Courtney

Do you ever get down about being different? When we stay “original”, we risk acceptance and likes. Are we suppose to fade into everyone else in the crowd…sounding, acting, and looking like the majority? I know we were made to be unique- not clones and copies but originals. I was made to be me. You were made to be you. We hear that all the time. I imagine the hue of hope is colorful, coming through each of us in variety of shades. The tones of our voices, the tint of our complexions, and the hues of our characteristics make up billions of ways hope can be colorfully displayed. God’s…

What is it that we need…to be able to break through every single setback? The answer is a breakthrough hope. It is the kind of hope that keeps looking for the blessing. Have you given up on looking for your blessing? If you can lift both hands up in surrender, you can still hope to find what God has for you! In any circumstance you are in, He has provision for breakthrough. Through every bondage. Every defeat. Every desperation. Every setback. Events that make you lose progress or keep you from gaining ground…problems that delay or stop progress…an interruption in progress… Does any of this sound familiar? Let me just…

NOTE TO SELF: THE GOD OF HOPE HAS PLENTY OF IT; THE GOD OF HOPE IS THE SUPPLIER OF MINE. He’s active and alert for every action and operation. God’s very existence and all that He lovingly does, is to keep hope living. It is to keep the fire burning, to keep our affections alive and to keep us passionate for the Christ. Don’t think for a minute that the Creator of all has lost all His creativity, energy, and excitement. Think Well. Think Strength. Think Healing. Think Safe. Connection. Communion. Life. Hope. Psalm 46:1 says “God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need Him.”…

NOTE TO SELF: STOP BEING SO RESTLESS. REST. PUT YOUR HOPE IN THE ONE WHO MADE THE SKY. Reflecting on the big Gatlinburg sky lift, I posted a picture in The Monday Mentor Facebook group of a young girl we met in line on our recent trip. We briefly discussed courage and shared a few laughs. Then the man at the control handle continued to repeat himself, hollering out: “Step up to the line! As the seat comes up behind you, sit down! Let it take you forward.” Once we got in our seats and ever so slowly headed back down the mountain, there were two things available to us:…

Lately I’ve been telling everyone including myself, to keep hope alive. In the Fall, we see the word HARVEST a lot. There’s a huge harvest for us if we won’t give up or give in. It’ll find its way to us and we will live in it. That harvest is something I am counting on. What about you? Where are you right now? Start to plant seeds, cultivate good things and good belief systems. It will bring you a harvest you’re going to need in time.  In the last blog, 2 Tim. 4:5 encouraged us with a task to spread hope. Here’s an expanded version of it: “Keep your eye…

How can we spread hope? What do you have right now that can communicate, cover, and affect more people…with expectation and fulfillment for possibility, desire, confidence, and optimism? If you sit with God, you’ve got at least three things that other people need. The verse in 2 Tim. 1:7 tells us what He’s given us. We need to see Power, Love, and Self Discipline in action. Nothing has prepared me for the events in my life the way Love, Power, and Self Control have. We’ve been to many functions over the years. Spending some time with God ahead of our activities, can make them so worthwhile. Whatever He has planned…