Life of Eucharisteo

After years and years of reading Paul’s writing and hearing his stories taught, today, this moment, after reading 2 Corinthians 4:1-18— a passage I’ve read countless times before — today, I finally identify with Paul. Today, I finally feel these Words of God in my soul.  It’s completely overwhelming, but completely comforting at the same time.  Like Paul, I consider my temporary suffering worth it for the glory of God to be revealed through it.  What if God chose to manifest His glory through our suffering as a way to combat the enemy? The god of this age blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they can’t see the light of the gospel. (2 Corinthians 4:4) The enemy thrives on distraction and deception and loves to plant disbelief at every turn.  As humans we are a people that need to see things. We need to have tangible evidence in order to believe something to be real.  What if my suffering, our suffering, and God’s goodness to us through the...

 In 2015 God used a most unusual man to minister to me after my daughter’s Glioblastoma diagnosis.  Tucked away in the Old Testament, in a book just three short chapters long, is a man by the name of Habakkuk.  His name means “to wrestle”, and wrestle he did. The book starts out with Habakkuk asking God, “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?”  I very much identified with Habakkuk and his wrestling in 2015 and now,  at the start of 2018 I’m identifying with his story in a whole new way.  You see 2015 Habakkuk was questioning, crying out, he was trying to fix things. 2018 Habakkuk has surrendered his circumstances. He has come to God with his shava (Hebrew for “to cry out, to shout”) and now this simple farmer is standing by his watchpost (Habakkuk 2:1) singing to God and waiting for Him to speak.  And so it is with me... On Wednesday of last week I had my own shava moment when my daughter Kelsie had a seizure that l...

No one has ALL the answers to why the hard days come. We just know that they come. Some more frequent than others. Some, seemingly unbearable. All, at least, uncomfortable.    Life as of late, has been identifying a little too closely with the life of Job. It leads me to wonder… Just how much sadness can one human heart hold? Is it even possible to gauge that? If so, I think mine would be a good case study. I know several hurting souls that would qualify. Every day that we draw breath on this earth we are in a battle. No one is exempt. We all have our daily positions on the battle field. Our family just happens to be on the front line right now. The question we have to ask ourselves is this… Are we equipped to fight? Full Armor of God Adapted from Dr. Charles Stanley One of the best habits you can develop is putting on the Armor of God every morning. This is spiritual armor, so you put it on by faith. The way to explain this...

For the past month or so I've been trying to wrap my mind around everything that has taken place in our lives. It's like time stopped then someone hit fast forward and now here we are. Here on the other side of surgery. On the other side of diagnosis. Here in treatment.   I've come to a conclusion.   The reason I can't wrap my mind around this? Because who can ever wrap anything around  something God-sized?  Every detail of the past 42 days has been God-sized.  I'm humbled by the fact that God gave us the strength and vision to see His hand at work.  The last 42 days have been filled with more grace, mercy, and love than one would expect a lifetime to bring. God has shown us His love in more ways than we could ever explain, but one way that has been abundantly clear is through  you all. Your love and generosity has been overwhelming.  Normally people would say they thank their family AND friends, but to us, we consider our friends to be family. So...

God is continuing to overwhelm us with his grace and mercy. Kelsie's MRI was clear! Yet another  thing going in our favor. Another step forward. She will begin radiation tomorrow. This will last for thirty days. Over the next six weeks we will be  praying  that Kelsie has NO ill side effects from this treatment. We pray that it will be the tool that God uses to heal her completely. And by completely we mean FOREVER. "This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning, Great is Your faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, says my soul, Therefore I hope in Him!" Lamentations 3:21-24 Standing on His promises, Tracey <><

As most of you know, on April 10th our daughter Kelsie, had surgery to remove an egg sized tumor from the left occipital lobe of her brain. The surgery was successful and Dr. Rozelle was able to remove the entire tumor intact. Kelsie had surgery on a Friday, and was able to return home on Monday. For the past two weeks she as been home recovering beautifully. She is no longer suffering from headaches, vision loss or stomach issues. All huge praises! After surgery, Kelsie’s tumor was sent to pathology to be studied. Last week her report came back showing that her tumor was malignant. The tumor was labeled a grade four glioblastoma with rhabdoid features. Gliobastomas are typically found in adults not children. The rhabdoid features of her tumor make it extremely rare. There are only twenty-five reported cases of this type of tumor in children. The treatment plan for now includes six weeks of radiation followed by some form of chemotherapy. They must eradicate all the cancer cell...

Wednesday started out like any other ordinary day. Alarm beeped too early, lunches got packed, sleepy kids asked for five more minutes. All things we take for granted as we walk through our overbooked, hurried, hectic days here on this earth. Wednesday’s agenda was fairly low key. Just a couple doctor appointments to be on time for (Promptness is not always our strong suit).  By the time Wednesday afternoon rolled around, life as we knew it had come to a screeching halt. “The MRI has shown a spot on Kelsie’s brain.” In an instant we went from planning our days to not knowing what to do with next second. Our instructions were to go straight to Birmingham, where a neurosurgeon would be expecting us. As we left the doctor’s office I just kept thinking about how we talk all the time about having faith in God, and how this was our time to live out what we profess.  With that at the forefront of our minds, we headed north. The five days that followed held more than we could...

The day started as ordinary as most. Up and at 'em. Off to work and running errands. Full speed on auto pilot. Moments passing by. Because, whether we notice it or not, the world still spins. Our world spins, life moves fast and children grow even faster. We easily become trapped on the Ferris wheel of "busy" and become slaves to "hurry" and "schedule". Moment after moment passes and we try to grab hold of those cherished, fleeting ones and hold them just a little bit tighter. Then come those moments that all-out-flatten us. Flatten us I suppose, so that we can only see in one direction. Up. That moment came for my niece and her young family last month. This vibrant family of 6 taking a break from the smothering Southern heat, to take a dip in the cool waters of the creek. A jump meant to be full of fun and laughs for the kids, resulted in a paralyzing injury for her husband. These however are the moments that shape us. Challeng...

 I'm back. At least for today. Life has gotten busy and I've just not made time for writing. I have to say though, after pulling up the old blog page, I didn't realize how much I'd missed it. So I was thinking today about Throwback Thursday's on FB and IG and a light bulb appeared and I said HEY! why not do a TBT on the blog? I went digging through old posts and found one of my favs. Flashback to Janurary 2012! HOME AGAIN I saw a face yesterday. A familiar face, yet not. It was a face that has been changed from the inside out. Transformed by the Holy Spirit. A sweet face that I’ve seen in my minds eye, as I’ve prayed, but not been able to see in person. Yesterday was the day. Oh what a glorious surprise it was! My friend who had been lost… My friend that only God Himself could find… My friend that is healed and whole… My friend that has been delivered and set free… My friend came home. Praise God! She’s home again! The pr...

So I’ve decided that someone needs to start a reality blog. Don’t shake your head just yet. Follow me. I think this rabbit trail leads somewhere. Like I said, reality blog. It would be a blog that would follow up on or tell the truth behind FB status’ like “Had a fabulous day with family and friends at the beach. I love my life and everyone in it!” BLAH! BLAH! BLAH! OR they could uncover the truth behind those perfect family portraits. Are ya trackin’?   This epiphany came to me this evening while I was having a lovely picnic at the park with my three girls. You see how wonderful that sounds. Pure bliss! But the story behind the post…..well. So it started with the best of intentions. We’ve been cooped up in the house today packing for an upcoming trip and I thought it would be nice to go grab some supper from our favorite burger joint. Then I decided we’d be resident tourists and check out our local park that we’ve never even...

What IS friendship exactly? I say, friendship is what you make of it. For someone friendship comes in flesh and blood form. For others it’s across miles and oceans and the vastness of cyberspace. I’ve been blessed beyond measure by friendships and here’s a little about what friendship has been for me…. Friendship is coming alongside someone. Propping them up when they can’t do it for themselves. It’s sitting silently while they grieve, holding their hand and just letting them cry. It’s crying along with them. Friendship loves you for who you are. Warts and all. It’s listening. It’s sharing. It’s doing life together. A friend shows up to your house, comes right on in and knows to step over the pile of shoes at the door. She pushes aside the pile of unfolded laundry on the couch, sits down and starts helping you fold. (Underwear and all) She fixes her own glass of tea, and when she can’t find a clean glass she grabs one out of the sink and washes one. Then s...

　 　 It's Friday, and that means I get to visit with a great group over at Lisa-Jo Baker's place. A place where the words flow like fresh water for my soul and encouragement abounds. I look forward to meeting here each week to read the God-given words of the women He's using to change the world. Wont' you join us? It's been a while since I've joined in on a FMF. I have to confess...I normally just watch the clock for my five minutes, so I usually fudge just a little. Today I set the timer. Man that five minutes went by fast! Here you go. My five minutes on..... DIVE The tree is down. The calender is marking the last day of December. I’m standing on the edge of 2012 feeling a bit like Peter standing at the edge of the boat. I feel Jesus calling me into 2013. Asking me to step out. Step out boldly. Leap. Dive. But like Peter, I see the water. The deep, dark, place of uncertainty. I see Jesus. I know full well He is there waiti...

The words spilled out before I knew what was happening. They spilled out like a jar of marbles scattering everywhere. Spilled from my jar. The one I keep inside for just such words. Christmas started out much like it always does for my brood. The day AFTER Thanksgiving starts our Christmas season. We collect our 15 year old tree from the box in the barn. We pull out all the ornaments and reminisce over each and every one. We bake cookies. We listen to Christmas carols for 31 days straight, and we celebrate the birth of our King. Every year I watch my girls revel in all things Christmas, and every year I share in their joy. But for me, it always tastes bittersweet. You see since her first Christmas, I’ve felt like a big fat liar. I’ve done a great job at stuffing it. Stuffing the big secret into my jar and feeding into the fantasy. Why not? I lived it. It was fun. It was magical. It was what dreams were made of and I wanted her to experience the joy of Christmas. At least ...

　 I love the smells of this season. I take comfort in the familiar. Every year the farmers sow their seed and in the Fall we all reap the bounty. For the farmers, their crop, and for me the sights and smells of the familiar. The smells of Fall. Cotton on the stalk. Bales of hay. Freshly dug peanuts. Then there’s boiled peanuts! Smoke from the grills filling the air at a football stadium. Candy corn. Turkey and dressing. Pecan Pie. Those are some of the smells of the season here in the South. Today I’m thankful that God saw fit for me to spend my life here. I feel so fortunate to have grown up in a place so rich with the beauty of God’s creation. So full of heritage and history. A place central to oceans, rivers, creeks, mountains. I’ve had a taste of it all. So often people in small towns want to hurry up and get out. I was one of them. God let me leave this place. He let me see life outside of Small Town, Alabama. I’ve seen wondrou...

On this first day of November, I sit quietly on the couch, computer in my lap, sick baby girl at my side, Little Bill on TV. In this morning’s episode, Little Bill is searching for “his thing”. A year and 100 posts ago, I felt the same as Little Bill. I was looking for “my thing”. Searching for that one thing that I really enjoyed. My creative outlet. My contribution. My gift? My thing. Today I can tell you that I found it. I am not widely followed. None of my posts are pinned on Pinterest. My words have not been re-tweeted. I haven‘t written any kind of book. I’ve not had anything go viral. What I have done…. I’ve written 100 posts. Out of 365 days, 100 of those were spent writing. Spent praying. Spent doing life. Spent giving encouragement, and being encouraged. Spent doing “my thing”. God knows the desires of our hearts, even if we don’t. He knows what will fill us up. What will bring us peace. For me it was writing. He gave me “my thing...

After playing hooky from 31 Days, I'm popping back in on day 31 to say Happy November Eve. The month in which we celebrate gratitude is upon us and I love it! I can't wait so I'm gonna go ahead and say it... Happy Thanksgiving! This October I've counted thanks in pictures. In November, I'll count in words. Looking forward to a great month! Thank you all for being a part of the journey here at Life of Eucharisteo. Love you BIG! Tracey

Not sure where I’m going today, so here’s a little disclaimer. Hang on. Yesterday was a doozy. Seriously. A Monday for the record books. 　 　 Now I don’t ever want someone to read here and think, “Man, she’s such a complainer!” I write here to share my reality, and to find gratitude in spite of it. Sometimes we want to read eloquent words of wisdom. Sometimes we want to read plain ole’ fluff. Most of the time, I want to read real stuff. You know the nitty-gritty, mundane, scrubbing the toilets kinda stuff. So if you’ve made this far, your cookie is in the mail. ;) 　 　 Yesterday was certifiable. It didn’t start out that way. It was like someone flipped a switch and it went from zero to full blown stress-fest in about two seconds. It went down like this… I woke up before the alarm. NEVER happens. I got up and made homemade sticky buns. Should have known something was gonna go wrong when they came out perfect. Agai...

Nature. Wildlife. Beautiful Fall days. There's joy waiting to be found! Thankful!! Hope your weekend has been peace- filled and soul-refreshing. Tracey