What a week

This week has been very tough. I can't be dishonest, but i CAN honestly say that I am joyful after it all. Don't get me wrong I'm happy to finally have the weekend, but I can see God working and that is something to celebrate. Right now I want more than anything to be the person Christ wants me to be. If that takes pain and frustration "Bring it on" . Even if I ball my eyes out ultimately I know that it is for my own growth and to show me how to be a better person. So with that I will keep this blog short and leave you with a scripture to consider.
- My son do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Hebrews 12:5b.
-How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! and that is what we are! 1 John 3:1a

Be blessed this week. Love ya, Court

Pain (The good kind!!)

When we think about pain we often associate it with something negative. We focus on the pain but sometimes do not realize it's great importance. Pain makes us realize something is wrong. If we didn't feel pain we would die. Consider if you did not feel pain and you had a heart attack. You would not be aware that something was wrong and no one would know what had happened until the autopsy report. Thus feeling pain during a heart attack is pertinent to getting help and medical attention. Well so it is with emotional pain and spiritual pain. When you feel upset, angry, sad etc. often times this is an identifies a problem going on in your life. This pain might be from an outside source and involve things that are unchangeable by you, however more times than not it is something that we need to change about ourself. The past couple of days I have felt incredible pain, nothing that I need to share in detail, but I do want to share this. I realized that God was trying to tell me something and I was so busy trying to alleviate the pain (by reading books, watching movies etc) that I did not bother to acknowledge where I needed to make a change. So what pray tell was God trying to tell me? you might ask. I believe it is this. I am not perfect but perfectly forgiven, I am worthy one hundred percent of the time!, I can only do my personal best and nothing more, and most importantly, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Here is my encouragement. You are important to God. He desperately wants you to follow Him because His way is perfect. We by ourselves will always fall short. My friends if you have been living for yourselves alone and trying to solve your problems in your own way just know that there is a better way. I'm so glad that I have put my trust in God and I know that I do not live for myself and I have a loving God who reminds me (with pain at times) that His way is perfect. Thank you God for the good kind of pain to show me that I need to let you be the leader and not me. Let pain talk to you, listen to what God is saying through it.

What missionaries do for fun.

All of you who have facebook and are on my friends list have probably seen the pictures from my trip to the beach. It was so much fun. I didn't realize how bad I needed the break until I got there. We ran and played in the ocean (with our sweaters and jeans because of course it's winter.LOL) We had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows (Jared Schlak attempted to do so with his finger, I don't think I need to explain how that turned out.) We sang worship songs and just had fellowship together. On Saturday morning the girls in my cabin and I decided to go for a walk on the beach to collect shells. It was fun until we found a dead sea lion which of course we took a picture of.LOL Later we went rock climbing and then had an intense wrestling match involving most of the teachers and even some of the kids that were there. Wow it was intense. I'm telling you don't mess with the Kinder teacher. Now I'm home preparing for conferences this week. It has already started as a challenge but God is so faithful and I feel blessed. Oh and it's been cool to go shopping now because all the winter stuff is 70% off because it's becoming Spring so I'm set when I come home for Christmas. YAY!!! i suppose it'll work the same for summer too. How cool is that? Well I best sign off for now as I must get my students. God bless those who read this blog. Please pray that I would be safe, wise, joyful, and stress free.
Love, Court

Life over the days past

Well I have had my first experience with the doctor's office (fear not I have no serious issue) for back pain. It went very successfully and I found that I was able to effectively communicate in Spanish. Which is important when dealing with your health. Teaching has been going great and I feel my students are learning a lot.

Tomorrow I go to get my fingerprints done and my teeth counted (not sure about that) to get my visa. Yay though because it looks like I could have my visa before Christmas.

Praise God for this weekend. I was so reminded of how great God is and how grateful I am that I have decided to make Him my all. I was struggling with a relationship recently that could have become something stressful and unproductive. My friend and I were able to pray and discuss our concerns and then celebrated together because we were able to use the time to learn about each other and celebrate how different God created us. I think if I could impart any bit of wisdom that I learned from this is that each child of God is unique and is being used and grown in their own way to the glory of God. Instead of bucking heads we can find reconciliation through prayer and God's word. God's word is truth and we can always trust His guidance over any human thought imaginable. Praise our personal God who is always with us even when we fall. Praise a God who loves us so much that He is intimately involved in our every moment and always has time. He is not far off and remote but personal, loving, just, and loyal through all things.

Blessings to All!!!!