Photography Website is Up!!

For those interested. I have my Photography Website up.
This is just starting out, so way more to come! :)

http://sunnymeadowphotography.com

Calming the Storm Within You

       "Devotions" Without "Devotion" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Some of us have had devotions, but we have not had devotion. There's a big difference. We may have gone through the motions of reading our Bibles and "saying our prayers" but we have not been cultivating a love relationship with our God. We know alot about Him, but we don't really know Him. 

We are active and busy in a multitude of spiritual activities, but we have lost perspective of who it is that we are serving and why.

The result of our "devotionless" religion is seen in the way we respond to pressure. So many of us as Christian women are chronically stressed out. Everywhere I go, I see it in the eyes of women; I hear it in their voices; and too often I see it when I look in my own mirror. I know what it is to have demands coming at me from every direction. I know what it is to respond of weariness, with an impatient, demanding spirit.

And I know what it is to contend with God Himself, even as my eyes fill up with tears of frustration with myself and my reactions.

I also know that there is only one place where that angry, reactive, overwhelmed self can be transformed---the same place that Mary chose--the feet of Jesus.  I must take a conscious, deliberate, daily choice to sit at His feet, to listen to His Word, to receive His love, to let Him change me, and to pour out my heart's devotion to Him.

When I get into His presence, the whole world looks different. When I draw close to His heart, I find mercy when I know I deserve judgment; I find forgiveness for all my petty, selfish ways;  I find grace for all my inadequacies; I find peace for my troubled heart; I find perspective for my distorted views.

In Him, I find an eye in the midst of the storm.  

Oh, the storm around me may not immediately subside;


but the storm within me is made calm.

October 24th, 2013 (Photography)

I have been putting off writing a blog post until I had something new to talk about. Well, I have something to talk about- or more than "something".

To start off, my photography is going great! Did two sessions in the last two weeks (one of a family and their kiddos (together and separate, and another of another family of just their kiddos) and I have another one (a 2- year old child's birthday session) this Friday! One a week does not sound like much, I know, but with the editing that goes along with it and all that's related, it keeps me busy!

Although if anyone is wanting to do a session- I am all up for it! Just contact me at: SunnyMeadowPhotography@aim.com
I am charging $100.00 for one hour session- this includes a CD or Flashdrive with some of the pictures- usually around 15-25- depending on how many turn out. :)


I figured I might as well write this before it gets even more busy! 

The Dillow Family!

Girly loves her bubbles!

Silly Boy!

What a model- this what not staged!

Mommy and daughter playing with bubbles.

Family fun time. :)

Ohhh, caught some "mushy mushy" looks. ;)

A BEAUTY! (Got her looks from Momma too-hehe)

Silly faces :-)

These Pumpkins sure like their pumpkins. ;)

I wonder what she is thinking...."Ohh, how I love my hubby" or
"Yeah, we made these children and I am thankful I have met you, Sweetheart"

Family <3

Now the Beardmore Kiddos!

Brother&Sister Love!

Serious life is indeed....we'll walk this path together!

Siblings. :)

Cuteness!!

A beauty!

Handsome boy!

:D

My sister and I have been sewing again. I have been learning to play guitar (Yippeee!!!) and I am also going to learn to paint soon. So exciting!!

Going to start school up again as well. :D

Everyone have a great day and thanks again for stopping by!

Hope you enjoyed my photography. God be the glory! :)

Goodnight! <3

(P.S. I think this blog has the most exclamation points ever! ;) )

The Vanity of this Present Life (John Calvin)

Whatever kind of tribulation we may suffer, this should always be our goal: to learn contempt for the present life, and thus to be led to meditate on the life to come.
Because the Lord well knows our readiness to embrace the world with blind and even brutish love, he uses the very best means to part us from it and to rouse us from our lethargy, so as to free our hearts from so foolish an attachment.
All of us, in the course of our lives, like to be seen as people who long for immortality in heaven, and who are trying very hard to attain it. The thought that we are no better than the brute beasts, and that their lot is in no way inferior to ours, would be humiliating were we not left with some hope of eternity after death. If, however, we think hard of the schemes we all devise, the plans we lay, the things we do and undertake, we will find them to be mere dust!
Our folly comes from the fact that our minds are more or less dazzled by the false glitter of wealth, honour, and power, which are superficially attractive and which stop us looking further ahead. By the same token our heart is taken by greed, ambition, and other evil desires, and is held so fast by them that it cannot look higher up. Lastly, our entire soul seeks its happiness here on earth, because it is wrapped and entangled in the pleasures of the flesh.
To remedy this evil, the Lord teaches his servants to recognize the vanity of this present life, carefully training them by means of various afflictions. Lest they look forward in this life to peace and tranquillity, he allows war, turmoil, theft, and other evils to upset and trouble them. Lest they thirst too much for ephemeral wealth or trust too fondly in the wealth they have, he reduces them to poverty, sometimes by sending barrenness upon the earth, sometimes by fire, sometimes by other means; or else he condemns them to bare sufficiency.
Lest they delight too much in marriage, he gives them difficult or headstrong wives who torment them, or wayward children to humble them, or else afflicts them with the loss of spouse and children. If, however, in all these things he treats them kindly, to stop them from becoming proud in their conceit and complacent through excessive confidence, he warns them by means of sickness or peril, and gives them as it were visible proof of how fragile and fleeting are the goods we enjoy, since they are subject to decay.
Thus the discipline of the cross is of great benefit to us when we understand that the present life, judged in itself, is full or worry, trouble and much misfortune. It is never completely happy at any time, and all the blessings we hold dear are transitory and uncertain, trifling and tinged with endless misery.
The conclusion we draw, then, is that here we must expect nothing but conflict. If we would seek our crown, it is to heaven that we must look. We may be sure that our heart will never really learn to want the life to come, and to meditate on it, without first feeling disdain for this earthly life.