GET REAL

There is only one person who knows the REAL you.

And that is the One that created you.

We as women have many identities in this lifetime....we are daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, grandmothers, friends, mentors and the list goes on...but at the end of the day who are you really?

You are a daughter of the King that is loved and treasured beyond measure. No one loves you like God loves you. He made you! Nobody "gets" you like God does. He knew you before you were born. So why is it that we look to so many other people and things to define who we are?

We get caught up in thinking that if we just had the right husband, house, job, children we would feel better about ourselves and be happy, but the truth is that until we can find our identity in our Creator we will never have that inner joy that we all want so very much.

I am married to one of the most patient, supportive guys around. Really. (It's borderline sickening because he makes me look bad!) I'm not kidding. My sisters even take his side when we're at odds. The thing I love about him is that he would go out of his way to do anything he could to make me happy and most of the time he does. But life has come at me hard at times, as it does to all of us, and there came a point several years ago that I realized that he could not make me happy no matter what he did or was willing to do. I realized that if I looked to him to be my source of joy that he would eventually fail because he is only human like me.

That is when God required me to Get Real. I needed to recognize that my identity is in Christ alone. I needed to know that it didn't matter what the rest of the world thought of me, or did, or didn’t do for me. I had to let it really soak in that I was made in the image of the living God and He alone is my source of joy.

There is freedom in Getting Real and discovering who we are in God. When we stop comparing ourselves to others and get busy discovering what we were created for (because He has a specific purpose for each and every one of us) we find true fulfillment.

When we find out who we are in Christ everyone benefits! We stop putting unnecessary pressure on others to affirm us and as a result our relationships flourish. We start putting on the mind of the One in whose image we were created, and we become more compassionate and kind, more humble and patient, and we live with so much more power to overcome all that life throws at us! (Read Colossians 3:5 – 14 the whole thing is great!)

Verse 10 says: “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him”

These are the things we will be talking about in depth at our conference in January. This is just a teaser!

Get ready girls, to Get Real!!!

Lots of Love,
Tracey and Cynda

DIG DEEP

So here we are...MUG #1 - DIG DEEP

Many years ago, during a particularly difficult time of my life, my pastor said to me, "Tracey, when you come out on the other side of this trial you will be so much stronger." My very spiritual answer to him at the time was, "I was happy being weak".

But now, I'm on the other side...and I am stronger.

Years later I came upon another difficult time. My friends would tell me, "This is going to make you even stronger." I'm not sure what my response to them was, but it was probably along the lines of... "I don't care". (and they are still friends with me!)

Nobody willingly signs up for difficult times or heartache. I don't know anyone that has jumped up and down at the opportunity to grow through pain, but the sooner we embrace the concept, the sooner the healing can begin. God does not just want us to grow, He wants us to thrive! He wants us to be complete.

James Chapter 1 verses 1-4 (Amplified Version)

Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort, or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

Sometimes, in the wake of suffering or adversity, we are willing to settle for recovering just enough to go on. We underestimate the degree of recovery that we can have! God doesn't want you to just be ok with what you've gone through. He wants to use it. He wants you to be fully developed! Then, we can grab the hand of someone facing similar troubles and walk through it with them, encouraging them along the way.

But how do we get there? That's where the digging comes in. We have to reach down deep inside of us and discover what it is that holds us back. What past hurt we are harboring? What lies have we bought into that make us feel unworthy or not good enough? Is there someone we need to forgive? (whether they want to be forgiven or not!) Have we done something that we are ashamed of, and although we've received God's forgiveness, we haven't forgiven ourselves?

I know what my battles are and have been, but only you can answer the question...

What holds you back?

Let patience have it's perfect work so that you may be FULLY DEVELOPED!

Once we identify those things that have caused the most pain in our life we can identify the very things that will produce the most growth for us (and for others) if we allow them to.

The exciting news is that we are in the process of finalizing details of the PREMIERE of For the Girls International. It will be a conference in January of 2009. We look forward to an amazing time of learning how to grow and THRIVE together! We will be putting all the details on the blog under SCHEDULE as soon as we have everything firmed up.

NEXT MUG...GET REAL!

Lots of Love,

Cynda and Tracey

God speaks in Pier 1!!

Just a quick update and then I'll explain the title...

We have had our paperwork ready to send to the IRS since a week ago. It's quite an involved application. We will be applying to be recognized as a 501 (c) 3 corporation. There is a significant fee for that application, so we have been holding off on sending it. Well, today we found out that, through the support of some wonderful people, the fee in total has been donated and we will be able to get it in the mail by Friday! It's so exciting to see people catching the vision for For the Girls International and we're doing a little victory dance for another step forward.

Now on to Pier 1... Let's just say, when God is looking for me... He knows where to find me! Did you ever have one of those moments when God completely caught you off guard and spoke to you through something seemingly insignificant? I had one of those moments back in May. We were preparing for our first Board of Directors meeting and Cynda and I had been meeting and talking about the vision that God was revealing to us. As we met and prayed, we would talk about some of the foundational elements of the ministry that God was birthing. We talked about how we wanted to go "deeper" with our faith. How we are only interested in what is "true" and "real" about the nature of God and what He requires of us. We would get excited about the "big" vision that He was giving us... sometimes it would seem so big that we would even get a little scared.

One day, while all this was going on, I took a little shopping break. One of my favorite things to do is wander in Pier 1. (It's one of my husband's least favorite things that I do) As I was shopping, I came across a display of four cute mugs. They were all hanging in a row and as I read them I felt something inside me leap. Everything we had been talking about came together and was outlined on those four mugs. Here is what the they said...




DIG DEEP...GET REAL...THINK BIG... and...DON'T PANIC

It may sound crazy, but stay with us here and I promise it will make sense. In the next few posts we are going to share the concepts behind these four foundation blocks of For the Girls International as we move forward with this vision.

Get ready to DIG DEEP!

Lots of Love,
Tracey and Cynda

P.S. Has God ever spoken to you in an unexpected way. Click on the comments below and tell us about it! We'd love to hear from you!