Blog Challenge – 1 Timothy 4:12 Girl

Thirty Day Blogging Challenge #2: Day Four

January 5, 2017February 4, 2017 Courtney4 Comments

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Day Four: Your top five pet peeves

1. Prejudice/stereotyping – This gets on my nerves so much. If there’s one thing that drives me crazy beyond measure, it’s when people are mean and offensive to a certain people group and/or accuse an entire group of people of being guilty of a particular behavior. If a person starts a sentence with the phrase “Those (Insert people group) are always (Insert undesirable characteristic)” I’ve likely already tuned them out in my mind. Along with being wrong on so many levels, it’s incredibly annoying and unbecoming.

2. Bullying – In some ways, this is kind of similar to #1, but considering there are subtle differences between the two, I believe it’s relevant to post this one as well. Bullies have always gotten on my nerves—especially when they travel in packs. As somewhat of a nerd, I’ve been targeted for more subtle forms of bullying over the course of my life and it breaks my heart to see it happen to others. No one should have to endure that kind of psychological, verbal, or physical torment.

3. When people smoke in public places – This truly irritates me in a big way. Whenever I’m at a place where someone is smoking, I always hold my breath to try to avoid inhaling the second-hand-smoke and end up feeling short of air as a result. It’s not healthy for the person smoking or the innocent bystanders, and by smoking, a person puts everyone around them at risk for the health hazards of second-hand-smoke (OK, getting off my soapbox now…)

4. When people act inappropriately online – Thankfully I haven’t been a victim of this too often, but the times that I have, I’ve gotten seriously freaked out. Fewer things have made me feel more uncomfortable than guys I’ve never had a conversation with asking where I live or trying to flirt online. Double points for the times it happens in Twitter DMs.

5. When people are rude – Certain things really are basic manners. Holding the door for someone. Apologizing for bumping into a person. Saying please and thank you. It really irritates me when people ignore some of society’s most basic etiquette rules.

How about you? What are your pet peeves? Feel free to post your own list in the comments section!

Quote Challenge #2: Day Two

December 30, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney2 Comments

Hey everyone, sorry I’ve been kind of inconsistent with this blogging challenge. For the last couple of days, I’ve had a cold, and have lacked motivation to churn out a new blog post. Nonetheless, I’m feeling better and I’m happy to be back!

Today’s quote is one by one of my favorite Christian authors and thinkers—C.S. Lewis.

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. C. S. Lewis

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For many, the decision to surrender everything to God can be a scary one. Becoming a Christian means handing over the steering wheel to Jesus, trusting that He knows what’s best for us and will lead us to a destination better than the one we would have chosen for ourselves. For some, it means fear of ridicule from peers who formally liked and respected them. For others, it means loosening the reins on our plans and allowing God to come in and make tweaks when needed.

But, I’ve found, the pros will always outweigh the cons.

Jesus, while demanding everything, often takes us to places beyond our wildest dreams. For every “no“, there’s a bigger “yes” around the corner. In my own life, He’s opened doors that previously felt bolted shut, answered prayers to problems that seemed beyond fixable, and surrounded me with a family of believers that I know have my back no matter what. There’s just one question that we all have to answer before He can work in our lives.

“Will we trust Him?”

For each person who has ever been born into this earth, there is a decision to make—follow the world, or follow Jesus. We cannot do both. 1 John 2:15 says “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” This does not mean we aren’t supposed to love people—it simply means that we must not see this present world as our home. The world promises false happiness, the kind that will soon fade away. Jesus promises eternal happiness. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

In this world, we will have troubles—but we will also have blessings and eternal life—if we hold fast to faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Revelations 3:20

Since I forgot to nominate people in my last post, I’m going to nominate six bloggers in this one! The nominees of this challenge are…

Three Day Quote Challenge #2: Day One

December 26, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney1 Comment

Hey everyone, I hope you guys had a Merry Christmas! I can’t believe it’s’ already over, but I trust that we have more great things to look forward to in the upcoming year.

Anyways, I was just nominated a couple of days ago by Mandie from afcrocks99 to do a three day quote challenge! I’m a little late, as I’ve been crazy busy with Christmas stuff, but better late than never, right?

The first quote in this challenge is going to be a quote by none other than America’s sixteenth president.

In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years – Abraham Lincoln

With the new year on the horizon, I figured this would be a fitting quote to start with. We all have a number of days, weeks, months, and years given to us by God, but it is our job to decide what we do with them. How will we steward the time that’s ours to borrow?

For many of us (myself included) it can be easy to fall into routine and drudgery. School, work, and a variety of other responsibilities often take claim to our time, making it difficult to find the time to do the things we love—the things God is calling us to.

Nonetheless, I believe that if we’re honest, we can all find some spare time in the day that is ours and ours alone. What will we do with that time? Will we spend it scrolling through social media (I’m guilty of this) or putting our God given gifts to work, and following the dreams that God had put inside of us? Will we spend our time in front of the television, or will we reach out to our friends and family, making the moments count with those who matter most to us?

We all have a question that we must ask ourself – How will we spend our days? Someday, that time, those moments, will add up to the sum total of our life—how will we spend it?

I believe that we’re each put here for a purpose. God wants us to make our life count, touching other lives in the process. None of our lives happen in isolation—we were made for community and interacting with others. We were made to make a mark, in both big and small ways every day.

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” – Psalm 90:12

How will you make the years in your life count? How will you bring your years to life?

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Thirty Day Blogging Challenge: Day 5

July 22, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney7 Comments

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Hey everyone, I’m a little late, but I made it! I had a Bible study with some of my friends today and we celebrated two birthdays, so that’s why this post is coming later than the last four. Today’s topic is about my proudest moment.

Truth is, I’ve been very blessed and have had a lot of really awesome moments, so I decided to narrow it down to my top three proudest ones!

When I saw my first book in print. I was only about thirteen when this happened. I felt the Lord calling me to write a teen devotional drawing parallels between the struggles Biblical figures faced and modern day problems that people encounter, so I sat down at my computer and began typing. After a lot of hard work, I managed to find a publisher and earn enough money to self publish it. It was an incredible feeling to see something that I wrote in print and I’m very grateful for that opportunity.
When I sang a song that I wrote in a talent show. From the time that I was a freshman in high school, I had a dream to sing one of my songs on stage, and October of my senior year, that dream came true! It was a great feeling and I’ll always remember that night. I wrote about it in detail here.
When I won a Liebster award. A couple of months back, I was nominated for a Liebster by my good friend Mfon from Dainty M. It was super exciting to win an award and be acknowledged for my writing. Plus, the feedback from all of you has inspired me to keep pushing forward and posting new content. I’m very excited to see what God leads me to write in the future.😊

I can’t believe that I’m already on day five of the challenge, I hope y’all stay with me until the end! 🏃