Wedding portraits from 2013

Three Came Together

"Three Came Together"

Over the past couple months sense I have been home I have been learning a lot about prayer. On Wednesday nights there is a prayer service at my church and its just a time where our church can come together and pray over the lost. We pray specifically over the names we might know or our pastor has a list of names he has received for the surrounding neighborhoods. There is so much power in prayer, especially from a person who is walking blamelessly. My heart over these past few weeks has not only been to become a woman of prayer, but most importantly a woman who is humbled and walking a blameless life, fully surrendered to Jesus. He is at work on my heart, more and more I see the places within myself that need to be purged and cleansed. Praise God, it's only by His grace that I want to be cleansed. 

 I have been reading a book called,  "How to bring men to Christ" by R.A. Torrey. It's so good! Torrey emphasizes that if men are to be brought to Christ, we must pray frequently. He puts it this way,

"The one who desires to have real success in bringing men to Christ must pray frequently. Solid work in soul-winning must be accompanied by prayer at every step. We must first ask God to lead us to the right person to approach. God does not intend that we speak to everyone we meet. If we try to do this, we will waste much valuable time speaking to those whom we cannot help, time we might have used speaking to those for whom we could have done much good. God alone knows the one to whom he intends us to speak. We must ask Him to point him or her out to us and expect Him to do it." (Acts. 8:29) 

May we pray without ceasing and pray together as a body. "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."(Matthew 18:20) Be expectant! God will use you if you want him to. 

Spring is here!

It's spring time!!!!!! Today I went with my friend, Lora to visit the farm where she works. I was so excited to be able to go and take pictures and just soak up the sun that we have rarely had. 

While she was feeding all the animals (alpacas, donkeys, sheep and goats) I was walking around taking pictures of each of them. It makes me smile just thinking about how the Lord must of had fun creating each of them. I just get a BIG kick out of the first picture of the alpaca's teeth. She/he was definitely smiling for the camera! 

Life is Good

"Life is good" here in Florida :). Enjoying the beautiful weather the Lord has provided today!

Scooped Up and Carried Away by Him

 The Clouds were absolutely beautiful!

"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." 1 Thessalonians 2:8

Paul's letter to Thessalonica makes me smile. Oh how I would love to be Paul's friend in those days. A man, I imagine was a spit of the Spirit's fire. He longed for those next to him and miles away to know of Jesus Christ. What a passion I can almost feel as I read of his stories and travels in the New Testament. This passage struck me as I reading through 1 Thessalonians. Sometimes I really just like to go back through and reread the scriptures I have underlined in the past. This one caught my eyes after finishing up the book of Colossians. In this passage Paul is talking to the Thessalonians about how he came to love and serve them in Christ. He encourages them in this letter to go out and continue in his ministry that he left with them. I know for me as I read his heart on these Bible pages that I pray for my friends and myself that we would not just live life but live it with a purpose for the Will of God. This morning I was reading in, "When Godly People Do Ungodly Things" and Beth Moore encouraged me as a Christian to pray constantly (1 Thess. 5:17) in order to have a seduced proof life from Satan. Not only to pray for myself, but to pray for fellow believers in scripture. My heart became just overjoyed! I LOVE when fellow believers pray with faith and the idea of inserting my friends and families names into scripture would be bullet proof!

My prayer scripture for right now is found in Ephesians 5:6-8. It says (emphasize mine), "Elli obey them not only to win  their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward you for whatever good you do, whether being a slave or free."

I'm excited to see all of the scripture my friends send me to pray over them Oh what a great thing God will continue to do in their lives and in mine as well. I can't thank him enough for a wall of protection of believers who love Him!

Sifted Like Wheat.

   "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon that your faith may not fail. And When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
   But he replied, "Lord I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." Jesus answered, " I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me." Luke 22:31-34

    In the book, "When Godly People Do Ungodly Things", by Beth Moore, she discusses how even the righteous will fall. It simply amazes me to know that Satan has to ask God permission to tempt us. It just makes me step back and remember just how much power God has. Satan doesn't have any reign on believers lives. He must make a request first to bring an attack upon us. Beth Moore used example of men in the Bible who were attacked by Satan and not just any men, but passionate, devoted followers of Christ. She mentioned Peter, Paul and Job and how Satan each requested permission to attack them.
    Simon Peter was following after Jesus Christ and was a steadfast disciple. In the midst of an attack from Satan we must clothe ourselves with the Armor of God each day in order to prepare for anything he might throw at us. It is very important to stand clothed in the Word of God. I so desire to memorize as much scripture as I can. It's so uplifting as well :). Look up Ephesians 6:10-18.
    An encouraging thing about Christ (there are many!) is that he calls the broken and sinful and the ones who desire to follow after Him. A scripture I read tonight really uplifted my spirits and know with all my heart it was Lord speaking. "I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners." Mark 2:17. I am merely a sinner being shaped by God's grace each day! Oh praise Him! :)
     "I believe God allows Satan a certain amount of leash where believers are concerned, but I am convinced that if he wants more than his daily, allowance he has to get permission. None of us is less important to Christ than Peter, John or the apostle Paul. He would NEVER take lightly one of Satan's attacks on his followers. For Satan to launch a full-scale attack of seduction on a wholehearted, sincere and purely devoted follower of Christ, you bet I believe he has to get permission." -Beth Moore
  

Receiving blessings.

My life is a blessing each day that I wake up. Our God is so full of compassion! I don't understand how he stands me at times. I fall each and every day. At times Satan would use the idea of "perfection" against me. I constantly desire to be like the Lord and grow in Him each day but then when I would consciously fall, I would tend to beat myself up over it, instead of fully just giving it to the Lord and trusting that he forgives me each time. In James 3:11 it says, " We all stumble in many ways." Constantly I stumble and constantly I fall but each time the Lord reminds me, in your weakness, my beloved, I will make you strong.

Don't we serve such a great God? Recently I have been reading out of a devotional my pastor's wife from school gave me. It's called, "Lord I Want To Know You", by Kay Arthur. I would recommend it to anyone who's looking for an encouraging devotional! Kay Arthur discusses the different names of the Lord and there meaning behind each of them. Today she talked about El Shaddai,  the All-Sufficient One and how he never fails to provide for our every needs! I have been looking back over the past semester and the prayers I have presented to the Lord. It AMAZES me each and every time how he answers those prayers. "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8 This verse is one of the many that is proof to my life how God, El Shaddai has been moving. After spring break I began praying that the Lord would provide a job for me and a week before I was coming home for summer my dad emailed me, telling me about a man who was looking for someone to help him take pictures at his office. One of the many answers and then I had begun praying for a place to serve or a mission trip I could go on. One of my friends text me asking me if I would be interested in being a counselor at my church camp. I prayed about it, discussed it with my parents and filled out the application and then received a phone call saying they would love for me to be a counselor!

Don't ever stop praying to our God, our Father in heaven and our best friend! He's waiting with anticipation to hear from his children and never ever stop praising him! Blessings and answers are all around us when we simply start asking and knocking on his door!

But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart, consider what great things he has done for you. 1 Samuel 12:24

Mark 11:24

Is it possible for the Lord to break a language barrier and bless you with women who are from a completely different country and a different culture? By all means, YES! I can't explain how much these girls have truly changed my outlook on life. I met Anna, Effie and Diane at Carson-Newman. They are international students from Korea and are absolutely wonderful! They were able to come to Florida for a week and spend half of their time here at my home. I pray that my family and I were able to encourage and love them as much as they did us. My prayer while they were here was that the language barrier wouldn't get in the way for an even deeper friendship. God answered my prayers yesterday when we all went to the beach. Oh how faithful he is! Lately my daily verse that has spoken loudly in my life is Mark 11:24. It says, "Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." As we were headed to the beach I asked each of the girls if they had dated anyone and they asked me the same. I was able to tell them that I had, but that I was waiting on the Lord for the right one. They smiled and told me that was good. Then we talked about their culture and other things. I just loved it because we were able to talk about more than simple things like grades and the weather. 

This morning I had to take them to the airport. It didn't really hit me until about 10 minutes from dropping them off that I may never see them again. I tried to not think about that, but couldn't help it. Each of us cried and said our goodbyes. As I got back in the car, I praised God for bringing such a wonderful women into my life and prayed for their flight. I'm so thankful to have met so many international students. I feel as though they have made more of an impact on my heart rather then me on theirs. But I pray the Lord will use me in the future lives that come from other countries!

If you EVER have the opportunity to have people from other countries come stay with you, do it! What a great way to serve like Christ and have them teach you about their culture and experiences. 

Top Left to Right: Anna, Me
Bottom Left to Right: Diane, Effie

Diane at the beach for the first time in Florida! :) 

Her face is always so  bright and joyful! You can't help but smile. 

Anna, laying out, well sort of. In Asian countries the girls don't like to lay out and get tan.
They like to keep their skin white. Anna was sweet to lay out with me for a little while though.

Right before I took them to Universal! 

His Creation Captured.

This is, "Trouble", the puppy at the Homeless Store :)

"I won't turn back"

I was driving on my way back to school and I noticed the lighting behind and tree and had to stop. :)

I think it's funny that the S is so far spaced out from alway...

I definitely took this while I was still driving.  I thought it was a gorgeous church!

Homeless Ministry Thrift Store

Homeless Ministry Thiftstore
Donate your clothes and shoes here! Located on the back road going toward Wal-mart.
Instead of turning right to go toward Wal-mart you stay straight until you
get to the dead end to 11E.

I'm in photojournalism this semester and our first project had to be on either sports or current news. If you know me, I'm not to big into sports so I tried my best at finding the most current news. As I was driving to Dunkin Donuts to study for Spanish yesterday I passed by this Homeless Ministry Thrift Store. I had noticed it before but never really thought anything of it until now. It kind of hit me, "Elli, you should go interview them about their business." I hesitated and decided to wait. So today when I got done with my classes I came back to my room to take a nap, but as soon as I laid down I was prompted to go take pictures there. I hesitated again but of course I wasn't going to back down again because I felt God telling me to go. I got in my car with my camera and arrived at the Thrift Store. The owner was very kind! He told me that they opened it in December and people donate anything from clothes to furniture, to toys. Also, he told me that they give the clothes for free away to the homeless children, adults, and veterans. I got really excited about all that they were doing! I have been looking for a homeless ministry to volunteer at and when he told me they fed the homeless as well I knew that's why the Lord had prompted me to come here. :) Isn't God so cool? I think so!