The Source.

Wow. I’m sorry I’ve neglected this blog for so long. Looking at the date of when I last posted I understand as I started teaching photography internships then throughout the summer pretty non stop. Finally getting time to reflect over the year and see what God has done has given me inspiration to write again! Hopefully there will be more posts in the next couple weeks as well!

Well, this past 6 months or so has been like no other in my life. I had close to 20 interns that came and lived with me for 10 days to learn everything about how to start their company, it was amazing time as I hosted 6 internships throughout the summer. Late nights, early mornings, long deep talks, ect. I definitely get pumped up from all of that..but it is constant pouring out all of who you are...which can be draining sometimes.

After the internships came to a close I started hanging out with a new group of friends! Growing up homeschooled and then starting my business very young I never really had a group of people that I would just hang out with...that was more what I would do with my family.

I got SO excited about this whole new experience that I literally wanted to hang out ALL the time. And we did! Ha! After awhile though and the “honeymoon” phase started dying down. I came to realize that I was completely drained in every area: physically-cause we were staying up SO late all the time; emotionally-cause I wasn’t around anyone that I had known for a long time; spiritually-cause I was putting all the fun times first before God and not making Him a priority at all; and even business wise I kinda checked out cause I was so worn out from the summer.

Finally, I was starting to feel the pressure of all this...and went to God. Duh! Can’t believe we do that once the heat turns out...rather than when everything is fine! It’s completely backwards!
He really ministered to me about first to inspect the walls(boundaries) in my life to see if I had let any get torn down or corrupted. To not open any door to the enemy in my life. Not even a crack. Also, he showed me that if I really want to see His signs and wonders and miracles in my life and others...I can keep hoping and hoping...but if a cord is hoping for power but is laying on the ground not plugged in, no matter how much it hopes for it it won’t get power until it’s PLUGGED IN! Whoa! What a concept! ha! He was showing me that I simply need to stay SO connected to Him and His spirit. To not ignore it. That yeah I can have these fun times and all but to never put him on the back burner through it all otherwise these, fruitful times won’t ever happen. They’ll stay purposeless useless...but fun times.

I was trying to draw strength from myself to be able to impact people. But that can only last so long until you burn out. Staying connected to that outlet(God) constantly...you can keep pouring out and overflowing all the time...and HE gives you the strength to do it! And keeps those walls intact too!! Sooo today....inspect those walls in your life, don’t open the door to the enemy. And STAY PLUGGED IN to THE Source! I love you all!!

Shoes.

Something that has been coming up in a lot of conversations lately and came up again yesterday at church... is faithfulness. Being a good steward.
I think it's something that gets looked over A LOT of the time as we are so focused on just getting things done. I was talking to one of my best friends, Sarah Chellappa, the other day and she is studying world religion. She was sharing with me that in Hinduism they believe that everything they have is from god. So they treat it so well, they don't throw their stuff around but believing that it is from god or is a god they treat it with the utmost care.
I started to think, why don't we do that?? I take soooo much of what God has given me for granted and not been a very faithful steward with my: finances, time, friends, my stuff, etc...
I heard a story years ago from a highly succesful guy names Peter Daniels. Basically when he was little he wasn't given much hope for his future whatsoever, told by his teachers that he would never amount to anything he started believing. Then in his late 20s when he was illeterate he decided that is NOT the way he wanted to live anymore... he taught himself to read and started making just little changes in his life, being faithful with the very little he was given. It was as basic as putting his shoes back in the closet exactly where they belonged. On his way to work about 45 min into the drive he realized that he hadn't put his shoes in the closet and litterally turned around and went back to do it. THAT is how disciplined he had to be with himself being faithful in the small but that discipline and trustworthiness poured over into so many other parts of his life that now he's either a multi millonaire or billionaire in Australia...just from taking those small steps in the beginning.
Whether it is putting your shoes back in your closet, making your bed in the morning, doing what you say you are going to do, or not buying that outfit that you don't realllly need.
I've always wondered why the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer... it's all about the stewardship, how you value what you've been given? Treating it like treasure rather than squandering it! It's best illustrated here...
"Then another servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth....."His master replied, 'I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! ....Why then didn't you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?'
"Then he said to those standing by, 'Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.'
"'Sir,' they said, 'he already has ten!'
"He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away." Luke 19:20-26

Time to put those shoes back in the closet!!

"I'm fat, I'm fat, I'm really really fat..."

I used to sing these words when I was about 5 to an old Weird Al song. I don't know why but I LOVED this song! I didn't really understand it but thought it was cool! lol! Pretty sad huh??
Anyways, I've always struggled with believing I was overweight..and guess what?? alot of the time I was!

Now if you don't need to lose weight this post is still for you! It's so important to have a healthy eating style(diet). I am from a very healthy food eating family so I never would eat a ton of junk food but the thing that I JUST realized over the past couple weeks was even though I was eating healthier foods I would eat ALOT of it!! We had some friends over and I saw how much they ate and then looked at my plate and was like “I look like a pig!!”

My mom told me a couple months ago about some guy who was whining that he was overweight and finally God told him that he was just eating WAY too much! When I heard that story at first I got defensive and said “Mom, I don’t want to be anorexic! I eat just the right amount!” After a couple weeks of thinking about it then having those friends come over and seeing the portion sizes…I decided to just try cutting everything in half that I put in my mouth and not eating the other half! It was hard but I did it for a week and ended up losing about 3 pounds just that week! I thought! This must be it! This must be why I need to lose weight…I’m just STUFFING myself like a turkey!

You see us as Americans think that at each meal we aren’t going to eat for like the next 12 days so we eat and eat and eat until we are full or even stuffed! When guess what! We have the next meal in only a couple hours!! We aren’t going to starve! I think we all or most of us at least have caused our stomachs to grow because of our portions so that first week was hard because I was shrinking my stomach back to its real size which is only the size of your fist!! After that it became continually easier and easier until I started getting “full” on the half portions!! It was AMAZING!

So look at your portions this week…are you stuffing yourself? Do you feel bad leaving things on the plate? Guess what?? DON’T it’s going to end up in the same place anyways whether you eat it or it goes in the trash! LOL! It’s true!! So just eat until you have taken off that hunger burn and a little bit more than drink lots of water! It’s amazing what happens when you become disciplined in your eating habits!! I have sooo much more to say about this but this post is already pretty much a book! Haha! I love you all!! I’m going to be writing on here a bunch more because I have all the topics that I want to write about written down so I know what to write next! Fun times!!! Happy eating! :)

What's discipline?? Do I even have it?

Hey beautiful girls!!
I'm am terribly sorry I have neglected this place for so long but the reason why is what I will be dealing with in this post, discipline..or the lack of it! haha!
The past couple weeks I have been noticing my office, bedroom, and life just getting messier and more cluttered!
Ugh!! Not cool! Especially when I have alot on my plate and to have disorganization everywhere, makes it hard to think or even process things!
What is the purpose for discipline anyways?? Why would I want it? Ok well say your going running, you get on your shoes, you know where your going, but this time you just decide not to tie your shoes! What will happen the minute you get out there! YOU trip!! Discipline not only helps propel us forward, but helps us get there quicker and in one piece!! haha!!

The best thing to do in many areas, to change a habit or cause a good change, is start small. I examined my life to see what was out of order and the first thing that came to mind was that I would just wake up whenever, get on my computer in my pajamas and work like that most of the day. Duh, why everything is out of order! lol!
I was praying awhile ago how I can adjust this and the first tip was a good but easy one that God gave me! Basically set office hours and don't go up there until then and when I do be fully dressed as if my office was out of the house! That DEFINITELY helped, so I put that in place.

Now for the next step!!! uh oh! lol! I prayed last night that God would wake me up when HE wanted me to wake up to have my devotional time. Well...guess what time that was??? 5:30!! But the awesome part was since he woke me up I was able to get up right away with no trouble even though I went to bed last night at midnight! I'm excited about this next step toward discipline in my life!

Do you think the president sits around in his pajamas all day and wakes up at any time??? NOPE!! He has set MANY disciplines in his life and it's taken him where he is today! I know discipline is a pretty harsh word and doesn't sound very fun! But really it takes ALOT of discipline to put the things in place but once they are there and become habits it's much easier and it can take you to the next level!! BUT guess what!! It's terribly hard to do or stay consistent on on our own! I've had MANY failed attempts at that! It helps SOOO far more when the Holy Spirit is guiding you in what to set in place and how to keep it there!

What small bit of discipline can you start to put into your life??? Find out what that is then ask God to help you with it and keep it there!! I love you all and am so excited for this journey!!