PRAISE AND COFFEE

Ronel and I met online over 10 years ago, she was one of the first subscribers to this blog of random thoughts on faith and family. Even with over 2,000 miles between us we became fast friends. We were both in a season of feasting on the busy-ness of church life and women’s ministry yet starving for authentic connection. Each of us have flown back and forth to catch up over a cup of coffee and even shared a few speaking events through the years. I love tag-team speaking with

I often get asked where I’m going to church, *smile* I’ll get to that. When we left the church in 2000 that we had helped plant in 1996 (let me be completely honest, we were kicked out for disagreeing with the pastor and “causing discord”), I was so hurt. I felt discouraged, displaced, and completely destroyed. I have to add here…there was a day when I couldn’t admit that we were kicked out, I was ashamed and I would feel the need to explain, but not anymore. I will explain i

Connect, encourage and inspire… Now available in print! Six Praise and Coffee Conversations to help you facilitate a Praise and Coffee group (or any small group or personal devotions) as you gather in coffee shops or around kitchen tables. No preparation required. Invite two to twelve friends to a coffee shop/restaurant or around your kitchen table. It’s that easy! Consider these six conversations a springboard. Do not hold rigidly to them, instead let the conversations serve

He never intended you to dance alone. Trust Him. Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Proverbs 3:5 The Message Bible #womensministry #depression #MOPS #encouragement #brokenheart #frustrated #trustGod #SueCramer

Anyone can fit it, but you are not anyone. YOU were created with a purpose and a plan in mind. YOU were not created to just fit in. Be yourself, stand out and SHINE for Him and who He made you to be. Psalms 139 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, whe

I look at my life and never could have imagined the journey that brought me to this place in my life. I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t love every twist and turn and re-route along the way. I took some detours and jumped right into a few ditches along the way. BUT I love that God has been with me through it all and when I look back on even the most confusing and painful times in my life, I see Him. I see His hand, I see where He was loving me and guiding me towards His plan. Ta

She pours her insecure heart out for all of us to see and bravely shares what so many of us would rather hide. The post: Praise and Coffee #womensministry #friendship #PraiseandCoffee #denisedykstra #encouragement #PraiseandCoffeeNights #connection #fear

When our kids were teens we had a 17 foot speed boat and took them tubing every summer. It became quite an adventure. What began as a fun family time quickly turned into “combat tubing” which included four tubes behind the boat, high rates of speed and acrobatics involving jumping over each other as we cornered and landing on top of the other tubers. The wake was their friend and often used to launch them into the air and Mom into a nervous break down. Thankfully it only made

Have you been feeling God call you to step out? Do you want to start something organic and let God direct the movement and conversation? You don’t have to wait for permission to grab some girlfriends or the lady at the bank who’s been on your heart and go for coffee. We want to help you facilitate connection, encouragement and inspiration… We are very excited to announce that our first in the series of Praise and Coffee to Go’s is available on Kindle for $2.99 Available on Am

As long as you’re still taking breaths…you haven’t gone too far away from His love. No matter where you’ve gone or what you’ve done, He’s been pursuing you with His love. Stop running… Fierce: /fi(ə)rs/ Adjective: having or displaying an intense or ferocious aggressiveness. 1 John 4:9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. John 15:13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life

Freedom: the condition of being free, the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints. Does fear keep you restrained from stepping out with power to do the things that burn in your heart? If fear did not hold you back, what would you do? What would you say? What would you create? Freedom always costs something. Jesus came and paid for our freedom from the power of sin and death. I’m hoping you’ve experienced that freedom. But even after receiving s

We pray and plead and hope and trust, yet nothing happens. Or does it? We set our sights on the answer, and only the answer we desire. What if it’s not that simple? What if there is more going on than a transaction? Imagine a child-parent relationship based on transactions? The child says to the parent, “I will ask you for things. you take care of them and I will thank you.” I don’t want the parent or child side of that relationship. Sadly, I think we often approach our faith

Galatians 4: 4-7 4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir. Orphanages have an ov

Whether or not she was trying to earn His approval, love or just impress everyone; she missed the point and I know that I have too. Anybody else? Mary knew that the most important thing happening was at His feet. Listening, learning and resting in His love. Shouldn’t this be easy?? Shouldn’t it come naturally?? Yes, I think it does, but many of us have forgotten how to live instinctively. We know in theory that we should put our family first, that God has given us the gift of

A piece of what I’ve been working on… It’s new life, a new day. It’s hope. Please don’t give up. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. Romans 4:18 The Message And be careful not to paint hope with one just color and brush, often new life looks different than we imagined it would. I have experienced this kind of hope, I’d love to hear your stories of new life if y

I’ve noticed something lately. I suppose it’s not a recent “thing” but it seems to be ramping up, or at least I’m just seeing it more. NickMom calls it “Other Mothering.” Jon Acuff calls it Jesus Juke. I refer to myself as a recovering Pharisee. It takes on many forms and has been around since the dawn of man but I think that social media has propelled it to a whole new level. It’s that attitude of needing to right all the wrongs (or in the Christian community-spiritualizing

Do you ever struggle to know where you fit? Do you feel like your relationship with God is flat and you want more? Are you tired of religion as you know it and ready for a deeper walk with God? I want to invite you to join in an online study that I will be leading: “Becoming Me Through Him” Unashamedly waking up to the woman God created you to be. I’ve shared this message for about 5 years at retreats (and I’ll be sharing it again this weekend), it’s based on the story of Rah

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 Hold on to hope, even in the deep stuff. #womensministry #faith #encouragement #fear #SueCramer

How many decisions do we make based on fear? What will they think? What if I fail? What if…? There is only one solid way to overcome fear… “God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fe

The Summer Praise and Coffee Magazine is here! Click here to read: Summer 2013 It’s filled with great articles by amazing women. The topic is freedom, and we tackle it from all angles. Freedom from our past, freedom to forgive, freedom from debt and more. Our last issue… It was a little harder to press “publish” on this magazine. As you will read, it is the last magazine for an undecided amount of time. I tell you about the decision on the last pages of the magazine. We’ve ha