Giving God 29

[so much bouncing around in my brain today- you may have to hang on for the ride.]

So today I'm playing catch up. It's amazing how very behind a body gets when you transplate to your home state for a week. Funny too, because I thought I was so organized and ready for my trip, but really, I'm a mess. :) We all knew that, though.

God is good. So good. Let me start there. I've been praying for about the past two weeks about the decision to 'give God 29'. This idea occured to me one day during my bible study. I've been specifically asking God for a particular thing in my life for the past twelve years, and was pondering why it hadn't happened yet. I realized that maybe I just wasn't pursuing God the way I did when I was younger. It gets a little more complicated when you throw kids and churches and life into the business. Believe it or not, high school and then college are a lot more straight forward than this being a grown-up nonsense! Anyhoo, I decided that this is the year that I'm really going to live out loud for God. I'm going to be expressive and intimate in my faith, and let my passion for Christ shine through everything I put my hand to. I'm really excited about it in case you can't tell!

So put feet to this. What does it look like? I'm so glad you asked because I've been really thinking hard about how to move my life from 'working' for God to 'living' for God and I think I've come up with a few ideas. Or rather, the Holy Spirit has revealed them to me, letting me in on God's big plan for my little life.

First off, I'm committing to putting God first every day. I've started a more rigorous bible study then before. Starting with rewriting a Psalm (wow, that's been blessing me!) from my NKIV, doing my P.A.R.T. (journaling - Praise Admit Request Thanks, then I read out of the Message for a a chapter or two, writing down my reflections as I read, and then I wrap up with a christian life book for a chapter. I'm about halfway through Wild Things Happen When I Pray right now. I'm not trying to brag here, I just know that there a lot of people that want to get closer to God, but maybe they are like me and just not sure how to do it. I work really well off of a schedule, a list to check off and this is working for me. I'm posting this here, so that I can witness to you, my reader but maybe even more importantly, you can hold me accountable in this new found excitement.

Secondly, I'm trying to weed out where I'm spending my time. I'm learning to tell a few people 'no' once in a while and trying not to feel too terribly guilty about it. Sorry if you are one of those people, I'm just learning that I can't do everything for everyone and I have to put my God and my family first, and let the other stuff fall into place. I spent a good chunk of our Iowa trip reading the Essential Enneagram and one of the 'statements' within my personality type was something like "I seem to be sick more often than others, but I suppose that's because I often run myself down helping the people around me." Ouch. That is so true. I have had NINE sinus infections since we moved to Texas less than a year ago. I think I need to tell a few people no once in a while. Otherwise I'm going to be unhealthy, physically and spiritually/mentally. So now I'm trying to ask myself why I'm doing whatever it is that I'm doing, if it falls under my purposes and if maybe it could be delegated to someone else.

Thirdly, Anna Thoreson Photography has taken off. Now, I just want to take a moment and give God the glory for every shoot I've done. It is His creativity in me that allows me to see what I do and capture the beauty that He has created. I have made a pact to give back to God out of every photo I take. Currently I'm tithing, but as soon as I pay off my equipment I'll raise that percentage to 20% and upwards from there. My eventual goal would be to live off of 10% and give God the rest. I know this sounds a little ridiculous, but I read the blog of a photographer in southern Cal that charges $1200 just for a shoot!! God is good, He's big, and He's able. I want to honor him with my business in every way I can.

Which leads me to my next point. You'll notice some changes coming to Anna Thoreson Photography in the next few days. I'm working on a vision statement and a decency clause. This is because I want my work to honor God in every sense. I would never want a photo I take to cause someone to stumble or lust. I think God delights in my work every bit as much as I do and my clients do. I'd like to think Jesus could sit with me and look over my shoulder at my Mac as I post-process and I wouldn't be embarrassed. Now I know that this may cost me some business, me being open about my faith, but I firmly believe in my heart that God will honor it because I'm choosing to honor Him. Another fun little change is that I've started praying before I go out to each shoot, asking for God's blessing and even His anointing as I work.

So you can see, I'm pretty psyched about 29. I'm only 3 days in, but I'm already super blessed! I'd so love to receive any feedback. Thanks to all of you, my faithful readers. I'm convinced that you have made Anna Thoreson Photography on the forefront of people's minds.