Walk With Me

It is now Saturday at 3:00 in the afternoon, and as I am doing my final things here, I am remembering all that has happened and all that God has shown me in the past two weeks. This was a trip I didn’t have a set agenda for, just a mission, so it has been amazing to see how God has worked through that.

Jana, Carrie, and I went to Muxia the other night to watch the sunset. It wasn’t too sunny when we went, but God surprised us with some orange peeking through the clouds in the distance. We were on some rocks on the coast, so we got to watch the waves crash against the rocks of Spain. I couldn’t help but close my eyes and listen to the water as the sound created a stillness and peace in my heart. I then started thinking about the peace I have felt this entire trip. My heart was glad standing next to friends so as I closed my eyes another time, I thanked God for the moment. It was a scene that will live rent free in my head for a long time.

I have been reading through 1 Peter with Carrie, our missionary, and have learned to put a lot of it into practice through my trip. I already loved Spain, already loved Os Muinos, already loved the Nobles, but God has given me a heart for the people that runs deeper than simply being here. I think about the love Jesus had for His people as He discipled and served. I also think of Paul on his journeys and now Peter. They loved their people so much and wanted them to hear the good news, and their love fueled their heart and led them to serving. Jesus commanded Peter to, “feed my sheep.” What does that mean? We are called to nourish the people with His good Word and love them. When we love with the love of Jesus, servitude comes out generously.

One thing I have seen while being here is the love of God shining through the Noble household. The way they love on the people around them, the individuals that come to serve them, and each other is how I picture the love Jesus had while walking the streets with His disciples. They serve without grumbling, sit and talk with their neighbors for hours, run errands almost constantly to everyone in their house is fed and comfortable, and seem to never grow tired. They are a light in Os Muinos.

Watching them, I have learned that love is an action that stems from God’s love for us. Without God’s love, what is love? God is love, and love does not exist outside of Him. The reason I wanted to come here was to serve God by serving the Nobles. Now I am leaving having a deeper love for God because of the love that has been shown to me while I’ve been here. When I watch Carrie sit and talk with her neighbor for an hour almost every day, I feel God’s love and presence there. It encourages me to be that love and not let God’s love for me stop at my heart but radiate from it. I want others to feel that love.

I thank God for this opportunity to come back to Spain and for listening to my heart’s desire to come back. I pray I will come back again but for a longer time. I have felt a confirmation in my heart that this is what I need to be doing and is what I’m called to do. I am excited to pursue that calling further as I continue to go through school and find God’s path for me.

My first flight out of A Coruna is tomorrow morning at 9:20(Spain time). Then I have a connecting flight that will take me from Madrid to Charlotte. One more plane will take me from Charlotte to Atlanta. I should arrive in Atlanta around 7:30pm (EST). I’m asking for prayers for safe travels and for my heart as it adjusts to a normal work routine again.

Blessings and see you soon,

Courtney

Today is day 9 of this trip, and every day I just feel more blessed to be able to be here. We had about 4 straight days of sunshine and beautiful weather to break up the non-stop rain Spain has this time of year so that has been nice. It has allowed for good walks around the city and is a preview of what Spring will soon look like.

Spring is when the rest stop at O Refuxio opens which is one thing this ministry focuses on. Since Pilgrims from all over the world will hike past this hostel, the Nobles have a rest stop on the lower level to invite pilgrims in to share the gospel with them. Winter is off season for pilgrims hiking the Camino so now that it’s beginning to get nicer out, we will open the rest stop again.

Saturday night the ladies in the house went to a church in Cee that was having a women’s night. Carrie delivered a message about the love of God, and we got to meet with a lot of the ladies. Carrie spoke about the unconditional love God has for us and mentioned the love displayed in the Princess Bride and The Chronicles of Narnia. Two completely different movies, but apparently The Princess Bride has an incredible love story, and that’s also Carrie’s favorite movie, so she was able to tie that love into the kind of love God has for us. As for the Chronicles of Narnia, we had been talking about the character of Edmund and how he is probably one of the least liked characters in the movie, but we realize that he portrays man and we are like him. There is a scene after Edmund is rescued from the White Witch where Edmund is seen talking with Aslan, and you can see the grace and love Aslan has for him. And in a few scenes later, you see Alsan take the penalty for Edmund’s betrayal and be killed. This is how much God loves us. I think the women enjoyed the pop culture references and were very sweet to be with and get to know. Sunday morning, we went to mass at a local church here in Os Muinos where we got to see inside an old catholic church and see what most of the people here believe in. Then later that evening we went to an international church in A Coruna where we sat in on an English service. The couple that pastors that church are from North Carolina and are here in Spain following God’s calling to minister. It was neat to see 3 different churches that were all very different from one another. It helped to understand the culture a bit here and understand where the hearts of these people are.

Yesterday was basically an off day for us. A few headed down a little stint of the Camino de Santiago while the 3 of us who are students stayed back and did homework. We had lunch out at a local restaurant that the Nobles frequent. You can get a drink, an appetizer, an entree, a dessert, and a cafe con leche for 13 euros (which translates to about 15 or 16 US dollars) which was a really good deal for all that food. This morning Carrie, Jana (the Swiss girl that is with us), and I dropped a couple off at the airport in Santiago and then walked through the Catholic Cathedral, had breakfast, and then did some shopping as just girls. It was nice for the girls to get away for a few hours and give Carrie a reprieve from her house and responsibilities. Tonight, we are going to help Carrie with an English class she does every Tuesday.

Tomorrow will be a day of grouting a tile wall and polishing that and making food and doing more housework. We have some more projects to get done around the house before I leave, so we will be starting those as well. As I’m looking ahead, I am quickly getting sad about my eventual time of departure and wanting time to slow down. God is giving me some direction which is something I prayed for on this trip. I have an idea of what will happen next, but I will let you all know when I pray more about it.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support! I do want to ask for prayers specifically for one woman that lives behind the Nobles. Her name is Faye, she lives on her own, she’s probably around 83 years old, and she comes over often to chat. Pray that God will open her heart to what we are sharing and she will become interested in learning more about Jesus. Also pray for the ladies of our Bible study which will meet again on Thursday morning. And then for a couple of mothers around Os Muinos and Muxia that the Nobles know. The religion here is Catholic and we are trying to love and plant seeds where we can.

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!

Courtney

As some of you know, I had the incredible opportunity to join a team from my church on a mission trip to Os Muinos, Spain last summer. Since then, I have felt a calling towards long term missions and have been praying about a trip back to Spain. God put Spain on my heart literally every day after I got back, so I knew I wanted to return for a longer period of time. Now, here I am, back in Os Muinos, not with a team this time but with the same missionaries whom I adore.

This time around, I am staying for 2 weeks, which I can already tell is not going to be long enough, but this is the time God blessed me with and He will use that. My mission is structured a little different this time as I am here with the desire to love, serve, and be the hands and feet of Jesus. Having been on several mission trips, I’ve seen how tiring and stressful being a missionary can be, specifically in a foreign country far away from your home and family. While they love it and love furthering the Kingdom of Heaven, the mission can be hard sometimes. Our missionaries in Spain have a ministry that they are still trying to build along with renovating a 4-story house along the Camino de Santiago. There is still a lot of work to be done, and they are remaining steadfast in their hospitality and love while working nonstop to finish renovating this building. Continuing to renovate and complete rooms in this building will bring their ministry to a place they have been praying for. Teams come in throughout the summer to help, but this time of year they are doing most of it.

God has given me a heart towards the family and the people here (the scenery is not bad either!). The heart that I have right now leads me to want to serve as a faithful servant of God and support those overseas who have left their home and family to follow God’s calling for them. Since I booked my plane tickets to come here, I have felt peace about my mission and returning. There is something about going to a place that you know is going to stretch you outside of your comfort zone that is exciting because you know God’s going to grow you through it. I feel peace in the stretches of uncertainty.

I arrived yesterday and helped run a few errands before settling in and working on schoolwork. I spent the night catching up with my missionaries and helping where I could. Today began with preparing food for a team that was coming for lunch from Coruna. We gathered and loved on one another and then went for a walk to a nearby waterfall and beach. After they left, a couple of us ladies went to help with a kid’s event in Muxia for a couple of hours. After meeting with the people for lunch and then meeting more ladies tonight in Muxia, I have been very quickly reminded of why I fell in love with this place last summer. I see their hearts and am immediately led to serve them (I just need to learn some more Spanish so I can have better conversations with them!).

I am going to post the link to the missionaries I am working with at the bottom of this post. Check them out, see their ministry, and stay tuned for more updates on my time here in Spain!

Link: O Refuxio

Peace be with you,

Courtney

Happy Monday! I hope this finds everyone doing well. It has been a rainy and cold day and definitely finally feels like fall. This time of year makes me want to be in coffee shops nonstop and watch the leaves cover the streets. Seeing the leaves change colors, fall off trees, and grow again is a great reminder of the new life we have in Christ Jesus. We have a beautiful life to live and so many blessings to be thankful for. Give thanks to God today.

Yesterday my church came together and celebrated 191 years of fellowship, and it was such a wonderful day of gathering with one another. The very foundation of which our church was built was on full display yesterday as we shared lots of smiles, laughs, conversations, and worship. I will always treasure that time. I do not want to ever take my time at church for granted because it holds such a special place in my heart. I have only been a part of this church for a year, but I feel like I have family there.

We are made new in Christ when we accept the Holy Spirit into our hearts and have a newfound love for our life. Just as the leaves shed and fall from the trees, we shed off our old minds, hearts, and will and start a new life with a new mind, heart, and will. We no longer think the same and are able to give and accept love like we never had before and living that way can, and should, look different. I have been reading a book for school called “Designed to be Like Him” and there is a quote I want to share regarding Paul writing his letter to the Corinthains about what they should or should not do as believers. J Dwight Pentecost writes these words, “The question is not, ‘Can a believer do this?’ The question is, ‘Can I give this up for the gospel’s sake to maintain my testimony before other believers, and before the world?’ Will you dare to be different by refusing to conform to the world for the gospel’s sake?” We do not want to lose our testimony and have nothing to offer the world.

As we go about this week, let us not forget that we are called to be different. Go to church, pray before meals, refrain from cursing, and hold true to your values unashamedly. Show that you are devoted to God without having to say it; It should be visible in how we act every day. Your unique act of kindness is just what someone needs to see God’s glory.

Take a moment this week to watch the leaves fall. The area is colored in orange and yellow right now, which are also the colors we see in a sunrise. It’s a great reminder of a new day and a new season. All my prayers and love are with you,

Courtney

There is a song called “Blessings” by Laura Story that I’ve always loved. This is the chorus:

“What if Your blessings come through raindrops? What if Your blessings come through tears? What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You’re near? What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?”

I think I have seen firsthand more mercies and blessings in disguise recently than I ever have. Having spent many moments in tears the past couple of months, I have seen God’s love through the pain in the form of unexpected blessings. In days when I didn’t see what was next, days when I didn’t know why I was in this spot, God turned my uncertainty into vision. He turned my questions into peace, my hurt into spiritual devotion. He showed me He had a plan all along that was exactly what I needed before I knew I needed a new plan. In a season of growing and learning, God has revealed Himself in ways I’ve never seen and has given me a desire to know Him more.

We are going to spend the rest of our lives going through periods of hurt, anger, confusion, and much more. Life will continue to be life, so it’s important to remember we have a God greater than life. Life will try to kick us down, but that reminds us of the One that picks us up. As inconsistent as life is, we have a perfectly consistent God. Lean on Him to hold you up, trust in the days of uncertainty, and remember our ultimate destination.

The end of this song changes lyrics to, “What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?”

This earth is not our final destination, it is temporary. God is going to give us what we need on this Earth to make it, but that doesn’t mean He’s going to stop reminding us that we need Him. The disappointments and aching reveals God’s promises to us. It grows our faith and redirects our attention to something greater because earthly things cannot satisfy us. Through Christ we have a reserved seat in Heaven where heartache will be no more, so remain steadfast in faith.

Blessings are in every day when we keep our eyes open to them. It may take some squinting to see them, but I encourage us all to not fully close our eyes no matter how hard life gets. Remember we are the protagonist of our story and we wouldn’t have the strength we have without heartache. Heartache brings us to our knees which is the humblest position to be before God, but He always puts us back on our feet.

Our God is a great God. Find the divine blessings in the worldly trials. Lean on your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Courtney

Happy Sunday everyone! Sunday is my absolute favorite day of the week because I love coming to church and seeing everyone gather together to worship and fellowship. The past couple of Sundays we have been in the book of Haggai and have been challenged to look at the things in life we need to say no to in order to say yes to God. We all have such a divine purpose in Jesus Christ that it’s so important that we act upon it every day.

The past couple of weeks have been full of new challenges and God’s blessings in the unknown. I recently started a new job at Chick fil A to have while I get through school. For those that do not know, I am studying at Luther Rice College and Seminary right now to become a missionary. It was a decision I made within the span of two weeks when I came home from my mission trip to Spain. That is my focus and priority right now and I needed a job that would work with my school schedule and provide a good environment and Chick fil A has ended up being that place.

I have worked at Chick fil A before, so I have just had to re-learn everything but with my restaurant management experience I seem to have picked up on everything rather quickly. God is so good, His blessings are many when we follow Him, and He is showing me every day why I am in exactly the place He wants me to be in right now. My operator’s daughter is actually a missionary and is oversees right now with her husband, so I have already had some opportunities to talk about missions with them and look forward to connecting more with them. They are so supportive in my hopes of becoming a missionary.

One thing I want to share that someone actually shared with me this week at work is about leadership. I am learning to become a leader at Chick fil A and one of my trainers told me something that has stuck with me ever since. I share this because not only am I a leader in my store but I’m also a leader as a Christian. He said, “Leaders are thermostats, not thermometers.” What he was explaining was leaders don’t measure the temperature of the room and follow it, they set the temperature. The environment and tone of a workplace is a direct reflection of the leadership. This is also true for Christians in the world.

As Christians I believe we are born and called to be leaders. We are shepherds for the lost and trying to guide nonbelievers to believe they have a greater purpose. We are called to not only plant seeds but also water them. Too many times, I’m afraid we forget to water the seeds after we plant them. Let us not forget where we once were when we first came to Christ. It was hard, we were still learning what it looked like to follow God and be obedient to Him and maybe we felt like we had to do it all on our own. Grown-up Christians (and I don’t necessarily mean in age but in how long we have been walking Christians) should be shepherding and helping baby Christians (those who are just believing). Satan would love nothing more than to make them feel like this is a mistake and they are all alone, and we cannot let that happen. Be there to answer any questions, encourage them, pray for them, and go to church with them.

Looking at us as the Christians of this world, we set the tone. We are called to be the light and love this world so desperately needs. Our jobs are not to follow and succumb to what everyone else is doing but to lead and be the difference. We will not answer evil with evil, when someone persecutes us, we will pray for them and forgive them. It takes all of us working together to be bold and hold each other accountable. Say you are standing in a pitch-dark room and one person lights a candle, there suddenly is a little bit of light but still everyone cannot see. That person shares their flame to light another candle of someone and there’s more light. Then they light a third. At this point there are three people in this dark room holding candles. Those three can see very well, the people close to them can see a little, and the people far from them can’t see at all. This is what the world looks like.

As Christians we have the light within us and can see everything around us clearly. The people that we are close to that don’t have the candle can see a little bit because of the light shining from us, but once our flame from our candle gets close enough to their candle to ignite it then the world gets brighter. But we can’t stop there. We have to bring our light to others who are in the dark. We must raise the temperature so that they can feel the heat from our candle and eventually have their candle lit. Imagine what the world would look like if we all walked around like this every day trying to light more candles to give light to those who are in the dark? The world would be so bright!

I want to encourage all of us to go into this week with this mental image of candles and light and see how many people we can share a little bit of light with. Let’s make the world bright together. There is a Christmas movie called “Deck the Halls.” One of the men, played by Danny DeVito, has a goal of putting up so many Christmas lights around his house that his house would be able to be seen from space. How beautiful would it be for God to look at our world from Heaven and see so much light from all of us?

Psalm 119:105- “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

Matthew 5:16- “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

John 8:12- “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

Be the thermostat, set the temperature, share your light, plant seeds, and water them. Together let’s light this world so everyone can see.

Love you all and praying for blessings upon you this week,

Courtney

Good evening, everyone. I hope your weekend was blessed and you got some rest (I didn’t write that with the intention of rhyming, but there we go!). A recent little update on my life, I started a new job last week. I am still a full-time student at Luther Rice College and Seminary but I’m also working at a brand-new Chick-fil-A that just opened up in Jasper, Ga. I have the 5:30am-2pm shift 5 days a week and I do schoolwork after that, so my days are long but enjoyable. I am thankful I work for a Christian centered company and have Sundays off!

Let’s dive into scripture:

“Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:1-6

“In him we have been obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” Ephesians 1:11

I was driving to my favorite coffee shop this afternoon to study and Josh Balwin’s “Made for More” song came up on my playlist. I could listen to that song every day and never get tired of hearing the words, “I wasn’t made to be tending a grave, I was called by name, born and raised back to life again, I was made for more!” When God decided to put each of us on this earth, he went into intricate detail to place every hair on our head, choose what color our eyes were going to be, place freckles and birthmarks on our skin, and place us in a family that would lead us to our purpose. You are not here by mistake. God did not make a mistake when creating you. He never looks at you and thinks you are not good enough. There is no other love like His.

God has called each one of us by name knowing full and well what our past looks like. He can and will still use you no matter what you have done. I know a woman who has such a beautiful testimony. She spent ten years highly addicted to drugs and lost custody of her kids. One day after those ten years she decided to give her life to Christ, sobered up, and now has brought the father of her kids to Christ, gotten her kids back, and they are now a happy, God-loving family. She now proudly shares that story with everyone to show that God can still use you for good. He still has a purpose for you, that never changes. He never gives up on you or loses hope. He is always ready to embrace you and love on you like a proud Father.

“Why would I make a bed in my shame when a fountain of grace is running my way? I know I am Yours, and I was made for more.”

If you are in a place where you feel like you are beyond repair, that God doesn’t want you anymore because of what you have done, look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I am made whole again through Christ, and I was made for more.” God wants you just as you are. The wonderful thing about God is that we never have to prove ourselves to Him. He created us and knows our hearts so well that nothing we do surprises Him. He knows our past, our current, and our future and still loves us. He wants to use our testimonies to show someone else that they are not alone and that they are loved. Let Him use you. You were made for more.

I want to encourage us all to look at ourselves and see what God sees when He looks at us. See the love Jesus had for us when He was hanging on the cross. He didn’t die for us to live our lives feeling worthless. He died so we could have a new life and never be weighed down by shackles again. We have a glorious, long future in Heaven so let’s make this little amount of time we have on earth worth it. Love yourselves because you are loved.

God loves you and is still using you.

Praying for your hearts,

Courtney