has shaped my journey, I am filled with overwhelming gratitude. His relentless love, His pursuit, and His grace have changed the course of my family’s history. I am deeply humbled by the way He has worked, and I am forever thankful for the legacy of faith that He has built through my life.

We’d love to hear from you! What are you looking forward to this semester at Real Women?

BOOKSPOTLIGHT

Jesus Storybook Bible (birth-age 6)

NIrV Adventure Bible for Early Readers (ages 4-8)

NIrV Adventure Bible (ages 7-11)

NLT Student Study Bible (teens/college)

ESV Student Study Bible (teens/college)

For additional resources, check out the categories on the Resource page (scan the QR code below).

Scan the QR code for additional resources

THEGOSPEL

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

Thank you for being patient this summer while we took our breaks! We hope you had times of refreshing as well. We’re looking forward to what the Lord has for us this Fall!

If the Lord has answered any of your prayers, as you read earlier, we’d love to hear about it! You can email us at realwomen@trinitychurch.com, and we will keep it anonymous if we use it in a Real Connection Newsletter. Thank you!

This verse is something we can do for our children or any children that we have the blessing of investing in. From womb to tomb we can proclaim the goodness of the Lord, as shown in the Bible and in our own lives! It never gets old to hear about his miraculous power, love, grace, mercy, kindness, faithfulness, and specific investment in our legacies Grab an age-appropriate Bible and start investing in the next generation!

Love, Grace

MEMORY VERSE:

“OUR

CHILDREN WILL ALSO SERVE HIM. FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL HEAR ABOUT THE WONDERS OF THE LORD. HIS RIGHTEOUS ACTS WILL BE TOLD TO THOSE NOT YET BORN. THEY WILL HEAR ABOUT EVERYTHING HE HAS DONE.”

PSALM 22:30-31