embrace your season

Usually when one goes to college or university, their stay is relatively brief. A few years in a campus environment before graduation, and then on to whatever lies next. Apparently I’m not like the usual ones. After high school, I, like most of my senior class, left my hometown to partake in some kind of further education. My parents’ minivan was packed for a four hour drive to a tiny university town one province over.

Five years later I had a Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies, one year of a two-year Bachelor of Education down, and had recently celebrated my first wedding anniversary. A few weeks into the second year of my BEd, I decided that teaching wasn’t what God had called me to; that for me, to quit was to win.

Since we were already settled in and my husband had a good job in town, we decided to stay until the end of the school year. There is a Christian fellowship group on campus which I’ve been blessed to be a part of since I was a freshman; over the years it has become a fairly comfortable community in which we are able to worship and draw near to God.A few other married couples in the group meant that we had peers who could relate to our married lives. We led bible studies and poured into younger ones, whether they were students or not.

Then we got pregnant …

Click here to read the rest of my post over on Diana's blog.

faces of an influential woman

I have been so blessed to take part in the influence network for a bit more than two months now. I signed up as soon as the new year had been rung in, and it's a good thing the subscription is recurring, because the months have flown by quickly + I would have been so upset to miss even a moment of the action. if you know me in real life, you won't be surprised to learn that I'm more of a reader, a listener, a  taker-inner on the influence forums. at first I wondered whether it was really worth paying for a membership if I was just going to read through the forums + only participate sparingly, but the words I've read, the few times I have decided to open my mouth and share [because we introverts really just save up the best words to speak out!], they're worth it to me. this online community, these women, they're worth it to me.

today, along with other members of the influence network, I'm sharing a few things about myself as well as something I've learned through the network. now I could ramble on about all this for days, but I'll try to be succinct because there are a lot of blogs to get to!

I'm Courtney.
this is my face:

I didn't have a photo that I loved. well, not of myself. I could have pulled out hundreds of my seven-month-old. but the more recent photos are of pregnant-courtney, or worse, post-partum-courtney. instead of grabbing a go-to, nearly-three-year-old wedding photo, I snapped a few silly ones on sunday afternoon.

• I currently live in rural Nova Scotia, in one of the most incredible examples of community I could ever imagine existing. and it's made up of university students. no joke. I'm blessed every day by eighteen-to-twenty-two year olds. it's phenomenal to see the Lord moving among His youth. 
• I've recently realized I have a bit of an eye for design. and because of the encouragement + strategy I've gleaned from the influence network, I'm actually honing my craft + doing something with it. I would never have done it on my own, because putting myself out there is something I just never did.
• I'm a huge introvert and always thought myself so insignificant, especially to the Kingdom. but lately, in getting to know so many other strong women of God [many of them introverts!], I'm realizing I do have influence. I do have a voice. I can -- and must -- use it well for His glory.

I've learned much already in 2013, in this space + through Jesus in these women. [I mean, two of the three facts above would have been a whole lot more boring minus the influence network's impact.] but I think my favourite thing to have recovered through the network is something I've known most of my life but need desperately, like breath, each day:

today, I'm writing as part of the influential women link-up hosted by the Influence Network. if you have no idea what the Influence Network is, you should probably go check that out first thing. // but here's the short version: