Is my behavior reflecting my beliefs?

Knit the Gospel into your Heart
 wearing a Custom Knit and Stamped Bracelet

Hello there friends! 

If my behavior doesn’t reflect my beliefs, How much value do I hold in them? I read this in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People  by Stephen Covey, "We are shaped by what we love."

My status was that I love Jesus and He saved me but my behavior did not always reflect my belief in God. In a God who saved me, who has forgiven me of my sins and lavishly loves me.

My actions were a reflection of what I was still believing about myself not of what God says about me. 

I had walked for years in shame and guilt of my past that in my own strength I tried to forgive myself of.  I had repented to God but why didn't I immediately act like it?

Shame is a painful feeling of humiliation. I felt others would reject me if they got close and knew me.  

I was locked in chains because I wasn’t living out what I claimed to believe about God. I had repented years ago and God had forgiven me from my past sins. I was also living with a lot of fear in several areas of my life. I had some legalistic thinking going on that kept me following man made rules and never finding God's grace and truly nurturing an intimate relationship with God. So I could lead my heart from listening to feelings toward Gods Truth. I had not thought at this time reading my Bible was that important but that’s further from the truth.
How else are we to know that the "feelings" and our hearts we listen to can lead us astray.

Genesis 6:5 says," The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

My relationship with Jesus went from a “Jesus is my God and saved me"  to  “Jesus is my everything."

My thoughts changed because I was replacing those lies with biblical Truths. I stopped listening to the world. The enemy wants us as believers to be inactive and to listen to him  more than God's Word.  I had not taken the discipline of reading my Bible and hiding God’s Word in my heart seriously but when I did my actions started changing once I started taking God at His Word. Believing Him. Trusting Him. Praying to Him. Loving Him more than anything else. I learned the hard way like most of us I am sure but I am grateful God never gives up on us.  

Soon my actions started to follow my beliefs. I began the discipline of scripture reading and studying God’s Word for myself. Then I realized, if I believed God then His scripture commands me to be a doer of the Word not just a hearer.
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." James 1:22

God wants me to claim His promises and proclaim the Gospel to others and bear fruits of our faith. So others will see that Jesus heals the broken sinner, takes our shame, and gives us right thinking.  God never leaves with shame or guilt and no rules will ever make us good enough. God’s grace and power in our lives is real when we pray fervently.

Friend, I pray you find that change of heart by changing your relationship status with Jesus and listening to His Word more than anything else.  Our hearts are continually thirsty and Jesus is the living water to fill it.

2 Corinthians 12:9  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."


I pray this encourages you today my friend!  You can always leave me a comment because I love hearing your stories walking with the Lord.

knit the Gospel into your heart❤
trAcy

God’s Word Changes Us

The Word of God didn’t always come alive to me.  I didn’t grow up reading the Bible. I wasn’t even taught to read it all.  It wasn’t until as an adult that I became interested in reading it as I matured in Christ.  Little by little God watered the seeds that He had planted as a teen when I became a new believer. 

The desire still wasn’t that strong even though I claimed to love God.  My obedience to God wasn’t as strong as my obedience to the world for a long time.  Yet the Lord through His mercy and grace gave me a desire little by little because when I “thought” I had control I really didn’t.  It’s a struggle I had in parenting, thinking you can always decide for your children. Boy was I wrong.  Through that time of parenting and fighting the enemy for my family.  I became dependent on the Only One who could control my situation;my family struggles. 

I heard this quote today by Billy Graham, “when we get to the end of ourselves that’s when we come to God.” 

You may know what that feels like.  I did during that time. I still get chocked up remembering but it’s good to remember what God has done in our lives and what He has brought you through.  For me, it was through the storms He places a passion for more of His Word which is more of Him!  Jesus Christ is waiting in those pages my friend. He provides help, hope, deliverance, saving and so much mercy and grace than we can imagine.  God uses us and strengthens our weak hearts and changes our hard hearts.

Long story but it’s my story of why I love God’s Word and why there is a growing desire for more of it inside me everyday.  Have you found that desire too? .

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*Illuminated Scripture Journals shown are my favorite gift from husband💗

Knit the Gospel into your hear t FB group will be studying 1/2 Thessalonians soon! (I don’t have all the details yet but feel free to join us anytime! 

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BELOVED BRACELET  shown is from my Shop

Much Love 

trAcy

Shop has ReOpened for 2019

Hello friends!

I am excited to announce the  SHOP  has reopened and taking orders!  I will have a limited amount of Custom Orders for each month.

If you were on my email list you saw the Surrendered Life Collecfion CLICK HERE The original set of  bracelets all sold out. But I have restocked the words onto New colors! These words all represent what a surrender life means to me as a believer in Jesus Christ.
Let me know which one you live most! I didn’t even share all of them. But you can see them in the

• SHOP

SHOP

How I read my Bible in a Year

Handmade Knits by Tracy

Hello there friends!

Last year I decided to read my Bible in a whole year. Yes one year. You see I had decided to do this many times in the past. I just had not gotten very far when I got behind a day or so. Then months went by and my daily reading the Bible was a thing of the past.  I would just resolve to try again next year.  I easily gave up but I realize now that I was giving up on God. I was giving up on something like spending time in the Word for the World even if I was "behind" according to these expectations I had set up for myself.

God doesn't care about a reading plan! This is a lesson I learned this year while doing this discipline which by the way is what it is. The spiritual discipline of reading our Bible daily.  We have to learn to do things in our Christian faith that doesn't come naturally like reading the Bible.  How else will we know what it says.  For some of us reading is not our favorite thing to do.  I actually enjoy reading when I actually stop doing other things and sit down and read.

So for me to dedicate time to read this year this is what it looked like :

1.  Set a time to read/spend time with God, set an alarm if you need to.  I would write this down in my planner so I would schedule the time and not forget.

2.  Gather your supplies for your reading time such as Bible, journal, planner, notebook and pens and place them where you can easily have them together.

3.  Prayer time before and after reading my Bible. This is so important and should come naturally while reading your Bible. Ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate the time spent in the Word because to be honest we wont understand everything or always know what is going on sometimes while reading. This is the beauty of the Bible. We can live a lifetime and never know everything in the Bible.


The last lesson is that you dont have to read the entire Bible in a year.  I do think we should at some point do it but do it at your own pace.  I also study slowly other books of the Bible if you follow along, you know that we have studied this past year 3 books of the Bible in   KNIT THE GOSPEL INTO YOUR HEART GROUP
Reading through the Bible this year has grown my intimacy with God so much this year.  The more you are with Gods Word the more of a desire He places in you to share Him with others.  I had not had that desire before and this year God has shown me He equips us for the work of ministry even when we doubt and have insecurities.

I will be doing this another year. In 2019 I will be reading through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in the THE DAILY WALK  You can find all kinds of reading plans but I like using a Bible with dates and a guide for me to read as I go.  Last year I read through the Everyday with Jesus Bible
It was a really great one to read through because it read some from the OT, NT, Psalms and Proverbs everyday.

Here is my challenge to YOU!

Just start!

Just begin with me and so many others January 1st reading your Bible. It will change your life.   I wont tell you it will be easy to start something new if you have never done it before but I will tell you that God will show up in your life if you show for Him.

Let me know if you will be joining me again this year and we can encourage each other! I really enjoyed all the encouragement I received this year and I believe you will too once you join the community.  Share pics on social with the tag #bibleinayear so we can cheer each other on in 2019!

Blessings
tracy