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Thankful Thursday ~ Believing

And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
(Mark 9:23-24 ESV – emphasis mine)

Lately there has been true peace deep down in my heart. You know why? Because I just believe. I don’t question the things God is doing in my life, and I am thankful for that.

For years I have been spinning my wheels about my photography. I wanted to ‘find’ my style that people would enjoy seeing and actually booking sessions with me. You see, I have been trying to hard. From the beginning God had giving me a gift that I didn’t see until late last year when I took photographs of my best friends grandchildren.

You see, little Aubri was a little wild during the session. My friend said that she was afraid that I did not get any good pictures from her granddaughter. However, over the years I have learned one thing: be very patient with little ones. This pictures is one of my personal favorites from little Aubri:

Kristine_17

God has giving me my style of capturing moments that will reflect the personality of my clients and their children. I just had to see it.

Lord of heaven and earth. Thank you for the incredible gift You have given me. May I always glorify You in all the things I capture. You have made us all unique and wonderful. When I start doubting Your gift help me with my unbelief. In the precious name of Jesus. Amen

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: God has given us all gifts – use them to glorify Him.

Love & peace,
Iris

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. Janis@Heart Filled Moments
2. Three Lifesavers For Busy Moms & MOVIE TICKETS GIVEAWAY!
3. Gluttony
4. Daily Journey		 5. LaughingLady
6. bp
7. Lorig
8. We Need Your Sparkler		 9. Natasha
10. The danger of excessive introspection

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Thankful Thursday ~ Prayer Works

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:5-7 ESV)

My friend Lori at Lori’s Reflections, posted a great article about prayer. I have to say that sometimes I get discouraged when I pray. Do I pray like I really mean it? Are there days were I just go through the motions of prayer? Maybe sometimes my heart is not believing what my head is saying? Have you been there?

I know, I am throwing a lot of questions at you. I do know though deep in my heart that God answers our prayers. Sometimes it takes longer, or God even says no. Where I find comfort in though is that God knows the big picture. And if a prayer is not answered the way we hoped for, it may be better for us in the long run.

I do have to share with you about a prayer I prayed on Monday. It still gives me the goose-bumps just thinking about it. I have shared with you about my portrait business more than once. On Monday I asked God for two wedding photo opportunities for this year and thanked Him for it. I kid you not, about 20 minutes after I prayed the prayer, I had a request for a wedding on my inbox. I will meet the potential client on Friday afternoon. Will the client book me for her wedding? I do not know, but it gives me at least the opportunity to present my business 🙂 .

I am nervous about the appointment, but I am also confident because my God will be by my side. And with God at my side, I will step courageously out of my comfort zone. Even if this does not turn into a wedding shoot for my business, I am very thankful for the opportunity God is giving me.

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by this week. Remember: Prayer works and God’s timing is always perfect.

Love & peace,
Iris

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. Mia / When Clowns Cry
2. jhunnelle
3. A Letter To The Mothers of All Babysitters
4. Putting the past behind us…FREE online journaling group for women		 5. Daily Journey
6. Lorig
7. Bp
8. He Will Wipe Away Every Tear		 9. Adena F- Finding the Silver Lining
10. Natasha

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Thankful Thursday ~ My Husband Is the Best

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
(Ephesians 5:33 ESV)

Love and respect go together in marriage, just as much as ham and cheese go together on a sandwich. I know, not a great analogy, but I know you get the point.

My husband is the BEST – at least for me he is. You see, in the early years of our marriage I had a little issue with the respect part. I think that love comes really easy for us women, but we have to admit that we sometimes (at least it is true for me), we lack true respect.

My beloved never has been the romantic type; well maybe when we were dating. I sometimes envied (I know bad word – but the truth) women who had a romantic husband. When they received flowers at work on Valentines Day, birthday, or anniversaries. But then again, these might have been ‘young’ relationships; I do not know.

But let me tell you, my husband is the most romantic guy; it just took years for me to realize (yes, sometimes I am a slow learner). Honestly, my husband has never forgotten our anniversary; not once in 30 years. And every year on our anniversary I get red roses (one for each year married). Mark also has never forgotten my birthday.

Lets take last weekend as an example. Imaging USA took place in Phoenix over the weekend. You have to understand, although we both are photographers, we have two different genres. My husband loves/enjoys to photograph architecture; I am on the other hand are a portrait photographer. Imaging USA was totally geared toward portrait photography. But my husband went with me, because I wanted to go. For me, this is being romantic :)…

I know that we all see ‘romance’ a little different, but I think spending time together and doing things you husband/wife likes doing, that is romance. Period!

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by today. Remember: spend time with your spouse this week; put your plans on the back-burner an do things your spouse enjoys.

Love & peace,
Iris

PS: Thankful Thursday is about being thankful and not linking up to promote your blog posts via the widget below. I have deleted the links that were not for Thankful Thursday. Thank you for understanding.

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. Miriam Pauline
2. LongingsEnd/Kitchen kisses and how not to have sex
3. Just As I Am		 4. Daily Journey
5. Can anger be righteous?
6. Biology or disobedience?		 7. Bible Soap Operas & Novellas
8. Bp
9. Pamela at the Songs on the Way

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Thankful Thursday ~ God’s Plan

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
(2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV)

I often wonder about God’s plan for my life. I love the verse written by Paul from 2 Corinthians 12:9. It reminds that I when I am weak, I can rest on the power of Christ. I have talked about dreams in my most resent post at Laced with Grace. So many times in my life I have run in front of God; I thought that He approved of what I am doing.

Not until late last year, I realized that I had to give over control of my dreams. I have never truly surrendered my dream to God, because I thought I could make my dream come true on my own. God’s plan and timing is always perfect. I have to trust that He knows best.

So, this week I am thankful that I finally realized that God can help my dream to become reality. But I have to let go and all will fall into place. Don’t get me wrong, I still have to take some steps toward that dream, but I have to let go of the control. I am not sure if that makes sense…I hope it does.

What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.

Thank you for stopping by this week. Remember: sometimes we need to let go of control and let God lead us; not the other way around.

Love & peace,
Iris

Thankful Thursday Participants

1. Thankful for SNOW! 🙂
2. The Call to Personal Reformation
3. The Walking Dead
4. Miriam Pauline
5. LaughingLady
6. The Shakes		 7. Ruth A Stiles
8. bp
9. lorig: Season of Thanks
10. 5 Surprising Reasons Wives Lash Out At Their Husbands
11. Natasha
12. Remembering His Faithfulness		 13. Read the Bible in a Year with Practical Application
14. Weak, anemic Christian lives
15. Out of the saltshaker & into the world
16. Hope for failed Bible readers

Learn more about Thankful Thursday here.

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