Meet Courtney

I belong to the God Who spoke the world into existence, Who knit me together in my mama's womb, Who loved me before I was even conceived.  And in Him, I am held together and have my being.

I come from a past full of brokenness and countless regrets--but because of God's mercy, I have a present full of healing and a future full of hope.

I call myself an artist, and when I say that, what I mean really is that I love to create.  I am not an expert at anything but I find joy in dabbling with things such as photography, painting, collage, and crochet.  In all of these, it is color that calls to me most, and art is the way I play with it, shape it, use it to tell a story.

Sometimes, though, it is words that tell the story best.

I was born a poet, but the poems themselves didn't come to life until the year I turned 10, the year secrets fell into the open and innocence escaped us all, the year death showed up and changed the way I lived.  My poems have been growing up ever since, changing their shape and form, somehow changing me, too, and growing this girl into a woman.

I was also born a writer, but it took far longer for me to know it.  In fact, I didn't come into my own until I started writing here, in this small corner of the world I named "Growing Is Beautiful."  And though I believed it from the beginning, that beauty is always found in the growing, I didn't expect this place to be such a source of my growth.  Word by word I am finding my voice, learning to speak Truth, and letting the life I live be the life you see here.  Now the poetry and the prose mingle together, each informing the other, both of them pieces of who I am becoming.

I am a survivor of chronic illness.

I am a former prisoner of Shame who has been set free by the miracle of Grace.

I am a passionate pursuer of God, growth, and relationships. 

I am a giver of gifts.

I am a celebrator of the seasons--both in the garden and in our lives.

I am a lover of tea, of cats, of sunshine, of all blooming things.

I am not yet a wife or a mama, but my God whispers, "Someday you will be,"  and my heart holds to His promise with great hope and sweet joy.

Really, it all comes down to this:  I'm just a girl full of faults who is striving to be full of Him.  Just a girl on a mission to be a woman of God.

And now here's a little video I recorded just to say hi....


The Courtney Chronicles: Meet Courtney from Growing Is Beautiful on Vimeo.