Tag: Life

Thirty Day Blogging Challenge: Day 5

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!

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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! 🏃

 

Only Jesus

Courtney3 Comments

“I lost Jesus in there. It seemed one could be a Christian without being a disciple of Jesus.”-Sarah Bessey, Out of Sorts; Making Peace With An Evolving Faith.

Celebrity scandal. Wars. Gun control. Religious freedom. Republicans vs. Democrats. The 2016 election. Chaos. Crime. The economy. 

With so many issues in the world, distraction has become one of our most accessible vices. Even on Christian websites, the top news stories are drenched with current events and political jibber-jabber. The nightly news, like an addiction, pulls us in and threatens to keep us there.

I’m as guilty of it as anyone. People and current events fascinate me, and I’ve spent my share of time online, trying to figure out my stances on various issues. I love finding new information and sharing what I’ve learned with others, and I believe that learning about people and their unique places and journeys of life can help us to become more caring and compassionate human beings.

An interest in new information is not a bad thing. God wants us to be able to reason and think critically about different matters. Half the book of Proverbs is about wisdom, and the importance of it. Not to mention that God created our brains with unbelievable complexity to process life—both the present and eternity—with.

The problem comes when we become so consumed with the news, life, and viewpoints that we completely miss Jesus. Sometimes, it even gets so out of hand that we end up waging wars with those-who-disagree-with-us-on-topic-XYZ. I’ve seen this happen a lot during this point in history. Somehow, as a Christian culture we’ve reduced our faith to politics, rules, and religion, completely missing the amazing otherworldly story that God is writing in our lives. In the name of “being right”, we’ve turned to lecturing, shouting at, and hurting those who we’re called to love.

Suddenly, the story of the two sisters from the Bible comes to life, and we live as Marthas instead of Marys. We’re worried about many things, but we forget the one big thing.

A vibrant, feeling-alive-I-can-touch-the-sky relationship with Jesus. Living as a poem rather than an instruction manual. Loving vibrantly, the way Jesus did. Sinking into God’s peace when the world feels chaotic. Breathing a sigh of relief and realizing that we don’t have it all together, but knowing that Jesus does.

Sometimes, we need to let go of the worries, let go of the troubles, and look up instead of looking around. The world will always be crazy, but we serve a Savior who calmed the waters and walked on them. He can calm storms and raise the dead, and continues to calm the storms inside of us, making us come alive when we feel dead.

Only one person is big enough to do that, for you, for me, and for all of Creation, and that person is our friend, Lord, Savior, and redeemer, Jesus Christ; who bled on a cross so that we could have live forever. The things of this world may not be big enough to calm our seas, but Jesus always is. No matter how menacing the clouds and no matter how loud the storm, Jesus can always calm it. And, He always has been, and always will be, more than enough. ❤️

A New Chapter

Courtney5 Comments

“This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.“-Taylor Swift

Tomorrow, I’ll be closing a chapter; a chapter that I’ve been living in since the 9th grade. When I walk up to receive my diploma, and walk off the stage to greet my family, my time in high school will be over.

Up until now, I’ve pretty much known what to expect out of life. I’ve been with the same people for the last couple years and know exactly who I’m going to hang out with when I get to my classes. Not to mention that for the first time, I’ll be in classes where not everyone shares my faith. I’ve heard all of the horror stories and have seen the movie God’s Not Dead, where the professor asks all of his students to write “God is dead”. I suppose if I end up with a situation like that, God will give me the courage to get through.

Not to mention that my goals will no longer be “high school goals”, they’ll be life goals. Now is a time when I’m really going to need to start working hard to achieve my dreams.

But, even as I face this, I know that everything will be OK.

I think this is one of those times when I (and every other graduating senior) have to “walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God said this to the Israelites exiled in Babylon in the Old Testament and I believe this can be said for each one of us today. God has written our stories before we were even born and has amazing plans for each of our lives, plans that are better than we can eve imagine right now.

So this is our hope fellow graduates of middle school, high school, and college.

This is our hope, fellow travelers in the road of life.

This is our hope, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

God has plans for us that we can’t see yet. All that we have to do, is continue to follow Him and have faith in the future. Faith in what we cannot see, but still choose to believe.

This will be the faith that leads us, this will be the faith that helps us get through, and this will be the faith that helps us thrive in our new chapters of life, whatever they may look like. Our individual stories may be as different as the DNA inside of us, but we serve the same Creator. We serve the same Creator who made the stars, and, the same Creator who holds our hearts.

Thus, as we enter into our next chapter, let’s live by faith, choose to love those God puts in our paths, and have hope in the amazing plans that our God has for us.

‘”You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16.❤️

Stewardship

Courtney2 Comments

“Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others. Be good servants of God’s various gifts of grace.” 1 Peter 4:10

Stewardship is a concept that has been around for years. It’s earliest origins trace all the way back to the Garden of Eden, when God placed humans as stewards over the land. Many churches have taught courses by Dave Ramsey and Larry Burkett and if you’ve been in church long enough, you’ve heard the “tithe talk”. But, is stewardship only limited to finances?

I used to see it that way. Admittedly, the past, when I’ve heard the word “stewardship” I’ve let out a bit of an internal exhale. As an extreme right-brain-creative-people-person, things that pertain money and numbers tend to make my brain feel like it’s going to spill out of my ears. I have a lot of respect for people who are interested in finances (after all, without them, we’d all be in trouble) but for me personally, financial terms tend to sound a lot like gibberish.

But, recently, God has helped me realize something: stewardship isn’t just a financial word. It relates to every single thing in our lives. Even if we’re young enough to not have much of an income, we can still be good stewards of our resources.

Our time? Stewardship.

Our relationships? Stewardship.

Our spiritual gifts? Stewardship. 

Our dreams? Stewardship.

Stewardship, in short, is basically offering everything we have back to God as a gift. Psalm 24:1 says “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” If your best friend asks you to look after her dog while she’s out of town, you’re going to take good care of that dog; you’ll feed him, take him outside, and make sure he doesn’t escape. This is what God wants us to do with everything that He’s entrusted us to.

Use our time well.

Invest in our relationships.

Share our talents for his glory.

Chase our dreams in a way that points back to God. 

God calls each of us, from the wealthiest to the poorest, to be a steward.

We are each called to steward different things, just as Jesus teaches through his Parable of The Talents, but we all have gifts that God wants us to steward. Stewardship, in short, is a call to obedience and wisdom. A call to wisely let our blessings overflow in a way that blesses others. A call to live, love, and give to the fullest.

How can we, in each of our unique places of life, steward our relationships, our dreams, our talents, and our time in a way that points back to the Creator of all of these things?

“So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship.” Romans 12:1. ❤️

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