Grace Alone…

In the month of September the Thankful Thursday community is meeting here at Grace Alone…; my friend Lynn at Spiritually Unequal Marriage will be hosting in October; and my friend Laurie at Women Taking a Stand will be hosting our weekly meme in November.

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!”
~ 1 Chronicles 16:34 (ESV)

I never have seen an angel, but I believe that God sends them to protect us (Psalm 91:11-12). Once again, it became very evident this past week while driving to work. I am not sure how it is in the area you live in, but here, people do anything but driving. Seriously, people are eating, reading books/maps, shave, put on ‘the face’, text-message, their mind is far from driving. On Tuesday, several times I had to slam the breaks because someone was pulling in front of me. Goodness, I wish people would have their mind on the tasks they are performing (like driving).

Every morning before I get into the car I walk around it, praying for His protection. It may sound silly to you, but it gives me the peace I need to get into the vehicle. Every day I am thankful that He hears my little prayer and answers it.

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share by leaving the link to your thankful post below.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: He is guarding your ways, even if do not see it…

Current Mood: Blessed † & Thankful

Tags: Life, Protection, Sustain

In the month of August the Thankful Thursday community is meeting over at my friend Laurie’s blog “Women Taking a Stand“; in September I will be hosting, and my friend Lynn at Spiritually Unequal Marriage will be hosting in October.

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” ~ Colossians 3:15-18 (ESV)

Photography has brought my husband and me together after our son moved out almost 3 years ago. I am very thankful for that.

Although my husband and I like to photograph different subjects (I like the pretty things as my husband puts it), we have something in common. Some times couples grow apart when the kids are grown and move on. I was first afraid that this would happen to us as well, but God had different plans .

There is another part why I am thankful for photography: I can capture the beauty God created around us. Like the photograph I am sharing with you today. I like it because of the different flowers in one photograph. It reminds me of followers of Christ. We all have different colors, shapes and forms, but we all belong to Him. We are all beautiful in His sight, no matter how we look on the outside.

By the way, I created some postcards several weeks ago from some of my ‘pretty‘ photographs. In September (my big 50 birthday month) I will be giving away one set of five postcards…

What are you thankful for this week? Please join in by visiting Laurie at “Women Taking a Stand“. Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: God created beauty all around us, capture it.

Current Mood: Playful & Thankful

Tags: Balance, Beauty, Life, Peaceful

If you ever wanted to know how to convert your color photographs to black & white, check out Andrew Gibson’s new ebook “The Magic of Black & White III“. Personally I love portrait photos in black & white. Andrew shows you the process in Photoshop and 5 of the images in Photoshop Elements. He walks you through toning, split toning, exposure blending, textures, and the creation of diptyches and triptyches, all without losing sight of your vision.

For the first four days only, if you use the promotional code WHITE4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of The Magic of Black & White – Part III for only $4 OR use the code WHITE20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST August 22, 2010. Click on the above image to take you directly to Craft & Vision’s website.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: photography is your vision of the world around you…

Current Mood: Okay

Tags: Andrew Gibson, Craft&Vision, techniques

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” ~ Ephesians 6:1-3 (ESV)

I haven’t seen my mom in almost 6 years; believe me it is tough. The one thing that keeps me connected to her, my home-country, my first-language, are the weekly Saturday morning calls. There is just something really neat to ‘sit’ with my mom, with a hot cup of coffee in hand, chatting away…

When I was still living in Germany, the calls to the US (to my in-laws) where quite expensive. Now the calls cost my mom less that a cup of Starbucks coffee …Sure it would be nice to sit with my mom face-to-face, but the calls are the next best thing.

So, this week, I am thankful that we still have a land-line and I can talk to my mom weekly. And hopefully I can make a trip back to Germany in the Spring of 2011 (God willing)…

What are you thankful for this week? Please head on over to my friend Laurie at “Women Taking a Stand” to link up with other Thankful Thursday participants. In the month of September we will meet up here, and October my friend Lynn is hosting at Spiritually Unequal Marriage…

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: a thankful heart is a joyful heart…

Current Mood: Thankful & Blessed †