The Reason...

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The Reason...

In my heart lies a dangerous mixture of pride and self doubt. They are potent enough by themselves, but together they create a deadly concoction. My pride holds on to mere shards of accomplishment, along with anything that makes me feel important. My self doubt keeps me in fear of losing them and tells me that who I really am isn't good enough. At the Making Things Happen Intensive a few weeks ago, I was able to put aside distractions and really deal with some issues in my heart. It was a beautiful time where God revealed a lot of my fears and helped me let them go. I have seen so much change in my life since then. It's been so wonderful. Part of making things happen is to strip away the things that aren't important in order to focus on what matters. As I've started to do that even more of my doubts and fears have been replaced with truth. However, I've realized that my self doubt isn't my only issue. There is also a problem of pride. (Gulp.)

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Second Anniversary | Part 1

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Well folks, it's back to reality for me today! My husband surprised me with a wonderful trip to Atlanta for our anniversary last weekend. He had been telling me that we weren't going to be able to go anywhere this year. Sneaky, sneaky! On Friday night he wanted me to go ahead and open my present, even though our anniversary wasn't until Tuesday. I wanted to wait, but he kept insisting so I finally gave in. Inside the package was the most beautiful pair of pink pearl earrings. (I don't know if I'll ever take them off! I love them!) With the box was a note saying to pack them in a bag because we were going to Atlanta!  I love surprises, traveling, adventures...and pearls too! :) It was one of the best presents I've ever received. It means so much when someone takes the time to plan something like that! I'm a lucky girl.

Anyway, we had such a fun adventure in ATL! If you ever go, definitely get a city pass! It allows you to have access to 5 different attractions in the city. We weren't able to go to them all, but it still saved us quite a bit! On our first full day we decided to check out the aquarium and the Coke museum. It was kinda funny when we realized that almost everyone there had kids with them...except us. I suppose we're kids at heart.

The glass tunnel in the aquarium was so neat! I loved seeing all the sharks and different kinds of fish swim all around us.

At the coke museum we got to try all the beverages they make for different places around the world. Some were really fruity and sweet and others were down right bitter and nasty. I definitely know what not to get now! Hehe.

Both places are definitely worth a visit! Have any of you guys ever been?

The Revelation

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The Revelation

First of all, let me preface this post by saying that I've been holding off on writing this for a while. This is kind of a hard post for me to write because it's so personal. Anyway, here it goes...

Looking back I don't know why I thought this road was going to be smooth and the way easily defined. It has certainly been nothing of the sort. I expected a challenge, but I did not expect the inner struggle. Back in September I knew the Lord was giving me this photography business. As clear as day I heard Him say, "Use it for Me. This isn't yours. I give it to You now and I can take it away." With excitement I bought a camera and started out on this new journey. I quite literally had nothing else. For the first month or two I felt so elated. This was one of my dreams and now it was finally coming to fruition. After a while this question started to plague me, growing stronger with each passing day: How do I use this for Him? The details and necessities for running a business became abundant and I wondered if this is what He wanted. With no clear answer I continued moving forward.

Thankfully, the new year brought with it fresh vision. I was at a conference called Passion when the revelation hit me. I was sitting in my seat listening to the stories of those who are enslaved in our world today. I heard lots of statistics, but the stories...they pierced my heart. This particular story was about a young girl from Europe who was set up on a blind date by her friends. Innocent enough, right? Minutes into the date, the guy drugged her drink. He pretended that she suddenly wasn't feeling well and took her outside. No one suspected. He threw her into the back of his car, bribed the man at the country's border and was gone. No one even knew where to look or what had happened to her. It hit me that this could happen to anyone. It became personal. That girl could have been my sister. She could have been my friend. Suddenly she was no longer a number in a statistic. I heard her voice, I saw her face and I felt her pain.

Then, I knew.

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