Courtney Doctor and Melissa Kruger | Psalm 46:1; Isaiah 46:9–10 | Word First

[Music] hi again I am Courtney doctor and I am back with Melissa Krueger and we hope that you have enjoyed these moments of spent best hope as much as we have enjoyed making them they have been a ton of fun I've learned a lot and I've been deeply encouraged and so what we wanted to do as we wrap this project up is we wanted to have an opportunity to share with you what some of our favorite verses have been and maybe a little glimpse into what we are also stockpiling so Melissa what is a verse that you have gone to over and over in this time yeah it's actually been a verse it's been interesting I'm you know we're all going through this in the midst of our normal life and there's been a verse this year in the past year that's been really kind of significant to me in psalm 46:1 it says God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way that the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and the mountain tremble at its swelling and I love this image because it's basically an image of all of creation giving way yeah I mean think about this mountain being moved into the heart of the sea I mean that's this picture of things aren't like they're supposed to be mountains shouldn't be in the middle of the sea and in a lot of ways this pandemic that we've been in makes everything feel off I mean every every time I think about the way the world is suddenly shifted its this is the verse that keeps coming back to mind and what I love that it says is God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble he's off our way he's not distant from this he's right there and he's with us this very present help in times of trouble and so I loved that image of him being close by and that I don't have to fear because I can't be removed from his presence even though the mountain can be moved into the sea I cannot be removed from his presence as his daughter and that's just such a verse that encourages me during all of this what about you where where do you go now I do go back to Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10 God is declaring himself God above all things and he says this he says for I am God and there is no other he says I am God and there is none like me and this is one of the ways that we know he's got alone he says because I am the one who did he was declaring the end from the beginning from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purposes and so knowing that he is he is God alone there is there is no other he he reigns and rules completely on his own but he does so I love that knowing the end from the beginning he knows he knows all of this he knows how everything is going to end he knows how the big story ends he knows how my story ends he knows how your story ends and he's in all of it he says he is going to accomplish all his purpose and so it's not random it's it's according to the purpose of God and he's doing something in it he's he's accomplishing something and and he's reigning the entire time and so there's just that there's such comfort in that I can rest it's not an unknown ending the ending is held by the one who holds all things together and so there's just such comfort in knowing that I don't have to be the one that knows the end I don't have to be the one that holds it all together I don't have to pretend that I'm God of anything because there is one God and he has got alone so I just I tend to go back to that verse over and over but it's been incredibly significant during these times to that's verging even if it's just the two of us we do this yeah it's not another person on here we still do this ok you go you go well I was just gonna say that very notion has come up so many times in music interviews that very thing that we know God reigns over all things and that he is God and his counsel and his purposes will stand in this I think back to our very first interview with Nancy where it was that God upholds the universe by the word of his power his counsel stands and how that theme that we see so much through scripture that he has a plan that he's writing and the stories when I think back to the stories of Scripture they don't always like neat and tidy we can't you know I'm thinking of Joseph sitting in that pit and his brothers have thrown him in the pit it doesn't look neat and tidy in that moment and it didn't look neat and tidy the next year even for him or the next year after that it took many many many years so he got to the point where he could say what you intended for evil God intended for good and so it's but it's just interesting to see how that place of faith has been so common in all of these different interviews that we've done with people that God's word his word is what we can hope in not the counsels of men not what other people say but his word is the foundation for our hope and I do think that's the key to steadfastness yes we've talked about this conference and that's really what we were planning to study in James and one thing I love that you worked so hard on for the past year before this conference was preparing a Bible study on the book of James entitled steadfast and as we studied that book together you and I got just study it together and so many women now have studied it together as you think back to that time of study what would you say really impacted you in the book of James what what truth kind of have been resonating in your soul since that time of study well I'd say two things I think the fact that the the whole book starts off with count it all joy when you encounter various trials because you know that this is gonna do something that's gonna make you stand fast I mean that's just amazing that that's the book that the Lord sovereignly ordained we would be taking joy next time I was gonna be easy like that that's the book that we've been studying but if there's one thing that really had a had an impact in a way that shifted something in my heart that needed to be shifted James says you know don't don't just be hearers but be doers and he says and your faith is actually going to be justified or it's going to be proven to be true and right by the things that you do and then he lists these things that we should be doing and at the top of his list throughout the entire letter is caring for the poor and the marginalized and so I've been aware that that is like the poor and marginalized are near and dear to the heart of God but as I looked at that theme through Scripture it became even it just was impressed even deeper on my soul and I think that there was some preparation in my own heart that needed to happen for this time because we we are surrounded by people who have lost and you may be one of those people who has lost your source of income you have lost your ability to provide and financially things are very frightening for a large percentage of the population even globally and so to have been given that word that commands that clear instruction it's given me a much clearer path forward it's given me a much clearer way to be obedient to the word in in this particular cultural moment and so I've just been grateful for that that to see that it's a way of worshiping God and loving God is to love those that he loves so good it's young and it's it's almost like that prep work was entering into this new reality I mean it really is that we see our brothers and sisters all around the world we're going to be struggling in this moment and it's not a few I still have my job it's it should be oh we are collectively suffering how do we enter it in help and if I have how do I share with my brother who doesn't have had it how do we do that well even a simplest you know if I've got four rolls of toilet paper how do I share with the one who has none and not and not being worried about that I only have four but to rejoice that I have four and to be willing to share it I mean there's just a there's a reality in this and so it's interesting isn't it ELISA when when the Lord has you prepare something to teach or to write it it pushes it down in your own heart I mean it's always has got to be worked through my own heart and soul first but you have two books coming out this summer which is very exciting so tell us about those and tell us what the Lord has been showing you in the writing and the studying for those well the first one is actually one I just participated in editing and I'm so excited about this book Kristen Wetherill and I edited it but it's twelve other women who wrote the chapters for it and Kristen actually actually did do one of them and it's called twelve peaceful women it's about women who walk steadfastly through trials and let me just say if you need a summer read you could read one a week all summer and it's so good these stories I just learned a lot from stories that's that they resonate with me when I read them my faith is inspired I'm one walk in a manner worthy of the gospel when I see others doing it and these women are so impressive they're from many different generations they're from many different continents and it's beautiful to get to see the commonality of their faith was expressed and how they faithfully endured suffering and it's just a beautiful thing to get to to read and really take in you know I didn't get to peek at it and it isn't beautiful and I love and it what it did for me as I as I looked at those different examples is it shows a way forward it shows a path forward it's like oh I can see I can see what that endurance and that steadfastness looked like in her life and therefore I now can see how that can be true in my life too so it's 12 faithful women it's a it's a beautiful book and it's a very timely book yeah and I love because some of these women I've never even heard about before yeah and there's such a treat to get to read them and learn from their stories and I love I love that I love history so it was it was fun for me to get to edit because I got to read all the chapters so that was that was a real joy way for me and then the second one is a what a book that's probably been on my heart for about ten years and I have finally written it and it's it's a book called growing together taking mentoring and Beyond prayer request and small talk I think that's the title I should know the title but it's it's a book basically that is not about mentoring so much is a book that can be used in inventory relationship it's kind of ironic to be releasing a book called growing together in the midst of social distancing but I hope what we have all learned through social distancing is our need for one another and so what I'm hoping to do in that book I find a lot of older women feel really intimidated to mentor maybe they've never been mentored themselves and they don't really know what to do and so I'm hoping to kind of provide not by any means the manual for mentoring that's prescriptive but just a pathway that women can use each chapter acts as a springboard to discussions that I think are important that get past our circumstances and into some heart issues and so I'm really excited one I'm really excited at the thought of being able to have coffee with a friend so I'm really excited yeah yeah women being able to meet together and grow together and I hope that that will happen soon so both of them I'm really excited as well we can obviously grow from big conferences like steadfast and we want women to come to those there really is a sweetness in walking one on one with a more mature believer and just gleaning from their faith and so I'm looking forward to it but now I'm really looking forward I can go wandering through all these sessions what is Kourtney doctor over there hoarding in her little pantry or in her cabinet so I'm going to know well some people might say you have a problem over there so we yeah we kind of like popcorn around here and we go through it really fast my husband does make like the world's best popcorn he does it on the stove and he has this this technique that he uses where he has the oil in the need here's one of his secrets it's not all of them because I had to keep some of them but he puts the salt in the oil and then put the popcorn in and then pops it and so this jumbo it's several of them he's not gonna last us long I'm gonna do that next time salt in the oil mm-hmm like that it gets perfectly mm-hmm and we big big bowls because I mean like each person not sure each person gets a big bowl full of popcorn he's very generous at the popcorn that's fun yeah but what about you what are you stockpiling well if I could stock now's something to be delivered to my home it would always be pizza like it's just something that brings me a lot of joy especially the one time well this one place we go to called an easy oh here in town it's what I love about it like they have fresh garlic sitting out and they have these long peppers I'm there with their called that you can put on your pizza so the one we get there is actually I think it's called the Diablo which has all this yummy pepperoni and all this stuff anyway but all these spicy peppers as you will see from the item I'm actually stockpiling I like spicy and these are cinnamon sizzling cinnamon jelly bellies and they make me so happy and I found them in a store the other day and I got them and I'm hiding them from my family because I don't want to share them to market yeah they can have hot tamales they can go that route if they need some spicy but these are my special are we gonna put a link in the show notes so that so that people can order them really that's true that they would take them from you yeah I'm very I'm very thankful to have found them and I'm glad to have them but I loved what you said Courtney again about the council Lord I think if there's any commonality between all of these it is that God's Word is true it stands and and when all of the earth seems to be giving way in these days his word is true and it brings comfort real comfort in a way that I think it's hard to describe in the midst of many counselors in God's Word there is there as much wisdom and so it's been so fun to get to do these with you we both hope that these times have been encouraging to you in these days so thank you for listening thank you for joining us and thanks for having fun with us we hope that it's been good to be in God's Word but also good to laugh a little bit during during the season so thanks for joining us and we hope to see you in April we hope we'll see you then good night [Music] you