Life – Page 5 – 1 Timothy 4:12 Girl

My Day In Selfies

September 19, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney8 Comments

Hey everyone, I was nominated a while back by Katie from Concealed Foundation—and I finally got around to posting this! Sorry for the delay, I’ve been trying to find a day interesting enough to actually record in photos!

The Rules Are…
– Take a selfie every hour during one whole day of you going about your life.*
– It would be cool if you could show what you’re doing in the selfie as well as showing yourself. Feel free to include other people in your selfie too if you’re with others!
– Post all your selfies in a blog post so your followers can see what your day looks like. Feel free to include captions.
– Include the rules of the tag.
– Nominate some other bloggers to participate

So without further ado…the challenge! Sorry it’s so late Katie!

Today I woke up and got ready for an eventful day of volunteering in Sunday School at my church. I volunteer once a month and today was one of the days that I was signed up for.

And here’s one of the photos here. At this point in the day I’m playing with two young children and listening to very redundant background music from one of the videos.😂 Today’s lesson was on Jonah and the whale and we made a lot of crafts involving the Bible story.

And here I am at home about to eat lunch (Vegetarian chicken patties covered in spaghetti sauce). At this point in the day I’m recovering and pretty hungry.

Still pretty tired, I decide to put on some TV. In the background, there’s my cat, a poster from the movie Grace Unplugged, and two inspirational wall decals.

After spending some time watching TV and hanging out with my mom, I take on the challenge of organizing that messy closet I wrote about here. In case you’re wondering, it’s much better now. 😂👊👍

Finally, I settled down to one of my favorite hobbies…writing! As you may be able to tell from the picture, I’m very tired now.

On a side note, I had a good reminder from an unlikely place today. The lesson for the Sunday school class was about trusting God, something that I needed to hear myself. Between college and stress about the future, I’ve kind of been panicking and trying to map out my whole life, wondering what it will all look like. The lesson ended up being a good reminder to trust God and not try to make everything work out myself.

Now, the new nominees for this challenge are…

Everyone reading this post! Yes, that means YOU! I’m looking forward to seeing all of your awesome selfie pics!

*Confession, I do not have a selfie from every hour but I managed to record the highlights of my day.

Choices

September 14, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney15 Comments

Hey everyone, my good friend Mfon from Dainty M. just submitted an awesome article that I think you guys will love! It’s the first of many guest posts that I plan to have here, so keep your DMs open and regularly check your inboxes! I plan to have more guest posts in the future!

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I watched this movie ‘The choice’ and I think it was pretty good. Though my over analytical mind kept asking questions and trying to solve an unknown mystery. Lol. Suffice to say, everything we do in life hinges on our choices. Each choice has pros and cons. If you’re like me, you probably have the pros and cons list where you weigh every option. But even with that obsessive need for perfection, we still make mistakes!
So yes, choices are important. And God liberally gave us the chance to choose. We get to choose life or death, happiness or sadness, black or white. And sometimes these distinctions won’t be so clear- like picking between different shades of grey for instance. It gets really tricky and we need God even more!

I watched a romantic movie today from Hallmark. I like Hallmark movies, clean and brilliant! So yeah I had the whole ‘coil up on my carpet and eat chips’ moment while watching the fairytale unfold and letting out the ‘awws’ and ‘I want that!’. Well there you have it, I’m a hopeless romantic. Lol. So after the movie I went all whiny to God like ‘would I ever have that perfect love relationship?’ Long story, I decided to look at Ruth in the Bible. And I found something interesting.

She made choices. First was to follow her mother in law even when she knew there was nothing left for her. Second, she didn’t just sit home as a sad widow, she chose to go get a job. Third, she chose to follow her mother in-law’s instructions of making the right move. Starting from there, I probably wouldn’t have done that cause I always expect the guy to make the first move. Then secondly, why go out when you can just stay home depressed at how unfair life is? And yeah, I also may not have followed Naomi knowing she had no sons left.

So what if she hadn’t taken the job offer and rather wandered to other fields to glean? What if she hadn’t even followed Naomi? We probably wouldn’t be reading about her in the Bible.

Choices are so powerful!

Eve chose to eat the apple… Adam also chose to eat it. No one forced them. There could be some convincing and nudges here and there but at the end, we get to choose. God has given us this chance to choose but He tells us to choose right.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live- Deut 30:19

I’d like us to get a little more cautious about the choices we make every single day. Most of these choices have ripple effects and they flow down a long time.

I pray the Holy Spirit guides us as we make choices.

My First Ever Vlog: How To Stay Strong In Your Faith

September 1, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney10 Comments

Hey guys, I’ve thought about doing a vlog for a while now and I finally decided to throw one up on my site today.

I’m just going to warn you guys ahead of time, I probably said “um” about fifteen hundred times…the joys of improv, lol! 😂

If you can think of any other good vlog topics, I’d love to hear them in the comments section!

Thirty Day Blogging Challenge: Day 29

August 15, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney8 Comments

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Day 29…A confession.

I am a nerd.

If you’ve known me for a while, you’ve probably figured this out. Even if you haven’t, you may have pieced this together somewhere along the way.

Though I’m not a fan of labels, many of my interests fall into the “nerd category”. I enjoy subjects like history, literature, psychology/sociology, and theology, and could honestly ramble on about any one of these subjects and the intersections between them (e.g. the sociology and history of Christian thought process…nerd alert!). I even enjoy the occasional discussion about politics, so long as it doesn’t turn heated and crazy.

Paired with the vice of being an overachiever, you can pretty much get the picture of what I was like in middle and high school.

I even went through a phase where I wanted glasses (before I knew that I needed them) because I thought that glasses made you look smarter. My mom didn’t quite believe me at first when I told her I thought I needed glasses, as I always talked about how cool I thought they looked. Initially, she thought I just wanted them for appearance-sake. Nonetheless, she took me to see an eye doctor and soon found that I actually did need them to see. I still wear the same frames today, as I can’t seem to get contacts in to save my life and have no interest in getting a new pair.

I think we all have our quirks; and nerdy-ness is just one of many for me. If you also have nerdy tendencies, I urge you not to be ashamed of it. Some of our greatest world changers would be considered “nerdy” by the world’s standards. Imagine where we’d be today if Einstein or Edison had suppressed their interests to fit in with the world!

God made each one of us different and unique; the world would be boring if we all looked, talked, acted, and thought alike. The people who I enjoy hanging out with the most are the ones who are fearlessly and unabashedly themselves. Never change just to try to fit in with the crowd. When you’re authentic, it inspires authenticity in others and helps us all to be a little more honest and transparent.

As an old song by Jonny Diaz says “You were made to fill a purpose that only you can do, so there could never be a more beautiful you.”

Thirty Day Blogging Challenge: Day 28

August 14, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney4 Comments

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Day 28…My most embarrassing moment

I think that nearly every teenager/young adult has a couple of these in their rearview mirror. I could honestly think of a few situations just off the top of my head. Nonetheless, for the sake of this post, I’ve narrowed it down to a situation that happened to me during sophomore year.

During my 10th grade year, I joined the yearbook staff. Thankfully, I soon found that most of the other students were really nice and I began talking with one of the guys in the group. We became friends pretty quickly, and talked about everything from movies to school. Nonetheless, we eventually got to a point where we were running out of topics

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you may remember that I’m horrible at small talk. I was grasping for literally anything to talk about, so I asked the lamest question in the book: “What’s you’re favorite color?”

I knew the question was pathetic, but I didn’t think there was anything problematic about the question.

I was dead wrong. To this day, I still remember his reply.

“I’m colorblind.”

I had just asked a person who was colorblind their favorite color.

I’m pretty sure I apologized about twenty times after that.

To make matters worse, I remembered after the fact that he had already told me about that a couple of days ago, but in that moment, it had completely slipped my mind.

Thankfully, he was cool about it, and we’re still friends to this day. But, at the time, it was pretty awkward.

I suppose it’s moments like this that serve as a good reminder of our humanness. It’s amazing how many awkward situations we can manage to find (or put) ourselves in. I know I’ve had my fair share of “awkward moments”

How about you? Have you ever found yourself in an awkward/embarrassing situation? If so, how did you react? Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section below.

Thirty Day Blogging Challenge: Day 25

August 11, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney5 Comments

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Day 25…Your biggest regret.

Truth be told, I don’t really have a lot of huge regrets. Perhaps it’s because of the fact that I’m still fairly young, or perhaps it’s because I don’t really take a lot of risks without calculating the consequences. Still, I have made mistakes and for this post, I have decided to write about my “moment of rebellion” in middle school.

I was playing manhunt with my youth group and one of my friends and I hid in a small opening under a bridge that led to one of the buildings. It was dark, dirty, and fairly uncomfortable under the bridge, but it was a good place to hide, so we both stayed still and silent. Even when two boys began jumping on top of the bridge, we managed to stay (somewhat) silent.

Eventually, the game ended and we heard one of the leaders announce that it was time to go back outside.

“Are you coming?” I remember asking my friend, ready to get up from dirt covered ground.

She then noted that it would be a good idea to stay hidden. Otherwise, no one would know that we had won the game. Since I’ve always been very adherent to rules, I was reluctant, but ended up staying.

I was going through a bit of a rough patch during this time, dealing with the typical trials of growing up. I think a big reason I went through with the plan was because I wanted to know that someone would notice if I was gone. In retrospect, it was dumb and juvenile, but I think everyone has something in their past that makes them wonder, “What was I thinking?”

Obviously, when one of the leaders found us, they were upset, and the following day, I had to send an apology letter to the leaders for not following the rules. I was pretty embarrassed long after that, worried that the people there were angry with me for what I did. After a while, the waters calmed and things went back to normal; but I still regret acting so foolishly.

I’d like to include a note in this post if you’re thinking of your own regrets: You’re never too far away from God’s grace. There is no mistake too big to be forgiven.

Romans 3:20-24 says “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

And, Romans 5:1-2 says “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

We serve a God that loves, forgives, and saves, and you’re never too far out of His reach.

In the words of Jeremy Camp, “He’ll take you back”!

Three Day Quote Challenge: Day One

August 5, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney8 Comments

Hey everyone, as I promised, I’m posting day one of the quote challenge today!

I’d like to thank Emily for nominating me; I was super excited and honored when I saw that I got picked! As a writer, it’s always good to know that someone out there is reading your random thoughts, opinions, and ramblings. 😄

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”― Catherine of Siena

I’ve loved this quote since the moment I first heard it. It’s so inspirational and makes me feel like I can take on the world! It’s the kind of quote you want hanging on your refrigerator, as daily inspiration to start your morning with!

I love the message at the core of the quote: Be yourself and God will use you according to His plan and purpose. We can only serve God at our fullest when we’re completely honest, transparent, and real about who we are. This doesn’t mean that we can achieve perfection through some sort of new age-y”self actualization”. What it does mean is that God can use us as a vessel to make a difference in this world, flaws and all.

We’re all separate, yet all connected. This is something that I’ve always loved about the body of Christ. Though we’re one body, we have different parts, and each of us bring something beautiful and unique to the table. I may not be good at math and science, but that’s OK, because someone else is. God can use me exactly where my talents lie to help spread His message of love and grace to a broken world. Because I’m a writer, I can express God’s truth the most naturally through written word. If you’re a singer, make a joyful noise unto the Lord and glorify God through song. If you love science, teach about the truths of God’s creation, sharing your knowledge with the world.

We each have something special that we can bring. Whatever it is for you, do it with your whole heart, and bring a little more beauty to this world through your life.

Never be afraid to set the world on fire for Jesus!

Thirty Day Blogging Challenge: Day 16

August 2, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney3 Comments

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“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”-Martin Luther King, Jr.

As you may have figured out from the quote, today’s topic is education. As a recent high school graduate and soon to be college freshman, this is a topic is very relevant to me right now.

I believe that education is a very important thing in life, considering that in short, education means to glean knowledge. Granted, some things taught within the walls of our local public school or college are iffy at best…false at worst (e.g. relativism and evolution). Nonetheless, I believe that much of what is taught in a classroom is good and helps prepare us for life. Imagine if we had never been taught to read or write, we would never be able to converse on the web or share our thoughts and opinions through blogging!

We wouldn’t be able to make purchases or organize our finances without a basic understanding of math; and without history and science, would never know our country’s history or the basics of how the world works. For these reasons, I believe that education is important, and in this post, I’m going to explain how I believe education works best.

Education works best when discussion is encouraged-As an extravert, I may be a tad biased here, but I’ve found that I learn best when allowed to discuss the topic at hand. Last year in my government and economics class, we often discussed current events and social issues, and we were allowed to give our thoughts and opinions. Through this, I feel that I got a better understanding of the complex nature of the issues and a firmer grasp of my own views/beliefs.
Education works best when it’s proactive-I always retain more when I’m allowed to think about the information and form my own opinions about the topic I’m studying. I took an ethics class once where the book gave two different points of view on a hot topic (e.g. Capital punishment) and let us decide which view was more in line with our own (In case you’re wondering, I’m against capital punishment). Granted, this works best with subjects like psychology, ethics, and government, but I believe that when this concept can be applied, it should.
Education works best when focused on teaching values along with academics-As Martin Luther King said in the quote above, intelligence plus character is the goal of true education. Teachers should encourage morals such as honestly, integrity, and empathy. In addition to formal schooling, parents should also teach their children God’s word and help them to develop a strong faith and love for the Lord. Mark 8:36 says “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” I believe that this concept can be applied to academics. What good is it for someone to have a PH.D if they don’t know God and their heart isn’t in the right place?

To conclude, I believe that education is an important part of society and that it works best when it helps students learn to think critically and grow in character and faith. If a person knows how to do that and has a strong faith, I believe that they’ll go on to do great things.

In the words of Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Thirty Day Blogging Challenge: Day 15

August 1, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney7 Comments

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I can’t believe it…I’m already at the halfway mark! After today I’ll have fifteen posts down and fifteen to go! I can see the finish line in the distance! That being said, it’s time to dive into today’s topic!

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The future is a funny thing. As much as we try to plan it, life has a way of taking unexpected twists and turns, a fact that can either be exciting or frustrating, depending on how we look at it. Looking back five years ago, I never would have been able to predict half of the stuff that has happened in my life.

That said, everything in this post is merely a guess; how I hope my life will look five years from now.

I’ll be twenty three-years old (a fact that is freaky in itself), nearing the end of my time in college. I plan to get a masters degree in journalism/communications. Hopefully, I’ll already be dabbling in my career path, job shadowing others in that line of work.
I plan to have a steady part time job. I’d like to get a job working at a store; maybe Hallmark? I should have some of my own expenses at that point, such as a car which brings me to my next point…
I should finally have my license by then. For those of you who are calculating my age, yes, I’m late. Driving freaked me out for a long time and I was honestly pretty unmotivated to get my permit. But, the older I get, the more OK with driving I seem to feel (I still don’t love it). Hopefully, I’ll be able to get my license some time before the end of summer, or at least, sometime this school year.
I hope to be on my way to publishing my first fiction book. I’ve been working on it since freshman year and I’m starting to feel really happy with the way it’s sounding. I still have a lot of logistics to figure out publishing-wise, but college should give me some time to explore my options.
I’d like to work with a youth group sometime during college. My old youth pastor was in his early 20s when he taught youth group and I’d like to do the same during college. I think it would be a really good experience and I believe I would enjoy working at a youth group and helping to share the Word of God with others.
I should still be running this blog. I’ve really begun to immerse myself into the blogging world this year and I hope to continue writing through college. I don’t know all of the details about how this blog will evolve during college, but I hope you guys will stick around to see what happens. I know God has a lot of life lessons lined up for me in college and I plan to write about what He’s teaching me in this new chapter of life.

As usual, I’m going to ask for your awesome feedback. How did you picture your life turning out five years ago? What were you right about and what surprised you? I’d love to hear your stories!

Thirty Day Blogging Challenge: Day 9

July 26, 2016February 4, 2017 Courtney11 Comments

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Hey everyone, it’s day-number-nine of the thirty day blogging challenge (I really need to come up with some better openings for these challenges…)! After some pretty deep and thought provoking questions, today is a more fun/quirky one…what’s in my bag?

In this post, you’ll find out just how disorganized I really am! I may struggle with OCD, but that OCD doesn’t always translate into organization! In other words, I really need to clean out my purse before college…

So, without further ado, here are the objects in my purse!

1. A Winnie the Pooh and cross thingamajig that a friend made for me a year ago: The Winnie the Pooh one used to have a nose but it came off. I’m pretty sure these are supposed to be keychains, but since I don’t have a car, I’ve just used them as decor for my bag.

2. More pens and pencils than I know what to do with: Seriously, I should do a free pen giveaway on this blog. Although shipping them might get a little tricky… 😜

3. Two notebooks: One is the Gators because my family is a fan of the team. The other is just a decorative one with designs and my initial.

4. Lots of random papers and old receipts that honestly just need to go: When my backpack got too full during the school year, I often shoved papers into my purse. Probably not the wisest thing to do in retrospect, but I survived in the midst of the disorganization!

5. Shades: Because it is way too hot and sunny where I live.

6. Hand sanitizer: Yes, one of them is Christmas themed. No, I am not ashamed.

7. Wallets: Nothing too interesting to say here. I got them both as gifts which is why there are two.

8. A graduation card and a thank you card. Confession. I have a graduation card that my whole class signed that I still haven’t given to my best friend. I really need to do that next time I see her. Sorry Alex!

And lastly…the bag! I’ll be back tomorrow with a vacation story!