May 16, 2024

Crazy Love: Chapter 7 – “Your Best Life…Later” (pp 119-124/Kindle LOC 1537-1606)

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up His life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion – how can God’s love be in that person?

Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings and he knows everything.

1 John 3:16-20 (emphasis mine)

There is one major theme that I pulled from this passage of Scripture.

Real love is an action, not a feeling.

Jesus gave up His life for us, SO we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters (1 John 3:16, emphasis mine).

The principles Jesus taught are contrary to the way our world works.

  • The world says we should look out for #1—ourselves. 
  • Jesus says that “there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13)

Often when we are called upon to help someone in need, we are looking at how it will help us—maybe we will get paid, or receive accolades/glory, or it will give us something to boast about to our family or friends. In other words, we are motivated by selfish desires rather than by love. But Jesus’ way says that serving others should come from a selfless, sacrificial heart. The closer we can align our heart with His by reading His Word and letting Him change us, the easier it will become to love others the way He loves us.

It is worth repeating that we absolutely cannot do this on our own. We need God to help us love others like He loves. We must ask Him to help us.

As Christians, we carry a huge responsibility—to show and to share the truth of God’s love to the rest of the world (Matthew 28:19-20). This is an incredibly difficult task when the world wants us to be like them—talk like them, act like them, and just “fit in” with them. But Jesus calls us to be different. His ways do not make sense to the rest of the world.  Followers of Christ should be known for the way they love—without judgment, criticism, or selfishness, but with compassion, selflessness, and sacrificial giving.

Let’s act on this selfless love that was so graciously poured out on us.

 

reallove

 


Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, thank You for showing us what REAL LOVE truly is. Thank YOU for sending Your Son. Lord, we want our actions to show that we truly love others. Provide us with opportunities to pour love onto others this coming week. If we are struggling with this concept, Father, we ask that You help us see where we are having trouble and to help us work through it. Lord, we know that Love comes from You and we love because You first loved us. Thank You for that, Father. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray, Amen.

Your Assignment:
Do you struggle with the idea of “giving up your life for your brothers and sisters” or “laying down your life for your friends?” What do these passages mean to you? I encourage you to read them for yourself and see what the Lord reveals to you as you work through this concept.



If you would like to send a private message to Jennifer in regards to this blog post, you may send it to: Jennifer@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com

Crazy Love: Chapter 7 – “Your Best Life … Later” (pp 117-119)

As I read the two pages that I was assigned to blog on in this chapter, I counted six Scripture references that Chan had used.  My first thought was, “How in the world am I going to write a summary on these Scriptures, and keep it to a minimum of words?”  

  1. Philippians 2:6-11
  2. 1 John 2:6
  3. Matthew 25:42-45
  4. Matthew 22:37
  5. Matthew 22:39
  6. Matthew 25:37-40

Yes, Chan uses all of these Scriptures on these two short pages, and they cover our current life all the way up to the coming Judgment.  Whew!!  Tons could be written on each one of these, so “Which one am I going to expand on?” was my thought.

But, I began to see that what Chan was doing in these Scriptures was bringing us to the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:45:  “I tell you the truth, whatever, you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”  Jesus is referring to “these” as those who are hungry, thirsty, in need of shelter and clothing, those who are sick, or in prison and need someone to visit them.

It was a sentence Chan wrote on page 119 that caught my eye.  Ask yourself this:  “If you actually saw Jesus starving, what would you do for Him?”

Truthfully, when I read that sentence, I didn’t literally think of food when I saw the word starve.  Why?  Because in America, chances are we might not encounter starving hungry people on a day-to-day basis, as we would in other countries. 

However, after looking up the definition of the word “starve” in Webster’s Dictionary, I believe we do encounter a type of “these” that Jesus IS referring to in our everyday life.

 Starve:  to hunger; to suffer great need

To suffer great need is the one I want to emphasize.  Take a look at this chart that I began to picture in my mind concerning that word starve as it pertained to suffering great need.

Mankind’s Basic Outward  Needs   Mankind’s Basic Inward Needs

Food                                                     Companionship
Water                                                    Love and Affection
Shelter                                                  A Sense of Belonging
Clothing                                               Esteem, Respect of Others                                                              A Listening Ear
                                                                                                                                                              

Back to Chan’s question:  WhatWouldYouDo

 

Personally, I pray I have enough plain old moral values in me to give a starving person his four Basic Outward Needs of food, water, shelter, and clothing. 

But, do I have enough love for Jesus in me that would propel me to give a starving person his Basic Inward Needs?  Or would that take up too much of my time and effort?

It’s food for thought.

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Let’s Pray: 

Father God, first of all, we open our hearts to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to show us where we are not being Your servant to those in need.  Help us to make changes in our lives as You would have us to. In Jesus’ name, I pray.  Amen.

Your Assignment: 

Where do you feel you need to make changes in your life in accordance with feeding those who are hungry, thirsty, in need of shelter and clothing, those who are sick, or in prison and need someone to visit them.

Be blessed,

Martha

If you would like to send Martha a personal message in regards to this blog, you may email her at: Martha@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com 

Crazy Love: Chapter 7 – Your Best Life…Later (pp 113-116)

World-doesnt-Need-crazy-love-francis-chan-T

 

“Christians today like to play it safe. We want to put ourselves in situations where we are safe ‘even if there is no God.’ But if we truly desire to please God, we cannot live that way. We have to do things that cost us during our life on earth but will be more than worth it in eternity.” ~page 116

There are countless examples throughout Scripture of people just like you and me who followed God with their whole hearts…faults and all. When we read about people in the Bible such as Abraham, Paul, Daniel, and Elijah it’s so easy to lose sight of the fact that their God THEN is the exact same as our merciful God NOW!

God answered BIG prayers back then and He is the same God that answers BIG prayers from us NOW…we only need to trust Him with our prayers and with our very best life. Have you ever thought about this before? We limit ourselves and God when we do not dare to give up our life to Him and BOLDLY live our life by faith in what He will do with it!

Blessings,

Megan 🙂

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Let’s Pray:

God, we come to You humbled and with repentant hearts if there has been any way that we have been steering clear of situations or circumstances that might make us uncomfortable for Your glory. Please forgive us, Father, and show us today how to make it right and to be bold enough to live in such a way where we are not afraid to do things that cost us in this world. Thank You, Lord, for showing us grace and for guiding us closer to You through this. In Your Son’s matchless name we pray, Amen. <3

Your Assignment:

How are you “playing it safe” in your life right now? Pray for God to show you where and how He needs you to kick your life up a notch and not be complacent to “play it safe” for Him any longer. Leave me a comment about this below.

 

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If you would like to email a private message to Megan in regards to this blog, please email her at: megan@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

Crazy Love: Chapter 7 – “Your Best Life…Later” (Reading Assignment)

What are you doing RIGHT NOW that requires faith?

This chapter might be a little scary, but I hope it challenges you to get outside of your comfort zone and do something that you might not normally do…and see God show up in an amazing way.

Are you ready? Let’s do it!

Chapter 7 Reading Assignment

Monday: Chapter 7 “Your Best Life…Later” pp 113-116/ Kindle LOC 1457-1505 (Megan)

Tuesday: Chapter 7 “Your Best Life…Later” pp 117-119/ Kindle LOC 1505-1537 (Martha)

Wednesday: Chapter 7 “Your Best Life…Later” pp 119-124/ Kindle LOC 1537-1606 (1 John 3:16-20) (Jennifer)

Thursday: Chapter 7 “Your Best Life…Later” pp 124-127/ Kindle LOC 1606-1659 (Donna)

Friday: Chapter 7 “Your Best Life…Later” Weekly Review and Chapter 7 Study Video from YouTube (Megan)

Here is a video from our author introducing the chapter for this week. Enjoy and be challenged!

Blessings,

Jennifer


Let’s Pray:

Father, help us to be BOLD this week and step out in FAITH for You. Reveal something that we can do that requires standing on our faith and trust in YOU. Give us courage and strength to follow through with whatever You lay on each of our hearts. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

 



If you would like to email a private message to Jennifer in regards to this blog, please email her at Jennifer@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com

Crazy Love: Chapter 6 – When You’re in Love Weekly Review

It is so hard to believe that we only have 4 more weeks left of this study! Oh, what a journey it has been and this week really forced us to take a deep look at our relationship with Our Lord and Savior.

On Monday, we discussed two different types of love…reverence and intimate love. We asked ourselves a pretty tough question about our relationship with God and moved on to Tuesday where Martha urged us not to try to hard! On Wednesday, Jennifer boldly claimed with us that there is nothing better than giving up everything and stepping into a passionate love relationship with God. On Thursday, Donna pleaded with us to let go and show God the real YOU! That kind of complete disclosure will help break that barrier and give us the intimacy with the Lord we so desperately crave!

Please watch this video from Francis Chan with me now:

Chan tells us that our relationship with God is not like any other relationship in the world, but we spend our whole lives trying to figure it out. We don’t need to figure it out, we need to surrender and trust God with all of who we are!  THIS is the most fascinating relationship in your life….  I hope you believe that and crave it now more than ever!

Blessings,

Megan 🙂

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Let’s Pray:

God, we love You! We want to know You more intimately than we can even dream of! Help us to surrender everything today that might be hindering us to have this passionate closeness with You. We pray we are forever changed in how we have a relationship with You, Lord! Thank You for this provision! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen!

Your Assignment:

Does your relationship with God resemble an “in-love” relationship?  Please comment below <3

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If you would like to email a private message to Megan in regards to this blog, please email her at: megan@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

 

Crazy Love: Chapter 6 – When You’re in Love (pgs 109-111)

Back when we were married for just a few years, my husband had to change jobs. It was a good move, but in the first month we were strapped for cash.

The bills came in and we were able to pay all of them but one. It was a daunting $100 (back then that was a lot of money to us)!  We didn’t have it.

So we prayed and told God that we wanted to be good stewards of our money, but we just couldn’t pay that one. We went to church that week and told God that we couldn’t do it without Him.  We made a plan to make up for it in the coming weeks, but the bill would be late.

It was hardest on my husband as he was never late with his bills. While we were discussing how we were going to pay this bill in the future, I kid you not, there was a knock on our door.

It was one of the deacons from our church. He handed us an envelope and said someone was told by God to give this to us anonymously. He said the person wanted nothing in return except that, when we could afford to, we would bless someone else who needed it! We were stunned!! I mean we never told anyone about our need! How did they know?

This was a good lesson on how faithful God is to His children. We prayed and thanked God for His provision for us in that time. We have also  been able to do this a few times since and know the joy that person must have felt when they gave it to us. You can’t out-give God! We’ve learned that over the 35 years that we have been married.

YouCantOutGiveGod

The seasons that we go through in life are a testament to  God’s faithfulness. We can be real and cry out to him and hold nothing back.  He already knows our needs and what we feel anyway.

What does God need from us? Absolutely nothing!! He has everything He could ever need; after all, He created it! Including us!!  So what can we give that means anything to Him?

We can give Him ourselves…that’s what He truly wants! Our heart, given to Him willingly, open, and truly waiting for God to fill it. Wanting God is the thing He wants from us, and we need Him too.

In Christ,

Donna

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Let’s Pray: I like the prayer at the end of the chapter that Francis Chan writes so let’s pray that prayer:

“Jesus, I need to give myself up. I am not strong enough to love You and walk with You on my own. I can’t do it—I need You. I need You deeply and desperately. I believe You are worth it and that You are better than anything else I could have in this life or the next. I want you, and when I don’t, I want to want You. Be all in me. Take all of me. Have Your way with me.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Your Assignment:

What holds you back today from giving your all to God? He wants you and you need Him. If you can, list those things; and let’s pray for one another to let go of them and live full on for God.

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If you are interested in joining this amazing online Bible study for Crazy Love, click HERE to sign up. Once you are registered, you will receive an email with further details.

If you would like to email a private message to Donna in regards to this blog, please email her at: Donna@girlfriendscoffeehour.com.

Crazy Love: Chapter 6 “When You’re In Love” – Help! I Don’t Love You (pp 103-109)

I’ve talked a lot in my blogposts about how we absolutely have to be WILLING to let God change us. So, when Chan started this section of the chapter talking about this very topic, I had to laugh. I think many of us make it much harder than it really is. Let Go, Let God. Right? Easy as pie.

<pause for laughter>

Oh, if only it were so simple. We are all running after something. It could be a dream God laid on our hearts. It could be our own selfish desires that are interfering with God’s divine plans for us. Either way, we are chasing after something. Do you want the race you are running to be worth it and bring glory to our Lord? Have you talked to God about your race lately to make sure you are following His Will and not running in another, safer direction? Do you even know the race that God wants you to run? We are only human. We want the easiest path; the less painful road; the one that will cause us the least amount of stress. It is just human nature.

But, my dear girlfriends . . . Jesus did not die so that we could live a complacent Christian life. He died so that we could live a full, rich life . . . walking alongside HIM! Jesus says that we will have trouble in this world. It is not a question of if, but when it will happen! When we take our eyes off of our Savior, our lives lose focus. Things get foggy. All of a sudden, the race gets a bit muddy and we have no idea which direction to turn. And sadly, this is when Satan can get a foothold into our lives and draw us even further away from where we should be.

“As we begin to focus more on Christ, loving Him and others becomes more natural. As long as we are pursuing Him, we are satisfied in Him. It is when we stop actively loving Him that we find ourselves restless and gravitating toward other means of fulfillment.”

(Francis Chan, pg 104)

BUT GOD IS ALWAYS RIGHT THERE! And He LOVES us SO very much!! We may stumble; we may even fall. But God is always there to help brush us off and get us back on the right track. When you lean into the Lord and put 100% of your focus on Him, He will make your path straight. That is a promise straight out of His Word.

Prov3_5_6

So, put all of your focus on loving the Lord with every single molecule of your being. Let God move into every area your life. Ask Him what race you should be running and commit to taking a step of faith for His glory. Let every word that you speak, every keystroke that you make, let all you do glorify your Lord today.

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Let’s Pray:

Father, letting You into our lives may not be easy. There are some areas that are just difficult and may even be strongholds for us. Lord, I ask that You tear down these walls. Show us a step of faith that we can take today to let You into an area of our lives that we have closed off to You. We want to run the race that You have set before us. We do not want to chase after something that is not pleasing to You. Help us to love You, Father God, with all of our hearts. Remove any obstacles or barriers that are interfering with our love relationship with You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!

Your Assignment:

What is something that you KNOW God is calling you to do, but you have been afraid to take that step of faith and actually DO it? Commit it to the Lord today and pray for strength and courage to take that step. God is right with you. He will NEVER leave you nor forsake you. Share with us so we can pray with you.



If you are interested in joining this amazing online Bible study for Crazy Love, click HERE to sign up. Once you are registered, you will receive an email with further details.

If you would like to email a private message to Jennifer in regards to this blog, please email her at Jennifer@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com

Crazy Love: Chapter 6 – When You’re In Love (pp 101-103)

Don’t Try so Hard is the topic of conversation on pages 101-103 in Crazy Love.  Don’t try so hard to do “whatis the question we might be asking.

Mr. Chan answers that with:  “God wants us to crave a relationship with Him as we crave all genuine love relationships.  He wants believers to desire Him and not be slaves who serve Him out of obligation.”

CrazyLove_Ch6_Martha

Chan then quotes Galatians 5:13, 14:  “You, my brothers, were called to be free.  But, do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather; serve one another in love.  The entire law is summed up in a single command:  ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

From this scripture, Chan points out that when we love, we’re free.  We don’t have to worry about a burdensome load of commands.  He then ask the question, “Do you feel free in your Christian life?”

Before, we can answer Chan’s question, I think we must take into consideration what Galatians 5:1 says:  “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

The word in that verse that is blaring out to me is entangledMy handy on-line dictionary defines entangle as:  ‘to twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; snarl, to complicate; confuse, to involve in a tangle.’

Now back to Chan’s question:  “Do you feel free in your Christian life to genuinely love and desire God, and not serve Him out of obligation?

I believe before we can answer that question, we must first take a look at things that might have entangled us.  May I suggest a few:

  1. Pay God Back:  Straight to the point, and excuse my English:  “It ain’t even possible to pay God back for what His Son, Jesus, did for us.”  No Scripture is needed as a reference.  If ever we should need a reminder, take a look at a picture of Jesus on the Cross; that should quench that little lie.
  2. False Guilt: A failure to trust God to forgive their sins may cause some people to try to serve God in order to work off their guilt, as in works of penance.  But, this is contrary to God’s promise of complete forgiveness to all who confess their sins.  (Colossians 2:13; 1 John 1:9)
  3. Inability to say No: Are you one who says “yes” every time someone from the church calls and ask you to fill a certain position?”  “Do you feel obligated, even though you don’t feel right for the job?”  “Are you left with feelings of guilt if you say, ‘No’?”  I fell into this category until I learned that God had placed within me certain gifts as to how He wanted me to serve Him. (Ephesians 4:11)  My pastor sums it up well:  “Our gift is the one we use with minimum effort, maximum effectiveness, and a maximum of joy.” Believe me, that took a load of guilt off me as I began to serve Him in love with the gift He had placed within me rather than out of obligation.

And the obligation list could go and on into more areas, such as:  legalism, self-seeking, performance-orientated, to name a few.

Sir Walter Scott, noted novelist and poet in the 1800’s said:  “Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

If we are serving God out of obligation, we have woven a tangled web, and we are the ones being deceived.  Let’s get untangled, so we can move forward and be free to serve God out of our Love for Him.  

Be blessed,

Martha

 

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Let’s Pray: 
Father God, first of all, we open our hearts to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to show us where we have felt obligated to serve You.  Help us to replace those motives and lies, so that we are free to love YOU with a genuine love as You desire.  In Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

Your Assignment: 
Do you feel obligated in any way to love and serve the Lord?  If so, what has entangled you?

 



If you would like more information about Crazy Love Bible study, click HERE to sign up.  Once we receive your registration, we will email you further details.

If you would like to send Martha a personal message in regards to this blog, you may email her at: Martha@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com

Crazy Love: Week 6 / Chapter 6: “When You’re In Love” (pp 99-101)

life-measured-by-love-crazy-love-francis-chan-T

I love love.

Seriously…. I really do! I love being in love, thinking about love, matching people up I know will fall in love…I love everything about LOVE!  I’m one of  those insanely passionate head-over-heels-in-love-makes-you-sick-to-your-stomach-to-watch-in-movies kind of characters who would rather DIE than be apart from my true love.

I know, I know…. it’s enough to make you vomit, but THIS is how God made me so I’ve decided to embrace it! I really am this way about anything I feel strongly about.  I’m one incredibly passionate person and THANK GOD that also translates to my love of Christ…although I have been in seasons where I am sad to say this wasn’t always the case.

As a Christian life coach, I have seen firsthand how intimacy issues here in-the-flesh on earth can greatly affect our relationship with God. Typically, if we keep people at arm’s length and not ever let them in, this also translates to how we interact with God in our relationship with Him. This causes us to not want to spend every waking moment with Him, or crave our time with Him.  But rather only to go to Him when we have no other option and then pick and choose the areas of our life we want to open up to Him.

As dangerous as this is for our in-the-flesh people relationships, this will 100% keep you from the type of intimate relationship God calls us to through being a Christ Follower. He calls us to Crazy Love. In my passionate life, I have held things I “loved” in 2 categories…

1. Reverence

  • A feeling of profound awe and respect and often love; veneration.

2. Intimate

  • Marked by close acquaintance, association, or familiarity. Relating to, or indicative of, one’s deepest nature: intimate prayers. Essential.

This week’s chapter is all about examining the love we have for God.  I really like this thought-provoking quote from John Piper that Chan shared in today’s lesson:

“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this:

If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth,

and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed,

and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted,

and no human conflict or any natural disasters,

could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?” 

Well, could you?

This certainly has the potential to be a very convicting question for us to ask ourselves….

Blessings,

Megan 🙂

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Let’s Pray:

Lord, help us today to yearn to be with You as often as we can and not ever want to live without You! Some of us are struggling with obtaining this passion love for You, Father, but we do want it! We need Your help and we thank You in advance for wooing us closer to You and helping us to finally be free of anything that is keeping us from having this deep passion for You! We thank You in advance for all You will do. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen <3

You’re Assignment:

Balance in our relationship with God is important so that we don’t “humanize” God to the point that we infer the failures of humans on God.  How often do you think of God as more of a concept rather than a real person?  Which is more of a struggle for you:  intimacy with God or reverence for God?

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If you are interested in joining this amazing online Bible study for Crazy Love, click HERE to sign up. Once you are registered, you will receive an email with further details.

If you would like to email a private message to Megan in regards to this blog, please email her at: megan@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

Crazy Love: Chapter 6 – “When You’re in Love” Reading Assignment

We are over halfway through our Crazy Love journey! It’s been a tough road, a nail-biter really. We’ve looked deep into our spirit to see what we need to work on. The journey may not be easy, but it will be worth it. God loves each one of us SO VERY MUCH. He doesn’t want to leave us where we are! He wants us to be the people He created us to be! But He cannot do it if we do not let Him! We have to let Him into those hurtful areas, those closed-off spots. That’s where His best work will be done.

So, let us begin chapter six. Ahh…love.. <3

Monday: Chapter 6 “When You’re In Love” pgs. 99-101/Kindle LOC 1268-1282  (Megan)

Tuesday: Chapter 6 “When You’re In Love” pgs. 101-103/ Kindle LOC 1282-1318 (Don’t Try So Hard) (Martha)

Wednesday: Chapter 6 “When You’re In Love” pgs. 103-109/Kindle LOC 1318- 1372 (Help! I Don’t Love You) (Jennifer)

Thursday: Chapter 6 “When You’re In Love” pgs. 109-111/ Kindle LOC 1372-1406 (Jesus: Servant, Not Beggar/SomeOne I Can Be Real With) (Donna)

Friday: Chapter 6 “When You’re In Love” Weekly Review and Chapter 6 Study Video from YouTube (Megan)

And here is a sneak peek video for you from our author! Enjoy and have a blessed day!

Let’s Pray:

Father, we want to be SO in love with You and not just the STUFF You offer us! Help us as we study this week. Reveal anything in us that is not pleasing to You and ignite a renewed passion in us for YOU and YOU alone. In Jesus name we pray, Amen!

Jennifer



If you are interested in joining this amazing online Bible study for Crazy Love, click HERE to sign up. Once you are registered, you will receive an email with further details.

If you would like to email a private message to Jennifer in regards to this blog, please email her at Jennifer@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com