A Dream Come True

A couple months ago in our church's bulletin, I saw a note saying that a new pictorial was going to come out. Defnition of pictorial: a directory with pictures. :) The last time our church had a pictorial done was when I was about 14, so about 14 years ago. I wish I had a copy of the picture to show you but I don't. That is probably okay though...it's not pretty, ha!

As cheesy as this is, I got REALLY excited about having our picture taken for the pictorial. Olan Mills does them and by participating, you get a free 8x10. It wasn't the free picture that excited me though, it was the prospect of having photographic evidence of God's blessings in my life.

If you have read this blog EVER, you know that it is never lacking in pictures. But this is different. Driving up to our church to have this picture taken with my husband driving and baby girl was a dream come true.

The girl that was pictured in the pictorial under my name 14 years ago had no idea what she was in for. She worried and agonized over the plans that God had for her, not trusting entirely and often thinking that she could do things better. Instead of taking the Lords hand, she decided that she could do it on her own for awhile. She made choices based on selfishness and instant gratification. She was insecure and sought approval from man, not the Lord. Little did she know that only two pages away in that same pictorial, under the "J" section, her future husband was pictured with his family. If only she could of heard the Lord whispering to her with giddy excitement "just you wait until the next time your church does a pictorial....you'll never believe what that picture will look like!!!".

Fast forward 14 years. The girl that is pictured THIS TIME has a different last name and has lost the giant glasses (praise the Lord). :) She has learned that all that agonizing and worrying that she did for all those years was silly and pointless. She is able to walk in confidence not because of WHO she is, but because of WHOSE she is. She was able to surrender her plans and be content in the Lord and reap the blessings of this contentment. She can hardly listen to worship music without bawling in gratitude to the Lord for saving her from herself. Her life isn't perfect by any means and her list is long of goals and desired habits to be acheived. But she is happy and the joy of the Lord is her strength. Her husband and baby are the most incredible blessings that she could have ever imagined, but they don't complete her. Her identity is found in the Lord, not in being Brett's wife or Emersyn's mom. God's grace looks different for everyone. Sometimes I feel guilty because I am so blessed to be married and so many of my friends are still waiting for Godly husbands. However, I truly believe that everyone can be JUST as happy as I am, just in different ways. God longs to be gracious to us ALL, and each of our stories are handwritten by an incredible Author.

So, I present to you our first "official" family photo. It's awkward. The blue background is hideous. My neck is no where to be found because of the way the photographer kept telling me to turn my head. My daughter's hand is odd looking because I had just grabbed it from out of her mouth and then we snapped the picture.

I.Love.It.