I Am Cut

Does this image look familiar to you in any way? It's a cry for HELP, for love, for someone to notice them! They need a friend. They need someone who cares!  I have come in contact with so many people who are struggling with cutting! This breaks my heart! SO many people are hurting! They need to know that they are loved and treasured and valued! God sees them as a jewel...they are NOT alone. I know similarly what these people are going through! I personally have struggled with depression and many other things. God sees his children as treasured! Christ has already taken the scars and the punishment! What have we to say Christ was not enough? He is GREATER and His love is DEEPER than what we feel and what the LIES of the enemy tell us! He is the best decision I've made!

If anyone has any ideas on how to reach out to these people, PLEASE let me know! I want to help where I can and I know that even a smile or a hug and just being a friend can and DOES do SO much! You are NOT alone if you struggle with cutting! I love you and so does Jesus! You are NOT alone and YOU ARE LOVED! <3

~Dreams~

Your heart is racing, your whole body is sweating and it's become more and more difficult to breathe. You can't escape, but you're trying to figure out how. He's running after you...you keep running for your life, but you feel out of breath soon! What are you going to do?? You're mind is trying to gather information on how to handle this situation but there seems to be no way out, you're stuck. Finally since there is no solution, you wake up! Whewww...it was JUST a dream!


Dreams can be very interesting...just recently I've been having a few nightmares and they seemed so real. It was like I couldn't escape and I was stuck. One dream was about terrorists and the one I had last night was about tornado's coming through. Both dreams I was scared and couldn't escape the situation. I was SO grateful when I woke up and realized that it was JUST a dream. Dreams can often times seem SO real. For one of my dreams I had, I woke up with my head buried underneath the covers, heart bounding and my body perspiring. Sometimes we think that dreams are our fault and we did something to get them, etc...but we didn't and that's sometimes hard to remember when you're coming out of a dream or just woke up from one! For one, it's NOT reality, and it's dreams. Dreams can come from thoughts and feelings that you've had throughout the day and it can also be spiritual-God can speak through dreams and the Devil can also give you nightmares that are NOT of God, JUST to make you scared...When I wake up from dreams I like to pray about them, no matter what they are. If it's a nightmare I ask God to help me work through it and to realize it was JUST a dream and I tell the Devil to stop and leave me alone. If it's a crazy dream I just laugh and if it's a dream I believe is from God I pray about it and that God would show me what He is trying to speak to me about.

I encourage you that when you start to have good or bad dreams to 1) Realize it's NOT YOUR FAULT. 2) Pray about it that God would help you through it 3) Go on about your day and realize that dreams are dreams-if their from God, He will show you, otherwise we can just move on and pray that God would help us with that.

Dreams...

I've had several dreams of mine for awhile that I guess I've just been ignoring and never truly pursued. I am still praying through some things at this point, but I am starting to think God has placed these desires here in my heart and it's for a reason and a purpose! They haven't gone away since I was a little girl-I still have them to this day! I've always prayed that God would give me His desires in my heart and I really think I should try pursuing some of them now (if God supplies a way-which I am praying His will and if this is Him then I believe He will)! I hope to do very well and get my Early Childhood Education Degree, I want to try to get violin lessons, I would love to write a book someday and become an author. I am also considering going on to get my Sign Language Interpreter Degree! If God wants me to then that's what I will do! I have had all of these desires since I was probably 5 or 6 years old. I really believe they are from God and I have been seeking Him and praying for direction and I really believe that this is probably where He is leading me. If it is, then I know God will make a way-financially, emotionally and in any way that I need!  He is SO faithful and has been supplying EVERY need of mine since I was born-literally! I hope all of these dreams and desires come true if they're from Jesus and I really think God has something in store for my future! I can't wait to find out what it is! I am excited for no matter how great or small it might be! :) Please pray for guidance and direction and finances to fall into place so I can do everything Jesus has called me to do! :) I appreciate the prayers!

Daughter of My Heavenly Father's Heart,

Traci

Have Your way in my life Jesus! :)

My Hero, My Inspiration!

Rachel Joy Scott..Just hearing her story, saying her name or thinking about her inspires me! When her book came out "Rachel's Tears" I got it and I read it. It was one of the most amazing, inspirational stories I have ever read in my entire life. Her passion and love for Jesus is AMAZING! I want to be like her in SO SO many ways! She loved Jesus and she made Him known. There are so many things about Rachel that I wish I could be like. I just wish I could have met her-to be her friend. As I read her story I asked that God would make me like Rachel..I prayed that I would be like her and shine Jesus like her. I often still do pray that my life would be a reflection of Jesus. She is part of the biggest reasons I have 30+ journals and the reason I was inspired to do what I do and who I am. When she died I was 6 years old and I remember that day so well-the day she was martyred for believing in Jesus. I even remember the news stories and going to Acquire the Fire YEARS later and her story was still being told! I want to be like Rachel. Her life was truly a light and I want Jesus to do that in me.

God made me and God made Rachel. I am happy that God made me who I am and He made Rachel who she is. I think though, that God placed Rachel's story in my life to help encourage me in my walk with Jesus. Every year (several times a year) I read Rachel's story and I think about who she was and what she did and what her dreams were. I just hope that someday I can meet her in Heaven and tell her how inspiring she was to me. Sometimes as I think about her story I just cry because of the HUGE impact she has had on my life and her life and death were HUGE in people's lives. She not only inspired my life, but I know MANY other people's lives!

Jesus make me who you want me to be! Let me love you like Rachel did and even more than she did! God let me be who you want me to be and you get all the glory and honor in my life! Use it any way you wish! I am YOURS forever!

"I will NOT be labeled as average."

Finding My Voice

       
                Today I had a session time with my counselor and we discussed some very important things...One of which was "Traci, you need to take back the voice that was taken from you as a child." You have the power and ability to say "no" to things and to set appropriate and right boundaries..As a young child your boundaries were violated and you had no ability or power to take control, but now you must take back your voice and realize that you have one. You must realize that people will try and do try to cross your boundaries and you need to realize-you are no longer a victim like you were when you were younger. You are an adult and you have the power to protect the temple God gave you! You are the temple of the Holy Spirit and what people have done and do to you that hurt you, they are hurting God and His temple. Take back your voice...."

I have been in counseling for a little while to go back over things from when I was wounded in my past. I want to grow and be healed more and more. I want to be who God has called me to be and realize that everyone has a past and everyone has something bad and hard that they have gone through (maybe even more than one thing) but that does not make them bad or anything of the like. That's why we need Jesus. He took the weight and all the sin and wounds and pain and hurt from us. We are more than conquerors through Christ who lives in us. I have a voice that God has given me and He has a plan and purpose for my life. He works all things out for the good of those who are called according to His purpose. I am called and I am chosen. I am God's child and in my weakness' Christ is made perfect. I am finding my voice..

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Thanks Again,

Traci

Human Trafficking-The slavery that needs a voice

"A man approached Brittany at a mall in her hometown, asked if she was looking for a job, and gave her a business card for a local restaurant he owned. When Brittany called the number on the card, the man confirmed that he was looking for waitresses to start working immediately. Brittany needed the job and asked for the restaurant’s address, but the man told her he would pick her up at the mall where they first met. Instead of going to the restaurant, the man drove her to a nearby hotel and told her that she was going to be a prostitute instead of a waitress. At gunpoint, Brittany was force to drink bottles of vodka and take blue pills that made her dizzy and disoriented. Brittany tried to look for help but was locked in the hotel room without access to a phone. After three days of being beaten, drugged, and forced to have sex with at least 60 men, Brittany managed to escape and asked the first car she saw to call the police. Polaris Project provided case management services to Brittany, and with time and a strong support system she was able to enroll in school."

http://www.polarisproject.org/index.php

Human Trafficking is very serious. So many people get caught up in it as a result of family, friends, or being kidnapped or in airports. There are so many people in human trafficking without a voice. We can be that voice. We are able to speak and do something about it that they can't. They need our help and our prayers. We need to pray and ask God to help them and when given opportunities to make a difference we should speak for those children and women and some boys caught up in this torturous slavery. Human Trafficking is REAL and it is WRONG and it is SCARY! It happens all over the world, including the U.S. We can't stand back and watch it happen. I encourage you to keep praying and ask God to show you how YOU personally can make a difference in this area. Don't be afraid to speak about it and find ways to help. You are needed and those people involved are needed for something greater! Pray for the abusers and the people who are doing the harm. They really need our prayers as well. We are here for a purpose and we all have a hope-the hope of Jesus! I will speak against human trafficking and do all I can to make a difference in this area. I hope you will do the same!
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