Sunday, July 4, 2010

Your Independence Day!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Independence Day Celebration, whether it is a picnic with family, Fireworks with friends, or just spending the day off quietly at home. I hope that everyone has had some time to spend with the Lord today.

I just visited my friend Wendy’s blog. She is the incredible friend who took it upon herself last Wednesday morning to realize my blog was cosmetically in need of a “face-lift.” She pulled together a bit of this and a piece of that and came up with the beautiful Title section of this blog! Yeah—Wendy! Not only did she do that, she stayed on the phone with me off and on for about 3 hours total, telling me what buttons to push, and what to click on to get the first post-well, posted! Thank you so much Wendy! Her blog will be listed under the blog section on the side bar…not only because she is such a good friend to me, but because she has so much fun sharing her cards with the viewers that visit her. I hope you will check her blog out, at your leisure.

I wrote her a comment about her extra cool card and signed off with…

“Have a spectacular and safe holiday weekend. After all, it is our Independence Day…”

That really got me thinking. I have been clean and sober for 15 years and 10months now. Some of you may be shocked to hear that. Please bear with me.

For those of us who struggle with any type of addiction...alcohol, work, drugs, even card-making (in some cases)… there is no need to continue to struggle. A long time ago, I attended an AA meeting at my church…Northland Church. The difference between regular AA meetings and this meeting was we used the word “God” rather than “Higher Power.” And, we were able to talk about Him and His mighty power. I was told that anyone who is using anything, again and again, that is interfering with their life has an addiction. More importantly, I now believe that if I am doing something that is keeping me from spending time with the Lord…I’d better take a close look at why I am doing what I am doing. It’s not necessarily the THING, it’s more the reason, in my opinion.

I encourage you to really make this YOUR Day of Independence! If you have something that comes between you and the Lord, will you take a look at how that is serving you in life? If you see it interferes in relationships with family, friends, work or your time with the Lord then I challenge you to put that aside. Just try it for today. See what comes up. The Lord is strong, the Lord is just and mighty! If you ask Him to break those chains that bind you--He will! He will set you free from whatever holds you back-- keeping you from Love… From Him. Try this and thank Him. I have never had a more fulfilling life than right now. Try it for today…and thank Him as we read in Psalm 116: 116-19.

Psalm 116:16-19 16 O LORD, truly I am your servant;

I am your servant, the son of your maidservant [c] ;

you have freed me from my chains.

17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you

and call on the name of the LORD.

18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD

in the presence of all his people,

19 in the courts of the house of the LORD—

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD. [d]

If I can help anyone with taking even a tiny step with getting their PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE, please let me know. I am only too happy to help you move on in your life and have more room for love.

Feel free to email me at TStarkweather@cfl.rr.com Please put the word “BLOG” in the subject area.

Remember~

He IS Able,
Traci S.

p.s. Please remember to leave a comment before Tuesday evening! You may win the card on display!

3 comments:

  1. AMEN--God is super good! Jesus is the reason for true FREEDOM! He died for us! So that we would not be held in bondage!! FREEDOM RINGS:)

    Congrats on being sober! HOOORAY for you:) Be blessed!

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  2. Congratulations on your new blog Traci. Glad to see you are up and running. I didn't do much all weekend except spend time with my family. That is what I love to do the most. We played games, did some projects like painting and pressure washing the house, went for a swim, barbecued, and watched some movies. It was great!!! Thanks for the inspirational message.

    Hugs,
    Carol

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  3. How nice of you to mention me! (Totally unnecessary, but nice all the same!) Hoping that all goes well and that this blog is a HUGE success! Hugs, friend! :)

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