Saved by grace

There I was, wildly worked up and ready to cry, sitting on my bed in a room cluttered with clothes. I had just finished trying on several dozen outfits for school the next day (I was a planner... and knew this routine lasted way too long to save it until morning). I was somewhere around 14 years old and had given up on my mission to no avail. No matter what I put on I could not feel beautiful.

Enter Mom. She knew. Not for any particular reason outside the fact that she had once been a teenage girl, too. She comforted me and helped me decide on an outfit. That alone was sweet enough, but she took it one step further.

The next day I came home from school to find a bag of clothes from my favorite store. My mom had carefully chosen some new pieces of clothing she thought would help my ugly-feeling heart. And, gosh, they did. One of the sweatshirts she got me that day still rests in the back of my closet, a reminder of an act of Love.
......

I grew up in church and am so thankful for the foundation I gained there. In all my years of attending church with my family, though, I didn't learn what it meant to have a relationship with Christ. In high school I discovered that, and my life drastically changed.

You see, I believe that God made man in His image. He made us to be beautiful and loving and kind like He is. I also believe that man separated himself from God when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. Sin continues to separate us from God, thousands of years later, but we thankfully have a Savior. Jesus came to live out Truth and Grace and to die as a sacrifice to atone for our sins. In the ultimate act of love, Jesus paid our debts.

BUT BECAUSE OF HIS GREAT LOVE FOR US, GOD, WHO IS RICH IN MERCY, MADE US ALIVE WITH CHRIST EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN TRANSGRESSIONS—IT IS BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED.
 

EPHESIANS 2:4-5

I have found that the love and grace God gave us is too rich to deny. How can I respond with anything but my best attempt at love and grace in return? I am a sinner saved by God's grace alone, and not by my own doing.

AND ABOVE ALL THESE PUT ON LOVE, WHICH BINDS EVERYTHING TOGETHER IN PERFECT HARMONY.

COLOSSIANS 3:14

This verse has been a long-standing favorite of mine. It was a central theme in my wedding and continues to nudge me in the right direction. I think my mom and I both knew that those new clothes were not going to fix my soul (though my mom's act of kindness was certainly a reflection of God). We must put on something much greater than clothes or outward appearances. We are called to put on the Love of Christ and wear it outwardly.

So, what does all this have to do with you? My mission in photography is to make you feel absolutely beautiful, to help you see God's beauty in you. I want each client I work with to leave our sessions feeling uplifted and confident. I want to pass on the feeling I got in those new clothes from my mom and help you put on the love of Christ.