Passion and Purpose: Courtney Westlake

A few months ago, I started a little series on my blog called With Passion and Purpose. When reading the book Your Beautiful Purpose by Susie Larsen, I realized that there will be times in my life where I may not be filled with passion and may just find my purpose in encouraging others with their passions. I have met so many people over the past few years that inspire me and have such great things going on and I can’t wait to tell you about them all! And that’s where this series was born.

Today’s post is about my friend Courtney Westlake. I first met Courtney in 2009 and then I helped her a little bit with her son Connor’s birthday party.

A few years later, Courtney and her husband had their daughter, Brenna, who was born with a very rare skin disorder. Courtney is now a children’s book author and is the writer for the very popular blog, Blessed By Brenna, where she shares her story as Brenna’s mom. Courtney also has a book called The Spaghetti Shots: how to take better photos of your kids during everyday life.

I’d love for you to go over there and follow along with their story.

From Courtney…

When they first told me about my daughter’s diagnosis, I couldn’t even say the long, complicated phrase, let alone understand it. Harlequin Ichthyosis. Two words that altered our family forever.

But we have found in the two year’s since our daughter Brenna was born with this rare and severe skin disease is that although her skin will greatly impact who she is, it will not define or limit her, or our family.

Our family has learned that there is no normal, and there is no perfect; rather, the most beautiful pieces of life can be found in the unique and the different. God created each of us with our own passions, interests, attributes and physical appearances, and if we look around us, it really is quite easy to see how beautiful everyone is because of their differences.

About a year ago, I was struck with the desire for my children to know how much God loves them, and how they were each created in such a unique and beautiful way that should always be celebrated.

The idea for a children’s book came to me one morning, and I spent the next 9 months working toward publication. The book, That’s How You Know, is a powerful story about the celebration of God’s love for us, and it reminds us that God’s love is everywhere. It is a message that I want my children to always know, and a message I believe every child needs and wants to hear!

You only have to look around at all of the unique beauty in this world to realize the incredible strength of God’s love. And though we are constantly facing many challenges regarding Brenna’s lifelong condition, I believe God created her just as she is, just as he created my son, Connor, as he is… and we will celebrate the beauty in those differences!

Courtney was very generous to give away a copy of her book That’s How You Know to one reader. This book is so very sweet and is such a great story of unconditional love and is perfect for helping kids understand that God’s plan is perfect.

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