Advice Please!

So most of you who know me know how much I am not enjoying school right now. This will be my last semester starting in January bc I will graduatge in May. I just hate it so much I am taking 24 hours in one semester to be done. So basically one semester of academic Sheol and then I will have a bachelors in Anthropology (aka a degree that you literally can do nothing with without getting your masters). I just chose it because I wanted to do something where I learned about different cultures and how they work so I could maybe use it to do some missions work or something...well that hasn't happened...the learning about other cultures that is... and so now I am just doing it to get a degree...which does go farther these days than it used to. But what I want to do is photography. God has lit that passion in me this year and it is taking off that is for sure, but I just am very uneducated about it. I don't know how to use photoshop...deal with lighting, exposures or anything else...the pictures I have done have turned out as good as by the GRACE OF GOD... literally. So all that said I have $5,000 left to spend toward college. and here is where the dillemma/ need for advice comes in.

I really believe photography is what God wants me to do. it is what i have a true passion for when it comes to occupations and He continues to open doors for that... I haven't opened any myself which is such a good feeling...and I pray He will grant me the grace to continue to walk in that patience and let Him keep working through it. But I just have this thought in my heart (different than a thought in your head...ya know what I mean?) that maybe I should stop this other degree and go to photography school. I mean I only have $5,000 to spend toward school right now. So it is one of the other right now if you know what I mean. I can spend it at UAB and finish my degree in Anthro...or stop that for now...I mean I really can finish that at anytime...and go to school for photography and be able to do more with that. Photography has the potential to bring in great money...and who knows... if I decide to go that route... I can still take like one Anthro class at a time through the years and be done with that degree in like 2 years. And in the mean time I can go to hotography school...learn how to actually be a true life photographer and be able to take on more higher paying jobs which in turn can pay for me to finish my other degree.

Now I won't pretend to be more disciplined than I truly am and say that if I do not finish this Anthro degree next semester...then I may not finish it ever. Which may be okay since I am not learning anything anyways...but who knows. Maybe I will use it one day...maybe I just need to shift directions for a while... its not like my classes disappear if I skip a semester...I don't know. Just want to get others opinions. So drop me a comment or message if you can. I'd appreciate.

Whatever it is... To HIM be the glory.
Rach

it is here

Finals week... Lord help me... Come on December 9th!

At last

I am here. One of my favorite places...Gloucester/Boston. I don't know that I could ever live here (who knows..maybe one day I could)...but I love it all the same! I am so excited to be here with my sweet friends Amanda and Josh. I love them and a visit is long over due! Amanda and I are about to head to a cute little place in Gloucester called Sugar Magnolias, to get lunch then to the Lonely Gull coffee shop to just chill for a bit. Ah I am in much need of some chill time, especially in a different place.

It is nice to get away from the norm and daily rut. Especially right now for me. Looking forward to Albany tomorrow. I've never been to upstate NY. I think there may be snow too! I hope so very much.

Well I am out for now. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

oh my

Well not knowing what day it was I was about to write the Thursday Thought... it is definitely Tuesday. I am losing my mind. I fly out to Boston today to visit on of my other families...the Cannons... for Thanksgiving. I am so very excited.

I will most likely have delays considering there is a blizzard in Detroit (my connection) and a hguh storm in Boston...so there may be many posts today. I have a few poems/songs/writings/ call them what you like to type out.

But today I think I'll switch it up

The Tuesday Thought.

I have no song today, but i do have a good thought.

"I need Africa more than Africa needs me."
-Thanks Jeremy

Photos For Sale

Check out my site: RachelJonesPhotography.com

I have added a "purchase" button so now you can buy prints directly off my website.

Good timing for Christmas too! And much cheaper than my previous redbubble site.

Tune Tuesday

Come on everyone! Get in the mood!! It is only like 40 for the high today!



It's the hap happiest season of all!

Come on December

So this is my last regular week of class. Next week is Tgiving week and I only have class Monday and half of tuesday.... then off to Boston/Albany and then back for 1 week of exams and then I am DOOOOOONNNNEEEEEE!

I have never been more ready for a semester to be over. This was the hardest semester of college for me by far...pray that I pass every class!!!

Next semester = 24 hours of class.

Crazy? Possibly.

I just want to be done. I am excited about my clases next semester though. This was just not a fun semester for class.

Well time for my last paper.

Hallelujah!

Thursday Thought

Surely man, at his best, is a mere breath.
-King David

Tune Tuesday

Well thank you to my good friend Kristin Riley for telling me about this artist.
This is Wonder-Dummied by Brooke Waggoner

Ahhhh

Well after a loooonnnng Sunday afternoon/night I am done editing. Hallelujah. Here are some of my favorite shots from the wedding.

Full Gallery Here

1,300

That's how many photos I took today. It was my first wedding. Let me tell you. I don't love to shoot weddings. I do not want to be a wedding photographer. It was fun don't get me wrong, just not my niche if you will. I am absolutely exhausted. I have 2 other potential weddings in my future which I will be excited about when they get here, but luckily that isn't until next summer so I have a break from weddings for a bit. I still have 432 photos to process...and I might just fall over. Going to bed... this can wait.
Adios!

Pictures will be on the site and FB tomorrow (Lord Willing)

Maybe its just me

But I would definitely rather be strange than boring.

Can I just say

I just love fall...here are a few of my favorite shots I took in the city the other day.

Thursday Thought

A few thoughts from Francis Chan...one of my favorite people in the whole world.

The world is full of people full of knowledge of God. This is not a bad thing...at all. But when is the last time you met someone who was absolutly head over heels in love with the person Jesus Christ.

Have you lost your sense of awe that you are allowed to enter into the presence of the almighty God? What has prayer become to you? If we embrace the fact that when someone tells you they are going to pray for you or you tell someone the same we are actually coming to the foot of the throne....it could change everything.

Humility is not self degradation. Numbers 12:3 reads "Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the earth." Who is the author of Numbers again? Humility is thinking more about others and about God than you do yourself.

Why I do what I do

So I am officially tired of hearing election schmolitics mumbo jumbo. So no fear. No politics here.

I was just thinking today how thankful I am for the gift of photography God has given me. I had a minor kink in "MY" plans with it recently but it just helped me remember God is the giver of all good things and in return he can take them away just as quick as He gives them. But He is gracious to us even when we are selfish.

But I was just thinking today about what I do. Photography. It is such a blessing. When I do a shoot, whether it be around the city or with people I really do enter into a state of worship. Now I know that may sounds a bit weird, but I mean in the most real/non-cliche way possible. I really do feel God's hand so much, it is as if He takes the picture. It just puts me in that "awe" mood. You know what I mean, that moment when you just feel the Spirit stirring so deep in side of you that the only thing you want to say is "wow". It's not just with nature either, although that one is an easy "wow" moment for me when I just take in what God has so awesomely made, but it is with people too. I get to see people all the time, and I know that God made them, every last detail about them. When you let that sink in it really will change your heart.

PEOPLE ARE BEAUTIFUL. Every last one of them...and God has allowed me to see that, through a lens a lot of times, but also just in life in general. People amaze me. We are all so different, and praise the Lord for that! But you know what I mean I look at some people and I just think wow I love so much about them but then there are the ones who you secretly think "they absolutely annoys the crap out of me" and God has taught me that it is in those moments, if I just pray (radical idea I know :) ) for them and THANK GOD for them and the good things about them, then benefit that comes from that moment far out weighs anything that could have come out of my selfish, annoyed reaction.

Okay I am veering from the topic at hand but I just wanted to write a post and express my heart about why I do what I do... and summed up... it is for the glory of God. The fame and renown of His name. My prayer every day is that if by chance I begin to use this gift for me that He would take it away. Who knew a lens and a digic processor could create such opportunities to worship the God who is before all, in all, and holds all together.

I am so blessed. My heart is so full of joy lately. God is working something big in me. And I am so excited to be able to come along for the ride. He has just given me such a love for people...and photography...one that I could not, in my flesh, stir up on my own. Oh that God would grant me the grace to carry His name in worthy manner to all these people...whether it be through a lens or not.

Tune Tuesday

I need You by The Swift

Absolutely love this song. The words are so real. It is a branch off of the old hymn "I need Thee" which is one of my favorites. This clip starts with him singing the hymn then it goes into the song I need You. Listen to the words. The sounds is a bit busy so I put the words under as well. Seriously what an awesome prayer. Straight from my heart.

My heart is restless in me
My wings are all worn out
Im walking in the wilderness
And I cannot get out
I need You, oh I need You
Blessed savior come
I need You, oh I need You
Fill the every longing of my soul
Oh how I need You Lord
I need Your perfect word
With tearful eyes I see
The sin that I afford
I need to weep and pray
For all the thousand ways
That I have failed You just today
And my bed is soaked with sadness
My sadness has no end
A downward spiral of despair
That I keep falling in
I need You, oh I need You
To You my soul shall fly
I need You, oh I need You
Yahweh how I love you more than life
Oh how I need You Lord
I need Your perfect word
With tearful eyes I see
The sin that I afford
I need to weep and pray
For all the thousand ways
That I have failed You just today
Your silence is like death to me
So wont You hear my desperate plea
Today my soul is soaring
Way over mountains high
Though I can see the valleys
They are all just passing by
Its not that I am stronger
Look at my feeble wings
But Ive been lifted higher
Yahwehs lifted me in His own strength
Oh how I love You Lord
I love your perfect word
With tearful eyes I see
The God who always will endure
Now I will celebrate
For all the thousand ways
That you have shown me grace
And made my heart in grace to stay
You made my heart in grace to stay
Lord, make my heart in grace to stay
I need You, oh I need You

New Photos

well today I had writers block so I took a break and went to some of my favorite places in the city and took some pics. I got a new lens so quality has improved quite a bit. Check them out on the site
RachelJonesPhotography.com
or FaceBook..

Peace

Simply Worship

two words...

But I.

Listening to Louie Giglio's talk "Simply Worship".

How often do I forget that it is only by the blood of Jesus Christ can I approach the throne of God. How often do I enter Sundays or Wednesdays or whatever day we may corporately gather to worship together and stand there so complacent and sing and occasionally raise my hands in praise. I am so convicted of this.

God loves me more than I love myself. His love is higher and deeper than I can ever imagine. He is enthroned on high and His robe fills the temple and seraphim circle him day in and day out saying Holy Holy Holy. God is the best thing that there is. Jesus is God come down. There was a cross. There was a sacrifice. He gave everything for me. But is it about me? NO

The church exists for God. I exist for God.

This is a lot of mumbling I know. There are so many thoughts in my head!

So convicted. When's the last time we left a Sunday morning service asking God what He thought about the service instead of talking about the music, the transitions and what we would change. So so convicted.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord

I love how Job says this after it seems like everything has been taken away from him. Such a humbling reminder. Everything is the Lords. Nothing we have is ours, so who are we to be upset when it is taken away. Now granted God does not expect us to never be sad when something we enjoy or love is taken away. He is not a God with a stick waiting to smack us when we are perfect. He understands. He left heaven, came to earth and lived among us, flesh Himself...I think that qualifies Him as understanding. But it is when we place so much value in our possessions that we lose focus of what really matters, His glory, that He is disappointed in us.

It is all just stuff. We came with nothing. We will leave with nothing.

Something I love has been taken away. Upset? yes. Angry? no. The Lord knows what I need, and when I need it and in my eyes this is something I need right now, but I cannot see past this breath, as much as I like to think I can sometimes, I simply cannot. He is outside of time. He knows no limits and everything in the earth is His. If he wanted me to have it, I would. He is not God who plays tricks on us. He is a good Father, a perfect one in fact, who knows how to give amazingly awesome gifts, even gifts that come in the form of taking a possession away.

So even though I am minus something that meant a lot to me, and in return I have to form some new habits, God is still God, and in the end it won't matter in eternity one bit. What will matter is how I spend my time. How much of it I use for myself, and how much I spend sitting at the feet of my Savior. I am a selfish person...to the utmost degree... but God is full of grace..and loves to lavish it down on us. What a gift indeed.

God has blessed me with physical possessions so much, as long as I can remember, but I have come to realize that the biggest gift he grants me is the grace to see the value of things the way He see it.

His glory= worth everything
Everything else (and yes I mean everything)=Worthless

Cuan Grande es Dios- How great is our God