Shine On

I have really been struggling with finding a job and my photography. The struggle really started a few months ago during our Project 1:8 message series at church. I felt God pulling me towards missions but to what extent I had (and have) no idea! I just know that it had something to do with photography. Well since then, I have been asking God to provide me with a job that is provided by Him and where I can glorify His name. I have had 3 interviews at some great places and 2 out of the 3 (so far) were no’s. I was starting to get depressed and feel like something is wrong with me! The third place (I have interviewed with corporate, 1 doctor, and then 3 staff members at another office) hasn’t made a decision yet. By the time I hear something back from them; it will have been a month. Ugh!  In the meantime, I am still offering up finding a job to God and doing my best to accept the waiting. Also, during this time, God has kept me busy with photography and I realized that if I had any of those jobs, I wouldn’t have been able to say ‘yes’ to some of the opportunities that have been put in my path. I stated a while back to Peter that if I could have 1 or 2 larger jobs (weddings, golf tournaments, school pictures, etc…) that bring in a certain amount of money than I would be great (insert 2 thumbs up here)! You see I have 2 big events on my calendar but they are not until June and September. Well… God came thru! A friend of mine has a son that attends a small Christian school and they needed school photos taken. I jumped at the opportunity (not knowing what the heck I was going to do) and once I saw the income potential, I was even more excited. Don’t get me wrong, I DON’T do photography for the money… I do it purely to capture special moments and joy in people’s lives. The money is a bonus! Anyway, after getting just about all of the order forms back… the total is just $25 shy of what my ‘great’ would be! Now is God amazing or what? *** UPDATE - since I first started to write this post (a month ago) I am still without a 'regular' job. I am still looking and our goal is to find a job this month (June) ***

This past Thursday (May 3rd) some of the ladies (Wendy, Peggy, Brenda, Rhonda, Stephanie, Melissa, Sarah, Samantha, Beth, Mauri, Amy, Christa, Astasia, and Hilary) from church went to the Flavour conference at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX. I didn't have a lot of expectations going in but was very excited to hang out with some great ladies! The conference was Thursday evening, Friday morning, and ended Friday night. Here is a much condensed snap shot of what happened throughout the conference.

Thursday evening, we arrive at Fellowship Church and wait to get into the auditorium to sit down. Once the doors open, we stake out our seats and wait for the show to begin. The lights go out and 'This Little Light of Mine' begins to resonate from the speakers. BTW... the conference was called, 'Shine the Light'. Once worship started, I felt like I was at a concert! It was great! There were 2 speakers, Lisa Young and Janay Wilborn. Both women were fabulous. More worship and then to our hotel to hang out and play some games. We played 'Never Have I Ever' and Catch Phrase, laughed, danced (well, Beth showed us her new moves), and laughed some more! I didn't get much sleep and woke up with a stomach ache but I was so looking forward to what the day had to offer.


Friday morning, we headed back to the church for the morning session. All I have to say is God spoke profoundly to me through worship and the ladies who spoke! I go back to my big struggle that I mentioned in the beginning of this post... During a break we had, I asked Sarah if she would help me decipher what I have been feeling. Sarah is such an amazing, godly woman and she helped me realize that God has had His hand in all of this! She prayed and then we heard more ladies speak.

Friday afternoon we had several hours of free time. A bunch of us went to Chipotle for lunch and then headed to downtown Grapevine to wander around. We went from shop to shop browsing around and tiring ourselves out! The conference started again and we worshipped some more and listened to some of the ladies again.

All in all, the conference was AMAZING! I am so glad that I went and was able to make new friends and strengthen some old! Thank you Wendy for being my co-pilot there and back! You are such a sweet friend!

FAST FORWARD to today, June 7th... see my newest post a little later today!