An appointment with God in Seattle - the end

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Sunday morning was a little more rushed than Satuday morning for me, because I slept in a little longer.
What can I say? I was tired.

I still left the hotel in time to get to Starbucks and back before the teaching would start.What I wouldn't have the time for was some alone time, sitting and reading my Bible and journaling like I did on Saturday morning (because when we got to the workshop room no one else was there yet.) My roommate opted to stay at the hotel and get some breakfast, so I changed my strategy for getting with God before the workshop as I headed to my rental car. It took 2 clicks on the radio search to find some worship music and because I was alone, I got to pray out loud as I drove. When I got to Starbucks it was closed, but there was another one not far away that was open. Boy was that place hoppin'. The cool thing is, most everyone there had their Bible with them and the conversations I overheard were about God. That completely blessed me!

I got back to the hotel just as everyone was getting settled in for the day's learning.
And the first item on the agenda, was a writing assignment - really it was 10 minutes set aside for journaling.
The only guideline was that it was to be about something that had changed in us since we showed up on Friday evening for the meet and greet.

This is one of the things (among many things) that I LOVE about MeRa Koh.
She gets - and encourages - the fact that what we have to offer others flows from who we are.
Writing is just one tool in that process - one that works great for her that she wanted to share with us.

Here is what I LOVE about God in that moment.
The thing I was most disappointed about in my "sleeping in" was that I didn't get to start my day out in His word and journaling. I got some nuggets from His word on the way back to the hotel from Starbucks. And here was this little gift to me, where journaling was part of our assignment for the moment.

A little of my journal entry:
I stepped off a plane on Thursday anxious and excited about what God had in store for me this weekend. I left dinner last night encouraged and confirmed in what He has been calling me towards. I am confident I am going to step back on the plane Monday afternoon filled because of His mercy and grace, and used for His glory because of obedience.

After a little more instruction, we headed out to the University of Washington campus in Tacoma for another photo shoot, this time of families and high school seniors. Again, the highlight for me was watching MeRa in action.

This day was definitely a little more difficult for me photographically. It was the first time I had ever worked with seniors and I struggled to find the balance with the other photographers I was teamed up with. It's a challenge to work with 3- 4 other photographers like we did. But I had some amazing ladies in my group and went with it.

Ladies, I hope I didn't get in your way too much or take over too much.
Jennifer, I LOVED watching you interact with the models and learned a lot from you.
You have a certain way with people that is amazing.
Thanks!

Here's a few more images from the outing...

You can see some of the images I got from the day here.

We eventually went back to the hotel, had some lunch and got on with the learning.

And at the end of the day, MeRa had us all gather in a circle in the middle of the room and share one word that summed up the weekend for us.

Now let me back up just a little here...

When I was on the airplane on Thursday, one of the things I felt God impressing me to do this weekend was to lay hands on Brian and MeRa and pray for them. I questioned this throughout the day on Saturday.

How could that happen?

Would I have an opportunity to do this with them on Sunday after the workshop was over?

Would they even be receptive to this?

Was that really God asking me to do that?

But after Saturday evening, I knew that God was going to provide the opportunity for it. And when MeRa asked us to get in that circle, I felt that tugging on my heart saying, "this is where I want you to pray for them."

Again, I questioned. I was prepared for Him to provide the opportunity in private after the workshop was over, but I wasn't really prepared for this. What if this would offend some of the ladies here? But I knew I was hearing God, so with my hands shaking from nerves, after everyone was done going around the circle with their one word answer, I asked the ladies and Brian and MeRa if they would mind if we took time to pray for MeRa and Brian. What a God moment that was, for me at least. And how blessed we all were because of obedience. (More than one lady thanked me for that moment.)

We prayed for MeRa and Brian.

We prayed for one of the ladies who was there, who had been diagnosed with cancer just before the workshop AND who was going home to plan a funeral for her father who had died just before the workshop.

We prayed for the Soar recipients who were there with us for the weekend.

I indeed left the workshop full. 

It was called the Confidence Workshop because it was designed so that the attendants would leave being "confident" behind the camera and shooting in manual. And I have to say it definitely does that. I am confident that had I come to the workshop, taking my camera out of the box  for the first time, I would leave with a really great understanding of how to get great images in manual mode - with creative control over the final product. One of the girls there was actually in that position (she just learned how to charge her camera battery the week before the workshop). And she was getting some amazing images (in manual mode) by the time we all said goodbye. 

But for me, the title of the workshop gave new meaning.

I have a deeper Confidence in God -

in trusting His voice as I hear it

in following His leading even when others are trying to discourage me

in trusting His plan and timing

I am incredible grateful for the appointments in Seattle and am excited for what is yet to come as a result of my deeper confidence in Him.

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An appointment with God in Seattle - part 3

Part 1
Part 2

We walked to the Thai food restaurant that we were going to eat dinner at and sat at 2 different long tables - there was a lot of us. I had hoped to get the opportunity to share some of the things I thought God wanted me to share with MeRa about Soar at this dinner, but she sat at the other table. So I figured that sharing would come on Sunday after the workshop was over - if there was time. I knew that if God really did want me to share with her, then He would provide the opportunity.

We ate an amazing dinner and had a GREAT time getting to know each other a little better. And as the evening was winding down, MeRa came and sat next to me to talk to me.
Isn't God so good? I knew what He wanted me to share with MeRa, but I wasn't sure how to make the opportunity happen. The thing is, I didn't have to make it happen, because God worked it all out - just like He always does. I shared all that God wanted me to tell her, but I believe God orchestrated that conversation just as much (if not more so) for me. As she shared some of the details around the things God had laid on my heart to speak to her about, details that I would have never know had she not shared them with me, God spoke to my heart so deeply about trusting His voice as I hear it.
I've doubted His voice a lot in the past year because of what others have said to me.
I've doubted His voice because I've been embarrased to step forward the way He wanted me to.
I've doubted His voice because the things He was telling me seemed silly or insignificant or just plain too hard to handle.
But in that moment God was telling me, "See? That WAS my voice when I asked you to pray for that thing. That WAS my voice when I asked you to step out like that. That IS my voice calling you to the things I am calling you to. Stop letting what others say cause you to doubt my voice and just follow me."

You see, we don't need the details to follow God.
We don't need others to agree with us to follow God - as a matter of fact, if we're not careful, we could unknowingly allow others to quench what the Spirit of God is doing in and through us.
We just need to do our best to nurture our relationship with God so that we KNOW His voice - so we CAN follow Him.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel to get some sleep for another big day on Sunday.

I'll share the rest of the story tomorrow.
Have a great day!!!

The End

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An Appointment with God in Seattle - part 2

Part 1

After I spent a fabulous afternoon with the Jones family, I headed to the airport to pick up Leslie.
We had spoken on the phone a few times, but had never actually met in person.
She was one of those gifts from God to get me to this workshop.
I had no idea where I would stay in Tacoma.
The hotel that the workshop was being held at was way too expensive for me - even at the special rate we would get. I still had to make reservations at a hotel when we got our first email with instructions to introduce ourselves. After a couple of email exchanges, Leslie had offered to share her room with me and I would be her transportation for the weekend. God is so good.
(And what's even cooler (and I believe another God thing) about that set up is that a couple of weeks before we actually met in Seattle and after we had made our arrangements, Leslie called me to tell me she just realized that I was the Rhonda from Exposing Grace - a blog she had been following for awhile because she saw one of my posts at I Heart Faces. She had even been considering joining us at Through The Lens of Worship.)

Ok - back to the story...
I picked up Leslie, and after driving for an hour and a half for what should have been 30 minutes, we were already have a fun adventure and getting to know each other. (Seattle and Tacoma aren't the easiest cities to drive in. If you miss your turn-off there may not be a way to turn around for quite awhile, especially in rush hour traffic.) We checked in to the hotel and headed out to the meet and greet at MeRa's house.
And that began the appointments with people that God really took me to Seattle for.
Some of those appointments were so that I could minister to others and some of those appointments were so that others could minister to me. God showed me in no uncertain terms, many ways that He has been using me in the lives of some of these women that I hadn't ever met. One of the ladies wasn't even someone I knew of by name from the internet, but she knew me and God had used me in her life.
Can I just tell you what a gift that is?
God didn't have to do that.
Yet he chose to bless me and encourage me.
I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

We left MeRa's house already filled and our workshop hadn't even begun yet.
Leslie and I shared a little more adventure finding a drug store so she didn't have to pay $15 for the hotel toothbrush, because she broke hers that morning. Then we got to the hotel to try to get some sleep and be ready for the morning.
Saturday morning started off with some worship music (there was an ipod player in our hotel room), a cup of Starbucks and an eagerness for what the day would hold.
Really, it doesn't get much better than that!

MeRa and her husband, Brian, are amazing.
They are gifted as photographers and teachers.
They are funny.
And they are humble.
The things they taught about the camera were basic things I mostly already knew, but what they taught in the in-between moments about who God made me as a photographer and dare I say, artist, was priceless.
God used them to teach me to trust Him and let go in these areas.
Don't get me wrong here. This was a photography workshop, not a Christian conference of some kind.
MeRa and Brian didn't talk about God, but God used them to teach me and help me grow as an artist.
Another aspect of my appointment with God.

I just LOVE how God works.
He brings me to Seattle to a photography workshop that focused on a lot of stuff I already know, to teach me things that weren't even the focus of this workshop so that He could get the glory.
Does that make sense to you the way it does to me?
He does things in such a way (if we will let Him) that He will be glorified.
He is showing me this a lot lately.
When I applied for the Soar scholarship and didn't win, God told me that He didn't ever want anyone to say that my opportunities as a photographer were because of that Scholarship.
He wants and deserves all the glory for anything He works in and through me.
And even if I would always point to Him, others wouldn't on my behalf.

So after our morning session on Satuday, we got to actually photograph some beautiful models.
My favorite part of the photo sessions we did was watching MeRa at work -
Watching her see light and work with the model, posing them and interacting with them in such a way that they relax and enjoy their time.

Here she is at work, along with many of the girls I shared the weekend with.

And once she showed us how she goes about setting up the shot, she set us off to take some pictures ourselves.

We finished up the day with a fabulous lunch and some more learning and then headed off to dinner at a fabulous Thai food restaurant, where God had yet another appointment for me.

But that is for another day, as I must get my tired body into bed. 

You can see the Mommy & baby shots I took here.

Part 3
The End

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An appointment with God in Seattle

Have you ever had one of those moments that, although it was planned for one purpose, God intended it for His purposes? That's what last weekend was like for me - an appointment with God.
When I was praying about whether or not I should go to Seattle for this workshop, I knew that God wanted me there and that He had a purpose bigger than the workshop, but I could have never anticipated all that the weekend held for me.

When I got off the plane on Thursday and got in my rental car, I was excited about what God wanted to do that weekend.
I was excited to spend time with friends from Epic that had moved to WA.
I was excited to learn more about photography.
I was excited to spend time with friends that I had met via the internet.
I was excited to meet all together new friends.
But I was mostly excited about the unknown stuff that I knew God had prepared for me.

Some of you understand this and some of you are wondering how I knew that God wanted me there.
I just want to share a little about that.
I had been praying about going to one of these workshops for over a year. For one reason or another there was just no way I could get there. And when it came up this time I wondered if it was even a wise use of my resources. I mean, a trip and workshop like this isn't cheap. But I couldn't get over the nagging feeling that I had to be there. I even sensed God telling me that He would provide the money if I would just sign up. So I did. I signed up on the payment plan (to give God time to provide.)
I don't know why I had any doubt. God is so good and came through in ways that I could never have conjured up myself. Half of the cost came from a job in which I still don't even know how they got my number. He not only provided for the workshop, He provided the airfare, the rental car, the hotel room.
He had a purpose for me being there.

I didn't have to be in Tacoma until Friday so I drove to Bellingham to spend the night at the Jones' house.
They had other company in town and were already planning to visit Seattle on Friday, which was perfect for me. I not only got to hang out with some of the coolest people I know, but I got to experience Seattle with them. AND I got to meet their cool family members that still live in Hanford and are considering coming to Epic. Yay!

On the way to Seattle, I drove alone because I had to leave them early to pick up a new friend (my room mate for the weekend) at the airport and get to the meet and greet for my workshop. The drive to Seattle was a little over an hour and a half and I had the sweetest time of worship during that drive.
(God even gave me a new worship song that I might share with you some time.)
God was meeting me there in that rental car and preparing me for what was still to come.

I'll share more tomorrow.

Part 2
Part 3
The End

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