Bible Journaling Ministries

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Episode 009: God’s Love Carries You

 This is the promises of God podcast and I’m your host, Tracie rollins. This podcast is about you, your ability to hear and believe and take action on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen. Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on promises that God podcast.com. Now, let’s get started.

Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number nine. My name is Tracie Rollins. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This month series is about understanding and truly feeling the love that God has for you, his child, and we’re working now to the momentum devotional offered by a Bible journaling ministries.com and I’ll link that in the show notes below and today we’re talking about how God’s love carries you in our verse for today’s Deuteronomy Chapter One, verse 31, but today I’m going to read out of the message translation and I’m going to read a little more because I think that the context is really helpful. So I’m going to read chapter one. I’m 28 through 33 out of the message and it reads, you rebelled against God, your god’s plain word. You complained in your tense. God hates us. He hauled us out of Egypt in order to dump us among the Emirates a death sentence for sure. How can we go up We’re trapped in a dead end. Our brothers took all the wind out of our sails telling us that people are bigger and stronger than we are. Their cities are huge. Their defenses massive. We even saw in a kite giants there. I tried to relieve your fears. Don’t be terrified of them. God, your God is leading the way he’s fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt. You saw what he did in the wilderness. How God, your God carried you as a father, carries his child, carried you the whole way until you arrived. Here we hear Moses talking to, uh, the Israelites here and the Israelites are just not understanding, just totally failing.

Understand God’s love. They’re totally rebelling against the Lord. They truly act like my kids sometimes when they say that they hate us. Have you ever heard a kid tell their parent that they hate them and slammed the door It has very rarely in my house, but it has happened and that’s kind of what they remind me of here in this first. God’s love carries you. I remember in 2006, my legs begin to fail. I’d have my son, Ashton, he’d be on my hip. He was a little little two year old at the time, and then all of a sudden my knees would just buckle and we both would tumbled to the floor and in a series of acrobatic maneuvers, I’d figure out a way to land so the Ashton landed on top and unscathed, but I suffered quite a few bruises and bumps and scrapes along the way.

I learned to carry him so that he would be safe in the event that my knees collapsed underneath me. In event, they decided not to cooperate. The same is true for my husband and the way he carried the boys as children. When our boys were baby, he’d carry them on his chest. He cradled him in his arms, he’d swing them as monkeys. When they got older, when he, when they got older, he would hold his arms up and they would just swing like monkeys back and forth. He also carried them on his shoulders, on his back, and basically carry them pretty much however they will dangle from him. I remember sometimes they would dangle upside down by wrapping their arms around his waist in dangling from him. It was really kind of cute and funny, but the way he carried them, protected them, it helped them and it kept them safe. God does the same thing he loves and carries you through the wilderness like a father carries his son. When you were to tile tired. When you’re hurt, when you’re, when you have brokenness, trust that he will carry you and asked him to.

As you go about your week, think about times in the past where God has carried you. I can remember so many times in my life where I struggled when I’m completely exhausted, when I’ve gone through some surgeries or when I’ve gone through just a difficult trials, whether it be having no money, being in mountains of debt, being without a job, without health insurance, all of that, all of those things, even like car accidents, all kinds of things in my life. I can just think back and as I look back at those, I can see God in every one of those moments. Even when I wasn’t as close to him as I am now, I can see constantly carrying me through those and even in day to day situations where work would be a little tough or maybe my boss wouldn’t be happy with me or maybe I had a conflict with a coworker.

God has always been there. He’s always been there carrying me through all of it. Like a father carries his child. So as you think about the times in your past where God carried you, think about what situation you were in. How did he carry you through it Does he carry you today What does that look like I hoped that by looking back, you’ll be reminded of all the times he’s been here for you and how much he loves you just as a father should, and if you don’t yet feel the love of Christ in your life, I encourage you to invite God into your life today. Prom, you’re not promised. Tomorrow may not come, so don’t put this off. Romans six, 23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord, so turn to him, run into his arms.

Let him carry you as a father carries his child, confess your sins and follow his will in your life and you will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. I hope that this week encourages you to think back and on the way. Maybe God is carried you in your life. I hope that and encourage you, encourage you to look at today and see maybe where he’s carrying you as well. Today. Our God is here. He loves you and he carries you just like a father. So close, so loving, so kind, and I hope that this episode encouraged you and I am excited to talk to you in the next episode of the promises of God podcast. You have a beautiful day, my friend. Goodbye.

 Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Germany ministries where thousands of women grow in the word creatively. It’s your free 10-day course for other ministries and other episodes resources@thepromisesofGodpodcast.com.

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Win an Illustrating Bible or a Bible of Your Choice – 2019!

Did you know you can win an Illustrating Bible from our ministry? There are still eleven months left to have a chance at winning the Bible of your choice (up to $100) from Bible Journaling Ministries and there’s only one thing you need to do…

Engage in our Bible Journaling for Beginners Facebook community. Yep – it’s that simple.

Every month through 2019 we’ll pick the most engaged person and gift her (or him) a free month of Momentum ($25 value). If the winner would prefer to gift it to a non-Momentum member – that’s awesome…we’ll match the gift!Illustrating Bible on my desk

In January, Tracie will put all 12 winners into a jar and pick one person to win a brand new Bible. The winner may choose any Bible up to $100 in value including the new Illustrating Bible.

How to Win

Comment, post, and like in the Facebook community. That’s it. See something you like? Give it a heart or a thumbs up. Comment on someone else’s post and share some encouragement. Post your own Bible journaling to inspire others.

I pick the most engaged person to win the monthly drawing.

There will be 12 winners for the free month of Momentum and one (1) winner picked from the 12 for the Bible.

If an international friend wins, we won’t ship that heavy Bible to ya – sorry – not cost effective. However,  we’ll work something out (like a reimbursement).

This giveaway is not sponsored by anyone except Bible Journaling Ministries.

If you like this giveaway, please consider liking our Facebook Page. It really helps spread the word. Thank you!

Winners so far and in the running for the Bible:

  1. Patty D

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Episode 008: God’s Love Endures Forever

 This is the promises of God podcast and I’m your host, Tracie rollins. This podcast is about you, your ability to hear and believe and take action on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen. Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on promises that God podcast.com. Now, let’s get started.

Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number eight. My name is Tracy Rollins. Thank you so much for spending time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in our lives. This month series is about understanding and feeling the love that God has for you, his child, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Biblejournalingministries.com, and I will link that in the show notes below, but to today, we are talking about God’s steadfast love. In our verse is Psalm Chapter One hundred and 36 verse one, and I’ll read out of the English Standard version and it reads, it’s actually titled, his steadfast love endures forever. The verse reads, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever. As we look at this first, it is an amazing verse. By the way, the idea or the even the words verbatim give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever is actually in Psalm 107 verse one, Psalm 1:18 verse one in someone 18 verse 29, but Psalm 1:36 actually has the words. His love endures forever. Twenty-six times. It’s an every, every single verse there in Psalm One 36. It’s amazing. I love that. His love doesn’t stop at the first generation. It continues to go on forever and ever more than 26 times, more than 26 generations, more than 26 verses of the Bible. It. It remains true and steadfast and forever.

When you think about a love that lasts forever, you probably picture an engagement. You picture young, loved who people falling in love and pledging their love for each other and getting married and that kind of love that lasts, and you probably have things in your head that might be weddings and rings and you know a diamond, right The advertiser say a diamond lasts forever, but I can tell you for sure that a diamond is not last forever. I know this because I frankly just freaked out frantically searching for the tiny diamond that was in my wedding ring. My husband bought. He saved so much of his money. He took out credit card debt to purchase my diamond that goes to my wedding ring. I always wanted a heart shape, sharp, a heart shaped diamond, and he designed my wedding ring and bought the diamond and had it set exactly how he wanted it.

And at this time we were in college so he didn’t have a lot of money back in the day. I think minimum wage was probably close to four bucks an hour. It wasn’t. It wasn’t really a lot in. Brings were quite expensive back then, but he took out credit card debt. He paid as much as he could on cash, any bought this wedding ring for me and I used to love just looking at this wedding ring because it just, it made me just so happy and not the ring itself, but just knowing that he took the time to design it and all the sacrifice that he had to go through to get the ring for me and it just showed like how much he just truly loved me and so I just love this ring. But one day I looked down and the and the ring was stolen my finger, but it had hit the side of my leg and snagged and I was devastated because I looked down in.

The diamond was gone and I was at this park in Phoenix area and I live in Arizona, but I was at this park and this park is huge and I had my little kid with me, my, my little baby at the time and he had just finished walking him along the path because I used to go and walk my babies in the morning just to get some fresh air. It was just really nice for them to get out for me to get out of the house and so we will walk the park and it was. I looked down in the diamond had fallen off, so I was searching frankly, just frantically for this diamond and I looked in the car. I walked the entire park twice to see if maybe I could find it. I actually did find a diamond, oddly enough it was a little diamond chip that had fallen into someone else’s ring, but it wasn’t my time and apparently that must be what that, what that park is about because you know, if for me to find a little tiny diamond chip and all of this park was amazing, but it wasn’t my diamond and I just couldn’t stop crying.

I was so upset and just I called my husband. I was crying and he was. He was just like, look, don’t worry about it. It’s just a diamond and it was gone. We didn’t have any funds to replace that diamond. When my children were real young. We didn’t have a lot. We had a house. We lived under our means. We try, you know, this was after the, the fun lessons on credit card debt. We try to live under our means. We tried not to overspend in and we just couldn’t replace that diamond. I wasn’t working and my husband was the only provider for the household and it just wasn’t in the budget so I didn’t, I didn’t get that, that diamond put back in my ring for many years, many years, maybe five before I would even wear that ring again. I just ended up putting on like a little simple gold band.

It was, it was nice and perfect and totally acceptable and it just wasn’t the ring that he bought me and, and I knew that when we fixed that ring and the diamond came back on that wedding ring and I was going to wear the wedding. Are you bringing again, it would never be the same. It wasn’t the same diamond that my husband worked so hard for at a college trying to save and Scrimp and whatever he could to come up with this, this ring. It wasn’t the same one and you know, it just, it isn’t forever. At least it wasn’t forever for me, so as I think about this, I think about God’s love in our lives and thank goodness that God’s love isn’t like my missing diamond. God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I’m referring to revelations 22, verse 13, and I’ll read that for you.

That’s an out of the world English Bible, and it reads, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. God will never leave or forsake you. His love endures forever. His love is never changing, never ending in with you for eternity. And as we think about our verse for today, give thanks to the Lord. What is, what does it mean to give thanks to the Lord Well, really that means to praise him and how do you praise God You know, certainly you can pray to him. You could sing to him, you could dance for him. All of those examples in the Bible, you can also Bible Journal and in that is a form of worship. So if you have some time on even journaling is fine to reading the Bible as a form of worship. All of this is a form of worship.

There are so many different ways that you can give. Thanks. You can even just say thanks. Thank you God. You know, just praise him. And that’s what the first part of the verse means. Give thanks to the Lord and why Right The next part of the verse says, for He is good. So that’s one reason why we should give things to the things to the Lord because he’s good, he’s amazing. He does so many things for us in our lives that we will never understand. I will never be able to comprehend, you know, the fact that he sent his son to die for us so that we could, you know, be his children, heirs to his kingdom. That is amazing. And you’ll also discover as you continue in your journey, that he does a lot of things in your life that sometimes you just don’t see or you don’t think about, um, or you don’t attribute to him.And so as you think about something in your life that you thought you’d have forever, maybe it was your house, maybe you thought you’d keep your house for a while, and then to the recession when that, you know, so many people lost their homes in the United States, at least. Maybe it was, um, a loved one that you lost, that you thought would be around forever, maybe your marriage you thought that would last forever. There are so many things in our world, in our lives that we want to last forever, that we just want to hold onto. And like most things, they don’t always last. They don’t endure forever. But God’s love endures forever. That is the one thing you can count on forever and ever and ever God’s love.

So as you go about your week, I hope that you think about God’s love in your life and how much he loves you and what it means to love you forever. And the kind of sacrifices it would take for even just a mortal person, a human to love you forever. Can you imagine will what God must go through all the time when he just loves this forever. I mean he is an amazing God, so think about is love in your life this week and just consider. Consider his steadfast love endures forever and if you don’t yet feel the love of Christ in your life, I encourage you to invite God into your life today. You’re not promised tomorrow, tomorrow may not come. Don’t put it off and a Romans six, 23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord. So turn to him. Confess your sin is follow his will in your life and you will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding and I hope that this podcast today was encouraging to you. I hope that you feel the love in his life today, now and forever, and I just want to thank you for tuning in today and spending some time with me and I look forward to talk to you in the next episode of the promises of God podcast. Goodbye.

 Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Germany ministries where thousands of women grow in the word creatively. It’s your free 10-day course for other ministries and other episodes resources@thepromisesofGodpodcast.com.

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I AM Loved

I AM Loved Journaling Devotional

There is no charge for joining the I AM Loved Bible Journaling Devotional. Simply use this article, grab the free calendar and mini-kit provided upon sign up at the bottom of this article, and get started! To join our Bible journaling family and share your thoughts and layouts head over to  https://www.facebook.com/groups/BibleJournalingforBeginners.

There are multiple options to do the study. The devotional and kits are designed to help you take a deeper dive into the Word and start applying biblical principles to your life. They are not required, but they’re a fun way to grow in the Word creatively!

  • Join Momentum – Momentum members get just about everything for only $25/month. Click here to learn more.
  • Purchase the kit by itself – Purchase the devotional and kit for only $7. You’ll also get the How to Study Bible Topics Guide and worksheets. Click here to purchase.
  • Free option – To get the calendar and free mini-kit, please scroll to the bottom of this article and register for our emails between January 31, 2019 and February 28, 2019. If you are on the email list and haven’t received it, please check your spam! The emails will begin sending out on the 31st!

I AM Loved – 10 Techniques to Remember It

I AM loved. How often do you say it? Everyone has days where they feel lonely or unloved. It’s part of our human nature. The danger comes when you start to believe it and hold on to it with each passing day allowing the emotions to steal your joy and spiral you into isolation and separation from others. To get out of a funk, you should consider making a small adjustment to your day. Here are 10 techniques that can help you realize and remember just how loved you are.

Important Note: If you are struggling with depression, don’t go through it alone. Please consult a traditional or naturopathic doctor. Doctors have access to many tests that can help diagnose if there is an imbalance in your system and recommend treatments that can help. I’ve seen people treat depression by adding a vitamin or food into their diet that they were lacking. Depression doesn’t have to lead to a lifelong sentence of expensive drugs. Speak to your doctor about what’s right for you.

I AM Loved…10 Ways to Remember it

1.      Bible Journal Verses About God’s Desire for You

There are many verses that report God’s love desire for you. Take a few minutes to Bible journal. You can write the words, I AM Loved on the top of your page and this the evidence that you find in the Bible to support it. Here are a few Bible verses to start with:

  • “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and filled with unfailing love”. Psalm 103:8
  • “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love”. John 4:18.

2. Listen to Verses About God’s Desire for You

No time for Bible journaling? How about listening to verses about God’s desire for you? His words are love letters to us, ready to provide you with love, strength, hope, grace, and peace. Download a podcast or app that has Scripture that you want to listen to. Then play it in the car, at the gym, on break, during a walk…I think you get the point.  

3.      Focus on Worship Songs


Listening to worship songs can turn a bad day, one in which you feel forgotten or unloved, into a day worth celebrating. On days when life feels too hard to deal with on your own, use Christian music to remind you of how much God loves you. A good example is “Come as You Are”, which reminds us that God only has love for us and can heal our deepest wounds.



4.      Write in a Gratitude Journal


Keeping a gratitude journal will help remind you of all the magnificence in your life. Write down, I AM loved at the top of your journal and add things about you and your life that you’re grateful for. You’ll find that there are lots of things about you that are worthy of love. Also, be grateful that you have someone in your life that loves you unconditionally – our Lord and Savior.



5. Prayer and Meditation

Both prayer and meditation will help wash away stress and fortify your soul. These are things you should be doing as often as you can. It doesn’t need to take long and is so important. Ask God to reveal to your heart how much he loves you. Then listen for Him to respond. Don’t throw up a prayer and get too busy to listen. Prayer and meditation brings you out of your head and into the present moment, helping you find inner peace and appreciation for the good things in life, but most of all it helps you hear the voice of God.

6. Head Outdoors

Fresh air, sunshine, and even a cloudy winter day will do a lot of good to lift your spirit. When you’re feeling down, head out the door for a walk, preferably in a nice, serene setting. It doesn’t need to be a long walk – even 15 minutes will help.While you’re walking, look at the trees, birds, and flowers. It isn’t it amazing how loved we are that our God wants us to live in a canvas of beauty? Even the weed poking out from a broken sidewalk is beautiful if you think about it.

7. Eat Healthy Food

Eating healthy food is a great way to start your day and nourish your body and soul. Researchers in London discovered that you can lower your risk for depression with a diet rich in whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and fish. Learning new recipes can be a fun way to take your mind off what has you down. Have fun with it – put what you’ve whipped up on a pretty plate, and tell yourself that, “I AM loved.”

8. Unplug from Social Media and the News

While social media and the news has its benefits, sometimes the negativity can get you down without you realizing it. When you’re feeling down, unplug from social media and step away from the news. Focus on the real-world beauty that surrounds you.



Alternatively, if you have a community online that offers prayer and support, ask for it. The power of prayer heals. Don’t isolate yourself. Find a community where you can thrive locally and online.

9. Get Creative with Close Friends

Whether it’s Bible journaling, making cookies, knitting, or girl’s night outs, getting creative can help you feel productive and loved. Gathering with friends is a great reminder that we are loved. Don’t wait for someone else to schedule it. Text a few friends and get something on the calendar soon.

10. Build a “Feel Good” Basket

Taking care of yourself is so important. Sometimes a little basket of feel-good items can help remind you to take a time out, relax, and enjoy life. Examples include treasured photos, cards you’ve received from friends or family, a couple of uplifting essential oils or candles, a bit of chocolate, a small Bible, and anything that makes you smile. Keep your “feel goods” close at hand for when you need to remind yourself that I AM loved.

You don’t have to do all ten techniques. Pick one to try. When you need a reminder that you are loved, remember that God loves you. Even when life seems determined to kick you while you are down, His love can still reach you. So, put down the phone and the comfort foods (ok in moderation). Instead, find the verses that remind you of God’s love, take a walk and, most important of all, take good care of yourself and say, “I AM loved” daily.

1 John 3:1

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

I AM Loved 1 John 3:1

John 13:1

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

I AM Loved John 13:1

Deuteronomy 7:9

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 

I AM Loved Deuteronomy 7:9

Psalm 136:1

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

I AM Loved Psalm 136:1

2 Chronicles 5:13

And it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever, the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud,

I AM Loved 2 Chronicles 5:13

2 Thessalonians 3:12

Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

I AM Loved 2 Thessalonians 3:12

Deuteronomy 1:31

And in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’

I AM Loved Deuteronomy 1:31

Romans 5:8

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

I AM Loved Romans 5:8

Ephesians 3:19

And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

I AM Loved Ephesians 3:19

Jeremiah 31:3

The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.

I AM Loved Jeremiah 31:3

Lamentations 3:22-23

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

I AM Loved Lamentations 3:22-23

Psalm 118:1

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

I AM Loved Psalm 118:1

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Episode 007: God is Love

 This is The Promises of God Podcast and I’m your host,  Tracie Rollins.  This podcast is about you, your ability to hear and believe and take action  on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen.  Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on promises that  God  podcast.com.  Now let’s get started.

Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number seven. My name is Tracie Rollins. Thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This month series is about understanding and feeling the love that God has for you, his child, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible journaling ministries.com, and I’ll link that in the show notes today. We’re talking about God’s covenant love and our verse for today is Deuteronomy Chapter Seven, verse nine, and I’ll read out of the new international version. It reads now therefore that the Lord your God is God. He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. God has this covenant love with his children. You might be asking yourself, what is a covenant

What does covenant love even mean Well, a covenant is an agreement. It’s a pledge or a promise. It’s basically an agreement and God has a covenant love for his children, which is you and me, and it’s this covenant. Love that. It’s such a way that it, that he just never breaks his promise. It doesn’t matter what we do. It doesn’t matter what we do. He won’t break his promise. We can be crazy sinful people and go and turn back to him and say, Lord, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me, and he’s going to welcome us with open arms. He loves us. He keeps his promises. All of his promises are fulfilled. And when I think about my greatest love, it really is hard to describe. The feelings associated with, uh, with it are varied and they range from friendship to attraction to a connection that is so deep.

There are no words to describe it. It’s not as simple as looking up the word in the dictionary, which if I look up the word love, it says love is a strong attraction for another arising out of, out of kinship or personal ties, attraction, affection, warm attachment, enthusiasm or devotion. That’s okay. That’s okay, but it doesn’t really describe my greatest love. My greatest love is simply indescribable, and that is true. God’s love for you. The Greek that most often describes love as a Ga Bay. It is a love that’s unconditional, never ending and never changing. It’s most often associated with God’s love. God’s very nature is love and we can read that in first John. So as I look at first John Chapter four, verse eight, I’ll be reading out of the world English Bible. It says, he who doesn’t love, doesn’t know God, for God is love, and if I go to first John Chapter four verse 16, it says, ever the same Bible that says we know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.

Love is the deepest possible expression of God’s character. The kind of love that God has for you truly goes beyond human understanding. It’s the kind of love that risks and sacrifices everything for a person who doesn’t deserve it. You haven’t now, today and forever because you can’t lose it as you go about your week. I hope that you’ll think about your greatest love is. I think about my greatest love. The first people that come to my mind or my husband and my children, they are my greatest love. Uh, the way we run things in the Rollins household is they are very responsible young men. I’m talking about my children and my husband, he’s, he’s not young, but he’s awesome and everyone has their thing, their chores. Um, my kids, I don’t do my kid’s laundry. There’s, there are old enough to do their own laundry. So they do their own laundry, they clean their own rooms, they clean your own bathrooms.

Oftentimes they’ll make their own food. I do like to cook dinner every now and again. So when I do that, they come and sit down and then we have a nice dinner together, but I don’t, I don’t do for them normal mean things that they can do for themselves. I teach them to fend for themselves and do for themselves and I have since they were young now when they were younger and they needed me, I, I, you know, change their diapers and, and did everything. But as they grew older and were potty trained, you know, they started taking on responsibilities for themselves and that’s just, that is just how it works around here in this household. So they don’t call me very often unless they need me. Like they’ll call me when something is going down, when they feel maybe threatened or not safe or if for some reason they don’t have a ride home from where they’re going and they need me to transport them, they’ll call me when they call me.

It’s when they need me and when that happens I drop everything because they’re so important in my life. The love I have for my children and my family. It’s not perfect by any means. We argue, we fight. In fact, the other day my son was math and off and he had quite an attitude and we were supposed to have lunch together. Like I try to have lunch with him as often as I can while he’s still in my house. He literally was mouthing off and I looked at him and I said, you know, not today, I’m not going to listen to this out of your mouth today and you can come see me when you have an attitude change, but until then I don’t want to deal with this. And I walked off. I didn’t have lunch with him. I wasn’t going to have lunch with him like I wasn’t gonna deal with that kind of nastiness or attitude issue.

So I walked away and close my door and didn’t go on to do some additional work. I just didn’t want to deal with a teenager who has an attitude problem and probably about five, 10 minutes later he knocks on the door and I’m busy because I’m doing work now. I made him sit for a little bit so I could finish up what I was doing. And then he apologized and I talked to him a little bit about respect and in attitudes and how it’s important to be thankful for the things you have instead of not thankful for the things that you have. And so we had just a nice little conversation and we ended up actually going into the kitchen and making lunch and sit down and having a nice lunch together. And I say that because we can also have attitude problems when it comes to God and he’s not going to close the door on you. Like I closed the door on my kid. He’s not going to make you wait for 10 minutes. Like I made my kid wait for 10 minutes until I was done doing whatever it was I needed to get done. All you have to do is go to God and just, you know, tell him like, tell him you’re sorry. Tell them that you love him and he will welcome you back in a second. There’s no delay. There’s no waiting. There’s no discussion about attitude adjustments even though we probably should have them.

But I say this because God’s love for you is so much more than any love that you have here on earth, and I hope that as you go out about your week and you started thinking about those in your life that you love and you start thinking about God’s love for you, how you will feel the kind of love that God truly has, that covenant. Love, that love, that breaks. No promises, that God that wants to give you everything despite the mistakes that we make in this world and the sense that we do. God is here and he wants to give you everything. He sent his son here to die for you. There. I would never do that for you and I would never expect you to do that for me. But God did it for us because he loves us more than anything.

So I hope that you’ll take some time to review some of our verses for this week and feel God’s love in your life today, tomorrow and forever. And if you don’t yet feel the love of Christ in your life, I encourage you to invite God into your life today. You’re not promised tomorrow a. don’t put this off. You don’t know what tomorrow is gonna. Bring Romans six. Twenty three says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins and follow his will in your life and you will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. I want to thank you so much for joining me today at the promises of God podcast. I can’t wait to talk to you next week as we continue our series and understanding God’s love for his children. Talk to you soon. Bye.

 Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Germany ministries where thousands of women grow in the word creatively. It’s your free 10-day course for other ministries and other episodes resources@thepromisesofGodpodcast.com.

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Episode 006: Take Action To Live Your Best Life

Episode 006 - Take Action To Live Your Best Life

This is the Promises of God Podcast and I’m your host, Tracie Rollins. This podcast is about you, your ability to hear belief and take action on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen. Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on promises of God podcast.com. Now, let’s get started.

Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number six. My name is Tracy Rollins, and I’m so excited to spend some time with you as we learn and take action on God’s promises in our lives. This month series is about having your best year ever and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Biblejournalingministries.com, and I’ll link that in the show notes. Of course, and today we are talking about action. Our verse for today is James Chapter two, verse 17 through 18, and it says, even so faith if it has no works is dead in itself. Yes, and man will say, you have faith and I have worked. Show me your faith without works and I buy my works. We’ll show you my faith. Now James isn’t talking about a works based salvation. Salvation we know is through the blood of Christ and it is a gift. In fact, if we look at Galatians three, eight through nine, we can hear what the Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Galatians. He says, the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith. Note that what he just said, you are justified by faith. He said, preach the good news beforehand to Abraham saying in you all the nations will be blessed, so then those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. So as a gentile, you are justified by faith your faith in salvation through Jesus Christ. But when we think about what James is saying in James Chapter two, verse 17 through 18, again, he’s not talking about a work based salvation. What he saying is that having genuine faith means also having God’s spirit residing with us, a spiritual condition that cannot help but per but produce deeds that are pleasing to God. So when you had the holy spirit in you, you just can’t help it. You just do things that are nice. You do things that are awesome.

You do things that glorify God. By now you have an idea of what you want to work on to make this your best year ever. If you’ve listened to this podcast up to now, you’ve identified God’s promises related to the one thing that the holy spirit is calling you to do, so that is your focus area. Of course, you can have multiple things, but we’re just talking about one thing that you just can feel on your heart that the Holy Spirit is calling you to do, that you need to pay attention to. That’s what we’re talking about. We’ve listened to people that can provide wise counsel and that was in our other episodes and we have formed a smart goal. Now it’s time to take action. The best way I found to take action is to develop healthy habits around a goal. When I have a writing goal, I carve out time on the calendar to write. That may mean that I don’t have much margin in my life during that timeframe, but I recognize the cost and I know that it’s only for a season and that doesn’t mean that I’m perfect. I have a very, you know, bad habit of eating when I’m head down on a writing assignment, which totally conflicts with my health-related goal and that causes my health goal to take pretty much a backseat, but I’m working on it and I know that sometimes the writing has to be done and I will just have to do my best job. Well, I can. I do generally have as much as I can really focus on trying to have a balanced life. It’s so important to have a bond, a balanced life, and it’s so important to weigh the costs of things and you know what I’m heads down on a writing assignment.

I know the season is short, so I’ll finish the race and in a few weeks or days, depending on what the assignment is, I’ll be back at the gym and back on my walks and back to my new role, healthier habits. Now I do plan that as I’m currently focused on my health goal as my number one priority for this year, then I am going to work on my habit of writing and not being so disrespectful of my body, so I’m going to be. If I have an assignment that’s heads down and I’m going to work, I’m going to pre-plan my meals, I’m going to have him ready so I can just grab and go. That’s just a habit that I’m going to try to develop this year so that it helps me in those situations and I think that it would help me anyways. The planning is always a good thing, so as we continue to talk about just habits, I can tell you that over the years of my life, habits have really helped me achieve the goals that I set for my life.
Last year, I set a goal to read the Bible. I love to set that goal, but if I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, I did not fulfill that goal very often. I’m reading the Bible through in a year is difficult for me and last year I said, you know, I’m really gonna do it this year, this year I’m going to make this promise to myself and it’s going to be the one thing that I just know I’m going to do. And so what I did was I developed a habit of reading the Bible the first thing in the morning. So before I roll out of bed, I have an APP that I open, it’s called the You Bible App, I think, you version Bible App, and there are so many different devotionals on there, but I chose a devotion that allows me to read the Bible for the entire year. So every day, um, I have a devotion and then there’s like five or six different scriptures that I need to read to get through the Bible in a year every day.

It takes about 15 minutes to get through. But it really, really is rewarding. And I was so excited that by the end of the year I had actually finished early. And I think that sometimes people can look at the Bible and it’s just so huge that no one can think they can actually finish reading it, but I know people that have finished reading the Bible and 10 months. So for me to take a year is, is awesome, but you know, it could be done sooner or less time. But for me it was a goal that I wanted to do last this year, finish off the year, not this year, but last year I’m actually going to try to read it again this year in chronological order, which is, got to be a fun goal so that, that’ll be fun. I just, I really enjoy setting the goal, but reading the Bible in a chronological way this year for me as isn’t my first goal, the one that I’m the Holy Spirit is calling me to the Holy Spirit’s truly calling me to focus on my health this year.

So that is the one thing that I’m really going to put the most effort on. Um, but I will tell you that reading the Bible chronologically is, is important to me. So I’m going to hopefully keep the habit that I developed this year and be able to read it all the way through again and um, will be awesome. If I do, I think it’ll be really great. So now it’s time for you. What is one thing you’ll do today to get you closer to achieving your goal What resources do you need now and what resources do you think you’re going to need in the future And then finally, what habits can you incorporate either daily, weekly, or monthly, to get you closer to your goal.

You have everything that you need to get started on, what God is calling you to do. You don’t need to have everything to finish it, just what you need to get started. I pray that he will bless your journey and I can’t wait to hear how you’re doing and if you don’t yet feel the love of Christ in your life, I would encourage you to invite God into your life today. You’re not promised tomorrow, so please don’t put this off. Romans six, 28 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord, so turn to him, confess your sins and follow his will in your life. Our God is a wonderful and gracious and loving God. Thank you for turning in today and I’ll see you in the next episode of the promises. Thank you for tuning in today and I’ll see you in the next episode of the promises of God podcast. Goodbye.

Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible journey ministries were thousands of women grow in the word creatively. It’s your free 10-day course from elderly ministries and another episode resources at ThePromisesofGodPodcast.com.

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Women of the Bible Better Together Bible Journaling Kit

I was so excited to see the release of the Women of the Bible Better Together Bible Journaling Kit by DaySpring. It’s the first in a series of three. Be sure to scroll down to see the easy recipes I put together for this new kit!

This month DaySpring launched their own Bible journaling kits and will be working with different authors to bring you more variety. For the first kit, they worked with the makers of the (in) courage Devotional Bible. If you’re interested in purchasing this kit, please consider using our ministry affiliate link. It helps us out and doesn’t cost you more. you can purchase the kit here. Thank you!

Women of the Bible Better Together Bible Journaling Kit Overview

The Women of the Bible – Better Together Bible journaling kit comes with:

  • 4 devotionals
  • washi tape
  • 2 sheets of clear stickers
  • 2 sheets of purple alphabet stickers
  • 6 paper bookmarks
  • 1 clear stamp set
  • 1 Women of the Bible: Better Together sticker
  • 1 greeting card
  • 1 Gelatos® pigment stick in Fig color
  • Packaged in a box with moss green tissue paper and a sticker
  • You also get digital downloads so you can get started today. No need to wait for the kit to arrive.

The Featured Women of the Bible include:

  • 2 Kings 22 – Huldah
  • Luke 8:3 – Joanna & Susanna
  • Luke 10 – Mary & Martha
  • Luke 1 – Mary & Elizabeth
Bible Journaling Kit

Women of the Bible Better Together Bible Journaling Kit Review

I’m excited just to share with you some of the fun things I did in the new In(Courage) Bible as I journaled through it. Bible journaling in a devotional Bible isn’t much different than in a Bible journaling Bible except instead of using a two-inch margin, you’re getting a bigger space at the bottom of the page.

I spent between an hour and two hours playing with this kit. I did a lot more writing and diving deeper into the Word and really thinking about these beautiful women.

Bible Journaling Huldah

The first entry I did was with Huldah and I loved her story. It really spoke of trust so I highlighted the word trust on the page. I used the stamp three times because I messed up. I’m surprised she looks as she does, but that’s what you get when you have a good quality stamp and the grit to keep on trying! I messed it up on the attempt and tried a second time. It didn’t get it as crisp as I wanted, but the third time finally worked. To fix the fuzzy lines, I used a purple micron pen and I just outlined it a little bit. If you ever double stamp an image and you’re not happy with it, don’t throw out your Bible. Go ahead and outline the double marks with your pen. And you should get something that looks pretty good.

Women of the Bible DaySpring Bible Journaling Kit Huldah
Bible Journaling Kit

Recipe for this page:

  1. Stamp the image. Hopefully, you get a clear stamp the first time!
  2. Write in the journaling section and use the stickers in between the paragraph. I think they really pop on mine!
  3. Add the paperclip at the top and secured it with washi tape. When using paperclips make sure you washi tape first to protect your page. Otherwise, you increase the chance of tearing your page.
  4. Add a little more washi.
  5. Use the Gelatos to add a little color to your page. Apply it directly to the Bible and smear it with a baby wipe. No prep needed!

Bible Journaling with Mary and Martha

A lot of times when you read the story of Mary and Martha, Martha gets poopooed a lot and Mary gets praise because Jesus praises her. He says, Mary has made the right choice and it will not be taken away from her. I liked how this devotional encouraged you to think of them as having separate roles to play. Instead of poo-pooing Martha, they shared how she was using her unique gift.

Recipe for this page:

  1. Use the downloadable printable image and print it on tissue paper.
  2. Use 1-2 coats of clear gesso on the page and let both layers dry.
  3. Apply matte medium to your page and place down the image of the woman as well as the green tissue paper that comes with the kit.
  4. Apply stickers and do a bit of journaling.

Bible Journaling withe Susanna and Joanna

I love the fact that we got to dive deeper into Susanna and Joanna because they are mentioned in one sentence in the whole Bible. I’ve read the entire Bible, but I will tell you that I never gave them any thought. Doing this devotional really helped me to really think about them and how they supported Jesus with their possessions. They had a new life because of Him and their personal sacrifice.

Recipe for this page (this one was really simple):

  1. Read and underline the verse.
  2. Journal your thoughts using stickers as words.
  3. Add washi tape.
  4. Add the bookmark.

Bible Journaling with Mary and Elizabeth

As I Bible journaled Mary and Elizabeth, I thought about how the birth of John and Jesus were miracles. Elizabeth was not young and Mary obviously conceived and in a way like nobody else is ever going to conceive again. I love how the devotional talked about their friendship and them growing closer together. It’s so important is to have friendships and mentors.

Women of the Bible DaySpring Bible Journaling Kit Mary and Elizabeth

Recipe for this page:

  1. Apply Gelatos along the edge of the page.
  2. Using a baby wipe smudge it towards the center and let dry.
  3. Stamp both images directly to the page. I use archival ink.
  4. Add the sticker in the middle.
  5. Add washi along the top.
  6. Place the bookmark at the top.

All in all I really enjoyed the new Women of the Bible Better Together Bible journaling kit by DaySpring. My favorite parts are the devotional and stamps. Those girls are just real if you know what I mean. Taking a closer look at Huldah, Joanna, and Suzanna was refreshing and I’m ecouraged by their stories. I hope you will be too!

Bible Journaling Kit

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Episode 005: A Faith-based Approach to SMART Goals

A Faith-based Approach to SMART Goals

This is the Promises of God Podcast and I’m your host, Tracie Rollins. This podcast is about you, your ability to hear and believe and take action on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen. Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on promises of God podcast.com. Now, let’s get started.

Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number five. My name is Tracy Rollins, and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This month series is about having your best year ever and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible journaling ministries.com, and I’ll link that in the show notes today. We’re talking about smart goals in our verse is Isaiah Fifty Eight, verse 11, and it reads and Y’all way will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in dry places and make your bones strong and you shall be like a watered garden like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail. I love that. It just shows that God is with us. He continues to guide us. You can see in this verse, he will guide US continually. He will satisfy her soul in dry places and make us strong. We will be like water. Got Her garden like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail. Our plans will succeed if they are in him.

It’s so important to plan. It’s so important to make sure that the goals that you have in your life are smart. Now, there are plenty of ways to decide or determine if your goal is a smart goal, and in this episode, I’m just going to share a different approach. It’s still using the acronym smart, but it is more of a faith-based smart goal than it is a maybe what you’ve seen or been exposed to in the past. The way I’ve always been taught to create and achieve my goals has been through the smart method. Every class that I’ve taken, every leadership training, every course in my over two decades of career time has always been about achieving smart goals. And, uh, in the past they’ve been where they are specific. They’re measurable, they’re achievable, they’re realistic and time-bound, and though that is a really great method and it worked for me for so many years and the model is really great for goals, but the problem is I feel it lacks a faith-based component, so I put together this smart goal idea that might feel a little bit better for those who prefer to put God first as they create their goals for the year.

So the first one is S, which stands for specific in. It says in it specifically asked God for direction. When you’re in prayer, so as you think about the goal you have, take it to God, pray to him, ask him if this is the right goal, ask him to help you with your goal. Just leave it all to him, put it at his feet and asked him to provide you what you need. The next one is M, which is meaningful. How does the goal directly or indirectly point others to Jesus The next letter is A, which is attainable. Has God provided the resources that you need to get started, even if he hasn’t provided everything you need to finish Resources don’t have to be money. They can include time, people, materials, and more. The next one is r, which is relevant. How is the goal relevant to the purpose and gifts God’s blessed you with

The next one is t, which is timely, is this God’s will and timeframe Continue taking action that realizes that your timetable is not God’s submit to his will and timeframe. He may want things different. He may want things earlier. He may want things later than you had planned, so as you go about this week, I want you to think about is your goal smart Then give you an example of my goal. My goal this year is really aggressive. It’s to lose two pounds a week over the next six months. Now, if I actually use the smart goal method that we just talked about, the first thing I would do is be specific in my prayer and I’m here would be an example of that. Lord, please help me to honor the temple of the Holy Spirit. In my body, help me to take care of it so that I can serve you and be a light to others, and so then I’m going to take this to God.

I’m going to ask him, Lord, if it’s your will, please help me to make the right choices that I could lose 50 pounds or 48 pounds over the next few months. Lord, help me to put the right things in my mouth. Helped me to exercise where I can help me just to have some self-care so that I can truly put this temple that you have my body, the temple of the Holy Spirit as a priority. The next thing is meaningful. An example of this would be indirect maybe for me, so for meaningful. It can directly or indirectly point others to Jesus and for me indirectly. People might see my weight loss and they might ask, well, how are you losing weight And I can certainly, I can say, yeah, I’m going to be on the Quito or I’m going to be polio, or I’m going to be on the vegetarian diet, or I’m going to be on the weight watchers or, or whatever.

But I think what I would prefer to say is, you know, God has just given me way more strength this year and way more disciplined this year than I’ve ever had before. And I rely on him to get me through each and every day. And wouldn’t that just be a wonderful way to point others to Jesus to let them know that he is the one that I follow in the light, in my life? I just think it would be really great to be able to do that. The next one is attainable. So attainable is, is has God provided the resources Well for me, I say yes. You know, God has provided wise counsel. Certainly, I have the opportunity to go to a library and check out books and get the information I need on any specific weight loss program I want to follow. I can go online and research it as well.

There are so many options for recipes these days. I just love that I could just google something and be able to come up with what I’m looking for. It’s just amazing. So for my weight loss, your knee, you know, God has provided the tools that I need and when it comes to the exercise portion of it, I’m still working on my knee issue. I am walking daily and doing some holy Yoga. Actually I think that might be a brand name, so I guess I should say faith-based yoga or Christian Yoga and I love that type of exercise because their scripture that is talked about in there and even if the instructor isn’t reading from the translation that I prefer, I can still go back to my Bible later and read the right track or not the right translation, but the translation that I prefer now, the next one is relevant.

How is the goal relevant to the purpose that God has given me Well, for me, if it’s weight loss, then I’m focused on. For me, truly it’s about being healthier. The goal is relevant because I need to be healthy in order to continue to film videos or do my podcasts or create printables for people and do all the things that help bring others to God, so definitely being healthy is a key component of that. If I’m sick, I can’t get out of bed, then I’m not going to be able to do the work that needs to be done each and everyday envoy, isn’t it quite a bit of work. The next one is timely. Now, of course, my will, my will would be to lose 10 pounds a week the next six months, so that will definitely be 48 pounds. Historically, I have not been successful in that duration of time or in that quantity of weight lost.

I do not know if I will be successful this time, but I am leaving this up to God. I am going to do my very best. I’m surrounding myself with wise counsel and people that can help me. I have some verses that will lift me up and I’m going to do the very best job I can. Now God may see things a little bit different. It may take a little bit longer. The journey might not be exactly how I want it, or you know what The outcome may not be there as well. I can decide that, yeah, I want to lose 48 pounds and that’s the outcome that I want, but my body may just settle in at 10. It may say, you know what I’m good with 10 and that’s all you’re gonna do, and so I’m going to be accepting of the outcome that God has in my life and always be praying to him for direction.

So if the journey is 10 pounds, it’s 10 pounds of the journey is no pound. It’s no pounds. I am content in the Lord and where he has, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to try. I’m going to try, I’m going to do my best and hopefully,y we’re going to see where that is, but I’m not going to be attached to the outcome. I am going to be attached to the journey where God has me and what he wants to do in my life. So I hope that encourages you and inspires you to look at your goals. Is your cool smart I hope that you’ll use the goal, the smart method to kind of work through it this year. Having smart goals that include God can definitely be a game changer. I know it is a game changer for me and I hope and pray that as a good, again, a game changer for you.

I hope this episode really helped you think about the one thing that you’re focused on this year and shed some light on how it can bring glory to our father God, and if you don’t yet feel the love of Christ in your life, I encourage you to invite God into your life today. You’re not promised tomorrow and please don’t put this off. Romans six, 23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins, follow his will in your life, and thank you so much for tuning in today and I’ll see you in the next episode of the promises of God. Goodbye.

Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible. Julian ministries were thousands of women. Grow in the word creatively. Get your free 10-day course from Bible Julian ministries and another episode resources at ThePromisesofGodPodcast.com.

 

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Episode 004: Seeking Wise Counsel

Episode 004: Seeking Wise Counsel

This is the Promises of God Podcast. I am your host, Tracie Rollins. This podcast is about you, your ability to hear belief and take action on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen. Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on promises of God podcast.com. Now, let’s get started.

Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, episode number four. This is Tracie Rollins. Thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This series is about having your best year and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by BibleJournalingMinistries.com, and I’ll link that in the show notes. Today we’re talking about wise cancel, Our verse for today is Proverbs Chapter 15, verse 22, and it reads “where there’s no counsel,  Plans fail, but in a multitude of counselors, they are established.” The Bible says with a multiple of counselors, plans are established. It’s so important to pick the right counselors. I surround myself with wise counsel, some of it’s free, um, perhaps through my husband, family members, mentor programs, pastors and other Christian friends that I’ve just built relationships with over the course of many, many years. Some of it’s not free. It’s in the form of things like coaches or special training or classes. Even the professors at my, at the university that I study at my administrator certificate, they’re not free. I’ve got to pay for those. I’ve got to pay for some books as well. Along with that, so not everyone that I surround myself as free. It would be really awesome if that were the case, but that’s just not life. So I surround myself with many, many different counselors and when I’m listening, listening to counselors, I sit and I listen. I’m not seeking agreement or validation of my plan. Instead, I’m looking for their perspective, resources, maybe some experience and definitely if they haven’t some good godly advice, oftentimes I’ll ask clarifying questions when I’m having a hard time understanding or receiving the council. Sometimes the council isn’t wise so I move on.

Not everyone will agree with you or me or with each other, and that’s why I believe the Bible says that you have to have a multitude of counselors. It’s important also to pick the right counselors. Now, someone who is sharing information with you that contradicts the Bible is probably not the best counselor for you. It’s not wise advice if they’re specifically contradicting what is said in the Bible, but you want to pick a mix of counselors that have some experience in the area that you’re growing. People that are close to you as well can be helpful. Some of them may not be helpful. I mean, it really just depends on your circumstance, so definitely seek to find people that maybe have some great expertise in what you’re working with and couple that along with people that know who you are and if you can find those that have good godly advice, maybe mentors that you look up to, surround yourself with those types of people as well. It’s always important to listen to what people are sharing, especially if you’re seeking their advice. Don’t, Oh, don’t talk over them. Don’t let them finish their sentences, let them. If you’re going to seek advice, especially if it’s free, you will actually, even if you’re paying for you, you definitely want to listen to it. Anytime you’re seeking help, it’s always important to stop and listen to hear what they have to say. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to take the advice. Again, it is just advice. Oftentimes when I’m talking to people, one person will say one thing and another person will say the other thing, and another person will say something totally different, and really the good news is that it’s up to you to decide. You get to choose when, when you are working on that one thing that the Holy Spirit has called you to look at to really investigate and changing in your life.

You get to make the decisions because this is your life. So if somebody is telling you, you must do something. Now there is an exception to that rule. I mean, if, if you were, if you do rely on Jose, your appearance, if you’re staying with them and they’re telling you that you must clean up your room, well that’s not. We’re not seeking advice there. That is something that someone is telling you to do because you’re staying with them at their home. Right Or if you’re in a partnership with somebody and you have an agreement, well that’s an agreement. It’s not the same as wise counsel. Why is cancel is when you have a question or there’s something you’re struggling with and you really need some help to solve it, and so you go off to you ask questions and you ask people to give you their expertise, their opinion or their, their thoughts in that would be the council that I’m talking about here.I’m not. I’m not talking about you know, things that you were supposed to be doing anyway. This is you seeking out some assistance and then listening to the assistance that is given to you. Now that doesn’t mean that you have to fulfill on. That doesn’t mean you have to take whatever someone says as the ultimate truth. I would encourage you to open up your Bible and make sure that whatever someone’s telling you don’t disagree with what the Bible says is true, I would encourage you to do that for sure, and then you should check whether or not that person who’s telling you that advice, are they telling it to you because it’s great advice for you and it’s relevant for you and your life and it’s relevant to the conversation at hand or they telling it to you because they have some experience and they’re coming from a place of knowledge that is specifically related to their situation, so never just take advice just because it’s given to you.

Always look to see is what the person’s saying to you. Relevant Is it good advice Is it specific to your situation Is it in the Bible a, does it contradict the Bible, and I always say anytime someone’s given me advice that contradicts the Bible, I just or I automatically don’t. Don’t include that in my list of things to think about Iowa. I believe the Bible is full of truth and anytime I’m faced with a situation, the first thing that I go to is the Bible, and hopefully, I’m able to find my answer. Is there. Um, I would say the majority of the time in my life, anytime I’ve had questions or face situations, there’s always been a promise for me in the Bible. There’s always been something for me and the Bible, even if it’s not specifically what I want to hear or what I want to see. Sometimes God likes to reveal to me things that I don’t want to hear and sometimes I just have to hear. So surround yourself with good wise, cancel, and then discern whether or not you’re going to implement the things that, that wise counsel is telling you to do. So as you go along and consider the things that you’re going to be implementing for your best year, you want to ask yourself, who is the right person to talk to Who for, for whatever area, you’re going to be focused on who’s the right person for this area Who’s the right person for this area You might need Let’s, for example, you might be starting a business and you might need an SEO expert, so you might go seek SEO, help that search engine optimization, and you might seek out a web guy or he might seek out a youtube expert or you might seek out a Pinterest expert and then at the same time you might also talk to your pastor about your ideas, especially if it relates to Christian living or you might seek out your spouse for some of his or her godly advice. Or you might seek out your an expert in the specific area that you’re in. If you’re a fitness person and you might go and seek out someone who’s already doing what you want to do in that space, so who think about over the next week until we meet again, who are you going to look at or consider in Write a list of people down that you need to consult with and definitely have some people that have expertise in the area that you have questions on and then also seek out people that have godly advice and people that know you. It would be great if you could find, you know, everybody that you talked to had some really great godly advice. Not everybody will and that’s okay. Just listen to the advice to see what it is they have to share with you. Thank them for sharing it with you and pay them if you’re going to pay them. If it’s part of the offer, you definitely want to pay them for further work. If it’s free, I would encourage you to thank them in some way, maybe coffee or bring them dinner or something. I don’t know. That’s entirely up to you. I always think it’s so nice when people take time out of their data to counsel me. I’ve had many mentors in my life that I just love and cherish and still continue to seek their wise advice today. If you are curious about how to approach somebody that you don’t know, the first thing is to just introduce yourself. Really just talk to them and get to know the person before you, you know, ask for for a favor, unless of course, you’re buying it and then you can just give him the money and then learn what you can. But in war, especially in the, in the work environments where I’ve worked in or when I’ve been looking for a mentor for my career as an example, as an example, it would go up to the person. I would get to know them, I would, you know, make sure that they were someone that I wanted to learn from and then I would ask them, hey, are you willing to mentor me for maybe once a month over the next 12 months It’s really important to give them timeframes and, and things like that to come to an expectation and agreement on that. So as you’re putting together your list to make sure that you’re approaching people in a very respectful and loving manner, asking them to help you by providing this wise counsel and you’ll be surprised. A lot of people, so many people are willing to give their expertise and their advice. A lot of times for free now, if there is someone that is charging for their advice, that’s awesome to you, people have to make a living and so it’s important to, to pay for some, some advice if that is an area especially, um, where there’s someone that you just know is just an expert and you just want to learn from them.

I would encourage you to look for people in your space that are like that and pay for the services because that’s how they feed their family. And, um, if you think that they are amazing at what they do and you want to learn from them, why not support them Right Why not give them the things that they need to provide for their families and provide for their life. I have not regretted a so far whenever I have entered into an agreement with either a mentor or a coach or even a doctor’s office, whenever I’ve had advice. Not all the advice I’ve been given is good advice, but I’ve always listened and I’ve always learned and it’s always helped me grow. So I hope that this really helps you grow as well and really gets you farther this year where you want to go. The Bible has a lot to say about who you surround yourself with, and I encourage you to find the best counsel for this season that you’re in, and if you don’t yet feel the love of Christ in your life, I encourage you to invite God into your life today. You’re not promised tomorrow, and I would encourage you to not put it off. Romans six, 23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins and follow his will in your life. Thank you so much for tuning in today and I’ll see you in the next episode of their promise of God podcast. Goodbye now.

Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journey Ministries. Were thousands of women grow in the word creatively. It’s your free 10-day course from Bible ministries and other episode resources at the promises of God podcast.  https://www.biblejournalingministries.com/momentum/

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Episode 003: God’s Promises Can Be Trusted

God’s Promises Can Be Trusted

 To enter the $100 giveaway, click here. Giveaway ends 1/30/19.

This is the promises of God podcast and I’m your host, Tracie Rollins. This podcast is about you, your ability to hear and believe and take action on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen. Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on PromisesOfGodPodcast.com. Now, let’s get started.

Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number three. My name is Tracie Rollins. Thank you so much for spending time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This series is about having your best year ever and work working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible Journaling Ministries. Today we’re talking about God’s promises. Are verse is Second Corinthians Chapter One, verse 20, and it reads, for however many are the promises of God in him is the yes, therefore also through him is the amen to the glory of God through us. Why does God make promises? The short answer is so that you can trust him. He always keeps his promises. God made a promise to Abraham in Genesis Chapter Twenty one verse 12 that reads, God said to Abraham, don’t let it be grievous in your site because of the boy and because of your servant and all that, Sarah says to you, listen to her voice, for your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac.

So God is promising Abraham a nation. He’s promising him that all of his offspring will be accounted from Isaac. So he’s gonna use Isaac to build this nation. And later God actually asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. So we read this. I’m the account of the faith of Abraham in Hebrews, and that is chapter 11, verse 17 through 19. And that reads by faith, Abraham being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son, even he to whom it was said, your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead, figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead. So Abraham had so much faith and knew that you know when God makes a promise, God’s going to fulfill it. And even if we can’t comprehend it in our head, I mean, obviously Abraham was like, you know, I can’t have, I mean, I can just, some of the things that might’ve gone through Abraham’s had, at least for me, um, if God would have made that promise specifically to me, and then, and then he would ask me to sacrifice one of my sons,I know the first thing out of my head would have been what No Way. Probably I’m, I’m confident that’s what I probably would have said. And then, you know, I would have had to go through a series of, you know, stuff’s basically in my head that just tried to figure out how to get it to make sense, what God was trying to say because of help. Isaac bared children if he’s dead right So Abraham had faith and he believed that God was going to say yes to those promises? He was going to fulfill those promises, which God does. He doesn’t lie, and he was willing to offer up his son. Now, if you read the actual scripture doesn’t actually, we don’t know. We don’t ever see Isaac killed in that situation, so you don’t have to worry about that if you’re, if you’re not familiar with the story, but Abraham offered up his son and um, he just believed that if he did what God told him, God would bring back Isaac from the dead.

You don’t get to see that example, just that scenario working out in my life because I, I don’t know that I would have that kind of faith. And so I pray that God would continue So he knew that God was going to keep his promises and whatever method God had that Abraham was going to follow. That what an amazing, amazing example of faith. And I love this story because it just shows that God keeps his promises. And I just love how Abraham is like, this is not the way that I perceive it to be. Like I could just see least myself in that space. Look, Lord, I just don’t think this is the way that this is going to happen. Like yeah, if you killed my son, he’s probably to going to bear children. work in my heart so that I could build the faith that Abraham had.

And I pray that he does that for me because that is just an amazing example of true faith and true trust in God. I would love to sit here on the podcast and tell you today that I would be like,  here’s my son, but I’m not there in my life. I love God. I don’t think he’ll ever ask me to do that. So that’s great. t’s so hard to think about what even Abraham, Sarah, like what, what they went through. Wow, what an amazing story. So there are thousands of promises of God in the Bible. There are promises, eternal life or needs for forgiveness, for finances, for healing and wisdom and guidance, family, children, piece, temptation, protection, fear. There are so many promises in the Bible and you can find them. I mean really just google, like if promises of God related to healing and I’m, I promise you there’ll be verses that pop up and then take your Bible out and look to make sure those are true. I don’t necessarily trust Google when it comes to reading the Bible. I always open up my Bible to see what it actually has to say, so I’d encourage you to open up your Bible and read what it has to say and see if that’s true for your life. When you decided to change an area of your life, you will realize that there were a ton of roadblocks on your journey, like a lot of them. It is really important to be aware of the problems and mitigate them when you can. Certainly, preparedness is always good. That’s why we talked about planning and the other episodes, but don’t dwell on him. God keeps his promises. If he’s made a promise to you and you believe that this is something that’s going to come to fruition and you have read the Bible and know that this is true and believe this promise is for you, it’s going to happen.

They’re just not going to happen in your time. It may not even happen the way you think it’s going to happen. God has a promise for you. He’s going to deliver it. He never breaks his promises. So focus on them. Focus on the promises that God has for you. And one of the promises that I have is for healing. For example, as I’m looking for things in my life, I want to improve my health. I want to get healthy and want to walk really well. And so I’m praying for healing. One of the verses I turn to Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 39, and that reads, see now that I myself and heat him, he, there is no god with me.

I kill and make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand, so I’m specifically counting on the wound and I heal from my healing. I know that God is my healer and he will heal my legs so that I can walk really awesome just and even if that doesn’t look like what I think it should look like, obviously I think it should look like a newly replaced knee and going through that surgery then healing it, but maybe God has other plans. Maybe before the surgery he will make it not hurt anymore and then I will need the surgery or maybe their surgery won’t go well and I’ll have a different leg or something else to work with. I believe he is my healer. The idea that I have in mind may not be his idea and so I have to believe his promises for healing, but not be so attached to the outcome that I believe is what should happen.

And hope that makes sense. So believe in God, but don’t be attached to the specific outcome that you have in your head. Take some time to look into your Bible and write down some promises related to your goal. Related to what the Holy Spirit has called for you in your heart. Write them down this week and I would encourage you to continue to look back on them each and every time you get discouraged, if there’s a roadblock in your way, if there’s something in your life that’s just like saying that God isn’t going to keep that promise to you, look back on those verses that you wrote, those promises of God related to your goal and be encouraged because he will keep his promise to you. And if you don’t yet feel the love of Christ in your life, I encourage you to invite God into your life today. You are not promised tomorrow, so don’t put this off. It’s important to really pray about this and ask the Holy Spirit into your heart. Romans six, 23 says, the wages of sin is death. We all deserve death. True, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins to him, ask him into your heart and follow his will in your life. Thank you so much for tuning in today and I hope to see you in the next episode of the promises of God.

Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journey Ministries. Were thousands of women grow in the word creatively. It’s your free 10-day course from Bible ministries and other episode resources at the promises of God podcast.  https://www.biblejournalingministries.com/momentum/

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