awake

I heard a song on the way home tonight by Matt Maher. Christ is Risen.

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake, come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

I felt like the song was talking about me. These past few months, changing our entire lives, moving, being away from my husband, have been hard. But through it all I was seeking God. Seeking Him more than I have in a long time. Reading his word, listening to worship music, praying more... And I realized tonight on the way home that I AM AWAKE AGAIN! For so long I have been going about my life, not turned away from God, but not actively seeking Him either, and I was dead or asleep, however you want to put it.  I was so excited about how open my eyes are to all that God has placed in my path. The people at work I have the chance to share His love with. The opportunity I have to teach our son about God and pray over him and teach him how to pray and watch him grow in to a might man of God. The need for prayer and God's love in this city. The overwhelming desire to lead worship in a body of believers. Moving here was scary. But through God's eyes I see that this is the path he wants us on & he is going to open doors wide for us to touch lives and help get his message of HOPE and LOVE out to the people who need it. 

I heard another song that is a PERFECT explanation of how our relationship with God works: 

The more I seek you,
the more I find you.
The more I find you,
the more I love you

This is so simple but so true. If we earnestly, daily seek the Lord, we will find Him and we will be amazed at the abundance of love and wisdom he wants to pour out in our lives when we diligently seek HIM!!!!

AMEN!

cincinnati

So I officially announced on Facebook this week that we are moving to Cincinnati, Ohio. Instead of trying to answer a lot a questions from a lot of different people I thought I would put the whole story on here so that everyone will know what is going on. :)

So in 2004, I started Little Images Photography. And it was my dream to be self-employeed and run my own successful photography business. And I do loooooove photography. But let's jump ahead to 2011. I have a son, and a business. I photographed 15 weddings in 4 months last summer. I didn't really see my beautiful family at all. I was sending Grant to the sitter 4-5 days a week to "run" this business by myself. I also was putting him to bed around 7pm and then staying up till 2am editing images.

To say the least, I was exhausted and unhappy. I was starting to wonder if this "dream" of having my own business was worth it. I was working way too many hours & not making enough money doing it. 

So, I started to question it all. What was important to me? Where were my priorities? What did I want my life to look like? Was this it? Was this the life I wanted? I held all of this in & didn't say anything because I was afraid I would be letting a lot of people down if I quit photography. But it was the only solution I could think of. If I went back to work outside the home, then I could actually enjoy my home and my family when I got home.

On December 17th, my best friend, Dawana, who had moved to Cincinnati in 2007, was in town. She randomly stopped by our house really quick just to pick something up and it made me miss old times and our friendship so much. So I gave her a quick hug and saw her out, as I shut the front door behind her, I turned and looked to my husband Jeff, and said "Can we move to Cincy, I miss Wana." And Jeff said "If you can get a job that makes what I earn, we will move wherever you want." I was shocked, I couldn't believe what he said. Was he serious? YES, he was! 

So I started looking that day for jobs in surrounding cities for a Graphic Design job. Long story short I got a couple interviews in different areas in February and started as a "Re-toucher" for a packaging company on March 2nd. The business is based in Cincinnati, Ohio and we are looking for a home in Hebron, Kentucky.

breakfast

my favorite time of day is when Grant and I come downstairs for breakfast and we put on praise music in the kitchen.

I sing and Grant has recently started singing with me too. He also sways back and forth with the songs. It blesses my heart so much to see my adorable little man praising God. So I wanted to share!

Captivating

I am reading the book Captivating by the Eldredges.

I just finished chapter 3. I don't read very fast. I am trying to take my time especially with this book though because it has been so eye opening for me.

So far the book is about how we as women have specific "God-qualities" in our make-up as women. I was trying to wrap my head around all the book was saying and then there was this sentance.

God is not a harlot.

It caught me so off-guard. But it really opened my eyes. God does give himself away just anyone. He wants to be pursued. He wants us to want him. He wants to be loved.

This has totally changed my perspective on how I handle my relationship with the Lord. I must pursue Him, I must show him that I want and desire to spend time with Him. Then he will see that I am serious about a relationship with Him. That I do not take it lightly. That I am committed to Him!

Then God will trust me & open up his heart to me more than he ever has before.

And to truely know the heart of God would be such an overwhelming honor and blessing!

praise first

A couple days ago, Grant needed a bath as SOON as he woke up in the morning. Such a pleasant discovery!

He LOVES to play in the bath. So I got out my bible and thought, while he is splashing around I will sit in the hallway and keep an eye on him and do my quiet time with Jesus. So I opened up my bible and turned to the verses for the day (My bible has a weekly devotional plan in it, so I usually just follow along) I read the verses, read through the whole devotional and... nothing.

I didn't get anything out of it. nothing. I felt like I did something wrong. God has been speaking to me so much lately. His word has just been jumping off the page. So I started flipping through my bible looking for passages that had been highlighted, hoping to find the verse God wanted me to see so He could speak to me that day... nothing. 

I am sure we have all had days where this has happend to us. At least I hope I am not alone. 

I thought, 'Well, maybe it is because I am half focused on Grant and can't give God my 100% undivided attention.' But as the day went on God started to show me something... after Grant's bath we went downstairs and had breakfast. We always turn on praise & worship music in the kitchen in the morning to start our day our right. Then to get in the car to go run errands around town, we have praise and worship music playing. I started to soak in the Lord's presence.

And then God started to speak to me.

He brought to my mind the Lord's Prayer: (Matthew 6:9-13)

    ⁹ Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
   ¹⁰ May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
   ¹¹ Give us today our daily bread,
   ¹² and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
   ¹³ And don’t let us be lead into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

PRAISE COMES FIRST! The first line of the Lord's Prayer is Praise! Before we ask anything of God, He deserves to be praised & glorified! Before I can get into His word and ask Him to reveal Himself to me, I must to praise Him, because he is so worthy! Praise sets the atmosphere for His spirit to come in. That is why in church we praise first. To set the atmosphere for God's presence. Once I am in His presence He can speak to me and reveal things in His word to me.

That night after having a day filled with worship, I got my bible back out and asked God to please speak to me. We had such a beautiful quite time together. He is so wonderful. I love Him.

sweet aroma

I have been wanting to write out scriptures and post them around my house so that we can see and read God's words to us all day everyday. So I was going through my bible re-reading verses I had highlighted long ago that jumped out to me.  And I found a lot to write down, but one that jumped out to me was 2 Corinthians 2:14-16:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.

Wherever we go as believers we carry God's fragrance with us. Like a perfume, you can't see it, but it is on our skin, and anyone near us can't deny that it is there. I love that when I seek God with my whole heart He is with me so close as a perfume. And that everyone I encounter can not deny that it is there.  

And we are a sweet smelling aroma to God, I like to think that as I worship Him my aroma rises to His throne. Think of that for a second! That when we worship Him with songs or dance or sharing His message with others or just having compassion on someone it comes before His throne as a sweet aroma. I can just imagine my God closing his eyes and breathing it in, taking a big breath through his nose, and smiling. How awesome! When we live for Him, worship Him, we make Him smile! Wow! The Lord of all things, the King of everything, the Creator of the World... I make HIM smile? 

I am so blessed. The Lord of all things wants to have a relationship with me (and you) and I make Him smile! WOW!!!

inspired

2 years ago this month I found out I was pregnant for the first time. We hadn't been trying, but hadn't been preventing either. At first I didn't think I was ready & I knew my life (our life) was about to change DRAMATICALLY.  Looking back now on how I freaked out, I think it was so silly because now we have this amazing little man in our lives that I can't imagine living without. 

So once I found out I was pregnant, I read somewhere to not make life-altering decisions when you are pregnant. (I think it was the Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy) Wow should I have listened! I found out I was pregnant in February 2009, quit my job in April to pursue photography full time, went into business with another photographer in May, decided that wasn't going to work out so I disolved the partnership in August, photographed 12 weddings that summer (standing on a ladder at ALL of them - pregnant), re-arranged our house so we could have a nursery for the baby and an office for my photography. It was quite an interesting 9 months to say the least. However, I can't regret any decisions I made because they all taught us something & brought us to the place in our lives we are now. 

Grant Wallace Little was born November 3, 2009. 

He is such a little adorable blessing. Each day he surprises me. I love the innocence and the curiosity of a child. And then the other day in my bible I read Matthew 19:14  But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Our Father loves the little children, their innocence, their imagination, their unwavering belief. That verse reminds me to strive to be more like a kid with faith. To believe in Him uncontrollably & to have a crazy imagination that God can do anything! 

Haha, that is so not where I was wanting to go with this post. Anyways, what I WANTED to share with you is what inspired me to write a PERSONAL blog. I have a blog for my business too, but I have never had a personal one. ( http://littleimages.blogspot.com/ ) So if you didn't know me before, now you know I have a photography business. Last year was huge for my business. So huge that "staying home with Grant & working at the same time" didn't happen. We had to get childcare for Grant at least 3 days a week so that I could get all my work done. It was a busy year! Which is good, but it slowed down in December and I have been being a "full-time" stay-at-home mom since.

So since I am a very social person and the only person I have to talk to all day is a 15 month old. I just wanted a place where I could share. Share what is going on with me, what Grant is doing that is cute, and most important what God is teaching me. 

He is teaching me so much everyday and I just have to share it! I have share how very awesome He is! I started really seeking the Lord again in December, when my life slowed down and I took a good long look at my life. My priorities had gotten all out of wack. I am going to be really honest right here and say that Jesus wasn't first, in fact I don't think he was even 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6th. I think work had become first and family second, Jesus got lost somewhere, and it was time to put him back where he belonged. As the #1 priority, on the throne in my life. So I have been making CHOOSING to seek Him everyday. A friend of mine posted on her blog:

“I will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One.” -Psalm 132:4-5  I do not want my eyelids to close at the end of the day without dwelling in the Lord’s presence.

I feel that has become my goal as well. Whether it is worshiping Him to praise music on the iPod while I do dishes, or just reading a verse or two, praying & asking him to reveal Himself to me through the little things each day. I must get with Him at least once a day. He must become and remain my #1 priority. 

I love the Lord so much, and I am excited to share what He is teaching me. I hope this blog finds you and will encourage you to also seek the Lord and grow in Him

Amen!