Just stand.

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."

When I have stood and I have done all I know what to do, and have no clue what to do anymore I stand.

Get out of the boat

When I read the account of Peter walking on water towards our savior, I can't help but wonder what was going through his mind. Look at it with me...

²⁵ "Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” ²⁸ And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

I would like to think this would be my first, natural response as well, but did Peter really believe that if the Lord told him to come, it would be possible? Or were those words, just the quick reaction of Peter?

²⁹ So He said, “Come.”

I can just imagine Peter saying.. "wait... did He just tell me to come out to Him? to actually walk on this water? Really? Any amount of mass sinks when put on water... I'm human, I'm most likely going to sink...hmmm.. am I really going to do this? He sure looks far away..."

And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,^b]">[b] he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” ³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

When Jesus told Peter to "come", Peter was faced with a choice. Do I trust the what I know to be true about masses and water, or do I trust the Lord? Do I trust that the Lord knows what is going to happen?

I'm sure Peter was thinking.. If I step out of this boat, I am going to sink.-
but I think a huge part of this story is that Peter stepped out. He got out of the boat. HE TRUSTED. Then, after the initial step of trust, he lost sight of the Lord and that is when he started to sink.

I feel like I am standing in the boat right now, and the Lord is calling me to step onto the water and walk to Him. I'm scared... I think I am going to sink. I have a choice to make- Trust what I know (what i think i know), or trust the Lord?

The walk is going to be..
painful...
not easy...
potentially long...
emotional...

But, I know that the purity and wholeness the Lord wants me to walk in is so worth it. He is in the process of redefining my character so that I will look more like HIM.

weekend

This past weekend was so much fun! I know it is practically a new weekend, but I just needed to blog about this before I head out to CA! Last Saturday started out with a fun frisbee game! IHS won, which is great!

After that, Mitch came down to the hill to help me repaint my office at KIDMO! When I arrived, it was this nasty green...

when we got done, it turned into this beautiful brown!

After that, I met Kim and we went out to Huffs! We got our sandwiches and sat on the back porch. I of course, tried to hit the stop sign with rocks (unsuccessfully i must sadly admit). Then, we picked up Rachel and went out and had our impromptu photo shoot. What a great day!

Then, Sunday was the Academy Awards!! I watch 2 award shows a year, the Academy Awards and the Tony's! Congrats to Sandra Bullock who was named best actress in a leading role this year, and Katherine Bigelow whom made history this year in winning Best Director. She is the first woman in Academy Award history to win this!

Things that bring you rest

We all have those things that the Lord has given us to bring us joy, peace and rest. For me, one of those things is photography. I have been doing photography for 12 years now.. starting out with a point and shoot camera, but learning what it means to compose a shot. All through high school and college I have used photography as an outlet for "stress relief". I have been pursuing photography as a form of income lately, but the past few months, I realized that I haven't been doing photography just for fun. It is something that the Lord has provided for me to get rest through, yet I have not been doing it. SO, the other night, I was talking with Kim and we decided to go out and do a shoot for fun! We called Rach up and out we went. No agenda, just my friends, me and my camera! Here are a few of the shots from our day!!