So long 2009

2009. It really has been a great year. A big year. A lot happened in my life this year.
I graduated college.
I traveled to 8 different countries.
I moved to away from Birmingham and from everything I know to Atlanta where I know no one.

I know that is only 3 things but they are, in my opinion, very major things.

College. I never thought I'd say this but I miss it. I miss the flexible schedule, the variety it provided, the interaction with peers. And yes sometimes I even miss studying. I do not miss the papers, the pointless assignments and the arrogant teachers :) I took 24 credit hours my last semester. I also juggled the responsibility of selling a house and working 20 hours a week. Needless to say once May arrived I was in much need of a break :) That leads to the summer...

I had the most awesome summer traveling all over the world and tell people the awesome story that is the gospel. I started out in Costa Rica. Then headed to the Dominican Republic with my family and a few others and finished up in Europe with a group of young adults from my home church in Birmingham. All in all it was the best 3 months I can remember. I love traveling more than anything and I was so blessed to have that opportunity.

Once back from all of my world travels I had to make a major decision. I had felt a call from the Lord for me to move to Atlanta. for a while, but the timing was never right. Now I was through with school and jobless... I established pretty quickly that this was a pretty good time.
To be completely honest when I finally made the decision to move I had no idea if it is what God really wanted. I knew I wanted to do it and I hadn't heard a no from God so I decided to jump. I moved in with a friend that I had met volunteering at Passion City Church back in the spring. I began the job search and quickly hit a wall. I couldn't find a job. So I spent two painful months doing absolutely nothing but sitting at Starbucks sitting at every single day. If you know me, you know how miserable I was. I began thinking about moving back to Birmingham. My friend Abby convinced me to come work at Gap in Birmingham so I decided to spend the holidays at home and really try to discern what the Lord wanted me to do.

I asked God to show me what He wanted me to do by either providing or withholding a job for me in Atlanta. On the 13th I decided to look on craigslist one last time and came across a job for a home manager. I emailed the family and even though they had received responses from several people they really liked me and are even involved in the same circle I am here in Atlanta. The way the small details of that worked out completely confirmed in my heart that God wanted me to stay in Atlanta.

So with all that said 2010 will no doubt be an incredible year.

One thing that I have learned from all of this is that it is so hard to not base your joy in your circumstances. As children of God we have the awesome ability to maintain joy no matter what our circumstances. It has been easy for me to be extremely joyful as I am riding a bus through the countryside of Montenegro and really not joyful when I am sitting alone in a Starbucks in a suburb of Atlanta. I am not even remotely close to being a master of it by any means, but I am so thankful that God is very patient with me as He teaches me to rejoice in Him always.

I learned a lot about myself this year. I am not a very open minded person. I have often accepted things I have been taught all my life with out questioning the veracity of them. I am often more judgmental than I should or want to be. I am selfish. I am more outgoing than I thought I was. I am more afraid of change than I thought I was.

I hope most of those change in 2010... and Lord willing they will. I exist for Him. And I'm clinging to the promise that He isn't through with me yet!

Changes Changes Changes

To be completely honest... I totally forgot that I had a blog. I remembered today and since my posts have been few and very far between I am highly doubtful that anyone reads my stuff anymore. BUT just incase there is someone out there who wants to know what is going on in the life of me I will give a quick update:

I moved to Atlanta back in October. I live with my friend Samantha in her house in Alpharetta. I just really felt God call me to this city and I still to this day have no idea why. I spent most of the months of October and November looking for a job. Applied several places and never heard back. This made me question my decision to move... because I was highly qualified for all of the jobs that I applied for. There was no reason that I was not getting hired. So my sweet friend Abby told me to apply at the Gap in Birmingham at which she is the manager. I was a little hesitant at first because I felt like I was giving up too fast, but I also new that money was going to run out soon and I needed to do something besides sit at Starbucks everyday. So I decided to come back to Birmingham from Thanksgiving until Christmas and really use that time to pray and seek what the Lord would have me do about Atlanta. So I started working at Gap and began praying. I knew that a certain sign from God would be a job. I prayed that He would let me know where He wanted me by either providing a job in Atlanta... which meant I could stay there... or not... which meant I would come back to Birmingham. So I prayed and prayed and nothing happened... and I was fully prepared to go back to Atlanta, pack up my stuff, and say goodbye to a city I was just getting to know. But then one day I decided to look on craigslist to see if any new job postings had come up. There was an add for a home manager. I had no idea what that meant so I clicked on it and long story short it sounded awesome, I emailed the family, they felt like I was just what they had been praying for and offered me a job. The small details that unfolded in the midst of all of that is really how I knew it was from God, but just the fact that I had a job waiting for me in Atlanta when I get back was confirmation enough for me. I knew once again that God had opened a door.

I am not one to test God... and I usually stray away from asking God for a sign, but I had no choice this time. I knew that if God didn't give me a clear opportunity to stay then I was going to have to start all over, back in Birmingham. He did open a door though. I don't know why I so often feel like He is not in complete control. I have such a short memory.

So... I am volunteering for Passion 2010 and after that I will meet this sweet family and begin working for them in January. They have 5 kids and I can't wait to see how God is going to use me in their lives and them in mine.

I am still not totally sure why I am in Atlanta, but for now I am going to stop trying to figure out the mind and ways of God and just take it one day at a time...walking in the way He has laid out for me now. I too often get so caught up in looking to the future that i forget to embrace right now. That is definitely something I want to work on in 2010.

So there you have it. The brief update on my life... if you made it this far thanks so much for caring enough to read all of that.

Trust Him. He has it all figured out.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 (The Message)

23-24May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it!

Last Christmas... I wrote this blog

So I was browsing through some of my old blogs and decided to look back one year ago. This is what I found:



I know Christmas is over but I just had some random thoughts last night as I was lying in bed that I thought I'd write down since I am here at the church by myself with really nothing to do...

Isn't it funny that at Christmas time everyone sings songs of Christ and His birth whether they know Him or not. They don't think twice about it. I passed people in the mall on Wednesday singing Silent Night-Joy to the World etc. and it just kind of hit me. Do they know joy...real joy.. or what happened that night? They know the songs and do not hesitate to sing about it, but do they know? A lot of who sing don't know the One they sing about. Just goes to show how easy it is to put on a mask that says "I have it under control" and "This Christian thing is easy". I think especially living in the South it is so easy to say or claim one thing and live another.

Second random thought- I had to stop by Walgreen's yesterday to get something for Christmas lunch and since it was the only place open on Christmas day I found myself on an isle that contain everything from mac and cheese to laundry detergent to light bulbs. Multi purpose to the max I guess... but then I went over to the "cold isle" to get milk and notice a man standing at the frozen dinners and for some reason it just made my heart hurt. He was an older man...probably 50s maybe 60s deciding on a frozen dinner for Christmas lunch. And I just thought I wonder how many people are like him today. No family- trading in the turkey, ham and dressing for a lean cuisine...now considering my circumstances I could not invite him to dinner with us, but it just made me question how good of a job the church is doing. I know I am so convicted of the bubble I hide in. My little SMI bubble. I seldom reach out of it to love on those who are not around me. I know it is probably cliche and may even sound a little naive of me but wouldn't it be awesome if, because of the church, there wasn't anyone who had to spend Christmas alone. We have the Remedy...why do we chose to hoard it so much? I am the guiltiest of us all at hiding within the shadow of my own comfort. It just made me think about it. The day that I spent with family and more food than could have possibly been eaten was not so plesant for everyone. There were empty hearts-empty stomachs.

Just food for thought... OH and to end my walgreens experience the guy checking out after me began placing bottles of Imodium AD on the counter...I started counting...18 bottles... I guess Grandma's cooking didn't go over so well.
-December 2009

Photos for a Cause- Compassion Sale

I absolutely cannot believe that it is already the Holiday season. It is my favorite time of the year by far, but it always seems to sneak up on me.

One thing that always seems to burden my heart this time of year is gift giving. I love to give gifts. It is one of my favorite things in life, especially when you know that what you are about to give someone is something that they are going to cherish. What an awesome feeling! But if you are like me the question is always... what does this person that I want to buy for need... usually the answer is... absolutely nothing. I know if you asked me right now what I wanted or needed for Christmas it would take me a few minutes to even think of something I wanted that I don't have or can't get pretty easily. Think about it for a second... what do you really need. Make sure you are defining the word need the way it needs to be defined. Hard isn't it.

I was blessed to travel to 8 different countries this year. Traveling is my favorite thing to do. I think the Lord wired me to move around... go places... see things. Along with travel comes exposure. Exposure to life. Not the American life that I see everyday, but life where things are not okay. Life where enough and plenty is not a common concept. Life where people die everyday from lack of the most basic of things. Food. Water. Clothing. Things I take for granted every single day. We are a blessed nation. A blessed group of people. But not everyone is as fortunate... in fact... the majority are not as fortunate.

Now this would normally be the part where I would throw some statistics at you to make you see how bad off people all over the world really are. But if we can be honest for a minute I think we all already know. I have seen it first hand. Up close. You may not have. And that is okay.

But we all know that not everyone has enough. Enough food, Enough water, Enough shelter. So this Holiday season I would like to propose an small and humble alternative to the normal gift giving.

Last year I had this idea and it turned out way better than I could have ever expected so I thought why not try it again.
For the month of November and December you can go to my website RachelJonesPhotography.com and purchase any print from my galleries and 100% of the profit will go to Compassion International. Also this year, 100% of the profit from any shoot booked for the month of November or December will go to Compassion International.

What is Compassion International you ask?
Compassion International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.

Founded by the Rev. Everett Swanson in 1952, Compassion began providing Korean War orphans with food, shelter, education and health care, as well as Christian training.

Today, Compassion helps more than 1 million children in 25 countries.

For more info on Compassion International you can visit www.Compassion.com

So for those of you who are fans of bullet points (like me) here is how it works:

- Browse through the galleries
- Find a photo or photos you would like to purchase
- Click on the Compassion Sale option at the top of the home page.
- On that page you will find a paypal button. Follow the steps from there and chose your size and quantities.
- After you have completed the paypal process then go to the contact tab at the top of the home page of my website. Simply put your name, email address, and then in the comments section put;
1. The name of the gallery in which the photo is found
2. The number ID of the photo(s) you ordered (photo ID is the number located in the top right corner of each photo)
3. Quantity of each photo.
Click Submit and you are done!
Your photos will ship to you within 10 days of your order.

Thanks for taking the time to even consider helping out in this way.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Very Merry Christmas!

Pictures of Egypt

No explanation necessary.

Life.

I don’t want to leave here
I don’t want to stay
It feels like pinching to me either way
The places I long for the most
Are the places where I’ve been
They are calling after me like a long lost friend

It’s not about losing faith
It’s not about trust
It’s all about comfortable
When you move so much
The place I was wasn’t perfect
But I had found a way to live
It wasn’t milk or honey
But then neither is this

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I"ve learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

The past is so tangible
I know it by heart
Familiar things are never easy to discard
I was dying for some freedom
But now I hesitate to go
Caught between the promise
And the things I know


If it comes too quick
I may not recognize it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?
If it comes too quick
I may not appreciate it
Is that the reason behind all this time and sand?

Sara Groves

The First Job

The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.

We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through. He never talked vague, idealistic gas, When He said, "Be perfect," He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; harder- in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a wild bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad....

This is the whole of Christianity. There is nothing else. It is so east to get muddled about that. It is east to think that the Church has a lot of different objects- education,. building, missions, holding services. Just as it is easy to think the State has a lot of different objects- military, political, economic, and what not. But in a way things are much simpler than that. The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden- that is what the State is there for...

In the same way the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.

Clive Staples Lewis.

He Holds My Hand

The steps of a man are established by the LORD,
And He delights in his way.
When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong,
Because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.

Psalm 37:23-24