Let the countdown begin...

I'm going to be photographing a wedding exactly two months from today. 

With no experience, questionable people skills, and a very basic (and finicky) point-and-shoot camera, I was pretty terrified by the idea when it was first proposed. Since the bride's younger sister is my best friend, I'd been vaguely involved with things concerning the wedding... But taking the official wedding pictures?

My worrying over things is nothing new, but the approach I took to them this time was: instead of waiting until my concerns started to overwhelm me and then going to God with them, I started by giving them up to Him before I even agreed to the job.

Three days later, I was given a short-term job staying overnight with one of the seniors my mom takes care of while the woman's husband is in the hospital. After just two nights of this, I already have over half of the money I need to buy this:

So here I am, the official photographer of Eric and Michelle's wedding. I will hopefully be able to purchase my long-wanted Canon by the end of the week. People have already agreed to let me practice taking portraits with them. I have two months to work on overcoming some of my social awkwardness.

And above all, I know that God is good.

In the Middle of My Little Mess

{The title is a reference to the song This is the Stuff by the lovely Francesca Battistelli.}

Have you ever had one of those times when you were struggling with something and, while reading a Bible passage that seemed completely unrelated to your situation, came across a verse that ended up being that thing you needed to hear?

I had one of those moments last night.

After my regular Bible reading was done, I was still feeling like I was missing something. So on a whim, I turned to one of the places I had bookmarked: Daniel chapter 3. If you don't know off the top of your head, that is where we read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace.

The chapter was bookmarked because this was the "Bible Event" (as our Commander prefers to call them) that I talked about when it was my turn to do a Bible lesson for the Awana kids. The theme for our lessons this year was miracles, so my lesson focused on how God protected the three men who had stood up for what they knew was right according to God's Word.

But as I read through those verses again, another point struck me.

In verse 27 it says that after Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had come out of the furnace and everyone was gathering around they "saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of the fire had passed on them." God protected them so fully that -after being in a fiery furnace that the king had ordered to be made seven times hotter than usual- they came out without even smelling of smoke. 


I felt a little bit like I'd been punched in the gut. If God can protect three men from smoke in the middle of a pit of fire, it's silly of me to act like He doesn't notice all of the little things in daily life that I get frustrated with so easily. God knows that I get bothered by things not being put back in their place. God knows that my nine-year-old sister and I are both willful - and usually take different stances on things. And God knows that I usually don't react the way His Word says I should.

When I throw a fit (because, really, "losing ones temper" is just the name we use for 'grown ups' having a tantrum) I'm going against everything God says about patience, humility, and love. And He knows it.

That fact is really helping me become more committed to changing my attitude about those things that "get under my skin" - because He knows exactly what He's doing.