God has been placing it on my heart for about 4-6 weeks to speak about my entrepreneurial journey, specifically 2023. He has woken me out of my sleep at 2am and 3am in the morning multiple times so I wanted to share it with you all.

Background Story

Here is a little background about me. I didn’t come from a family of business owners, so I was new to it. I did not know how to run a business. I just knew that I loved photography and I wanted to figure out a way to do it and be able to supplement my income I was making as an associate architect. I was used to financial security and stability. I lived with my parents until I got married and then me and my husband moved in together. Growing up I never felt like I went without (kudos to my parents) and when I got married my husband landed a job in oil and gas with one of the biggest companies in the world as an engineer. So life was pretty easy. With that job my husband worked overseas for a year in 2015. I went with him, left my job with an offer to come back afterwards, and we purchased my first big girl camera to document this moment in my life. Let's not forget, I am a small town girl that lived at home with my parents until marriage then we moved 4hrs away. That was the extent of me living in another place and on my own. So when we moved across the world, I wanted to document it. Long story short my husband learned how to use the camera and the principles of photography, he taught me everything, and that education was the foundation I used to learn and build my passion in photography. During that year we got pregnant with our first child, we moved back to our home and I went back to work, took a year off after the baby, became a mom, then BOOM life happened. 


My Leap of FAITH!

In 2017 my husband was laid off. We now have a new born baby, we have no family around us, a mortgage, bills, all the things. I was stressed. The only logical thing to do was move back home. My entire family was welcomed with open arms to stay with my parents and we lived with them for about six months while we were in the process of selling our home and trying to find a new one. Jamal started working full time at the engineering firm he interned at during college. During this time I was looking for work as well as taking on photography jobs here and there. Jamal and I booked our first wedding for a whopping $1,500 for photo and video. That may sound like a little but at that time it was definitely God sent. Fast forward I found a job as an associate architect and worked there until COVID hit in 2020 and it was time to go back into the office. I have two kids at this point and I loved being able to be with them. I didn't want to go back. I took the leap of faith! I prayed so hard about the decision and it was a nagging feeling constantly to do it, so I did it. This was truly a faith leap at this point. 

Stepping into a new profession. When you do something you have never done before you feel like you don’t belong in the space or there is something I need to be doing to get more clients and recognition for my work. I felt like I didn’t have the answers so I went looking for the answer in a lot of things. Self help books, courses, advice, vision boards, meditation, a lot of things. I spent so much money on courses it's crazy. Not that they didn't lend any value, but I was putting my hope in things that I shouldn’t have. These things offered temporary fixes like a client here and there, but it was an exhausting circle and almost an impossible task to keep up on my own. 

I quickly realized what I needed was peace. I was stressed. There were more times in the year when I didn’t know if we would be able to pay our mortgage. You could imagine how stressful that can be. Not having a clear forecast of the year or the quarter or the next couple of weeks. Thank God he provided and made a way every month. He kept me in spite of my oversight in leaning on Him fully!

My Surrender Moment!

In 2023 I was determined, I prayed hard for the answers. I know for a fact that Jesus wanted me to try him 100%. He wanted me to seek Him more than seeking success for my business. Everything I tried in my own power did not work. I now know that it was God's way of leading me to Him. Every year our church does The One Year Bible so I was determined to participate and read the Bible for understanding. While looking for business answers I found God. I learned his voice, I saw him in the scripture. I got to know him. I didn’t finish the Bible all the way through but just that one act started it all. I make time for Him now and I enjoy reading His word. I enjoy going to church more because I expect to hear from Him. 

When I started to be intentional with my time with Him the peace of mind that I didn’t even know I was lacking was now present. I felt secure in knowing that I had the source of everything with me. That the ultimate provider was on my side. My prayers changed. “Send me the clients you want me to have, open the doors you want me to walk through and if it’s not for me don’t let it prosper. Allow everything that I do give you Glory. Make it about You and not me”. And with that I went on about my day knowing that all is well. I didn’t try to create an opportunity or do anything in my own power. When I gave it over to God he sustained it. 2023 has gotten better and better. There is peace in knowing King Jesus. I’m a whiteness that when you seek for Him He will meet you where you are. Don’t stress over things that are out of your control, seek Him and all will be well. 

One thing I desire more than money, booking dream clients, and recognition is a peace of mind. Even if I did something that yielded results without God in it, I was stressed, it was hard to get those results and so I’m realizing now coming out of 2023 that my prayer wasn’t to book weddings, or gain recognition. It was Your will be done. He led me to the spaces I needed to be in, the courses I needed to get, the clients that I needed to book. I don’t want to be stressed out about the mundane things of this world and so I just want the things that I need and anything else is God doing above and beyond what I could ever dream or imagine. 

Struggles in life didn’t seem so bad. God made a way because even when I wasn’t seeking him in 2021 and 2022 as hard as I am now, He still made a way. Imagine if you go ALL IN! As I reflect on those times when I didn’t know how we were gonna pay the bills, out of nowhere an opportunity comes or we book a client and our mortgage gets paid. My husband does have an income, we went from two full time incomes to one. He no longer works in engineering now he works in live production at our church. So our income drastically changed from 2015-2020. 

We were trying to keep our head above water. Now I can handle an inquiry that doesn’t book. I have to be patient and wait before I buy a piece of gear that might make my work better. I can be ok if I don’t have as many weddings on the books for the year as I want. I can navigate this business world with confidence, peace, and carefree because I surrender all of it over to God and He has sustained it. If my path doesn’t end with me as a photographer, so be it! It’s all for and about Him.

Read His word and apply His word. Everything you need to know about business is in the Bible. For real there are tangible steps and examples of how to be wise in money management and business. Whatever you need, it's there. Get to know Jesus, read his word, trust His word and live for Him everyday.

Even if you are successfully booking the jobs you want, making the money you want and getting all the recognition, if you’re missing peace or contentment in where you are then this is for you too. If you have no peace in your success then you are missing out on the life God wants for you. The point is, with these gifts God had given us it was given to us for Him to get all the glory. Can we step aside from our wants and desires and give God the space to move? He is a gentleman. He will knock but he won’t force you to open the door. 

2023 Stronger faith

Mid 2023 I decided to start writing down my dreams. Before I go to bed I want to never be apart from God even when I am asleep.

One dream that stood out to me was: I was at some kind of business function. It seemed like a holiday party or something real casual but I knew it was a business function. My friend named Peace was there. I was like “Hey, how are you doing? It’s good to see you” and she was like “Good, oh yeah, God told me to tell you to give Him your business” and I was like oh OK and I immediately knew what that meant. This was a friend named Peace (Jesus is the Prince of Peace) interceding on God’s behalf, (You get to the Father through his Son) saying for me to give Him my business. He wanted me to surrender and wait on Him. 

Now a year later as I write this God has placed it on my heart to share my story and my testimony. I have been woken out of my sleep multiple nights about it. So this is an act of obedience and I hope it can help someone. It is not something I necessarily wanted to do because I don’t like to talk too much about my personal business, especially to people that I may not know, but I know God has been pressing me to say these things. I started typing this Saturday, December 30, 2023. This must be a message He has put on the hearts of many because I have seen this message pop up in my everyday activities. Sure enough, today at church December 31, 2023 my pastor preached this exact message. The same words that woke me up at night. With instruction on how to Seek Him.

If you’re tired of trying everything and you keep feeling defeated or lacking peace He’s calling you to Him so hopefully this helps somebody. This isn’t a course, there isn’t a link asking for your email, just a resource to tell my testimony, be obedient, and hopefully help someone in the process. Thanks for reading!

SERMON TITLE

SEEK FIRST
HEALING PLACE CHURCH