Hey everyone! So recently God has put it on my heart to the share with you all my journey with the Lord. If you all follow me on Instagram, you might have an idea of what I am talking about. I decided that once in awhile (as the Lord puts it on my heart) I will be making articles entitled "Life With Court" that will just update you all on what God has been teaching me. (lifewithcourt just casually happens to be my Instagram name also, so it just sorta works) My hope with this is that at least one of you reads my article and a seed is planted in your heart or maybe you can relate to something I said. My goal is to encourage you in your faith as I grow in mine. That means I am going to be real with y'all. You are going to know my struggles and my weakness because I think it is SO important to acknowledge that we are all broken sinners who NEED the Lord. So now that the little intro is over, we can get into the good stuff.

Before I really begin let me make one thing clear, you can really never know someone's relationship with the Lord because it is so personal. But I want to give you guys a little look into the background of my faith. I really never knew who Christ was until I was going into the sixth grade. Before that, I just knew that there was this baby that had a birthday on Christmas. That was basically all I knew until I went to Camp Deer Run and Brookwoods. Camp is where I had someone tell me that there was this God in Heaven who loved me and sent his son to die for me. I remember laying down in my bunk in the Caribou cabin and praying to the Lord asking him to come into my life. Ever since that moment my life was changed. After that going through middle school and high school was hard. I definitely got picked on for my faith. I remember once time in high school a girl called me the "Virgin Mary." I knew that sticking to my faith would be hard, but I also knew it would be worth while one day. Through these years I was extremely involved with a youth group and made such amazing friends through that, but was struggling to find a church I could call home since a lot of the churches near me are basically just a bunch of people over the age of 50.

The two summers before college I did the Leadership Development Program at Deer Run and Brookwoods. These two summers challenged me physically, mentally and spiritually.Through the program, I learned so much about who God was, the importance of fellowship and just how to completely rely on the Lord without any distractions. I came out of LDP so much stronger than I ever thought I could be.

Going into college, I was so excited. I knew this was a chance to reinvent myself in a place where I would no longer get picked on because of my faith. I was hyped to go to a Christian University where I knew I would grow spiritually. The first couple weeks were everything I imagined! The first Sunday I went to a church, fell absolutely in love with it, and never stopped going. The church even had a faith group on campus that easily became my favorite part of each week.The first semester, of course, had its ups and downs with some boy drama here and there, and of course the stress of all the school work, but overall it was pretty great. Then second semester rolled around and hit me by surprise. I have never been so far from the Lord. I was consumed by the outside world and tried to tiptoe around the rules. I totally left God out of every decision. I did a lot of things that I regret. I lost all self-worth and was giving into temptation left and right. I basically decided that I was too broken for the Lord to fix me, so why not go a little crazy cause it's college right? Wrong. I was left heartbroken, feeling used and empty.

I went into the summer thinking that I never wanted to go back to my college. Then God did something pretty amazing. He completely wrecked my plans for the summer and had me got to Alaska of all places to work at a camp called Li-Wa! God completely wrecked me so he could build me back up from the bottom. We all go through spiritual trials and this summer was such a blessing. I learned so much this summer and God worked so much through me and in me. I don't think I have been at such a strong point in my faith in a very long time. I want to continue to have the joy and drive to persistently be reading the Word and attending service so that my relationship does not become lukewarm. So I pray as the semester begins that I constantly remind myself and others that we are children of the Lord and he loved us oh so much. I want to continue to share with you guys my journey because I pray this maybe hits one of you or plants at least a seed in your heart. If you're reading this please know that you are loved beyond belief by our Lord, and he is waiting for you with open arms. You are never too broken for him. He takes you as you are and loves you the same. I pray you are all overwhelmed by joy in the last final weeks of summer. That you don't take moments with your family or friends for granted because we are never truly promised tomorrow, and this world is just so temporary because one day we will rejoice in the kingdom of the Lord!

Now that's just a lil' taste of Life With Court.

xoxo-Court