Don't Forget - God is not a man that He should lie!!

When God speaks a promise over you - a dream given to you - He will do it!! He doesn't take back His words, He doesn't speak something and then walk away and not do it. He's 100% reliable and 100% faithful to keep His promises. His yes's are yes, and His no's are no.

Many of you just came back from the Dare to Dream Conference this past weekend in Nashville, TN and you were inspired to DARE to Dream the dreams God has given you - you are not alone in this journey because He's the one that gave you the dream in the first place. Trust Him, follow Him, listen to Him and YOUR DREAMS WILL COME ALIVE!!

I am God,
the only God there is, the one and only.
I promise in my own name:
Every word out of my mouth does what it says.
I never take back what I say.
Everyone is going to end up kneeling before me.
Everyone is going to end up saying of me,
'Yes! Salvation and strength are in God!'"
Taken from the MSG - Isaiah 45

Walk in His strength and His love - cover yourself with Him and watch it all appear in His perfect time.

Love and believe in you LOADS!!!

Tracee Lee Davidson

Don't Forget TO LOVE

It's kind of funny how we actually have to be reminded to actually Love. What I wouldn't do to have someone serve me a platter of post-it notes everyday of what I shouldn't forget and how much easier that would make my life!

I find Love is something that is so powerful because it is so easily swayed by what emotions we feel on a daily basis. As women, you know that can totally change from minute to minute. lol!!! You wake up and feel great, and then you take your first look in the mirror and see that you have planets that have appeared on your face overnight while you thought you were getting your beauty sleep! All of the sudden, that moment of glee you woke up with is suddently gone! The power of that emotion of disappointment can greatly affect your response to those you love! Wild, huh? I have soooo been there!!

The key is to learn to remain steady in LOVE at all times. I know - that is so not easy to learn but it's a beautiful emotion to experience that I find, the more I fight to hold onto Love God's way, the more amazing the outcome of Love radiates through my life.

What I want to challenge you with this week is to start a Love REVOLUTION with your family - Your family see's the good, the bad, the ugly, the orbits growing on your face, your reactions to how you feel when you're happy, sad, mad, and glad! They see it all!! Now - check out the verse below and begin to apply those key words of God's wisdom into your family life....Read on:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end. I Cor. 13 (MSG)

It doesn't matter how many times I read that, it's so powerful!!

Love Tips:

1. Keep LOVE scriptures posted around your mirror and quote them every single day. Col. 3:2 - Set your mind on things above.
2. Remember that LOVE is something you have to do on purpose
3. LOVE is a verb which means you have to put it into action.
4. You must PUT LOVE on like getting dressed. Eph. 6:11-17
5. Stop catering to your flesh...LOVE is best shown by serving.

(These love tips were inspired by a teaching I heard from Joyce Meyer's this week)

So, Start in your home - revolutionize the love God has placed in your life to LOVE greater than you ever have. When your buttons get pushed, your day at work make you want to pull your hair out and then you have to head home, make dinner, do a soccer practice run, laundry, homework - DON'T FORGET to Love - Trust God Always...Love NEVER fails!!

Tracee

Don't Forget......TO LAUGH

Last week I was struck by a comment made by a speaker (who's name I can't remember...lol!) at a conference I was at....what he said was, "Don't forget...." After I heard that, I couldn't think of anything else the speaker said as my brain went on a shoe trail of thinking of all the 'don't forgets' I've done in my life and how if I really remembered those things I really don't need to forget, how much easier my life would be. Oh the joys of being human and having many many 'duh' moments this life brings. I'm one of those people that can make a shopping list and forget to leave my list at home. Now, I do have one good trait of actually being able to 'see' the list in my head and recall what I put on it...well, most everything I put on the list. lol!

So, I want to start a series of what I'm calling, Don't Forget. They'll be funny inspirations and spiritually challenging thoughts of the things we can't afford to forget as we walk closer and closer to our Master. It's the don't forgets that draw us closer to Him.....

Here we go.....

DON'T FORGET - TO LAUGH

Too many things in this life take away our laughter, our joy. When I read in the scriptures, I find a little secret that we must NEVER lose in order to succeed in this life that can be great, miserable, difficult, suffocating, fun, and crazy all in one. That key verse is: "Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10 Did you see that secret - the joy of the Lord IS your STRENGTH. The way we find God's joy is by hanging out with Him - breathing Him in, living every single minute of every single day wtih Him. As we do that, His joy overtakes us and consumes everything we do.

Just the other day I woke up and was literally just not having a good day. My kids were sick, I didn't have a good night sleep, I just felt heavy inside. Even after reading the Word and praying that morning, I still didn't get that lift I was looking for. About 3 hours later, I was driving down the road and talking to God....I asked him, "Why do I literally feel so blah today?" You know what He said, "You have a choice of how you want to respond to all that's going on and how you feel...let it sink you or rise above it." Well, you guessed exactly what I did - I made the choice to seek JOY and when I did, I experienced HIS strength. It was wild! You might be saying, "Yeah, right! How could it be that easy?" I have to say it actually was. I literally, in one moment, made the decision to choose joy over how I was feeling and instantly I felt the heaviness begin to lift off me. Just as you choose to feel and accept the heaviness you are feeling, is just the same as you can choose to experience God's full joy for your life.

So, don't forget - LAUGH, LAUGH, LAUGH!! It's God's gift to YOU that is contagious.

Tracee

Klaussen Pickles

Little did I know how powerful a pickle was until my son came up to me one day and said, "Mom, when I eat pickles (the Klaussen brand), they make me feel like I am invincible. Like I can do anything I want." I smiled a huge smile as I watched his facial expressions because as he was talking you could see such passion and love all for a pickle - a Klaussen one, that is. For some reason, outside of simply being one of those statements that your child says that you'll never forget, I couldn't help think of the power of that word - invincible. That's a pretty powerful pickle to make one feel that way. So, yes, I just have to twist this around and cause us to think about this in a God way. Oh yea - I think you are getting at what I am getting at!! We live for an invincible God - He is incapable of being overcome or defeated; unconquerable!! That completely puts a HUGE smile on my face with that revelation. No one can overcome, defeat or conquer God! He is the Ultimate!! As you go about your day - living out His dreams, His passions for your life don't EVER forget - no matter what obstacles you face in life through Christ we are invincible!

Think about this: Living your life for God, does it make you feel like you can do anything? Let me remind you of one powerful verse: I can do ALL things THROUGH Christ who gives me Strength! Phil. 4:13

Now go get your pickle and conquer your world!!

Off to Krogers to get my Klaussens,

Tracee

GO Beyond Your Comfort Zone

As a Leader, we need to be consistantly moving forward. It's brilliant getting to know your area of ministry very well but never come to a place of such comfort that you aren't catching the beautiful waves of God moving us into our tomorrow's His way. With this in mind, this causes me to stop and really thinking about what I am doing from time to time, why am I doing it, what is the purpose, is it Kingdom work? It’s time that we re-evaluate what we are doing and why. If you have become too comfortable in what you are doing, then it’s time to connect with God in ways you’ve never done before. Pursue Him deeper, stronger, more fervently than you ever have. When you read in the O.T. you will find that God was a risk taker and never played it safe. He always did things with greatness, with purpose, and with deep passion. The beat of His heart is one thing: people. As you cultivate this deeper walk, find His heartbeat and be motivated to love and reach your girls and community in ways like never before!

My challenge to you as a Leader is this – get a blank piece of paper and sign it. Don’t fill in the blanks of what you want to do, what your agenda will be – instead, get out of the boat and start walking in faith and leave the page blank to allow God, your Father, to take you on a journey you’ve never experienced this year. I promise you one thing, He WILL fill in the blanks and when He gives you guidance that is when you can write it on the blank page. Living a life on the edge is what will connect you to His heart, His passions, His dreams, His desires and will CONNECT you to His people – the ones that live in the cities and towns that you live in. Compassion leads you to action…God is actively moving forward…move with Him.

I'm so busy, busy, dreadfully busy!

Do you ever feel like there is so much going on in your life that you can’t even fathom how you’ll get it all done? Overwhelmed? On the edge of insanity because of it all? Having urges of pulling out your hair? Oh wait, I’m talking about myself! Lol! Welcome to my life at this very moment - So much to do, so little time. Makes my innards feel like they are going crazy at times but what is wild is I actually seem to get a lot done when I have an intense schedule. I actually work well when stressed and become quite creative. I know, that sounds totally crazy but it’s so true. Something that I am striving to grasp through these times because the seasons of craziness seem to be getting closer and closer together leaving me less ‘ahhhh’ moments is how to continually focus and keep my mind on Christ through it all.

It comes down to this – I want everything I do to have an eternal impact for Christ and to align myself and my life decisions that I make DAILY on the dreams that God has placed within me to please my Heavenly Father. I don’t want to look back on life and say, “If only…” So, today I was reading in Philippians and the thing that kept popping out to me over and over is how Paul made the most out of every situation he was put in, whether walking in freedom or in prison in chains. Phil. 1:21 Paul said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” In the craziness of life, Christ must matter most. How we react, how we respond, what we do, what we don’t do…aligning ourselves up with His will, His dreams, His plans for us. Everything counts, everything matters. Wow – read v.27 – ‘let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ.’ Walking out your life and all your dreams w/out complaining, disputing, walking without fault but in all that God has given you to do every single day – do it with joy, being anxious for NOTHING, thinking of beautiful thoughts, things that are uplifting, knowing that God will give you the strength to do everything He has called you to do because He will supply ALL your needs according to His riches in glory. Now that totally rocks!! So, get busy doing His Kingdom work – get active for Him, do things that have eternal value and find joy that is so complete because that kind of joy can only come from God!! So, yes, I’m so busy, busy, dreadfully busy but I’m loving every single minute of it because I’m determined to keep my focus on Christ. What a beautiful life!

Living, Loving, Laughing,

Tracee

Daring to Dream

Daring to Dream

So, this past weekend I was at our TN District Girls Getaway Retreat that was absolutely amazing. I had a beautiful opportunity to lead worship at this event but even beyond that, the way the Lord flowed in the services and what the Speakers spoke on was beyond amazing. Absolutely brilliant and truly life changing!!

The major thing that we were challenged on was Daring to Dream. A topic that is incredibly dear to my heart as I have dreams within me that have yet to come true. Oh the joys of the wait…..and more waiting…and more waiting…..lol!!! I’ve turned grey through the years just in the wait but I promise you – there are no complaints from me!! I want to get into my Promised Land!! FYI – you will see not proof of grey hairs thanks to a GREAT hairdresser!!!

Debbie Lindell, Pastor’s Wife of James River in Springfield, MO (they only run 14,000 people…lol!!) was the main speaker so the points that I’m about to share, I can take no credit for but I just had to pass them onto you so you can be inspired as much as I was….here we go…gotta keep this a lil’ short so you don’t feel like you are reading chapters…

Read I Cor. 2:9-10

When You Dare to Dream you have to prepare yourself for what God wants to do in your life –

1. You have to have your heart set on Godly things. Colossians 3:2 Change is required – it’s like a near death experience. It means you must desire to be more than ordinary but extraordinary.
2. You must be faithful in the little things. Philippians 4. This means that we must keep our eyes on God and not on the mountain top where our dream lies. That can be a toughie!! But soooo worth it!
3. Be prepared to Lead. It takes leadership to walk out your dream.
4. Be Confident that God can use you! I Timothy 4:11-16. No matter what your age – it’s NEVER too late for dreams to become a reality.
5. Be a Godly example through the entire journey. I Corinthians 11:1
6. Stay Devoted to God’s Word.
7. Commit yourself to Serve

Last but sooo not least – many times we wonder and ask ourselves, “What is my dream?” Your dream is attached to your gifts so what are your gifts? What do you do better than anyone else? In that gift, fly higher than you ever have before and DARE TO DREAM because no dream is too big for God.

Soaring Forward…..

Tracee

Old Fruit Stinks!

When I first saw this picture of old fruit, I first thought it was a shrivelled up orange but then saw the title and realized it was an apple! Think about this: is the love you are giving really life-giving love or is it love only demanding something in return? That is fruit that 'appears' to be one thing but actually is another. Deep, huh?

Today I've been reading Galatians 5:16-26. It's a must read in The Message because it breaks it down even more in a way that will get you to the core. lol! Core - apples, fruit...on a theme here. :)

Personal Life - Think about this: Living in the Spirit is NOT compatible with selfishness. Living in the Spirit is not something you can choose to do half the day and then walk in selfishness the other half. Okay, so I know that after a long days work you come home, make dinner, wash clothes, help with homework, go to soccer practice and the list goes on and on from there - this is going to stretch the limits of 'walking in the Spirit' because by the end of the day you are literally pooped! The difference, though, is when you go to bed at night you will either feel majorly stressed, tense, uptight and worn out or you will feel that peace flood you, you'll have a smile on your face, kindness in your heart and a beautiful calmness - what's cool is the more you walk in the spirit, the more natural it will become. It's all about what you want and the choices you choose to make.

Ministry Life - God has given us a life of amazing freedom but He never intended it to be used for our own selfish benefits. Something that is coming to mind is in my life, I work with teens and girls from way young to upper teen years. What I have come to realize is I can't try to make them become me, who I am, the spiritual experiences I've had - do it my way or the way I did when I was their age. It's a different time, different circumstances, different world - I MUST understand THEM in their culture, not mine. I MUST meet them where THEY are, not where I am. I CANNOT put my expectations on THEM, but LOVE them w/out condition. I CAN'T cut off the fruit in their life that I don't believe should be there - but I can lead, by example, a life of walking out the Spirit - showing: love, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Being a Leader doesn't give me the right to demand, but what I do demand is how I live my own life - living out life by putting action to my words and heart.

Wrap It Up - Living life with these fruits means that we need to WALK in the Spirit...allowing God to remove fruit that is not yielding good fruit - fruit that stinks, is rotten, to the point that you can't even tell what it is. It's such a cool and wild thought to know how deep God's love for us is. It starts at home...in you, your families and stretches beyond. Go for it! You can do it!! (don't worry, I do have those days that I go to bed with my face all uptight and stressed...but the cool thing is rotten fruit stinks so it doesn't last toooooo long! :)

Extravagant Living

Now that summer and half of fall has passed I thought it was time to return to my blog. How I've missed just dumping the words floating through my brain down for you to read. I know it can be scary at times for you but trust me, you will be just fine! :)

So, today I am reading Ephesians chapter 5 in The Message and before I could get out of the first 3 verses I get stuck on this: His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

That is incredibly powerful. God didn't love cautiously but EXTRAVANGANTLY. So I had to look up the meaning of the word - extravagant = unrestrained, excessive, exceeding the limits of reason. It's hard to even begin to attempt to understand the depth of the word extravagant in relationship to God's love for us. This verse starts off with "Be imitators of God". (NKJV) So, God is calling me to be like Him so that means I cannot be cautious with the love I give but I am to give it without restraint, excessively, exceeding the limits of MY own reasoning. That is an extremely challenging thought - but yet a life motivating way to live. Will you get hurt loving this way, oh yea, but is it worth it, oh yea! Live life as Christ lived it - there will be pain, there will be joy, there will be trials, there will be triumphs - but at least when it's all said and done you can say you really lived life to the fullest because you LIVED LIFE EXTRAVANGANTLY - just like Jesus. This is such a deep thought that can't just be meditated on today only because it must be a way to live life daily. It involves change and that change is within us....wow! Too bad change wasn't as easy as taking one outfit off and putting on another! Of course, my bank account couldn't support that habit!

Okay - so, now I am ready to get ready for the day, head to Starbucks with a gift card I got that someone with an extravangant love for me (well, I hope so, at least...lol!) gave to me and finish my stinkin' yard that I'm soooo not gifted at working at but - I will do it with extravagant love and pray that the plants I plant will live and not die!!

The Joys of Motherhood

(November 2001)

I am the proud owner of three marvelously behaved children – Caleb is 15, Faith is 13, and Jake is 8. They really are the joys of my life. Really, they are! I have been married for 18 years to the love of my life, Mark. Three years after we were married, we decided that it was time to start a family….Little did I know what it was going to look like when this journey started. I had some misconceptions of motherhood that started within the first 6 weeks of just being pregnant…I had always seen pictures of a pregnant woman and she looked so happy, so surreal, so peaceful – I couldn’t wait for my day to arrive when I quickly realized that picture was a lie – it didn’t take my body but about 4 weeks to realize that there was an invasion inside of me and it decided that it would no longer like food, water, or even the smell of anything pleasant! I thought pregnancy was a time for eating not dieting!! This got me started on my journey that I call the ‘toilet affair.’ My husband was quite jealous because I was loving on toilets more than I was him. I couldn’t help myself…how could I explain this strange sickness that had overcome my body – and this was what they called THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD? My morning sickness was also ‘afternoon’ sickness and ‘evening’ sickness as well. Who was the silly Dr. that thought morning sickness just occurred in the morning? I was told that this ‘sickness’ would end around the 20 week mark….that was another lie. My sickness was a full 40 weeks – wait, 40 weeks is the normal term of carrying a baby but since my body has never been very obedient to follow what the books say, it decided to carry my first child the gestational period of an elephant…okay, so it wasn’t that bad, but going to 42 weeks sure felt like I was carrying around an elephant inside of me. Did I mention during the pregnancy how many times I would have to get up at night to go to the restroom. I now see what God was doing – He was preparing me prior to the birth of Caleb with the ‘LOS’ Syndrome which stands for “Lack of Sleep” syndrome. So, by having me get up every 2 hours during the pregnancy, I was ready to take on waking up every 2 hours to feed this little person that had taken over my body when his little day arrived. There were some positive things about my first pregnancy – one was, Caleb’s feet were so big (a size 1 when he was born) that he was able to push my organs in different places of my body to pave the way for his sister’s arrival 23 months later, and those same feet brought his daddy much delight the night that Mark kept placing an empty Pepsi can on my tummy and Caleb would kick it off. That was where we learned the ‘play it again’ game – you know, the one where you make a funny face and your little child says, “Do it again daddy!” So you do it again, and they say, “Do it again daddy!” Well, by the 27th time, you DON’T WANT TO DO IT AGAIN!
So, the day arrived when I finally got to have this little child – it gave me a whole new understanding for Labor – I never worked so hard in my life as I did that day to have him. 23 ½ hours is how long!! The wild thing was, after all that hard work, I was overwhelmed with so much joy when I heard his little cry – he sounded like a hyena but “hey – that was my hyena!” Those little red curls, huge size 1 feet, 23 ½” long body – that was my baby – the one that invaded my body and caused me to despise food for 9 months, make my legs swell to the size of elephant trunks, had me gain 35 pounds, and feel like a blimp, made me waddle the last 8 weeks, kicked me in my ribs over and over again, make me wet the bed – yes, wet the bed as a grown adult (that was actually Faith’s pregnancy), give me heartburn,…ah, yes, this is motherhood and we were just getting started! 