Big Plans. Bigger God.

One thing I learned early in my walk with the Lord : "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." Sounds meaner than it really is. It just means that while you may "know" the direction you'd like your life to head in, God knows a better (and often more exciting) way - if you're willing and committed to letting Him be in charge. Completely in charge.

I've found this to be especially true in the last few months. When we jumped into the deep end to start this business, I really didn't have a vision for what I wanted it to be. I had no idea what I wanted to name it, what type of photography I wanted to "specialize" in, etc. Long story short, the Lord has opened some pretty awesome doors to give me a better idea about what His vision is.

Several weeks ago, if you would have asked me what I was most passionate about in terms of photography, I would have answered 'children'. Hands down. It's where I have most of my experience. I guess it helps that I have two rug-rats of my own. And they have a lot of little rug-rat friends. Needless to say, my portfolio of child photography is relatively deep considering the short amount of time I've been doing this. I knew I wanted to do weddings eventually, but I figured I had missed the boat on the weddings for this calendar year. Several weeks ago, I thought I was being totally unrealistic when I told Tyler my prayer was that God would help me book one wedding by the end of the year. Not that I would actually shoot a wedding by then - just book one. I thought I was setting this ridiculously high bar for both God and myself. God knew better.

About 2 weeks ago, I was standing at the sink washing dishes and started thinking of the financial investment we've made in OrangePeel up to this point. I remember praying, "Lord, I know you've put this vision in my heart. I don't know why, but I'm sure it wasn't to break our bank. Please help me get my foot in the door for shooting weddings." Not 10 min. later, I checked my email and saw a friend from high school had stumbled across my little ol' blog and wanted to talk to me about possibly shooting her wedding. No joke. I wanted to cry. Not tears of sadness, but ones of gratitude. Even now, I'm getting teared up thinking of God's extremely quick response to this house-wife's prayer. She may or may not decide to hire me (her wedding isn't for a while), but it was all the encouragement I needed for that day. 

Get this. Two days later I was hired to second shoot this wedding.  Fewer than two weeks after that, I opened my email to to find a message from a total stranger who had stumbled upon my info through a friend and she wanted to talk to me about my wedding services. It gets better. She was about to put a deposit down on another photographer when she heard about me and decided to wait. Guess what?!?! She hired me instead. Can it get better? Yes. Her wedding is in September. 

Remember that 'tall order' I thought I had placed at God's feet. He's already blown it out of the water. I've already helped shoot one wedding this year, will probably be doing another in July, and I've booked my own wedding for two months from now. God is so good. I think I need to set the bar a bit higher...

So. Here's the deal. I'm gonna make a goal for myself - and make it public. Why make it public? Because I often find that I keep my prayers to myself out of fear. Fear that God might not answer them. Fear that I'll look like a fool for thinking I can actually do something big. 

I want to shoot one wedding a month (on my own...well...with Tyler second shooting) until the end of the year - starting in September. So that leaves me 3 more weddings to book. I still want to continue second shooting for a while. I know that I can only be better by watching and learning from those that have been doing this for a while. I also need your help. Until I have a full website and business cards (all coming soon!) I am still 100% dependent on all of you! Keep spreading the word, people! 

There you have it. My plan. I'm hoping that in three months I'll be able to look back and say that it wasn't God's plan. What?!?! Yeah. That's right. I hope God has something bigger for me. 

-Kami