January 2012
1 post
new.
courtneyrene.wordpress.com
It’s been a fun time having this secret blog, kids. I hope you’ll come on over to see the new place.
December 2011
5 posts
Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel
He stands at the busiest intersection in the middle of retail city. Everyone is in a mad dash for last minute Christmas gifts — they lock their doors and ignore his needy gaze. Turn up the radio, think about the wrapping left to do & the treats left to indulge in.
He’s got a Christmas hat, but instead of its usual jolly adornment on top of the head of some well-wisher at the mall,...
2 tags
Midnight.
Tossing and turning. I’ve found myself doing this over and over and over again in the last few months. Just three semesters left of college, and I’m not even sure I’ve chosen the right major?
What if i’m not good enough at writing?
What if I don’t even really want to live overseas?
I love art, why did I let it go?
What if I am miserable in some lame job for the...
Christmas break bucket list.
I always make a list of to-do’s, no matter how ridiculous they are, for every break or semester of school. Here’s this break’s:
-Less “social networking”, more family time.
-CRAFT. Sell some stuff, make some $$$.
-Read. I need to read my uncle’s book, and some classics I’ve been wanting to read.
-Write. I want to start a real blog again, so I’m...
November 2011
8 posts
2 tags
i needed to read these quotes.
my journals are so photogenic.
“God created us to live with a single passion to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives”
&
“…whatever you do, find the...
design.
i’m taking a publication design class. so fun. (in a class full of journalism & comm. majors, i’m the only one who probably thinks that)
this is one of our assignments. yippee.
seasons change.
i wrote a poem. spare me your judgements, i’m new at this. it’s a lot of thoughts from a lot of things i’ve been reading all in one.
what sense can you make of it?
a tree, in full bloom & clothed by spring —
yeilded to the dull, brown leaves of winter
and wallowing on the decaying earth
what do you make of yourself?
a redeemed soul, with a place in the heavenlies —
...
October 2011
4 posts
leave to thy God to order & provide.
read these beautiful words & let them sink in:
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide; In every change, He faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake To guide the future, as He has the...
the altar of self.
I’ve made an idol of myself.
it’s painfully apparent now that the Lord has revealed it to me — i’ve constructed an altar to worship who I am in this world rather than who I am IN CHRIST.
definition of altar from holman bible dictionary: “an altar is a structure used in worship as the place for presenting sacrifices to God or gods.
Old Testament The Hebrew word for altar...
September 2011
8 posts
PARIS POST.
I went to Paris several months ago.
That is so crazy.
Last week, the missionary we worked with was on campus for GO Week, so we met up as a team and talked about the trip: what we have changed, what we haven’t and what challenges we’ve faced.
It was such a refreshing time of reflection. Coming back from that trip was so overwhelming — I had been confronted with my ridiculous...
Savior, pilot me.
Jesus, Savior, pilot me Over life’s tempestuous sea; Unknown waves before me roll, Hiding rock and treacherous shoal. Chart and compass come from Thee; Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
Truly singing this to the Lord can be terrifying. His ways are so unlike mine. He’s always surprising me with His plans. I plan and plan and plan and then He reminds me that he calls His followers to leave all...
Things I like.
my soul will be satisfied.
This semester, though only three weeks in, has been an endless cycle: me forgetting where my soul’s satisfaction comes from, God reminding me where it does.
Things get busy, and I quickly forget how much I need daily time in the word to satisfy my soul and sustain me.
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and...
“What is a witness, if not someone who has a tale to tell and lives only with one...”
– elie wiesel
This I Believe.
An NPR series I was listening to today while homeworking.
“And yet in talking to people, in listening to them, I have come to realize that I don’t have a monopoly on the world’s problems. Others have their share, often far bigger than mine. This has helped me to see my own in truer perspective: and in learning how others have faced their problems—this has given me fresh...
August 2011
9 posts
Spilling pictures.
I’m finally settled in at school. It’s been hectic to say the least, but it’s going to be a wonderful semester.
Paris posts: Day One.
Another post about Paris, because Maria says so:
*this very parisian looking man caught me taking his picture, and giggled at me afterwards.
Journal entry:
Yesterday, I boarded a flight from Memphis to Amsterdam to begin my first trip out of the country. I barely slept at all during that 8-hour flight. Then, we flew from Amsterdam to Paris, and I fell asleep before the plane even took off....
8.6.11: Journeys.
Ezra 8-9 | Psalm 32 | Mark 10
“Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods”
*Ezra 8:21
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”
*Psalm 32:8
Looking back on this summer,...
8.4.11
Ezra 3-5 | Psalm 30 | Mark 8
Tomorrow is my last day as the intern. Final thoughts:
-Enjoy every day you have somewhere. Connect with the people you see, care about them, form relationships. Time flies, and you might only have the opportunity to get to know them once.
-God is like, the ultimate journalist. It’s been really amazing to interview people and realize that I’m writing a...
8.3.11
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and foreit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous...
8.2.11: Irresistible Praise.
Ezra 1-2 | Psalm 29 | Mark 7
In Mark 7, Jesus asks that no one tell that he healed a deaf man.
I don’t know why in this instance He didn’t want them to tell, but it’s obvious that when God moves, we can’t keep it in.
“But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all...
8.1.11
Mark 6
Psalm 26
2 Chronicles 35-36
“When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.”
*Mark 6:34
What a beautiful glimpse into the heart of Jesus — who sees sheep without a shepherd & teaches them out of his compassionate heart.
July 2011
8 posts
“I love words. I rarely think of them as efficient, but as precious. God made...”
– John Piper
The Amazing Race.
Saturday, Neisha & I covered “The Amazing Race: Extreme Faith Edition”
Trying to find our contact by the phone, reporters notebook in the other hand and camera around my neck. I feel like a true journalist…
Basically, it was a youth event modeled after The Amazing Race. One of the events was rapelling, and they let us give it a try…
Initially, I was terrified:
I...
Growing Pains & the Potter’s Hands.
Talking to my grandfather this week, he asked if I was enjoying the summer. I said I was, but it’s had a lot of “growing pains.”
Then I jokingly added that I think this whole year has been a growing pain.
But it’s kind of true. Spring semester, I hit the sophomore slump, and my grades fell and I was in a mini-depression. I was frustrated with myself, and with school — I didn’t know which way was...
“Clogged with wishes. I wish that my wishes were what God wished, and if my...”
– [Elizabeth Elliot]
Good words.
This hard place in which you perhaps find yourself is the very place in which God is giving you opportunity to look only to Him, to spend time in prayer, and to learn long-suffering, gentleness, meekness - in short, to learn the depths of the love that Christ Himself has poured out on all of us. Elisabeth Elliot
…everything this woman says is so good.
Be careful what you pray for.
So, it was a normal thursday morning.
I was reading Proverbs & eatin’ my oatmeal.
I wrote down this passage in my journal:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
So of course, I prayed...
June 2011
15 posts
Paris posts: Bon Voyage.
I haven’t shared much about Paris, or had a chance to. A friend told me I should just do some “brain vomit.” So, I’ll start with a little teaser and try to take you through the journey! It was one week, but not a day goes by that I don’t think of all the Lord taught me there. It’s going to take A LOT of posts to get it all covered :)
Here’s a pre-trip...
Our greatest fear
should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.
-Can’t remember who said this. But it’s good.
Sweet Saturday.
I love baking.
I love thinking about baking.
I love BOOKS about baking.
My bucket list has “make every recipe in a cookbook” and I am certain that I’ll start that endeavor soon with one of these cookbooks.
The recipes are simple, and all-american, but taken to a whole new level. There’s apple pie and chocolate cookies (oh, and those of you who know and love the...
What homesick is.
It’s that something-just-isn’t-quite right feeling.
It’s wishing you could have a big bear hug from your dad, who squeezes so hard you can barely breathe for a second.
It’s the thought of a warm stack of papa’s pecan pancakes.
It’s when your stomach growls for mamaw’s cookin’ and all you have to eat is Ramen.
It’s sitting on your air...
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