A weekend to remember

How lovely it is to spend time with family. Amazing what a weekend can do to a person's heart, what it can do to my heart. It took a couple of days to rekindle a fire that slowly was burning down; life got in the way and I lost sight of the end of the road, I forgot to look up and remember the darkest hour of the night lets us know that daylight is almost here.

A long drive as a passenger gave me time to talk to God and listen to His voice, ask and wait for answers. I find it amusing that His timing is not my timing and for that I am grateful because when I get my answer I know that God send it to me.

The faith of a 9 year old boy reminded me there is no way age has to do with how big our faith is. Only God can give you that faith. How can a small kid have such a big and beautiful heart? I have the blessing of having him as my cousin and I want to have his faith when I grow up.

Getting older sometimes makes you forget what illusion feels like; what it is like to feel butterflies in your stomach when something makes you happy. My 12 year old teenage cousin reminded me this weekend how beautiful it feels to get excited for even the littlest of things; her lovely smile gave me courage to dream big again and the need to feel thrilled about my work.

What a difference a weekend makes in a person's life, what a difference it made in my life. I am forever grateful of the beautiful family I am blessed with, I cannot wait to see how you keep challenging me to become a better person.

Permission to be BOLD

Last week I was getting ready to go to Vegas for WPPI (an annual photographers convention), I was finalizing the details with some of my photographer friends to have them as guests during the week I would be absent. I asked 6 amazing, beautiful, God-loving girls to share something with you; I wanted them to share what was in their heart at the moment and their entries literally changed my life! Thank you girls!!!

I read each and everyone of the words in the documents they sent me, and I have to say that I was amazed, grateful, blessed by their hearts. I have only met these girls online in the Pursuit 31 community on Facebook, and yet with the way they opened their hearts to me and to you out there reading this, I felt I knew them for a very long time. They talked openly about their faith, how they are trusting God to do great things in their business, and right then and there I felt I was letting them down. The pain grew bigger when God helped me realize that I was letting Him down too.

I left for Vegas, but my heart was pleading for a way to make things better. I didn't want to hide my love for my God, I wanted to be transparent in my blog posts, I wanted to be able to write freely and openly about my struggles, my joys, my ups and downs, my blessings and my learnings along this way, but I knew I couldn't do it alone. I prayed for an answer and what I didn't know is that my prayer was going to be answered the week I came back home.

Yesterday I was blessed enough to be part of a big announcement from a photographer who I admire, not only for her work, but also for the way she writes boldly about her relationship with God. That girl is Scarlett Lillian, from Scarlett loves Stephen photographers. I "met" (read stalked) her blog, her Facebook and after being part of a webinar her husband hosted last year, I was more interested in really knowing her.

Scarlett published a book in which she shares her heart, her prayers, her journey through building a photography business with God as her CEO. There as I was still lying in bed in the morning I jumped out and turned my computer on to witness a new chapter in her life. I watched the video, read her welcome letter and tears filled my eyes because she was giving me something I longed for, permission to be bold like her and write my heart out for everyone to read.

Even though this post is getting long, I want to thank Scarlett for sharing her heart like this, for pushing the bar higher in our relationship with God; I want to thank her husband Stephen too, because he's been an incredible man standing behind her, encouraging her to get closer to her Heavenly Father and to publish this book. I am blessed to be able to share this with you! I hope to meet you soon and have an authentic Mexican dinner!

Without further due, here I share with you a video where Scarlett herself tells you about her book.
Don't forget to visit www.choosecommitprosper.com Enjoy!!




Promo video for the book Prosper by Scarlett Lillian from Scarlett & Stephen on Vimeo.

Faith on our Heavenly Father

By Rachelle Chase

Rachelle Chase has been married to her high school sweetheart for 12 years and has 2 boys. She lives in NH where she is a homeschooling mom, professional photographer and with her husband runs a not-for-profit youth center that she and her husband started.

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Have you ever watched a 2-year-old eat an ice cream cone outside on a hot day?

If you have, you are picturing the complete and utter mess that comes about half way through that dessert!

The ice cream is melting down his face, and the sticky mess is all over his chubby little fingers!

If you have ever been a random spectator of this, you have probably thought.

Oh. my. Goodness.

That kid is a hot mess!

What is that car going to look like on the way home?

And that shirt? Well you might as well throw it away!

Now picture the same scenario. But this time? You are the mother.

A warm day is finally here after a week of rain, and you are taking your little boy...the absolute love of your life...out for a treat. A special treat that doesn't just happen every day.

Same exact scenario, but for some reason, you aren't thinking for one second about his shirt, sticky face or messy car!

You can not believe how his big blue eyes are sparkling with joy!

You don't remember ever realizing how much he looks like his daddy when he laughs.

And you love that those sticky fingers are reaching for your face!

This is your baby. And you love this boy more than life itself.

Cleaning up a mess is nothing at all to you, and you would gladly clean him up a million times just to see this look on his face!

I was thinking of this in relation to my Heavenly Father.

Sometimes as I am going through my life, I think...wow. I have really made a mess of this situation!

Or, maybe...I have really made a mess of my life!

What is God thinking of me right now? How can I even pray? He probably can't even stand to look at me right now!

And in those times, I back away from God.

While there are times in our lives that sin separates us from a close relationship with God, I think that usually He is looking at us just like we would look at our messy sticky little boy.

Maybe he is shaking his head, laughing and saying...there's my girl again! Making a mess! I love to see her laugh like that! I love her so much.

I love how 1 John 3:1 puts it when it says “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God.”

See that? He is our Father who is lavishing love all over us!

Crazy love.

So the next time you are tempted to back away from your Father after a time where you think that you have made way too big of a mess?

Stop and think it over.

Realize that your Father is totally in love with you and does not mind one bit cleaning up after your mess.

And instead of backing away - run to Him. 

Check out Rachelle’s work at

www.rachellechasephotography.com