Relentless Pursuit

Here we are on our 2nd Anniversary trip.

Neither of us knew that the picture was taken until we were home!

What do you think of when you hear the words Relentless Pursuit?

I think of a Lion running after the gazelle. Never giving up until his prey has been caught.

Relentless by definition is never slacking, but continuing at the same level.

Pursuit is an effort to secure or attain.

It overwhelms me to think that I have been pursued relentlessly. Here is a recent event of God's pursuing in my life...

When Joseph and I were married we knew that we wanted other marriages to have what God has so graciously given to us. We knew that it was there for the taking if they would just open up and let him have full control. Though we felt that we had it all together and knew how to take them there, we had no idea! There were still things that we had to learn. Our first year of marriage was awesome. We both had full time jobs , and yet somehow I always worked it out to have food on the table when he got home from work and laundry was always done. When I went to work on a second shift job, he was the one that would take care of me. He would leave lights on at night after he had went to bed so that when I got home I could find my way through the house. Joseph was the music minister and I played the piano at our church, we were working in youth ministry, and was the directors of VBS. We thought that this was the life that God had for us along with "fixing" marriages. We celebrated our first year of marriage and thought we had it together and that this next year was going to be just as blissful as the first. Boy were we wrong. Not long into our second year we began to isolate ourselves from one another. He would have his plans and I would have mine. He is adventurous and was always wanting to be outside. I on the other hand wanted to stay inside and snuggle on the couch to watch movies. We hardly ever communicated anymore. Oh sure, we would talk about the little things but we would never discuss the big picture of where we saw God was taking us. We had put on the back burner what we KNEW we were suppose to be doing. By the end of the second year we were all dried up. We had nothing left to give to each other much less be able to pour into others lives. We knew that the 'D' word was not an option in our marriage, but we didn't know how to live with each other anymore. We decided for our second anniversary we would take a trip to Gatlinburg, TN. We bought our groceries when we arrived and stayed in a cabin for 4 days. We took our Bibles and Bible studies. At that point in our marriage God began a whole new work in us. We came back revived. I wish I could say that it was perfect from there on out, but it was not. We still had our times of not communicating or our misunderstandings, but it was different. We knew that we wanted to live our marriage in such a way that others could learn from example. We had something to strive toward. We had a purpose.

Little did we know that through all of this God was still pursuing us for something bigger.

He has relentlessly pursued Joseph and myself for 9 years and we have finally surrendered to what we were made for. He has opened many doors for us to act on the calling that He has placed in our lives. We now have the opportunity to share with others and hopefully bless them in their walk with Christ and by extension their relationship with their spouse and children.

Will you surrender to a GOD who is relentlessly pursuing YOU?

ENJOY LIFE MY SWEET FRIENDS,

Courtney Cooper

Birthday Party for a KING

All of the hustle and bustle around the Cooper house this week has been a sight one must see to fully understand where I am coming from. We have cleaned like you would not believe. I have been thinking aout the preperations I have been doing around the house to get the house clean and ready for guest.It makes me excited. I know what I am preparing for so that makes it even sweeter. We are having a birthday party!!! Today starts the celebrations. Levi has made his birthday card and we will begin to bake the cake when he is out of the tub. ( he is very messy from making the card) Levi will decorate the cake, we will decorate the house, we will get out our party clothes and have a nice fun celebration. You ask why go thru such trouble for a birthday party? Well, its a party for the KING! One must do all one can when celebrating a KING. After all this King is no ordinary King. He saw the need of the human race. He stepped off of his throne, restricted himself as a little embryo, was born of a virgin, grew to be a man who bore the cross, went to hell on my account, and was RISEN, returned to his throne, and now we patiently (sometimese too patiently I might add) await for his return. This is MY KING who we are celebrating this week!!!
I pray that each of you do not forget what CHRISTmas is really all about! It is NOT about us or how we are feeling. If we are in the 'holiday' spirit or not. It is all about a KING! Lets not get caught up in the hustle and bustle of trying to buy all the last min. gifts and food.

REJOICE for our ABBA is KING!!!

Who is Teaching YOUR Kiddos

As I was getting Levi ready for bed I began to watch him. He has learned so much in just the past few weeks. He is no longer a baby. He is now picking out his own clothes, knows what shoes he wantes to wear, going to the potty by himself, brushing his teeth without momma reminding him, and the list goes on. (of course his clothes are not what I would have chosen)


Today after lunch we sat down and read a little story about BOZ. At the end of the book there is a rainbow. The line that went with the page read ' God put a rainbow high above, a bright reminder of God's love.' I asked him if he knew what a rainbow stood for. You will never guess what he said... again it was yes. I told him about Noah and the big boat called an ark. He was very energetic and loved that the waters were so high that they went over the houses and the trees. I explained to him that when we see a rainbow in the sky that it is a reminder that God will never flood the earth like that again.


Later I asked him if he could tell his daddy what we talked about and of course he did!



Tonight I sat down next to his little bed and opened up his Bible and we began to read about how Jesus came as a baby. I asked him if he knew why Jesus came as a baby. He always says, yes. He is his momma's son. We think we know it all! I preceded to explain to him that Jesus came because He and I were sinners. I told him that sinners do bad things, such as disobey parents, lie, hit, ect... (a few of the things we have been dealing with) I asked him if he knew that those were bad things and he said yes. I told him that Jesus came as a baby to die for our sins. That was the reason we celebrate CHRISTmas. He was amazed at the little Bibles pictures of Mary on her 'horse' and Joseph talking to the inn keeper. He loved the picture of the cat looking over in the manger at the baby. He asked whats that cat doing? I told him that the cat was amazed that she got to wittness the birth of the KING and that she was worshipping him! He loved it!



Tonight as I am sitting here getting ready to lay myself down I reflect on the day with Levi. I am so amazed at how quick he learns the things that his daddy and myself teach him. What scares me are the things that he is learning when he is around others. What are they teaching my little boy? I think as parents we have been given the greatest gift and responsibility that has ever been given to mankind. We are sharpening our little arrows to let loose in the world. What kind of arrow are you going to be releasing when it is time for yours to be released? I have to remind myself daily that we(Joseph and I) are equipping missionaries to send far into the future we will never see. If I do by job well then my children will teach their children and their children will teach their children.... Every parent is leading a legacy for their children to follow in. What is yours?





As I leave you this evening I want to leave you with these verses from Deutornomy 6:4-9





"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Christmas Photo Session at Home

Though I am always doing pictures for others I never seem to find time to do Levi's pictures. He turned 2 in July and still I havent done the first 2 year pictures. So this week I was doing a quick session with the twins I babysit. He got up just as I was putting things away. He asked"what are you doing" I told him and he said I wanna do pictures! Of course he wanted to leave his pjs on. He asked if Binky and Ralph could be in his picture. I told him if he would change clothes we would for sure do pictures with Binky and Ralph! I do believe this is the most fun I have had doing his pictures. Im thinking this for a CHRISTmas card!

11 Rules for marraige you wont learn in school.

Came across this today and thought it was worth passing along. I love Family Life.



Rule 1: Marriage isn’t about your happiness. It’s not about you getting all your needs met through another person. Practicing self-denial and self-sacrifice, patience, understanding, and forgiveness are the fundamentals of a great marriage. If you want to be the center of the universe, then there’s a much better chance of that happening if you stay single.

Rule 2: Getting married gives a man a chance to step up and finish growing up. The best preparation for marriage for a single man is to man up now and keep on becoming the man God created him to be.

Rule 3: It’s okay to have one rookie season, but it’s not okay to repeat your rookie season. You will make rookie mistakes in your first year of marriage; the key is that you don’t continue making those same mistakes in year five, year 10, or year 20 of your marriage.

Rule 4: It takes a real man to be satisfied with and love one woman for a lifetime. And it takes a real woman to be content with and respect one man for a lifetime.

Rule 5: Love isn’t a feeling. Love is commitment. It’s time to replace the “D word”—divorce—with the “C word”—commitment. Divorce may feel like a happy solution, but it results in long-term toxic baggage. You can’t begin a marriage without commitment. You can’t sustain one without it either. A marriage that goes the distance is really hard work. If you want something that is easy and has immediate gratification, then go shopping or play a video game.

Rule 6: Online relationships with old high school or college flames, emotional affairs, sexual affairs, and cohabiting are shallow and illegitimate substitutes for the real thing. Emotional and sexual fidelity in marriage is the real thing.

Rule 7: Women spell romance R-E-L-A-T-I-O-N-S-H-I-P. Men spell romance S-E-X. If you want to speak romance to your spouse, become a student of your spouse, enroll in a lifelong “Romantic Language School,” and become fluent in your spouse’s language.

Rule 8: During courtship, opposites attract. After marriage, opposites can repel each another. You married your spouse because he/she is different. Differences are God’s gift to you to create new capacities in your life. Different isn’t wrong, it’s just different.

Rule 9: Pornography robs men of a real relationship with a real person and poisons real masculinity, replacing it with the toxic killers of shame, deceit, and isolation. Pornography siphons off a man’s drive for intimacy with his wife. Marriage is not for wimps. Accept no substitutes.

Rule 10: As a home is built, it will reflect the builder. Most couples fail to consult the Master Architect and His blueprints for building a home. Instead a man and woman marry with two sets of blueprints (his and hers). As they begin building, they discover that a home can’t be built from two very different sets of blueprints.

Rule 11: How you will be remembered has less to do with how much money you make or how much you accomplish and more with how you have loved and lived.

Pass on “The Rules” to a friend who will enjoy them!

My Mother's Day

I had been feeling a little overwhelmed. We spent a lot of time in Bridgeport, after the tornado, just trying to let God use us where we were needed. There were about 4 days there that we had gotten minimum amounts of sleep. We were back home and busy cleaning our house up after not having power for 5 days. Babysitting the wonderful twin babies and keeping our family clothed and fed! It was a little tiring, I must say. It was VERY MUCH worth it and I am NOT complaining at all. I love being able to be used. It is just that there are times where it can wear me out. Thru all of this I had allowed my self to become short tempered. I never really argued with any of my family but I was always short in my answers to their questions. For example:

The day before Mother's Day Joseph took me to pick out my climbing rose bush. I was not in it at all. I didn't care if I got anything at all for Mother's Day, I was just ready to go home. While at Lowe's we were allowing Levi to walk around and there was a dear lady who thought that we were not paying him enough attention and hollered at us across the plants to ask us if he was our child. We smiled nicely and said "yes". She preceeded to tell us that she hoped we were watching him because something could fall on him and he could be hurt. Joseph was very nice and said yes mam we are. I on the other hand had that look, you know the one that momma's get when someone is trying to tell them how to raise their kids, yes thats the one. This dear lady then said "well, I guess I need to go on and mind my own bussiness since he isnt my child". Then I smiled oh so sweetly and said " yes mam". I looked up to see that my husband was not pleased with me at all. He scolded me and at the time I did not care. We left lowes without a rose bush, needless to say. I would never have admitted to my husband, but not getting a rose bush did not have anything to do with the fact that we couldnt find the "right" one. It had everything to do with me just not wanting to be there and what I was dealing with inside. I only tell you this because I want you to see just what kind of spirits I had been in.

Sunday Morning came, Mother's Day, the day that was suppose to be all about mommas. I was not caring anything about that either. I knew that I would have to go to church with a smile on my face, you know because I am the pastor's wife and we are always suppose to be happy.

When I got up I was ready to just do the same Sunday morning routine. I came down the hall to get a towel, my wonderful man was in the living room ironing his shirt for the day, and as I turned to go back to the bedroom there was a beautiful vase of roses along with a card from him. I melted! I felt so unworthy. After all the attitude that they had endured from me the past couple of days. As I read the card I felt the tears begin to form. Joseph had no idea just what I had been feeling, because I had not shared with him. We usually are so open with one another, but for some reason this time I had not been. Before he headed out the door I hugged and kissed my man and told him thank you and that that was just what I had needed.

After he left it was just me and my Father. We had a good time while I was getting dressed. I was really convicted for the way that I had treated my family and for not setting examples in the attitude that I so richly desire them to have.

Joseph preached an awesome message Sunday. Thru the message I realized that I had failed in mothering my teenager. I love her and I want her to succeed beyond her circumstances. She just might hate me for a little while, but it will be worth it, as long as she learns to let her self become so developed in the awesomeness of God that nothing else matters. What an honor that would be for me if I will allow God to use me in this matter.

I will let you know that I have repented my sin and have led a much better attitude this week. With my Heavenly Father at my side I will be able to accomplish the tasks set before me.

I have learned this week to 'Cast my cares on the Lord, we will sustain me; He will never let the righteous fall.' (psalm 55:22)

I have actually ENJOYED my housework this week. I have loved singing and dancing with Levi as we learn new Bible verses. I have loved teaching Levi to read (your baby can read flash cards). We had a great Ladies Bible study this week. I have fallen in love with those girls that come to my house every Tuesday. They are the Bomb diggity (if that is how you spell it). God has just given me a fresh fire burning inside of me to do his will and see the big plans he has instore for those around me. Tomorrow we will be leaving to go to the Extraordinary Womens conference in Birmingham and I am excited to see what God has is going to do there.

I must say thank you to those of you who read my blog and so sweetly tell me that you enjoy it. I am not sure that you are telling me the truth, but non the less it encourages me.

Above is a snapshot of my roses that my precious husband gave me. I have to say that I love him beyond comprehension.

Your sister in Christ,

Courtney

IT IS TIME

Its time. Its time for me to get my life back on a schedule and be more organized. I have been aweful for a few weeks now. I only do laundry when there is nothing else to wear or no towels in the hall closet, I only do the dishes when the sink overfloweth, I have not made my bed once this week. ITS AWEFUL! I am starting in the morning (Monday) to get my life a little bit more organized. When I started babysitting the twins I was getting up before they got here to do a little bit of reading and Bible study then would clean the house BEFORE laying down for a nap with Levi. It was great I always had time to myself during the day, because I planned it well. We were up and had breakfast and the kitchen cleaned by 9 o'clock every morning. I had time to play with Levi ( in a clean Living room) and do a little bit of learning excercises. My bedroom was ALWAYS clean. The bed might not have been made everyday, ok, so the bed was never made, but at least I could see my dresser and chest! Now there are clean clothes on my chest and books and baby stuff all over my dresser. I am tired of feeling like I am not getting anything accomplished during the day when my man gets home. I like to be able to just spend the evening with him and Keristin after they have been gone all day. I like to have supper done for them by 4 in the evening, but the past few weeks, I have done none of this. I have got to get myself together becaue beginning next year we will start 2 year old school with Levi. I will not be doing much each day with him, but if I am not structured, then it will be crazy trying to teach him even a little bit. I heard someone say once that a sloppy house reflects a sloppy faith I have this posted on my refrigerator and I am living by it! You would think that by me not getting my house cleaned everyday that I would have plenty of time to spend with the kids and with Joseph, but on the contrary, I constantly have something on my mind, such as what I need to be doing or I things haven't gotten done during the day. So I am not spending quality time with them. When I am more organized, I have EVERYTHING done in the evening and am able to spend the whole evening with the family. I am much more ful filled and feel as though I am living out my purpose in life. Being a wife, mother, and friend to my family.