You Are Woven Into a Tapestry

"You are way more than you think you are. 

The ups and downs, crises and fun times, sad and happy experiences, your dreams and goals, relationships and thoughts are all part of the tapestry of your life.

The dark times contrast the bright times, making them more beautiful. The high places wouldn’t be so lovely without the low places. Like a mountain wildflower that can only exist in extreme weather areas, you are an exquisite creation that is becoming more beautiful as the years and experiences go by.

As you read this book, you will discover your own life’s design, and learn new things about your Creator, whose light invades your darkness and whose imagination has fashioned you to be unique and amazing."

Are you ready to discover what God had in mind when He imagined you?

This is an excerpt from the introduction to my book, Tapestry - The Divine Design For Your Life. I think you will like it. I wrote it for you. It is about YOU! This book will change you. It will help you see God's ever-present hand in your life. There are blessings for you and prayers for you. God has anointed it to touch you in a special way. This book is my dream and I pray it will help you reach your dreams!

Love, Chris

"I want you woven into a tapestry of love; in touch with everything there is to know of God."(Colossians 2:2-4 - The Message)

Available in paperback and digital formats from:

Amazon.Com;

Barnes and Noble.com

Tate Publishing.

How Can We Make a Difference in This World?

My daughter, Bess Tracy, painted this for her niece
(my granddaughter), Samantha Tracy to encourage her
destiny and dreams. "Let her sleep, for when she
wakes, she will move mountains." What a
declaration to wake up to every day!
(Author of quote is unknown.)

I think most of us want our lives to count for something. We truly want to make a difference… to make life better for someone… to be remembered… to do good with our talents and possessions.

One night I could not sleep. Thunder and a full moon had me wide awake at 2:30 a.m.. I ended up “talking”on Facebook with Tom, a friend from the United Kingdom we met at Bethel Church where my husband and I attended ministry school. It was mid-morning in London, and Tom, a young dad, was writing an essay and studying for his degree in Theology. He told me he was struggling due to dyslexia. I simply told Tom in my text that he had a kind heart and the world needed him. We made declarations of healing over his problem. We wrote a bit more and then signed off. He told me he knew why I wasn’t sleeping…that I was awakened to minister to him. He needed encouragement. My part was so simple. The Holy Spirit, (who hangs around Facebook, don’t ya know?), did the rest.

Few of us are called to be missionaries or traveling evangelists or pastors of a local church. Most of us work in the marketplace, we're raising children at home, and we gather with friends who are believers as well as pre-believers.

So…what can we do to make a difference in this world? How can we bring the beautiful light of heaven into people's lives?

The answer? Just be available. Listen to and watch what God is doing. Encourage a child. Help a neighbor. Show Jesus’ love and compassion to a hurting person. Use your culinary or athletic gift to gather friends. Build relationships. Give a $20 bill to a corner homeless person. Support a missionary. Give an unexpected gift. Make a new friend. If you're young, bless an older person. If you're old, encourage a young person. Pray silently for someone next to you on the highway.

You may never know how far your acts of love and compassion may go. You could be making a big difference to a person who will make a difference to his daughter who will make a decision for her own life that will change the world.

Inventor, dreamer, artist, writer, carpenter, friend, sibling, parent, grandparent…you already make a difference. Now do it some more! Do it intentionally. You have been blessed to be a blessing!

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose!” - Dolly Parton

I hope you will find out who you are and what you are called to when you read my book Tapestry - The Divine Design for Your Life. Be encouraged. God will meet you when you seek Him. 

Available now in digital download and print. Click here to order

When Prayer Goes "Unanswered"

"Hope Survives"
Aspen trees begin to flourish in a forest that
burned a decade ago at Trappers Lake, Colorado.
Photo by Chris Tracy

What do we do when we pray, yet it seems like the answers aren't coming?

We pray for rain during a forest fire… it finally comes, but sometimes too late.

We pray for torrents to stop so floods can subside...they eventually stop, but sometimes too late.

We pray for safety on roads, but sometimes… we don’t feel very safe.

We pray for healing… and we wait and wait for its manifestation.

And what about disasters--natural and man-induced--where death and destruction seem to prevail? Where is the hand of God?

How do we cope with "unanswered" prayer? Do we give up and decide God’s will is not to answer or that his answer is “no”? Or do we blame ourselves for not being deserving enough or holy enough to pray and expect an answer?

All I know is I have seen miracles, experienced healings, and come to know God's nature through His Word, enough to be completely convinced of His goodness. I know His answers and solutions are better than my own.I know there is a spirit realm where God moves in ways I may never see. I know there are angels who guard us and go to battle for us. I know God is always for us and His answers are “yes and amen.” I remember my testimonies. I know that what matters to me, matters to Him. I have learned that trusting God--having that peace that passes understanding--means I must give up my right to understand.

My prayer for you is that you, too, will know His goodness--and that you will always trust Him.
Never stop praying. He hears. He is close.

May you always wear hope like a badge that you never take off.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Find some of my testimonies of miracles in my book, Tapestry, The Divine Design For Your Life, available now at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, or Tate Publishing: http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-62295-762-0

The Miracle of Praise

"Happy"
Oil Pastel by Chris Tracy

     Worship Leader Terry MacAlmon was singing on my Tahoe's CD player as I drove to the doctor’s office this morning. “Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him.” Melodic, harmonic, and touching me deeply - I knew for sure that my singing along to this song was more for me in that moment than for God.
   What? you gasp. Yes. Praising God today was more for me than for Him.

Yes – we are asked by God and trained early in our Christian life to give Him praise…to lift praises to Him…for He is worthy and deserves our worship. I totally 100 percent shout my agreement and passion for His worthiness to receive every praise.

   But God, in His great love for me, gave me a voice and a song and a heart for worship. When I use these gifts to bring Him praise, I think I am blessed more than He is. I am filled with this feeling of intimacy with my Creator. I sometimes cry for the preciousness of it all. Sometimes I laugh. Often I dance. Mostly I am filled with joy and a knowledge I am not alone…He is always with me…He loves me…He adores me…He thinks of me…He speaks to me...He heals me. He knows I need to have this feeling I can only experience when I sing praises to Him.

   This is an example of the exceedingly abundant and extravagant ways He answers our prayers and blesses our lives. Could this be what "Christ in you, the hope of glory," (Colossians 1:27) feels like?

   What is meant for Him is ultimately for us. Only our loving Papa God would think of that.

   Oh Jesus, God, Holy Spirit…You astound me!

Read more in my new book, "Tapestry - The Divine Design for Your Life." I would be so honored for you to read it. Order here.

Hosting God's Presence

   In a season that has brought some grief as well as physical pain, I have been a bit withdrawn and antisocial. I tend to wonder if I am doing enough for God in my ministry. It's that old striving anxiety rearing its ugly head. God is not concerned with how much I do. He is concerned for me - His beloved daughter.  His only desire is that I rest in Him; seek Him; hunger for more of Him; and learn to recognize and host His presence.
   What is His presence? Can we feel it? Yes. I have felt it and pray you have or will feel it, too. It can be an electricity or heaviness over us as we worship and sense His love. It is peaceful. It is pleasurable. It is enough. In our busy lives, taking moments every day to invite His presence prepares us to be aware of His creative ideas and His moves in our day.
   I don’t want to miss what He is doing while I strive to be sure I’m "doing enough" for Him. I covet moments where I rest in His love, imagining myself a child in His joyful embrace.
   Yes – He has work for us to do. But we do it out of rest in Him. We do it not for His presence but from His presence.
   "In Him we live and move and have our being." Acts 17:28
   Holy Spirit, you are welcome here!

   Here’s a great song. Listen and soak in His love for you. "Holy Spirit You Are Welcome Here." (Written by Bryan and Katie Torwalt; sung by Kim Walker-Smith.)

Order my book "Tapestry - The Divine Design for Your Life." I pray it will bless you today! Click!

Puddles to Paradise

Three-year-old Mesa dashed out the door in the pouring rain and took a running, perfectly executed leap into the middle of the greatest mud puddle she had ever seen. Giggling, she gazed at her tall rain boots and danced with every inch of her 3-year-old frame at this miracle of rain on her little Texas ranch. This was a day she had long waited for - her favorite kind of day. No gloom here. Just wild fun.

So how do I turn my “puddles” into paradise? Simple - I turn to Psalms.

When I can’t sleep, I read Psalms 4:8 – “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

When I have physical pain, I turn to Psalms 6 and read: “O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony;” and “for the Lord has heard my weeping; The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.”

When I feel insignificant or weak, I find my identity in Psalms 8 that reminds me I am “crowned with glory and honor.”

Loneliness, weariness, fear, anxiety and depression are all dealt with and overcome in this mighty book of healing. Here I find encouragement, joy, love, and peace. If you are having a rainy, puddly day that lacks joy, start at Psalms 1 and read until you find yourself in the prose and heart of the One who inspired every word – our ever good Father God.

My prayer for you today is that you, like little Mesa, will take wild delight in life’s puddles as you discover this paradise of life that is such a gift to you – through even the difficult times.

My book, Tapestry - The Divine Design for Your Life - is now available in Kindle and book form on Amazon.com! Read the great reviews!!!! Click here to order!

Sweet Symmetry

   I have the great privilege of working at something I love – and making an income, too. Presently I am editing some wonderful books, and while I do it, I get to encourage the authors. God has been bringing me writers and creative people – and I get so excited. As I help them and cheer them on, I get inspired too – to write, create, paint, think higher…

   
   Today I took a drive to the Grand Mesa to photograph mountain wildflowers, listen to a rushing stream, and smell the pine trees. I can’t…repeat…I cannot (!) feel good sitting in my house when this beauty is so close. So…alone, but really not alone, I go to seek what I may find today – a perfect Colorado Columbine, a reflecting lake, and a seeded flower past it’s prime but perfect in it’s airy symmetry. These remind me that I, too, am perfectly made, a reflection of the Creator, and, wonderfully symmetrical in who I am. Yes. My God is good!

  
   
I bless your spirit today to discover the beauty of your life in God's creation – where you will find your own symmetry!

My book, Tapestry, The Divine Design for Your Life, is now available in print and Kindle version at Amazon.com! Check it out! Click now!