My dear friend, Jenny Tarpley from Visio Photography, sent me this photo that she captured on their vacation in Montana at Glacier National Park.  Wow… speechless.  I received it as I was listening to Kari Jobe’s song, Healer.  “I believe… you’re my Healer.  Nothing is impossible for you… Nothing is impossible…. Nothing is impossible for you. You hold MY world in your hand.”  He holds THE world in His hand at the same time as He holds MY world.

I felt the Lord impressing this upon my heart through this photograph… specifically for a beautiful friend whose heart is crying out for a child, but hopefully it will encourage you, too.  Don’t we all have a vision for what we want our life to look like?  It hurts when our deepest desires and longings look different than we intended, not met at all… or require us to wait.  Or maybe OUR desires and longings don’t look as beautiful as HIS desires and longings for our life.  As I look at the photo again I notice…  He has made this landscape look beautiful in different seasons.  We have a hard time imagining what it will look like as the seasons change… we only think we can imagine it bathed in the color of fall… but our imagination doesn’t even come close to what He has in store.  We can only see what it is like now – so much like our circumstances.  But He knows.  He has planned its beauty so that it looks different in each season… It is beautiful when the fresh spring rain sprouts up new life… or as the clouds set in.  In this image, would we see this specific aspect of His glory if He didn’t bathe it in snow and strip the trees of life?  I pray we find peace as we know that He has planned a beautiful life for us that can display His glory… if we allow it to.  Whether our season is full of rejoicing or grieving.

I wanted to wish you a happy fall in the midst of all our craziness here at the studio (this is our busiest time of the whole year, ya know?! maybe like tax season for accountants.)… Isn’t it lovely how long this beautiful weather has been around?  And have you noticed how long the trees have kept their color?  Ahh… I cannot tell you how excited I am to take time to sit and relax with my sweet family during the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Here’s a book recommendation for those of you who are thirsting for relaxation… it is rich, deep, satisfying   Grab it before your long weekend begins…

Enjoy and cherish this Thanksgiving!

You may remember these kids from my previous blog post from an Urban Session last year… I love to come up with new ways to document the same family year after year.  For year 3, we chose to document these kids in their home.  It’s something different that we don’t do often, but it was so much fun to come into their world and see what was special to them.