Choosing to Trust

This will sound strange, but bear with me. Last night, I was standing in hell while we were taking a group of people through Judgement House and a thought occurred to me.

Trusting God is a choice.

Trusting him with my life, with my circumstances, with my future.

Simple enough...but when this is really taken to heart, it could be revolutionary.

I needn't worry. I shouldn't waste my time thinking about what could happen, what should happen. I will choose to trust that everything will be okay. God knows me, and all He asks is that I trust him.

So I will.

As the old song goes:

The Lord has promised good to me.
His Word, my Hope secures.
He will my Shield and Portion be
As long as life endures.

-Amazing Grace

Fall is Here!

I love fall. Definitely my favorite season. I like summer for the swimming, fun at the lake, and Adam having no school. But fall brings the changing of the trees, the smell of campfire, Thanksgiving, and the thought of knowing Christmas is right around the corner. We also have a tradition of "Thankscamping" that I'm sure you will read about on here after the fact. :) Here's a shot down our street of the pretty fall leaves.



My poor dogs have been neglected lately. With work and Judgement House being crazy, they just don't get much time with their mom. Here we are today playing in the backyard. This warms my heart. :)

And I got this sweet action shot. To set the scene: Axl just stole the tennis ball I threw, from Diesel. Diesel is determined to get it back. Action!

Last night after church, Adam and I had a date night. It was really great. We stuffed ourselves at Chili's (has anyone ever had their Cajun Chicken Pasta? I discovered it for the first time last night, and YUM!), and then headed to the Old Town Warren to see Where the Wild Things Are. We arrived at the theater a little early, so we walked around the square and took this photo.

Nikia, one of our studio managers, has the cutest little boy. Here's Isaiah in charge at the front desk last week. He's a hard worker.

We inherited a piano from my Grandpa Melvin and Grandma Norma. We've had it for awhile now, I've just forgotten to blog about it. This is the piano my parents had when I was younger, that I learned to play on. It's fun brushing up on my playing...but I'm still not very good. :)
As I mentioned earlier, Judgement House is going on at our church. JH is a walk-through drama that depicts the life of two people who die and go to Judgement, and then Heaven or hell. It's a really powerful tool our church has used for many years to reach people for Jesus. In past years, I've been in the hell scene, or done registration or interviews, but this year, I'm a tour guide! Tour guides are the ones who explain the story and take you from room to room. You should definitely come check it out, and maybe I'll be your guide!

October 23 Devotional

Excerpt from Streams in the Desert:

"Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave. (1 Kings 8:56)

Someday we will understand that God has a reason behind every no He gives us through the course of our lives. Yet even in this life, He always makes it up to us. When God's people are worried and concerned that their prayers are not being answered, how often we have seen Him working to answer them in a far greater way! Occasionally we catch a glimpse of this, but the complete revelation of it will not be seen until later.

If God says yes to our prayer, dear heart,
And the sunlight is golden, the sky is blue,
While the smooth road beckons to me and you,
And songbirds are singing as on we go,
Pausing to pick the flowers at our feet,
Stopping to drink of the streams that we meet,
Happy, more happy, our journey will grow,
If God says yes to our prayer, dear heart.

If God says no to our prayer, dear heart,
And the clouds hang heavy and dull and gray;
If the rough rocks hinder and block the way,
While the sharp winds pierce us and sting with cold;
Yet, dear, there is home at the journey's end,
And these are the trials the Father does send
To draw us as sheep to His Heavenly fold,
If God says no to our prayer, dear heart."

Unanswered?

Unanswered yet the prayer your lips have pleaded
In agony of heart these many years?
Does faith begin to fail? Is hope departing?
And think you all in vain your falling tears?
Say not the Father has not heard your prayer;
You will have your desire sometime, somewhere.

Unanswered yet? No, do not say ungranted;
Perhaps your work is not yet wholly done.
The work began when first your prayer was uttered,
And God will finish what He has begun.
If you will keep the incense burning there,
His glory you will see sometime, somewhere.

Ophelia G. Browning

Goings On

Haven't been blogging a ton lately...haven't been taking a ton of pictures lately either. Other than for work, obviously. :) But there were a few on my camera, so here's a little update.

Audra is a high school art teacher. She teaches photography, among other things, so she asked me to come speak to her classes. The auditorium at their school is under construction, so she booked the Augusta Theater for us. Tuesday was the big day. There were about 50 students, and I gave a brief background of how I got started, showed some sample photos while discussing composition, and then took questions. They were a really great group! Lindsey came along to support me, and wouldn't you know, between two photographers, we didn't bring a camera. I had my point-and-shoot, so she took this with that...sitting on the steps up to the theater stage. Not great, but it's all we got. :)

It's been super cold lately! Avery came to work one day bundled like this and I got really jealous.

We had a wedding last night, but I have today off! So Adam and I have been cleaning all day. I took photos of the two rooms Adam cleaned so you can see how our house is supposed to look. :) Hopefully it doesn't smell like dogs anymore. ;) That's for you, Dad.



Speaking of dogs, we have a houseguest this weekend. Meet Mars. His dad is Adam's friend and he was going out of town, so Adam agreed to dog-sit. Mars is crazy. More hyperactive than Axl. He's really clingy to Adam, and my dogs are really clingy to me, so they've been staying away from each other for the most part. Axl keeps giving Mars the death stare when he gets too close. Haha.

Remembering

Today, October 15, has been set aside as a special day. A day to remember babies that were lost, whether that was before they were born or after.

The forums I've been reading with other ladies who've experienced what I've gone through have been talking about this day all week. Many of them plan on lighting a candle "virtually" around 7pm this evening to remember the babies they've lost. I may not participate (mostly because I have a session tonight that will interfere), but I've been doing a lot of remembering today.

My little 10 and a half week baby. Technically, she would've been older than that, almost 12 weeks. At my first sonogram, when I was supposed to be 9 weeks along, my little one was measuring small so they pushed me back to 7 weeks. Such a short little life, such an impact on mine.

I've been thinking a lot today about that little life. How my belly would've been huge and round by now. How I would've been anxiously awaiting her arrival in about two months. I have to stop myself. That wasn't God's plan. His plan was to have her with Him. She was just too perfect for life on Earth...He wanted her in Heaven with Him.

I miss that baby so much...I think about her all the time. But I'm learning to have more trust. I'm trying to be good at being a faithful servant even in this storm. I'm trying not to be the type who only praises Jesus when things are going good.

To quote the verse I quoted on here when I announced my pregnancy, because it's still truth:

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

-Jeremiah 29:11

Gina's Big Adventure

Finally, the video from my acrobatic plane ride on Labor Day!


Gina's Big Adventure from Adam Dreher on Vimeo.