Even The Little Things

"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." Mark 11:23

I was reminded of a powerful truth in an awesome way this weekend.  God cares about the details, desires and needs in my life; even the smallest, tiniest ones.

As I was preparing for my bridal session a few weekends ago I had a strong desire to bring a prop. Props are kinda the in thing now as they add a dash of fun and pizazz to an otherwise ordinary picture. I don't have the money to buy an old chair or bench, I don't have the resources to design a crazy awesome set and unfortunately I don't know a lot of people who are okay with me borrowing their furniture to stick out in a dirty field. hehe. All that to say, after wracking my brain and trying to come up with something...anything, I came up short and realized that a prop was not in the picture for me and I was bummed. No pun intended. haha. I actually took a minute to pray and ask God to give me peace and help me to always make the most of what I have and to always be grateful in all circumstances. I felt peace after praying and surrendering my little desire to the Lord.  I let it go and didn't think about it again.

About half way into my bridal session I ran into a new friend of mine Christina, (happy birthday to her today!!) who also happens to be a photographer (an awesome one!).  She was finishing up a maternity session and she had brought along an old suitcase as a prop.  And can I just add to the awesomeness of God's glory by telling you that I have NEVER before run into another photographer friend while doing a session and the fact that she happened to have a prop that was so perfect for my bridal session...was most certainly a perfect God thing...perfect.  I glanced at it as I was running around taking pictures and I felt a twinge of "oh man, that is so cool. I wish I had something like that. Oh well." And then it happened...my super awesome friend called out to me, "hey, if you wanna use this suitcase to take some pictures you can totally go for it!" In that moment I didn't even realize the gift that God had just bestowed upon me. I was far too distracted to slow my mind down enough to take in anything eternal. It's sad but, isn't that how we are so often. We become too busy to hear God's voice over the other noise that we have in our lives and too distracted to even recognize His little blessings when they come.

I did in fact take my friend up on her offer and I loved the feel of the old suitcase combined with my bride's awesome cowgirl boots but, it wasn't until I got home, put my daughter to bed and was finally having a quiet moment in my room that the revelation hit me and I was able to hear God's voice. "Casey, I care about you SO much. I care about every little detail in your life. I care about what you care about and I hurt when you hurt. I heard your cry and saw your heart's desire to have something special and I saw you surrender it to me when you couldn't have it. I saw you choose peace and an attitude of gratitude and I wanted nothing more than to bless you child. I always want to bless your life because I love you deeply and I will always provide for you even if what you need is as simple as a prop for your photography.  I may not do things the way you expect or quite like you imagine so don't forget to look for the unexpected.  I will always build you up, encourage you and I will always bless you child."  It really was like that.  A moment of me being silent and receiving God's word and recognizing the gift that He had given me.  It was definitely a sweet moment with the Lord and I received it with open arms.  

See, I have a lot of BIG things going on right now.   I have lots of financial challenges and have even faced the reality of losing my home and other material things that I care about.  I have walked a two year long trial in my marriage involving seemingly untreatable health issues and severe depression that have led to a short term disability for my husband.  I have seen a lot of doors close and very few open.  I have carried more heartache than I ever thought possible.  I have pulled away from a lot of people because of lack of understanding which I do not blame them for and I have pulled away simply because I am weary of trying to be something that I am not.  Sometimes I feel like I am climbing Everest...like everyday, every minute of everyday...well okay, that's a lie, cuz I have no idea what it would feel like to climb Everest and I'm quite sure I would die half way up the mountain but, still...you get me right:).  The thing is, when God reminds me of how much He cares about the littlest details in my life, (such as providing a fabulous suitcase prop at the perfect moment), HE also reminds me that no mountain in my life is too big or immovable for Him.  He always provides.  He's got this.  He's got me... and He's got you!  HE will see me through and he will get me up and over by His power and by His might. Whatever you are dealing with and whatever you are going through both big and small please give it up to Him in prayer today! He cares for you SO much! Our God is awesome! 

Not that any of you have any more time than what I have already sucked out of your day but, if you are interested, check out this site Choose to Speak the Word.  I think the author does an excellent job of elaborating on what I am sharing and I really liked her perspective.  Quite encouraging. 

I will leave you with this super sweet song by Kari Jobe.  God is for us, always...always, always!!