Morning Psalm

Good morning! (Or afternoon or evening 😉)

As Ally (the young lady that lives with me) and I were reading through our Psalm this morning the Lord brought YOU (those who come across or intentionally read this blog) to my mind. So, I decided to bring you along for our morning Psalm reading.


This morning Ally and I opened our Bibles to Psalm 4.
We have been reading through a Psalm a day for the last few days.
I began to read the chapter aloud, Ally following along in her own Bible.

1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

² O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.

At the Selah (pause) we paused and reflected on what was said before. We were both a little unsure what the word "leasing" in this interpretation meant, so I pulled up my concordance and searched it.
We found that the Greek word interpreted "leasing" means: "falsehood; literally (untruth) or figuratively (idol):- deceitful, false, leasing, + liar, lie, lying."

So "O ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood?"

We continued on and were greatly encouraged by the next verse:

³ But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto him.

Then:

⁴ Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

⁵ Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.

⁶ There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

⁷ Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.

We talked about harvests and how exciting it is for the farmers, who have poured all of their time, resources, and strength into their crops, when they receive an increased and bountiful harvest.
What a joy it is to them when they see all of that bountiful crop of corn and the wine flowing forth from the bountiful grape harvest. What great joy fills the farmers heart at such a sight.
Yet, how much more is the joy of those who's heart the LORD has filled with gladness!

⁸ I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.

We read this last verse and talked about the fact that it is GOD alone who makes us safe. It is He who KEEPS us. That we do not have to be anxious or struggle with insomnia, because HE is the One Who makes us to live in safety.
It is not locked doors that keep us safe, but God alone.

We decided that it would be a good idea to add this verse to our memory bank of verses that are hidden in our hearts.

God is good to give us His Word to study, find encouragement and strength in and to get to know Him more through.

I hope that this has encouraged and lifted your hearts today.
Blessings on you as you walk in His ways!


-Kourtney

Jesus

O what a name!
It causes the corners of my mouth to sort of perk up.
It resounds with a steadfast peace, calm and joy within my heart.
It is a name I love.
Why?
Am I some supper spiritual nut who has nothing better to do than go around with a silly grin on her face whenever she hears the name of her Savior?
Well, I guess the answer is yes:-)
However, my interpretation of "supper spiritual nut" may be different than yours:-)
By answering yes to the above question I do not mean that I am someone without a brain or who lives in some loony fantasy world. Not by a long shot!
I mean someone who has experienced Something better, and is so wrapped up in that Something that she can not help but go around with smile upon her face for Those who look to him are radiant (Psa 34:5a)!
Even if it means I look like a nut to this world, may I ever be willing to appear like a fool for Christ's sake (1Cor 4:10)!

Oh my dear readers, Jesus is worth our all!
He, being God, came to this earth and lived a sinless life. Mary, thought Him worthy enough to pour out her very best upon his feet! (Joh 12:3) He bore our sin and the wrath of God that was rightfully ours upon the cross over 2000 years ago and He died. But Glory to God in the highest! He did not stay dead! He rose again on the third day and He now sits enthroned at the right hand of God and They have sent the Holy Spirit to be our helper. We need no longer live in bondage to sin or our own desires! We can be free!
Have you ever heard the saying "The truth will set you free"?
Well it is true my friends!!
Jesus says in John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
He is the TRUTH!
The TRUTH will set you free if you will but turn to Him!

May we ever lean more fully upon Him. Ever desire Him more! Ever be willing, as Mary, to pour out our best, our ALL upon our Lord! May we ever live for HIS glory!!


*Picture credit goes to Christy Osborne

I Miss You Bereket!

His Hands

It is so amazing to think that the God of the universe would entrust anything as precious as these fourteen “foreign treasures” into these hands.
How precious, how beautiful, how amazing are these little lives. Like so many different jewels, each one so unique, yet all beautiful.
There have been many times when I have marveled at the precious gift that my Lord has given to me, the gift of serving Him (Mat 25:40).
Sweet times of holding a beautiful dark little hand during prayer time, rubbing my fingers over it's soft chocolaty smoothness and realizing that this is God's hand. Times of rubbing these hands laden with lotion over rough little feet. Times of using many hand signs and gestures to discus complex Spiritual concepts in simple child-like terms. Times of running and dodging and huffing for breath while avoiding the little hands propelled by quick little feet which try desperately to tag some part of me. Times of laying a cool hand on a feverish brow. Times of laying a gentle hand on a stiffened shoulder and asking God for wisdom in how to help them. Times of stretching out a hand to grasp a smaller one and help them to their feet. Times of putting my face in these hands as I pray to God to open hearts. Times of picking my footing carefully and feeling with these hands in the dark night through a strange house, as I accompany the little form beside me to the bathroom. Times of taking up my Bible in these hands and thumbed through the pages, preparing to share Truth with these little ones. Times of clapping these hands together loudly and cheering for the little group singing for Jesus on the stage in front. Times of reaching out these hands to get yet another tisue to wipe yet another dripy nose. Times of poking the little needle that is held in these hands in and out, in and out, working to repare rips. Times of drumming these hands in time to the music as my little ones sing and dance. Times of lifting these hands high in worship and praise to the One Who has given me all of this. To the One Who's hands these are.
May He ever be glorified by the actions of His hands!

Me And "My Boys"

Traveling with His Little Feet for the last two or so months has been quite an adventure :D
We travel around the US, going to different churches, raising orphan awareness, and by God's grace, making an impact for the Kingdom on lives both here in the US and around the globe.
Each church that we are hosted by provides us with "host families", these are families in the church that have opened up their homes to us for the time that we will be in their area (usual two or three nights). Usually it's two children and one staff member per host home. The two wonderful children that I had the privilege of staying with in the host homes this last leg of the tour were Eyob and Yohannes. Two brothers from Ethiopia.
These two have provided me with many good laughs, fun stories, hugs, and sweet memories.
Here is a small peek into our time together:

Yohannes and Eyob's first time seeing snow.

"Sharing the love"



Eyob learning about the US in a fun way :-)
Eyob intently working on...something.

Yohannes at the park.

Aw! Isn't he adorable?

Yohannes and Detcho playing a game at one of the host homes.

Eyob and Nahagi. (Nahagi and Detcho are also in the choir and are brothers as well)

To read a sweet story about me and my boys click here

Only The Beginning...

I think it was a cool morning in the Fall 2010. If I recall correctly, it was one of those mornings in Colorado when the air was colder than the water, which caused a sort of foggy mist to hang over the lake at Ellerslie, by which I was walking.

On this particular morning, out by the lake, I was talking to Jesus.
You see, in my heart a longing was stirring, or rather was continuing to stir, as it had been there a while, a longing that I didn't see being filled any time to soon.

There had been times in the past when this longing would begin to bubble up, but I was usually pretty successful in pushing it down and putting it in Jesus hands. However there were times when that was easier than others.

This was one of those times when the longing was bubbling up more forcefully than usual and needed some attending to. Hence this time out by the lake.

Shortly before the end of my basic semester at Ellerslie I had applied for an internship with His Little Feet. It seemed like such a good fit for me. I could see so many ways that it seemed the Lord had been preparing me for this position. A longing began to form in my heart.

After waiting, putting it in the Lords hands, and crying out for His joy, whether I got the position or not, on August 10th 2010 I found out that I didn't get it.

The Lord was faithful (as He always is! Deu 7:9, Isa 49:7, 1Tim 5:24, 2Tim 3:3, Rev 19:11) and He filled me with joy, even though I didn't get the position.

So after a little brake I went back to Ellerslie and started my, "Advanced Leadership Training". Oh what a blessing that time was! I grew so much in those weeks and months and learned many things that would have been harder (I think) to learn on the road with HLF.

God grew and stretched me through that time at Ellerslie and I truly enjoyed it, but every once in a while that familiar longing would bubble up in my heart. It was usually easier to quell when the HLF team was out on the road and not around (I lived in the same building with them and when they were around I saw and heard allot of them:D It was great! And hard.) However, they would occasionally come back to the Ellerslie campus for short brakes in between their tour travels. As was the case during the time of the above mentioned Fall morning.

So there I was, out by the lake, talking to Jesus about it.

What I said went something like this "Jesus, You know how much I want this. But, if it's going to take me away from You, I don't want to touch it!"

And I meant it. I did long to be a part of this ministry that is impacting children from different parts of the world, as well as churches and families right here in the US, but if being a part of this ministry was going to take me anywhere, but closer to Jesus, I didn't want any part of it.

I think sometimes when I just talk things out- bring them into the light instead of just shoving them down- I see things more clearly, and that's what seemed to be the case on this day.

That is a memorable day to me. It was a day when I sat my desire before the Lord and found that even though it was intense, it fell short to my desire and longing for more of Him. I found that no matter what the enemy had to say about it, Jesus truly was first in my heart and my desire in wanting to work with HLF was a desire for Him and not just me. It was a desire that He was growing (even though I may not have fully grasped that at the time).

It was months later (I had already graduated from Ellerslie and had spent the Summer at home) on August 25th 2011 that I got a phone call from Mike Hahn, President and Co-founder of His Little Feet.
What he said changed my life for the next 9-10 months... and forever.

It was something like this, "Kourtney, we would like to invite you to be a part of the His Little Feet team"...

After months of waiting, praying, trusting, my God had proven faithful once again! He had tilled the ground, prepared the soil and planted a desire in my heart like a little seed. Then He had poured water on it and out of the rich dark soil I had seen a little shoot. I had longed to enjoy it right away, but my Daddy told me to wait, be patient. During that time of waiting He continued to till, water, weed and prune and when the time was just right He allowed me to see the first small bloom. I am now getting to enjoy sharing the fragrance of that small blossom with Him, and I am so thankful that He made me wait! But, even as beautiful as this small blossom is, I know that this is only one step in the amazing adventure that this life with Jesus is. He has more in store and I have a feeling this is only the beginning...

PRAISE JESUS!

With about 14 out of the last 18 days over 100 degrees and the other 4 days in the high 90's this mornings going out to mid 60's-ish was beautiful!


What's even better is I don't know that it has even sprinkled (maybe it has a tiny bit, I'm not sure) since the post I wrote on June 29th titled "He Opened the Floodgates". Well today He did it again!
I love Jesus!

God is a good God, YES HE IS!!

My brothers and sister and I thanked Jesus as the rain came pouring down. It is lovely to see puddles of water after so many days of dry hot weather!

Thank You Jesus!
We humbled ourselves and prayed and You are healing our land!

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2Chr 7:14

Faith

A dear friend of mine wrote this post on her blog and it blessed me so I thought I'd share. Click the link to read it- www.melodiousecho.blogspot.com/2011/07/just-imagine-if-we-had-faith-as-grain.html