PREPARATION & PERSEVERANCE

When the young couple asked me to photograph their wedding a few months ago I was very uncertain of myself. I have never photographed a wedding and I was terrified of the huge responsibility that was going to be upon me. I had no confidence in myself or my abilities – but this young couple clearly did. There was even a time when I thought I would tell them I couldn’t do it, but I just couldn’t do that to them. And then God said to me that He knows something that I don’t. He said I should trust Him and preserver. So I began a process of preparation. I sat and made lists of all the “must take” pictures and I asked God to help me with the creative ideas of what to take too. I had many ideas and I was beginning to feel more and more confident that I could actually do this. As the day approached I spent more time in prayer about it and felt sure and confident that I would be able to do it. I was no longer nervous or afraid and I was ready. I was equipped with the right tools, and I asked God for energy and creativity and vision. I went to the salon the day of the wedding where the bride was having her hair done and from there to the end of the day it was smooth sailing. I took hundreds of photos and didn’t have time to really do all the shots I wanted to do but I went home feeling exhausted and with a deep sense of satisfaction and happiness.And this spoke to me of how we need to prepare to be part of Gods army. We need to know what He wants us to do and ask Him to strengthen us and spend time studying His word and praying. We must make sure we are equipped for battle and that we don’t run onto the battle field without our sword or without our armor. If we spend time preparing for battle we will be ready and we will be confident and we will know that we will able to do whatever he calls us to do. We will not doubt our strength or abilities. And we will be able to just trust Him.

It also spoke to me of persevering. I could have let my fear get the better of me and I could have decided I was not going to do it. I could have believed the lies I was hearing about myself from the enemy and been convinced that I had no experience in such a thing and therefore I would never be able to do it. I could have given up even before I began. I could have surrendered and never experienced the wonderful feeling of joy and satisfaction that I was feeling. If we allow ourselves to be intimidated we will miss out on the wonderful blessing and rewards God has for us, remember God will not call us do something that is easy. He will call on us t do something we don’t think we can do because then we will have to rely on Him to see us through and we will see His power at work in us and we will give Him all the glory for what He has done. I am so glad that I didn’t give up because I have never done something that I loved and that was so rewarding as that wedding. And that is what the enemy is trying to steal from us. He never wants us to grow in Christ and experience the sense of victory and fulfillment we have when we put our trust in Jesus and complete the task He has called us to, no matter how hard or impossible or huge it may seem to us. Even if it may seem like a small victory to us, it is HUGE in the eyes of heaven and of the enemy. He never wants us to experience them, and he will use every lie and trick in the book to ensure we don’t.

So, preparation is important because it builds us up in faith and in strength, and when we prepare we will be able to persevere, and we will experience the awesome victory and joy that there is in Christ alone.

Prepare and Persevere, God wants to use each one of us. Listen for His voice – and let Him lead you through to victory! You can do anything in Christ who strengthens you.

Anything!!!

Thank you Father for opening this door for me and for leading me. Thank you Lord Jesus for Your encouragement and for never letting me quit. Use me Lord, use me in any way. Thank you for revealing a talent to me that I never realised I had and for allowing me to use it to Your glory. Thank you for the relationships and friendships I have developed through using the gift You gave to me. I praise You Lord for the wonderful lessons I am learning as I grow in You. Let me be always prepared and ready to be used by You whenever You call on me.

I love you Lord!

Amen

WHO COULD HAVE IMAGINED?

You all will never ever guess what I did on Saturday the 1st of September. Go on, guess… You can’t, well I wouldn’t have been able to either. And I never pictured myself doing something like this either.
Ok, I’ll tell you what I did and put you all out of your misery and suspense. I photographed a wedding. Yes, ME, ‘lil old me. I was the wedding photographer!! And let me tell you – I LOVED it!!! I have never done anything that has been so fulfilling and amazing as that. I was exhausted when I got home – physically, but I felt so deeply satisfied and happy.

About three weeks ago I suddenly realised that I was going to be photographing this wedding and I started to panic – seriously. I didn’t know where to begin or what to do. And I almost chickened out too. But I felt God telling me that this was something He wanted me to do. And that maybe this was something he knew about me that I would never have imagined. Go really works in wonderful ways. So I began to plan and make lists of what pictures would need to be taken, and where and who and and and….

Anyway, I was up early on Saturday morning and met the bride at the salon where she was having her hair done and took some lovely shots there. From there we went to the house where she was getting dressed and I photographed the bridesmaids etc there to. Then off to the church and all the major photos of the ceremony – the vows, the rings, kiss the signing of the register and all that important stuff. And then all the family shots thereafter and all the important things at the reception – the speeches, cutting the cake, first dance and all that. And of course pictures with all the people there.

I cannot wait to share some photos with you all here – as soon as I am able to download them I will do so. And I will definitely do it again – there is no doubt about in my mind about that. As exhausting as it was – it was so fulfilling and special.
I never saw myself photographing a wedding – but clearly God saw it happening, and I am so happy that He did.

WHERE IS YOUR HOLY SPIRIT DOVE?

Yesterday I sat under the awesome teaching of the one and only Mr RT Kendall. What he spoke about has made me change such a small yet vital part of me. I am going to share with you what he taught us last night – so please, these are not my words, I am simply passing on a message to get you all thinking too – but I will put it in my own words as I don’t have much time.

He spoke about The Sensitivity of The Holy Spirit and he read this portion in Matthew where Jesus gets baptised: As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and remained with him. We all know that verse quite well, but have you ever noticed the word REMAINED before?? I never really did either.

You see a dove is a shy, easily scared, easily grieved little bird. It is nothing like a pigeon who is belligerent. A dove is afraid of people, a pigeon is not. A dove will fly away if there is a sudden noise, a pigeon wont easily. You can train a pigeon, but not a dove.

Now the Dove symbolizes the Holy Spirit and RT said that the Holy Spirit is also as sensitive as the dove. He is easily wounded and easily grieved. When we feel the presence of the Holy Spirit with us we feel like that is the place where want to stay forever, but it doesn’t last long does it? Why? Because the moment we are curt with our husbands or wives – the dove flies away. The moment we get irritated with the driver on the road ahead of us the dove flies away. The moment we gossip the dove flies away. Jesus never grieved the Holy Spirit, because He only did what God told Him to do. Nothing else, only that.

How do we keep the dove from staying away? Repent. We want the dove to stay with us.

As humans our flesh is week and we will grieve the Holy Spirit many times a day – but instant repentance and seeking forgiveness for the grievance – however small – that has caused Him to leave. If we repent quickly of these things then we will stay in the presence of the Holy Spirit more and more each day.

Now grieving the Holy Spirit does not mean you lose your salvation, but you do lose your anointing and without that anointing we can not be used powerfully by God to advance His kingdom.

If you know that you have done something, anything, to grieve or wound the Holy Spirit – repent. Ask God for His wonderful forgiveness and ask the Holy Spirit to remain with you again. And don’t wait too long to repent after you have done something, because the longer you leave it, the longer you put off receiving your anointing again, and the less God will be able to use you.