Design: Chrystle & Don's Save the Date

I know I don't do this much, actually I don't think I've ever "talked business" on this blog. Well things are about to change! Adam and I are working on a super cool, top secret website that should be up soon. We changing the way we do weddings! I am thrilled about the change and will post the link as soon as it's ready.

Today however, I want to share a Save the Date design that Adam and I made for a very lovely couple.  This isn't the final edition as a couple of the photos were changed. Adam had picked the photos and started laying

them out, but as far as the background and lettering, he handed it off to me to finish.

Without further ado...Here it is:

The back is basically the same except Adam replaced the 4 photos with 1 photo.  This is one of my favorite things to do with the exception of taking photos. I was not able to go to this engagement shoot, but they all had a blast and we're excited to do their wedding in September.

Check back soon as I plan to continue putting up sneak peeks and some of my favorite images from

our shoots! 

Through the Lens of Worship - Remembrance

Rhonda's post on Through the Lens of Worship this week ends with a question:

"What image do you have that serves as a reminder of God's touch in your life?"

The following image is from a Through the Lens of Worship outting when we went to Wonder Valley. We had to stop to capture the beauty of the biggest lupine bushes/plants (does lupine grow in bush form???) I have ever seen.

Lupine will always remind me of Yosemite. My father was a photographer and after his death, my mom, brother, aunt, uncle and I scattered his ashes near Bridal Veil Falls. About 7 years later,my husband, a friend and I went to Yosemite. For me it was the first time since we'd been there for my dad. I decided to write my dad a letter and while we were in Yosemite, I would find the secret place where his ashes lie and leave him this letter.I wrote a long letter and told him everything that I never got to say as we were not close when he passed. I was hurt and needed to forgive, but he wasn't here to forgive.  I spent some time with the Lord in that secret place in Yosemite, my husband and friend stayed back as I wanted to be alone. I said some things that I'd hoped the Lord would pass onto my dad. I then proceeded to rip up the letter and to toss it out

over the place chosen for his memorial. It was a hugely healing moment. I still struggle with the wounds and unforgiveness... it's a lifelong process. But when I see lupine, my spirit sighs and feels at peace. It was a great time of bonding with my dear friend and husband and I am so grateful they were with me that day. My brother has not been back to Yosemite in over 10 years and we may have a chance this year. 

God is a God of second, third, fourth chances and beyond! He reminds me that in the end, what matters is that we love Him and seek Him with all of our hearts and to do the best we can and He is faithful to complete what He started in us. 

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in your will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" Philippians 1:6

My father struggled with being faithful to God, but in the end, he made the choice to follow after Him. If we are honest, we can all admit that there are times when it is very hard to do the things that we ought to, just as Paul talks about.

In conclusion, I am reminded that even...

"If we are faithless,

He remains faithful;

He cannot deny Himself."

2 Timothy 2:13

Merciful

From Drop Box

For the rest of my entry visit:

Through the Lens of Worship

Through the Lens of Worship - Momentary

Through the Lens of Worship - Momentary

 

From Drop Box

 

If you have read my past entries, you would know that this hasn’t been the easiest year. I know I have been vague, and I have done so to protect myself and others from comparing trials.  Yes, this year hasn't been easy, but it is a year full of promise. 

 

In my last entry I shared again the verse that is my promise for this year. I needed to remember it that day. And divinely, this entry is basically the sequel, and we all love sequels right?? So, I needed to be reminded of the promise that new things are coming and the old has passed away. This year new things have come, mostly in the form of trials, it seems. In the Bible, the Holy Spirit inspired James to write that we should count them all joy. OUCH! But WHY?! That’s the last thing I want to do, I want them to GO AWAY! But I also realize that I am not of this world and there are difficulties in this life for those who choose to follow after Jesus our Lord and Savior. I made that decision and the principalities of darkness and the ruler of this world are not thrilled.

 

Over and over this last weekend God reminded me of His Everlasting Faithfulness to me and all mankind. I need to know this personally. I find that I get sad or angry and generally feel pretty bad about some of the trials I am in-- very far from counting them as joyous occasions. But I know that the God, that counts me worthy of the gift that is eternal life through the sacrifice of His perfect Son and the freedom to walk in victory, is a loving and tender Father. He does not enjoy seeing me struggle and least of all in that which I cannot control. I know that He desires my very best as promised in Jeremiah 29:11.

 

One of my most beloved scriptures has become 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. As I was putting the verses on the photo above, I read verse 16, and it was exactly what I need. And so it goes:

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4: 16

Then Paul goes on in chapter 5 of 2 Corinthians to talk about the assurance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Savior. Without that resurrection, what would be the point of this life??? Second Corinthians 5 says this:

“For we know that if your earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven… For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.”

This life hurts, disappoints, leaves one wanting, abandons, and seems plain empty and void of any purpose without Jesus. The intent of God when creating man was to have fellowship with Him. That relationship was severed when Adam and Eve committed the first act of disobedience to God. God was not content to leave it that way. His answer is in Jesus. Jesus binds us to God. We have access to the Father, through Jesus, by the Holy Spirit. It is a painful but beautiful reminder that God extended Himself and gave of Himself to be in relationship with us. I am not hated, beaten or being tormented for my beliefs. I have it really easy here in Small Town, U.S.A. in the grand scheme of things. I should count it joy when I get to share in Christ’s sufferings because I will probably never really have an inkling of what He went through as long as I live.

God is faithful. When we seek Him with our whole heart, He is found by us. He does not want to be unknown and just out there being God. He desires to have a relationship and to comfort and strengthen and show Himself as the Almighty. I take heart knowing that these pains and trials are momentary.