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Thankful Thursday ~ Opportunities

“I give thanks to you, O Lord my God,
with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.”
~ Psalm 86:12 (ESV – emphasis mine)

This month we are meeting over at my friend Lynn’s place “Spiritually Unequal Marriage”; in the month of February we are meeting a my place “Grace Alone…”.

I know I should have written out my thankful post last week, but it has been incredible tough to find time in the evenings. By the time I finally settle down my brain is complete mush; when I am tired I notice twice that English is my second language 😉 . Tonight I still have a little brain-waves left (and hopefully my English will hold up too)…

This week I want to write about the upcoming opportunities. I really need to figure out how to turn my photography into a business. I don’t know how much longer I can deal with accounting (30 years is really enough 😆 )…

Well, the first step came via an invitation by Kristen Schiffman from Exemplify. Although this is not a paying job, I thank God for the opportunity to share my photography with a bigger audience than my blogging friends. Kristen asked me to supply some of my photos for the online magazine on a regular basis – Yeah God!!!

Tomorrow (Thursday) I will meet up with a couple of friends from my former employer. I am very excited to donate my talents to Gethsemane Lutheran School (go Gators!!!!) for their annual school fundraiser. I always loved supporting this private Christian school and I pray that my donation will get a little money for their operation 🙂 . I am most excited though to have lunch with some sweet ladies I can call friends. It will be fun chatting up a storm with Ann and Betty (love you ladies)…

I am so thankful that God has given me these two opportunities. I will not know where they will lead, but I trust Him, because He already knows.

I read a great quote this evening by Max Lucado (one day I will share why I like this author so much):

Hallowed be your name. We enter the chapel and beseech, “Be hallowed, Lord.” Do whatever it takes to be holy in my life. Take your rightful place on the throne. Exalt yourself. Magnify yourself. Glorify yourself. You be Lord, and I’ll be quiet. (taken from “The Great House of God” – emphasis mine)

What are you thankful for this week? Head on over to Lynn’s blog to share with others.

Thank you for stopping by tonight/today. Remember: you never know when God opens a door for you – take heart, step through it and trust Him for the outcome.

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Moving Forward?!?

“Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.”
~ Psalm 37:4-5 (ESV)

Patience is not one of my strong sides. Little by little the Lord is teaching me to wait on Him, to turn everything over to Him.

Over the last year I have been praying about what to do and how to share my passion of photography. I do not want to be famous, but at some point I would like to leave corporate America behind; make my living through photography. Am I too old to start a new thing? No, because if God is part of the equation, all things are possible (look what God did through Moses at the age of 80).

No, I am not there yet, but the Lord opened a door for me to step through. Kristen Schiffman, editor/founder of Exemplify Online Magazine invited me to become part of the magazine as their photographer. I am giddy about this opportunity. I believe that this was orchestrated by God through my dear friend Debbie from Heart Choices.

Yesterday I shared a photo that I took a week ago, on Facebook. A friend commented on the photo with this: “Good photographers see the same things we all see. They have the gift to present those visions in ways we never imagine. . .and therein lies the art. Iris, you have the gift. I have a camera, but I do not have the gift. You are blessed.” (thank you Hilton – your comment made me tear up)…

Lord of Heaven and Earth. I want to thank You for the opportunity You have given me to be part of Exemplify. Thank You for the gift You have given me. Lord, may I always use it to Your glory and never forget that the gift comes from You. May I always commit may way to You, even if it means to be patient. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thank you for stopping by today. Don’t forget to stop by on Monday for part 2 of “Living Fearlessly in 2010.

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Bookmark Winners

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.”
~ Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)

Well, it has been a little rocky start of the new year at work, but I trust that it will get better over the next couple of weeks…

At any rate, here are the two winners of the set of bookmarks…Heather and Mary Lou 🙂

Congratulations, Ladies. I will email you to get your snail-mail address 🙂

Saturday I will be back to announce the winner of the books by Max Lucado. You still have time to get your name into the drawing (stop by this post)– I will close comments tomorrow night, January 8th.

Thanks for stopping in…Remember — don’t lean on your own understanding, trust the Lord…

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I was tempted…

As I was working on my personal blog to update some links, I noticed that my portrait was 2 years old. I asked my husband to take a photo, so my ‘face’ would be more current on my blog and forums.

Being a semi-portrait-photographer (I am saying this since I take portraits only during my spare time), I have all the tools to alter photos. I was really tempted to edit out all my wrinkles and make myself look pretty (at least as good as possible – lol)…

As I was sitting there looking at my face with all the wrinkles I thought ‘why edit the wrinkles out?’ This is who I am; I will be 50 this fall. There are two other reasons why I didn’t edit out the ‘bad stuff’. One – I want to be real here on my blog and everywhere else. I don’t want to mask myself as someone I am not. I want to be transparent to all my readers…no masking needed.

Second – Peter is reminding all women to not adorn themselves with gold or beautiful clothing. Sure, editing photos is not gold or clothing, but I would still alter my outward appearance. I rather be known with a gentle spirit than being beautiful…

“Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” ~ 1 Peter 3:3-4 (ESV)

Now you are wondering about the photo? Well, here it is (I just boosted the colors – oh yeah – and I got my hair chopped off – lol)…

Portrait credit: Mark R. Nelson; Photo Color Action: My Four Hens

You will soon see my updated photo on all the forums/blogs (maybe some in B&W). I am also contemplating on updating the face of my blog to go with the updated me. I really want to show off some of my photography and the current blog template is a little limited…We will see…

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: Stay real – don’t mask yourself. God loves you, wrinkles and flaws included.

PS: thanks sweetheart for taking the photo and for loving me the past 28 years 🙂