Thursday, August 27, 2009

Adding another story to my file of the faithfulness and goodness of God.


I would like to tell a story. - One of old, yet greatly needing to be revealed.
I have several journals at home residing in my bed-side table, all of which conclusively hold the promises of the Lord. Along side these great promises reside my prayers, victories, fears and failures. Originally, I had thought these journals would be recording the last year and only the last year. However, the real challenge has yet to come. Those prayer journals I thought would be documenting one of the most difficult times of trusting the Lord and clinging to him, proved to be just the beginning in what will be one of the greatest challenges/ adventures in my life.
For those who don't know me well, I would like to confess some short comings. I am not Brave, and Im not always self sufficient. I have never done well alone. I am really good at not always taking the Lord at His word, and I'm exceptional at not always being obedient to the voice of the Lord. When God says," How long will you kick against the godes?,I remain the one in the corner, kicking. Basically, change and I are not buddies. I seem to be the one in the Bible who Jesus refers to as," oh ye of little faith". I'm the one who doesn't doubt the capability of the Lord in a situation but doubts His willingness to heal, forgive, restore... or whatever the situation calls for.
Why am I telling you this? The Point is, Jesus is in the Business of refinement and restoration and I seem to be project number one or at least thats the way it sometimes feels. All of my short comings are in the process of being worked out of my life- Not so my faith can be revealed but that it may be refined. I have given the enemy way too much ground and am finally ready to take it back.
When this year came to an end I struggled much like David did when Saul wanted him dead. David knew God had an anointing on his life to be king and that this anointing was given to him by promise. Yet, David told his best friend Jonathan, I am one step from death. At this moment, he probably thought, "how is it that I have this amazing promise from the Lord, yet I'm being pursued to the point of death?"
That's were I was- walking that fine line of resting on God's promises, yet doubting His voice because my circumstance didn't match the promise. I was confused, yet God gave me the strangest peace. Although the Lord had given me this peace, my lack of faith, unbelief, and doubt still needed to be met head on. And with one simple request, I found my weakness met by His strength. " Lord, help me to love You more!" For it is in loving Him more that I trust Him more.
All this being said, I have been called out. About a year ago or maybe a little less, God laid it on my heart to move. Week after week I suppressed the stirring within me. I never brought it up anytime prayer was available. I knew if i received prayer, I would know God's will and would have to be obedient. Moving was simply not apart of God's plan for my life.
From the beginning I told the Lord, " if You want me down there, I need a place to live, someone to live with and a job to pay the bills... and friends. friends would be nice." In short, the Lord has come through in providing these things and is still coming though. Looking back, I see the hand of the Lord weaved through out the past couple of years preparing my heart for where He is calling me to be. OCEANSIDE.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

August

I have decided... At the beginning of each month i will post what the month will hold... 
This months big events are a week in Carpenteria, half a week in Santa Rosa and quite a few days of North County San Diego thrown in... Follow me as my days progress(hopefully with a lot of photos). 

pictured above: me(representing jr. high summer camp), Dave and Caiden (representing my time in Santa Rosa),My Family at Carp.(representing time spent in Carp), Sun Set( representing North County San Diego), El( Because i Love him sooo much), and Artist District Photo ( representing a new phase of trying to document more and more or life)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

a lovely day with Max. . .

Today proved to be a lovely day... a Hot, Hot, Hot, lovely day. After getting back from oceanside at 1:00 am, I awoke to remembering I have a Day date with my friend max. The day started with breakfast at corner bakery at south coast village, then onward to Laguna beach. We were both bumbed at the fact that neither of us brought quarters, yet somehow we ended up with 45 minutes worth. As we were parking i was telling him how it would be so cool if they would just accept credit cards. Much to our surprise, they do! Once down the steps, we were met by the beautifully clear ocean. 


 

After the beach and being soooo sooo sooo thirsty, we grabbed lunch at Chronic Tacos in Corona Del Mar. Yum! Today was one of those days that proved once again that I really do need to carry my camera with me everywhere I go. There are WAY too many interesting people to photograph. 

After lunch was over we drove down to Balboa Island to walk around for a bit ( which actually turned out to be 30 min... ha haha! ( there was way too much we wanted to do). From Balboa we were gonna drive down to the wedge but decided we probably wouldn't have enough time so we "settled" for Sprinkles instead!



Saturday, August 1, 2009

Yes. I do love him!

One of my biggest Pet Peeves is when wedding photographers or any kind of photographer for that matter, take there clients to the same site every time or more frequently than not. Now, I understand once you find that money spot it's hard to not go back... so you use it every once in a while... no harm in that... But when you go to a photographer's blog or website and they have taken every couple they have ever shot to the same place... come on! I't Just Plain Irritating...  here is a name that will break up the routine: David Escalante. 

The day he got married!!!



Today I had the privilege of watching my dear friend, Jeff exchange vows with his bride. The wedding started at 10:00 am so sleeping in probably wasn't the best thing to do. I arrived at the church fresh out of the shower- wet hair and all... at exactly 10:00 am. Praise God weddings don't usually start on time! ... on top of arriving with wet hair, I forgot my camera, having to use my phone. sorry the pictures are so awful!