We sat on the library’s carpeted floor together. A new space in a familiar place. We sit crossed legged, tiny boots tucked under hands that are clasped together in anticipation and excitement. It’s been two long years since we were here. They may have started a while ago, who knows, but today is our first, and for us it is a triumphant return.
It is March. We are emerging from a long winter’s retreat of sorts. Like we always do. Only different. Because #twoyears. Because #lastyears. But I again, doggedly refuse to return to the mental thoughts on a path to guilt.
Two years ago we were coming out from the winter past, too. Once again facing spring, we were ready for adventure again, less layers to lug, less incliment weather and winter fevers to juggle. Closely followed was the anticipation of kindergarten in the fall. The thoughts of “seize the time!” run strong in transitions, and here we are again, another time, another story, similar theme. I almost felt upset for a moment- at what was lost during those two years. But I know that’s not true, it’s not really helpful. If I’m being really honest with myself I probably wanted to kick myself more for the times I didn’t go and I could have. But that isn’t either. So instead, I listen and look around me, where we are, today.
I hear the old songs and some new stories. I watch as my son dances and spins. An older one among them, but still young enough to be free. To dance and jump. A leader now, but still following the music, instructions, delight. Yes, it is a delight to watch this.
Then I hear again that familiar song. The old one I know do well, if not by the number of times I’ve heard it, by the depth. “I see something beautiful…Beautiful… I hear something beautiful. It’s beautiful. .” The song is song by the same musical storyteller. It speaks of babies crying, sisters sleeping, dads laughing. People, at their best and their worst, beautiful. At their silliest, their boldest, in their missteps and striving, resting and playfully. Both. All. Beautiful. It makes me cry. Every. Time. (This thought will not surprise my husband.) But this is so deep it’s different even.
I remember that one time, probably three years back, when I first heard it. Arriving late (as usual) with my young children. Frustrated, faltering, at myself and my failings. At being late. Imperfect. Frustrated. The circle of it all.
Being surrounded by bolder wilder hair, chubbier hands, fluffier cheeks, even more colorful clothing choices. And I remember that song. Traveling all the way from the front of the room where Jason sang, allll the way to the back where I stood, rocking and juggling both babes and my own guilt. That song went straight through, all the way back there, straight through to my heart. I cried then, just as I did today. I felt so seem. As if someone looked right at my good and bad, troubled, yet loving heart, and said. “I see you. And you are beautiful. Even in all of your failings and falterings, you’re still so beautiful.”
They had really. We’re all told to sing along. I heard us all sing it. I heard myself sing it. But I heard it as if it were sung straight to my heart. And, it was.
It’s always been playing. Over all of us. We just need the ears to hear it. To listen. We’re just too stubborn or selfish or slow to. To stubborn to hear it. Instead we’re stubbornly looking at what’s wrong with us and what we’re doing wrong.
Which is why now, as I hear it (and cry again) I stubbornly refuse to give in to that thinking. Of looking back over my shoulder. Counting my faults and all the ways it could have been even slightly better.
Hindsight isn’t always as 20/20 as it tends to be rose colored instead. When you think of what you missed or are missing, the ball that you dropped, you can forget what you chose instead- morning cuddles, warm cozy, peace of mind, avoiding the hustle and bustle sometimes. Always there were Kids to keep track of, personalities and things in the mix. That will never change. We may all grow and change, but we still get hungry and tired and thirsty. We have still have sicknesses, schedules, work, deadlines, dinners, busyness and bossiness. All of the things. When you look back, you can forget why you weren’t there or were. You might wish for a different ratio of things. “I Wish I’d done more of this…, less of that.” You can forget what you were thinking and feeling at the time of decision.
It will always be that way if you let it. You will always be doing something “wrong.” Dropping the ball. Noticing your lack.
But you forget, when you do this, you were doing your best at the time. So don’t. Not this time. There is enough for this moment.
Do you notice what IS, right before? What’s surrounding you, right now?
The GRACE for today. The mercy that’s surrounds you and your every feeble move and heart beat? JUST HOW beautiful you are? HOW MUCH YOU ARE LOVED? Right now?
Today, you are loved and seen and known. Just as you are. And you don’t have to be “doing” any better. Just BE. You’re already beautiful, momma. You’re doing a beautiful job.
You don’t have to keep looking back in your rearview mirror wistfully, or longingly forward, worrying about what you might mess up next, or be messing up today. Just accept that it doesn’t have to be perfect. Not you, not them, not your partner, or your circumstances. None of it. It doesn’t have to be perfect for you to be loved. it doesn’t have to be perfect for you to enjoy it. You just need to be there, where you are, and show up.
You’re embraced- where are you are, wherever your feet go today.
Whether you’re surrounded by chubby feet or those are long gone. Whether you think you did a good job or not. You are beautiful. Stop looking back, stop striving.
You’re beautiful, and Loved.
Just as you are. Today.
Hear that song, singing over you today, too. Right where you are. Loved.
When we start on a new path, we often hesitate. Is it safe? Should I go? What if something bad happens? It’s literally and figuratively true sometimes, this wrestle, when we face new paths and decisions. But, I want to remind you, if it is a path He has set for you, set you on, you can rest assured: it may or not be “safe”, wild or wonderful, but He Himself is with you. Why should we be afraid?
Do we think He would ever send us some place that He is not willing to go too? He will not. “Where God guides He provides” is an age old statement that never looses its richness, only we, our awareness of its truth. Also true is it’s cousin statement: Where He leads us, He goes with us.
“The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I fear. The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? “
Psalm 27:1
Brave doesn’t even always look big or bold. Sometimes, something really brave to one person looks like a cakewalk to another. Brave can even seem boring. But when you wrestle it out where it matters, in your heart, it’s anything but boring. With beating heart, you know. Brave isn’t easy. And brave is as brave does when it’s scared.
Recently I was running, outside, on a crisp, newly melted path. I must admit I’m not one for running solo in the woods. I prefer to run solo, but where people are, or could be in general. I choose wisely so I won’t go missing or be lost. It sounds silly even typing it. But women even brave women need to make wise careful choices for themselves. It might not be a big deal to some but to those that something like this is, it is. A great big deal. So I debated this path, and it was deemed to be safe. Spare some awful uncommon incident, it passed the smell test. Nothing fishy. I only had to face some fear.
I recalled all the truths I cling to, what I know about God. That He would never send us- never does send us- on any path, literal or figurative, where He Himself is not willing to go too. He is there, willing to guide us, to protect us, to BE with us. All we have to do is ask. Like a good father, the best Father, He doesn’t send us out to fend for ourselves and hope for the best. He comes along, with His club in His hand to beat off the wolves, with His provisions should we need anythings, with His light to shine the way.
So that day I remembered these things. I felt peace to go, even though it was a wee tiny bit scary and I went. Everything was fine. Beautiful. The few men I saw were friendly. Running one, walking the other. I could outrun some if needed. But I didn’t feel I would need to. I just ran. For the joy of it.
“Letting go of what is behind I press on toward the mark of the high call of Christ.”
I was running along, delighted, free from fear, with my phone playing worship music in my pocket. After some time, the song drastically and abruptly changed into (ready for it?) MC Hammer’s “Can’t touch this.” I burst out laughing. That may be a song I grew up jamming along to, in nronr colors, 90’s Nike air jordans (like the ones that actually pumped up and filled with air) and even the occasional pair of hammer pants, but that is a song my grown up pandora station has never been asked to play. It was so appropriate though, I could practically hear God laughing. See. Protection. “No evil shall befall you nor any plague come near your dwelling.”Or as MC Hammer said, no one can “touch this.”
God establishes a boundary around us. We need to remember that, and enforce it. To use the truth of God’s word to remind us, remind everything around us that “God is with me.”
“The Lord is my light and my salvation of whom shall I be afraid?”
The verse goes on to say,
“When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.
The one thing I ask of the Lord— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music.”
Psalm 27:2-6
So should I spend time worrying about what may happen, or deciding which way to go, or or should I remind myself where I can put my trust?
Like I said bravery comes in a lot of shapes and sizes. Sometimes little things that don’t look brave require a lot of bravery when they’re done right. Walking in the door. Saying no. Saying yes. Deciding on something. Sticking to it.
Only you know what wrestle goes on in your heart. Only you get to decide what you remember the most. The things you could be afraid of, or that God goes with you, wherever you go. And He’s there to help you if you let Him. Remember that part. Because the world is full of opportunity to remember, or forget Him. It’s better if you do remember. His faithfulness, His Love and kindness. You’re better if you remember.
The song came on a second time later. Loud and clear. This time I looked at the screen to see where it came from. Some playlist I’d never seen or heard, the fourth or fifth song. Way down the line. So “random”. My God, He has the best sense of humor.
Bravery doesn’t have to be big. Bravery might look small but be quite huge. Like a tiny powerhouse despite ones size. It’s not just some kind of magical occurrence either. That kind of strength, it comes with practice. It comes by osmosis, by wha”I you take in, what you let in, to your heart and your mind. Your mind will come up with a hundred and one scenarios to discredit said bravery, it will always wrestle with your heart. But that is when your heart can flex the muscles you gave it, if you you give it the right chance.
Fill your mind and heart and thoughts with good things. With God things, with His thoughts. With His mind for you. He is for you. His thoughts, they are good ones, they for you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Nothing can separate you from His love.
“I would have despaired unless I had believed, that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Here in the land of the living.
Let that thought, that truth, cover you, now, like a blanket. So when you go out in the world, you know, you’re not alone. You know the truth, that He’s been there all along. Then you can be brave. Because you practiced. Because you learned. You’re not alone.
Now go, be brave however your heart is calling you to be today.
My kids hate waiting for me. I can’t say that I blame them, because waiting is hard sometimes.
If I’m standing at the sink with sudsy soap hands, washing dishes and they need something- a help, a listen, a look- I might often say “hold on just a second.” Being interrupted is a difficult thing and I don’t think I do a perfect job of this. I try to be gentle but firm, and establish some good boundaries. I get it wrong often. But I also distracted way too easily and I find myself leaving a trail of half started unless I’m determined to do otherwise. So I have learned to try to finish the ONE task I’m directly in the middle of. If not allll of the dishes, the one.
They may whine a bit or a lot depending on how long they must wait, how pressing their need feels or appears. I remind them waiting is a part of life. They have some of the utmost priority in my life, ranking highest except their two fathers, earthly and heavenly. They are invaluable and important. But that doesn’t mean they get to interrupt or erupt into every other project, with their current one asserting the most imminent importance. Because they must use manners. Because their problem might be or might not be something to drop everything else for. They are a part of a team. And they can’t always see the whole picture.
They don’t see that while they’re waiting for me to untangle their knot, I’m washing their favorite dish or spoon for later. While they interrupt and need help opening their snack, I’m making their more nourishing dinner.
When they get restless I try to gently remind them. That while they wait for me there are things they can do. I used to say to my toddler, who would be hanging by my feet as I stood at the kitchen sink or the counter- mixing, baking, working. “You can sing a little song, you can dance, you can play while you wait. You can read or tell me a story. But you just can’t whine.” Sometimes my gentleness sounds more like scolding or using a booming voice. To snap through the noise of their whining. To remind them to stop. To look around and to listen.
As they’ve gotten older, I’ve asked them to pay attention, look around. “See what it is I’mDoing. I might already be doing what you’re whining about. Just notice, please, before you start whining. Even if it’s not what you’re looking for me to do, it might be important, what you see.”
They also don’t see what my mind’s eye is looking at, they don’t hear my important thoughts. What I’m figuring out, solving, listening for. And that’s okay. That’s not their job to know, it’s mine to finish. Or at least to witness.
I have parent things that I’m doing or involved in and it’s okay if they don’t understand.
When they were littler, too little to reach the counter, they could only wait. Too little to truly help. Now that they can help more, I remind them that’s a part of it sometimes too. But the best help is noticing, truly, what I’m doing first. No, please don’t open the food coloring and start a science experiment without my blessing. No, don’t argue with each other. No, don’t whine at anyone. Tell me how you feel when you have my attention, but don’t just fuss. Sure, you can help me with the dishes. Sure, help your sibling if you can. Sometimes, help yourself too. But notice. Always notice, first, what I’m doing. How it is I’m loving you, and working on something already. Notice. And then, when you see how you’re loved right now, you can help love, too. Even as you need, or think you need something different too. If that’s not true of us as adults, too. I don’t know what is. With our Heavenly Father, we wait for Him to move or act or do something. He’s already doing something. Unlike me, He ALWAYS knows what’s most important. He always goes and moves in the right order. I get restless as a child. Impatient. I can’t see up on the counter, what He’s doing or why it’s important. More important it seems, than whatever my tangled knots are. I can’t see. So many things. We have this new saying in our house. When things get heated between siblings, or we feel frantic. SLOW DOWN. Knee jerk reactions or a hurried pace can sometimes cause more harm than the help that we seek. This is true for all humans -kids, adults, parents, all of us. With each other, with ourselves, and with God. When we want others to hurry up and we rush them, we cause more trouble than we help. I do guilty of that at times. True for when we’re waiting on God, too. When we want Him to hurry up, Thats when we need to slow things down for ourselves. To slow down. To stop. look. listen. To breaaaattthhhhhhheeee.
To sit like a child, at the feet of the parent who loves us. (And the feeling is more than mutual.) Slow down. And notice. In fact, come and rest. Relax. Rest from worry.
He loves you and He sees you and He can untangle every knot. Look for what He’s doing already now. Because maybe that knot isn’t such a big deal after all. And He’s working on something better. Knowing in your mind’s eye, if not in your body’s, that He works ALL things together for good. Maybe not how and when it is I’m frantically asking. But for good, for our betterment, and our truest delight, not just our temporary one. That we can trust. Because He loves us.
Yes. Come with your requests. Come with your needs. But slow down, enough to see what He’s working on. And yes, He’s working all this together for good. Whining is never a part of His equation and it doesn’t have to be part of yours either.
Maybe you could just rest to begin with.
Sing. Read. Tell a good story. Dance. You can wait with trust, and JOY, even. Because kid, He’s got you. This great God? He’s got you, if you let Him. Don’t forget. You can sit at His feet and notice something good, while you wait, too.
I’ll admit. Last night I had a real good cry over someone on the internet I never met. Well, but for a slight introduction there.
But it wasn’t what you might think. I wasn’t offended. They weren’t some big celebrity. Or even a feel good story. It was just a girl who was some other girl’s best friend. She was diagnosed esophagus cancer and at 35, with a one month old baby, was told she had a year to live. The friend was looking for idea s to help make the time memorable, memorialize the mom. Many chimed in with beautiful ideas. I couldn’t help add much to that but I asked for her name and told her I’d pray for her. And I meant it. I set my alarm to go off at 8:05 am every morning to pray for Sarah. And I did. Every time I saw it. Most prayers were brief. “Lord be with her.” “Lord reveal yourself to her.” I meant to pop back in and check in -on her and the friend. Life gets busy and I didn’t yet. Last night the friend popped up in my feed. Her friend had passed. She said thank you for all of the prayers and good ideas. She had run out of time to do them all 😭😭
One month and ten days after reaching out. One month and ten days of the alarm. One month of brief prayers. And the young mom passed from this life. I sobbed. I don’t know her. I don’t know the state of her heart or mind or soul when she passed. Mostly, I don’t know if my prayers were enough. 😭😭
Friend I don’t want you to get this mixed up. I am not feeling sorry for myself. I am not being emotional. I just don’t know if I did my assignment well enough. I thought I had more time. Isn’t that how this life works anyway, though?
I had a good cry with the Lord. I didn’t know if what I asked for in prayer was “enough”. I mean it feels like I was just priming the pump in a way. If I had know…. maybe my prayers would have been more intense. If I had know the time was so brief, maybe my prayers wouldn’t have been.
None of us know these things. When where why how what. I only know one. Who. Jesus. And the more I talked about with him, bawled my way through the open night sky, the more I was reminded. He doesn’t need big prayers. He just needs an invitation. And really, what bigger prayers is there than “Lord, come.” “Lord, be.” “Lord, show.” (I’m bawling all over again.) Because He is so willing and He is so loving. And don’t I think He will do it? Don’t I think He was just waiting for an invitation?
I don’t know whatever happened with that friend. I don’t know how the story ended here or what her next chapter looks like. I just know that however “imperfectly” or “not enough” I did my small task, I know I did all I could really ever do. I invited the Lord to go and do His. And that, my friends, is the best thing we can ever do.
John 14:25-26 “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” Holy Spirit, our advocate. Come and be with us, and teach us, show us how to pray. That no matter how big or small our words, to invite you in is all that we really need.
The boots sit on my counter this morning, taunting me. Asking if they should stay. The very question I am asking myself. I even sent a weekend text, to my mom and two sisters with a picture, asking only, “Boots?” Implied- should I keep them?
I don’t normally care enough to ask for feedback. It’s just that I hadn’t really asked for them. It started when they arrived at my door, with a package of a few items to try out. They weren’t expensive, per se, but more than I was thinking of spending on any boots right now. In fact, I wasn’t even thinking of buying any boots at all. All of mine fit and looked fine, and I don’t get too fussy these days. Thank you very much, but one cute pair is probably more than enough. I told my husband as much and I think he wasn’t unpleased, really, and maybe even relieved, at what I wouldn’t be buying and the cost I’d be saving us. But after I said, “no, thanks” to them, I questioned.
For a half minute. Then I sent the text and waited to hear. The answers wouldn’t necessarily be mine, I was just curious. Uncharacteristically so, even. What ensued was a whole line of questioning.
“Are the comfy?” “Will you wear them?” “Where will you wear them?” “Will you wear them often enough?”
Volume versus cost versus price versus practicality versus fun. Fashion, function and form battling it out like it’s some kind of contest, or at least a conquest. The girls gave them the thumbs up, though I still wasn’t convinced either way.
But these boots, trying inch by inch, we’re trying to get closer to my heart, and to get on my feet. Undecided, I left them out overnight. Today was decision time- return or keep.
This morning was like many other mornings, contemplating all of the things in prayer and later, in conversations. The social issues, the emotional, physical and spiritual wellness of our kids. The desire that I have to be sure to lead with love, but also to stand up and fight what’s wrong, so it doesn’t stay wrong. (Not people, things. Ideas. Policies. That’s my take at least.) Trying to move forward in integrity, in alignment with the calling to love and serve. Trying to figure out what that looks like, hour by hour, day by day.
Coming back into the kitchen from buzzing about, I see them again. Waiting. Looking at those boots again, standing like good little soldiers waiting for the decision, I hear the words from two years ago. Words that I said in a different conversation, a different context, but that still stand out, still ring true today. The answer to what we need in the world.
WE NEED LOVE WITH WORK BOOTS ON.
Then immediately I think of the scriptures that I came before my eyes this morning. Psalm 103. The one about listening for his commands.
“17 But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children’s children 18 of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!
19 The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything.
20 Praise the Lord, you angels, you mighty ones who carry out his plans, listening for each of his commands. 21 Yes, praise the Lord, you armies of angels who serve him and do his will! 22 Praise the Lord, everything he has created,
I don’t know if the scripture is talking only of angels. I mean, I’m not sure what the author intended, and maybe it was talking only about a gels following His commands. But I also know that those who follow Christ, the same can be true for them. We can listen for His directions, like Samuel, “Speak Lord your servant is listening.”
Or how in Proverbs 8, Wisdom says “And so, my children, listen to me, for all who follow my ways are joyful.”
So yes, it can be true for us too. We can listen for and do as He guides us and shows us. Optional. It can be.
He does not force us to do what He wants. He is not some tyrant, the likes of which we see here on earth. Not a tyrant that comes to the earth, in force, He is a loving kind and gracious, and He invites us to work with Him. We too, invite Him, just as He invited us- in Love. So many blessings are promised to those who seek, and I go in search of more scriptures about this, to understand more, more about these assignments.
He does not force us to do what He wants. He is not some tyrant, the likes of which we see here on earth. He is a loving kind and gracious God, who invites us to work with Him. Invites us. Yes, He has good, and wonderful plans, but He needs humans to want, and to be a part of them. To seek Him and His ways. So many blessings are promised to those who seek, and I go in search of more scriptures about this, to understand more, more about these assignments.
Then I come across this beautiful scripture . This is exactly it. (And I also immediately have a new life verse, describing my heartbeat, His heartbeat assignment.)
“The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.” Isaiah 50:4
There are assignments that each of us have, and a million causes trying to get our attention. Feeling pulled recently in different directions, I was talking to Him about it. “The world will play your headtstrings and leave you feeling frustrated and defeated. When you stay connected to mine for you, there will always be Hope.” The key then is to make sure we’re letting Him inform our heartstrings. For every assignment comes with strategy to fulfill it and Hope to know it can happen.
There is so much to see and to say and to work for. Good causes at every turn. The question isn’t just what is to be done, or what can be done. But what am I supposed to do.
Love is a very patient and thorough advisor, and wisdom along with it. What I don’t get the first time the Holy Spirit will show me, again and again, in different ways. Like these works boots, for example, trying to speak to me for two years about assignments. Love always tells a better story, uncovers the one I was missing, the heart beating just beneath the surface of things. I can only put my ear to better listen.
Each day, yes, each day, “God what do you have for me today. What are you wanting ME to do? What is your heartbeat for me, and for those around me, those in my sphere of influence. What does Love have to say today, and what are my marching orders?”
It’s not just “marching orders.” It’s a beautiful invitation to be a part of what God, in His great Love, is doing today. To go where and to do what we are being invited to do and say and go. Love puts on work-boots.
I look at those boots again. I think of all the same questions that were asked of them naturally, last night. Do they fit, are they comfortable. Will you wear them? Where will you wear them? Are they worth the cost?
And that one stands out the most. Are they worth the cost?
I think about the one last thing my sister said. “A good pair of boots you’ll wear for 10 years. It’ll be worth it.”I look at those boots again and I see it. Love with work boots. Assignments. Cost. Comfort. And the one thing that matters most. “It’ll be worth it.”
No cost is too high if God is calling you, and any work of love will last, well beyond years. Because Love remains. Long after the boots fall apart, long beyond the assignment that brought it, long even beyond us on earth.
Sometimes a thing shows up on your door. An assignment, a task to walk in , a call to wear something, to do something. And you don’t know why or how. You didn’t even ask for it. You didn’t even “need” it. But for some reason, someone must need it. You hear it. You’ve been listening and these new work boots, the ones you didn’t even anticipate, God is calling you put them on.
It doesn’t matter even if anyone else likes them. You can now, you do slip them onto your feet. Because once you count the cost, you MUST.
Whether or not you know where they will take you or how long it will go on, you must walk in that direction. Day by day, hour by hour. Asking the Lord. “I sought the Lord and He heard me. He delivered me from all of my fears.” And sometimes He will use you to deliver (FREE in some translations) other people from theirs.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood but we fight for love and for truth, and to help free people from bondage. There’s all kinds of bondage, so which one is God asking you to help people find freedom? What love boots are yours to wear, what are your marching orders? What wonderful works of the Lord is your life meant to show? Show people. The people trapped in bondage. The people whom God never gives up on. The only question is: Do we?
If there’s something you’re called to do today in love, if there’s an invitation you have to participate in Christ bringing reconciliation and hope and healing to a hurting world, do it. Do it well. And don’t worry about the cost. The reward lasts for generations.
Love goes on. Love marches on. Only question is, will we march with it? Will we help bring it? Beautiful are the feet that bring good news.
“Wake up, wake up, O Zion! Clothe yourself with strength. Put on your beautiful clothes, O holy city of Jerusalem, for unclean and godless people will enter your gates no longer. Rise from the dust, O Jerusalem. Sit in a place of honor. Remove the chains of slavery from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For this is what the LORD says: “When I sold you into exile, I received no payment. Now I can redeem you without having to pay for you.” This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Long ago my people chose to live in Egypt. Now they are oppressed by Assyria. What is this?” asks the LORD. “Why are my people enslaved again? Those who rule them shout in exultation. My name is blasphemed all day long. But I will reveal my name to my people, and they will come to know its power. Then at last they will recognize that I am the one who speaks to them.” How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news ,the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israelc reigns! The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for before their very eyes they see the LORD returning to Jerusalem. Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song, for the LORD has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.”
Hey, I'm Courtney, a pretty ordinary girl who thinks we've all been called to an extraordinary life and love story with God. I'm passionate about family, faith, motherhood, and the adventure of every day. I write lots of words, mostly because I can’t help it- and I think it's one of the things I was born to do. I hope that something I write encourages you, to walk in your own unique purpose and calling, set free to love and give it away, starting wherever you are today. That's what Courting the Extraordinary is all about. Finding the good all around you, and giving it away. Finding, too, the God of all goodness who wants to walk with you.
I love quiet mornings, coffee, prayer and “work” before sunrise. Quality time with my family is my jam. I can be found grinning ear to ear when we're out on an adventure. Whether that's in our own backyard or exploring someplace new all-together, I’ll for sure note something beautiful about nature aloud-and maybe repeatedly, ha!. Life is a beautiful, precious gift, and an adventurous path to travel! We might as well learn how to love.
Hey, I'm Courtney, a pretty ordinary girl who thinks we've all been called to an extraordinary life and love story with God. I'm passionate about family, faith, motherhood, and the adventure of every day. I write lots of words, mostly because I can’t help it- and I think it's one of the things I was born to do. I hope that something I write encourages you, to walk in your own unique purpose and calling, set free to love and give it away, starting wherever you are today. That's what Courting the Extraordinary is all about. Finding the good all around you, and giving it away. Finding, too, the God of all goodness who wants to walk with you.
I love quiet mornings, coffee, prayer and “work” before sunrise. Quality time with my family is my jam. I can be found grinning ear to ear when we're out on an adventure. Whether that's in our own backyard or exploring someplace new all-together, I’ll for sure note something beautiful about nature aloud-and maybe repeatedly, ha!. Life is a beautiful, precious gift, and an adventurous path to travel! We might as well learn how to love. 