Knowing Who I Am In Christ

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-John 1:12

Why is it that we think we must earn God's love or that He doesn't love us when we make bad choices and sin? Why is it that we believe that? If you had/have a child that had done the very worst possible thing, would you just say "whelp! That's it! I'm done with YOU! You're out! No longer my child! You're gonna have to find a new family and by the way, I do NOT love you!"? If anyone ever does say or believe that about their child, there's something wrong! The crazy thing is that God's love is neverending and completely unconditional! You can never earn or or lose it because when Jesus went to the cross, we did nothing to deserve that love. We can't do anything to lose His love. Out of our love for Him, we desire to do things that honor Him. It's just that we often think since we love Him and want to love Him with our lives we can get into a pattern of performance based work or thinking that we will lose God's love if we fail Him! If our earthly love that we have for each other the the children in our lives is SO deep, think our the love GOD has for us, EVEN when we fail or our lives aren't "picture perfect!" I feel like God has spoken this to me "I love you, Traci, not because you're trying hard and not because you have a good heart or good motives, not because you're beautiful, not even because you do things well or not well at all! NOT because you perform for Me, but just because YOU ARE MINE!"

How incredible! CRAZY! God has shown me that He loves me in spite of anything and everything! I don't have to do anything for Him; I don't have to be something for Him. All I have to do is to accept it: He loves me just because I am His. Do you understand? You can know that there is Someone who loves you-not because of the way you look, not because of the talents you might have, not because you're such a hard worker, so efficient and well-organized, not because of your appearance or performance in any way, shape or form-but because you are HIS!

God will not force you to become His, and He will not force you to receive His love either. It is pure choice, your choice. You choose to believe what He said. You choose to tell others about His love. You begin to draw from His strength. You cling to His faithfulness to you. You bask in His complete acceptance of you. You retreat into the peace that you find only in His presence. You've come to accept yourself because of Him. You are His...and He is yours..and you are in love!  

I have to choose to receive it, to live in it, to believe in it, despite how I feel. I have to choose to give up my way of doing things and allow Him to work His incredible plan in my life, to become my life. Ultimately, I have to choose to leave the uncertainty of my world and walk into the certainty of Him!

Lovingly God's Daughter,

Traci

Fixing My Eyes On Father

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. -Hebrews 12:2

God is taking me through a beautiful, yet extremely painful growth spurt in my walk with Him! It's wonderful and a blessing and very rewarding, but why does it have to be SO hard? I don't really know why, but I'm discovering SO many things during this time. I'm already seeing how God has changed so much in my heart and broken off lies and different things in me that aren't off Him. It's just a continual growing process. It doesn't just happen overnight. I've noticed that things that God takes the most time with are often the most beautiful things. I know that nothing in my life is worthy of being called beautiful. The only way ANY of it COULD be called beautiful is only by God's doing. He's writing my story. I've made many mistakes, believed SO many lies from the enemy and have tried to fix myself by doing better in areas where I'm weak and I fail! I have tried doing things I know that are right and I fail...of course a lot of this has been in my own strength and not living through the things God has placed on the inside of me. I fail when I TRY TO DO THINGS or TO FIX THINGS or MAKE THINGS BY MYSELF. Anything in me that I personally try to do in my own ability and strength is going to fail or crumble because I'm not IN CHRIST in those moments. I am "in Traci." Why do I think that I have my life under control?!?

For example, I can honestly say that I have struggled financially some and I struggled once with providing myself with food and I would somehow ALWAYS get a meal! That was TOTALLY God and I would look in that moment and think "WOW! God! You TRULY do take care of me!" It's amazing how God provides and loves and takes care of His children. WHY IN THE WORLD do I worry and believe the stupid, dumb lies of the Enemy!? The truth is-it sounds "right" when I'm not looking at myself or others or certain circumstances through God's eyes. If I would start to look at life in every single detail through the lens of my Heavenly Father, then MAYBE I would start believing and seeing what HE SEES! It's SO hard, right? Especially when life gets hard! BUT when Paul was shipwrecked and beaten and left for dead and put in prison, etc, did he base who He was and who GOD IS off of those circumstances and did he look to his past and beat himself up or believe the Enemy? OR did He trust and believe God, NO MATTER WHAT life through his way? He trusted in the sovereignty of our wonderful Heavenly Father!

Where are our eyes fixed? On HIM or on ourselves? Do we believe Him and HIS PROMISES? OR do we listen to the lies and the accusations and condemnations and stupidity of the Enemy? It's God's PROMISES over the Enemy's stupid lies! How do we find God's promises? In His word! Spending time with Jesus will help us in knowing who we are in Christ and the promises that He has for our lives!

Fixing My Eyes On Father,
Traci

BIG Family!?

I come from a family with 9 children-7 boys and 2 girls and my Momma and Daddyo! I desire to have a big family of my own one day-after I'm married of course (and if that's in God's plans and my future husband wants that too)! I'm also adopted and would love to adopt children too, only if God has those plans for my life! It's really a lot of fun having a big family! You ALWAYS have someone to talk to or to spend time with and when you're little there is ALWAYS someone you can play with! It's also nice that I have 7 brothers! I know it's crazy but I am SO happy God gave me 7 brothers instead of 7 sisters! God knew what He was doing. I have a desire to have a big family, but I know God knows what's best and has wonderful plans for my life. If God only wanted me to have 3 kids I would be happy! Either way I LOVE children and big families! It's beautiful! :)

Walk on the Water

Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (ESV)

Keep Moving Forward Into The Love of God-Forget the Old Self, The Old Lies. Make Jesus Your #1 and His plans will come to pass in Your life! ....Believe me, I'm learning how to give God more of me and this is NOT easy..it's hard trusting God! It's hard stepping out of the boat and onto the water! BUT we can give God ALL of us because He LOVES US SO MUCH and has AMAZING plans for us..we just have to learn to give Him COMPLETE control, even when it's hard! (This encouragement is for me as well as I hope it encourages you!) He's our WONDERFUL Father and the greatest Lover of ALL time! He loves SO deep and SO much! I desire to love like Jesus and to live like my Heavenly Father. So come with me as we embark on this journey of stepping out of our comfort and control zone in our boat and stepping on the water in faith trusting that Jesus has our lives in the palms of His hands! His hand is reaching out to you and me. Yes, it is hard, it takes faith, but will we trust Him with EVERYTHING, EVERY AREA of our lives?

Listen to this song, it's one of my many favorites!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeTu8twnGvU

Falling in Love

Have you ever fell in love before? It's amazing, right? You see an imperfect person as loved and cherished and you care for them. Love is CRAZY really. Love literally changes your life, whether you are the one loving someone or the one being loved by someone-love changes us!

Just recently I fell in love. My whole life changed and has continually changed since the moment I met the one I love. I started thinking about the one I love ALL the time! I started desiring to be with the one I love ALL the time. I longed to be there in the arms of the one I love and know that I am loved back-no matter what. There's nothing quite like it really! It's truly the greatest feeling and knowing in the whole world! To walk with the one I love, to talk with the one I love and to just know that no matter what-the one I love is never leaving, but staying faithful to me even when I fail over and over again. No matter what, the one I love loves who I am! It's that unconditional love that changes us.

The world throws this fake version of love in our faces and tells us that love is "here today and gone tomorrow, so love while you can!" The truth is-love NEVER leaves and we don't have to be someone we are not to be loved by anyone. Love is given freely and love is not a "if you are____ (fill in the blank) then I will love you..." Love is a choice. Love is sacrificial, love is faithful, love overlooks a multitude of wrongs and forgives. Love never fades, love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, does not boast, is not self-seeking, love rejoices with the truth, love preservers. Love is so many things all in one! When you truly experience love yourself, you never want to go back!

Another exciting part of being in love is writing love letters! I LOVE writing (even though I haven't been on here in a long time, I'm sorry), and I especially love writing love letters! Love letters are the best-you can read them any time you want to remind you of the love a person has for you! Love letters are sentimental (or should be I hope), love letters are a way to freely express yourself to the one you love. Writing gets all of your thoughts out on paper and helps you release your feelings and emotions.

Love has literally changed my life. God is love..and that's the love I'm referring to at this moment. God has changed my life. Everything I've written about love is the things God has let me grow in in my relationship with Him! I am more in love with Jesus than I've EVER been! Yes, I do love in this way on earth, but nothing compares to the love I've experienced with Jesus! He loves me so much and has not ever stopped pursuing me and showing me HIS love, not my version of the kind of love He has for me-but His true, genuine love-the love HE HAS FOR ME! He desires to romance me! He wants my WHOLE HEART and my WHOLE LIFE! Something God has shown me recently is that He is jealous for me, meaning that He wants my whole attention! He wants to grow me and love me and show me amazing things in my relationship with Him. I have failed Him over and over and over SO SO SO SO SO much, but GOD STILL LOVES ME!

It's so incredibly difficult to be not literally in the arms of Jesus..because that's where I want to be! I know one day soon I will be with the one I love and that will be a beautiful day!

It's hard to be away from the ones I love on this earth..and I hope one day I can be with the ones I love-if I never get to, I know that they know down deep inside their hearts that I love them! God is taking good care of His children and I trust Him with my heart and my life! It's a growing process of trusting in God every day because it's hard to trust that He holds the future when I can't see it clearly.

I just want to encourage you to fall madly in love with your Father! God loves you tremendously and there's NOTHING YOU CAN EVER SAY OR DO or that ANYONE can EVER SAY OR DO to remove His never-ending, unconditional love for you! God loves you more than you love yourself or anyone else! I hope my love walk with Jesus just keeps growing!

Know that you are forgiven and loved and God is not mad at you at all! He has compassion on you and wants to hear EVERYTHING-the good, the bad and the ugly. He wants to talk to you about everything in your life. Read His love letter to you-The Bible and write love letters to Him! Go on walks with Jesus, sing to Him, talk to Him, listen to Him and never lose hope! Keep letting Him romance you and keep running to your Daddy God! He's got you! We are precious to Jesus. We are His. Don't stop! RUN AFTER GOD WITH ALL YOU HAVE AND ALL THAT IS INSIDE YOU. Know that HIS love compels you to Him, it is not of your own strength or ability that you can even love God outside of God because GOD IS LOVE!

I'm falling more in love with Jesus every day and I hope you are falling for Him too!

Love,
Traci

Encouragement

I haven't written on my blog in SO long! I apologize! Life is so busy sometimes, especially working 2 jobs and college and keepin up with life! There is so much I could say and write about so it is difficult to pick one thing to talk about. So, to start off I just want to encourage you in Jesus! God has been growing me a LOT recently and building my faith and love for Him. I have never experienced what I am experiencing in my walk with God right now! It's exciting and so wonderful to feel the freedom and love of the Father! We all go through life and we all have ups and downs and I get that! It's not by our own ability that we change and become like Jesus, but it's by our Heavenly Father's great love and power that changes us. He makes us who we are! He uses the things in our lives to build character and love for Him! Give everything over to Him-every fear, every worry, every single thing in your life over and let Him keep it and do with it whatever He wants! Let God make you into HIS beautiful masterpiece! :)

So, in saying that I want to encourage you to trust your Heavenly Father to love you no matter what, to speak to you and to grow you and make you who He wants you to be! Stay in the word of God and let it be like water that runs through you! Let it refresh you and nurture you! God's words are truth and they are freedom! God's words are powerful! God's words created the Heavens and the earth! God's words knit you together in your mothers womb! God's words spoke the whole earth into existence! God cares about you, every single detail of your life! He has a beautiful plan and purpose for you! I have faith that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion! Have faith even when you can't see what's ahead! Have faith in Jesus and God's words! He does not lie and He is FAITHFUL to the end! Rest in His love, bask in His presence and read His word, remember His promises and live out your faith! Keep running the race that is set before you! Don't give up and I'm praying for you!