Uncommon Bonds of Fellowship

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. - Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 

Throughout high school, my best friend and I used to read the Bible together over the phone every night and whenever I would jokingly tease her about hurting my feelings, I'd read the first few lines of this scripture. It's honestly not until today, that I read, or at least realized, the last line: "A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." In doing my Beth Moore Bible Study, "David: Seeking A Heart Like His," this line was brought to my attention. The whole message is about two, but in the final line, three is brought into the picture, meaning the presence of God. In the study, this particular lesson was about the uncommon bond of David and Jonathan and their special friendship in 1 Samuel. They were knit, yoked together, almost resembling a marriage, in my opinion. And as I studied more, and arrived upon this final verse in Ecclesiastes, it made so much more sense. The presence of God was alive and active in their friendship, giving them a bond that was not easily matched.

This led me to begin to think more and more about fellowship, which I intend to have a few other blog posts about. As I've grown older, but particularly in this past year, I've become more aware of how people are able to feed into each other's souls. Like, I always knew of this and how "as iron sharpens iron, one person sharpens another" but I guess as I grew older, I've had more opportunities to encounter this phenomenon.

One thing that simply constantly leaves me amazed is how much the glory to God I find is given in the photography and wedding industry. It's really just so exciting and encouraging for me. I seriously stalk (or intently follow via social media...) so many people that ignite this passion inside of me! I wish I could meet them all and send them all cute little gold foiled cards thanking them for just being them... which is probably slightly strange since no one would know who I was, but that's just a byproduct of social media. You inspire people you don't even know about!

I've really enjoyed the opportunities I've had to engage in this fellowship, through friends that I've met, especially this past year through the wonderful girls in my Bible study in both the fall and spring semester, and also the beautiful SMU souls I met this past year as well through Emily! This past weekend, ended up also being a great opportunity to share in fellowship. One of of my oldest friends, Erika, who happens to be a very talented make up artist, and I collaborated with our friend Jacky, who happens to be a model and the recent winner of Miss Arlington USA. She's entering the Miss Texas Pageant competition and needed a few head shots.  I contacted a friend of mine and fellow cohort from Goolsby, Sebastian, who so graciously offered to let us use his studio and was basically our light guru for the day.  From the moment we got a small tour around the place and entered the studio, Sebastian pretty much had everything set up, including the Sunday afternoon playlist, which featured some of my favorite Christian artists.

The whole process was so awesome! Though I've had experience working in a studio before and working with make up artists before, I've never had the opportunity to work in a studio, with a make up artist, professional model, and someone who's actually very skilled with lighting! It was such a cool experience to work with an entire team! And even more so with a group of young, talented Christian individuals who I'm lucky enough to be able to call friends. Even in between the breaks, it was beautiful how well we were all able to get along, to talk about what we were doing, the directions we were hoping to go and just converse on all topics from faith to travel to our opinions on recent events. It's really encouraging seeing what great role models my friends have become and are becoming. All of their talents are so inspiring to me and give me the desire to do more with my life as well. Just being the people they are. I'm so incredibly lucky! Here are a few images from Jacky's shoot. Blog post to come, with many more images, on our Lemons & Tea Blog soon :)

Look at those eyes! Erika did such a phenomenal job!

Jacky even styled her hair all by herself! Loved working with them. Loved it all. I thank God for all of these awesome opportunities He's granted me with and all of the beautiful relationships I've been able to engage in and grow through. I hope all of you have had opportunities of fellowship recently, and if not don't be hesitant pray for some! That's one of the things I did this past March at Campus Harvest and they've been continually so rewarding!