Stories

I love stories. I am not a story teller, however, but a story seeker. I want to know your story, what is in the deepest corners of your heart, who you really are at your most authentic. I am not good at chit chat! Can't we just skip that and get to the real stuff?

I have a story. One that was pretty easy, without much heartache, until there was heartache. Gut wrenching, on-my-face sobbing, soul searching, life altering heartache. I thought I was a pretty good person (ha!)--like God was pretty lucky to have me on his team--and I loved being on his team. Until I didn't. Until I didn't like what he was giving me. Until I didn't like the story that he was writing with my life!

He is using what has been so painful in my life to expose my heart, the dark places in me that I never knew were in me. I can see so clearly my own brokenness, and the sin that I am capable of. It was then, and still is, shocking to me. He continues to allow the struggle to keep me where I am safest, and most at peace. He is good for it, and I can now say that I see God's grace in the suffering. Would I choose it? No. Am I thankful? Yes.

So, this is why I love stories. This is why I want to know who you are and what God has used in your life to make you who you are. We have a common ground. We are painfully broken, hurting people, who need to be rescued by a great Savior. He doesn't need us on his team. We desperately need him.

My love of stories feeds my love for photography. It is a visual story, a marker of where we are at a certain place in time, a way to celebrate where God has brought us and all that he has accomplished. I look for connection, for joy, for authenticity, and those are the images that make my heart soar. So, I am going to start chronicling some of my shoots, the ones that have stories that just need to be shared. I am excited. I mean, really excited!

Check out a few images from these recent shoots. I cannot wait to share their stories with you.