Family Traditions

I love hearing about family traditions. Whether it’s getting together once a year for a family reunion, having Sunday Fun-Days, 4^th of July blasts, or venturing out to a tree farm to pick out and cut down you own Christmas tree….the list could go on and on.

This sled belonged to one of my clients grandfather.
She used it with her three grandchildren in transporting their Christmas tree.
What a wonderful tradition.

When talking with people I always ask if they have a family tradition. Some do. Some don’t. Time and time again, what I see in people when I ask if they have a tradition is the light in their eyes. There comes a sparkle of excitement. Even when the response shared is that they don’t have a tradition. There is still that sparkle.

But, what is the sparkle? Is it excitement? Is it the joy in knowing you are or could be part of something? I, personally, think its Hope.

Hope is something we all have in common. It’s something we all cling to.

The family that has a Christmas tradition of getting all dolled up to attend The Nutcracker has hope they might see something a tad different than previous year’s performances. The woman sitting in ICU with her child has hope he will recover from his illness. The homeless man has hope he receives a hot meal to nourish his body and warm shelter to bring him comfort from the weather.

Though the situations are different, we are much the same at heart in having hope. We believe in the hope that is instilled within our hearts.

However, hope is not something we see. Just as the wind. You don’t actually it. You see or feel the results of it. As you close your eyes and turn your face towards the refreshing breeze the wind has brought you inhale experiencing something you can only feel, yet not see.

This Christmas, my prayer for you and your family is that you will experience hope in things you can’t see in a way unimaginable.  I pray you experience the refreshing wind. I pray you have faith beyond the size of a mustard seed. But, most importantly I pray you experience the joy and love of Christ and that He would be your hope. That He would become a tradition you would pass down to your family.

Merry Christmas!

Blessings,

Bo

12/24/2014

For His Glory

I’ve never been a big fan of roller coasters. I remember as a kid there was only one roller coaster I would ride. That was “The Racer” at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio. There were two “Racers”. They did just that….they raced. One went forward and one went backwards. I preferred the one that went backwards just so I didn’t have that feeling of “I’m going to fall out of this seat” or “This car is going to flip over itself” just as I saw the downward hill. I only had to see the sky as the thrill of plunging downward began.

I don’t know if there is much difference in the experience of riding the coaster forward or backward….. Either way your stomach ends up in your throat! At least it always did for me. HA!

I’ve attempted to try a few other coasters in my 49 years….but, yeah….for me...the thrill…not so much! I can live without roller coasters.

But, life itself is a roller coaster. Ups, downs, Sometimes we think we’re going forward when actually we’re going backwards, and then the loops and turns and…..shew…I need off already.

I can truly say God led me to a new amusement ride about three months ago. He guided me in starting a photography business. Now, I had dabbled for a couple years, but it was just that…dabble. It took a couple of months with me battling Him and literally screaming at Him, “Are you crazy?” But, He kept bringing it before me. Finally, I bowed down and became obedient.

I knew, without a doubt, that the business name would have to do with blessings. Beautiful blessings from God. So I went with Beautiful Blessings. When I went to get a domain name….it was taken. Trying to stay on the same track, I thought I’d do Bonita Blessings, since my given name is Bonita and it means beautiful in Spanish. However, that, too, was taken.

Now, I was discouraged. I couldn’t figure out what it was supposed to be called and I didn’t want just any ole name. I hit my knees in prayer and in tears. Begging I asked, “What? What am I doing wrong? If this is supposed to be why is coming up with the name so difficult? Why? I don’t understand.” I prayed and I prayed and I prayed some more.

Then one night about 3:30am I sat straight up in bed and said, “I got it! Why didn’t you say that in the first place?!” I had the name all along.

Heartbeats From Heaven.

Heartbeats From Heaven are Beautiful Blessings.

By the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. James 1:16

From that day forward, my business has been all Gods doing. It’s not my business, it’s His. I’m just the vessel capturing His beautiful blessings.

It's for His glory!

I’m still not so sure what He has planned but I can say, “This ride has been exhilarating!” I know His plan will be magnificent no matter what.

“For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

What has He been speaking into you? Are you kicking and screaming and asking Him if He’s crazy? What would happen in your world if you just trusted Him and became obedient?

Have a little faith and enjoy the ride. I’m certain He has something wonderful planned. Let it be for His glory.

He loves you, you know!?!

Blessings,

Bo 

11/20/2014

If you’d like to see the beautiful blessings I’ve captured through my lens you can find my work at www.heartbeatsfromheaven.com and on Facebook at Heartbeats from Heaven Photography. I’d love to hear what you think!

Not By Chance

The text message read…“GOD’S NOT DEAD.” I knew exactly what that meant and why I had received that text. However, I didn’t recognize the number. Not that it really mattered who sent it but it did matter they thought enough of me to include me in their shout out. 

This is my cousin, Zach, who sent the original message. 

Thanks, Zach for following your heart and sending that text!!

If you’re reading my blog and don’t know why I received that text message then I encourage you to see the movie “God’s Not Dead.”

As I watched my phone blow up with responses of people saying things like “He is Good”, “He is surely alive”, and even “who is this?” all I could do was smile.

Then I received a text from someone I didn’t know. They wanted to know who the original sender was because they didn’t know the number. So I explained who sent the message. The next text read, “I think I was a wrong number.”

"Indeed you were NOT a wrong number!!!! Apparently God intended for you to receive that message” was my reply.

As we text back and forth I found out it was a young lady who was going through some tough struggles and just didn’t know which way to go. Yet…there was her answer. A text from a perfect stranger saying “God’s not dead.”

It was not by chance that she received that text.

God knows exactly when we need to hear His ever soft whisper. 

He knows when we need to see His sign. 

He knows when we need to feel His presence. 

Sometimes…we just need to be still and look up.

I think of that young lady often and pray for her every time she comes to mind. In those moments I send her a text just to let her know I’m praying for her. I never hear back. I often wonder if my simple text is being received right when she needs it. Because it certainly is Not By Chance that she is on my mind.

Where ever you are… know that God’s NOT dead and those small subtle things that happen are not by chance. They are His way of saying….Be Still and Know I am God and I am here for you.

Blessings!

Bo

10/14/2014

Unconditional Love

I type with one finger on my cellphone. I simply cannot master dual thumbs. So when I’m sitting in church and I’m trying to take notes often when I go back to read over my notes I have a good giggle over what I’ve typed trying to decipher what some words are supposed to be. 

This evening as I was spending time in prayer I felt led to go back to my notes from this morning’s message. Much to my amazement I was able to read what I typed. Not only was it not jumbled from me trying to hurry it was all capitalized. The portion of my notes, that I was drawn to, read:

“We must first love ourselves unconditionally before we can love others unconditionally.”

WOW! Think about that for a second.

“We must first love ourselves unconditionally before we can love others unconditionally.”

In scripture we find the two greatest commandments in Mark 12:30-31:

   1.    Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.

   2.    Love your neighbor as yourself.

Love your neighbor as yourself. HA! How on earth do we do that when we are a society that is extremely quick to judge. Without any thought of a possible circumstance at hand we are quick to judge the mother of 4 in line at the grocery store paying for her groceries with food stamps. We are quick to judge the man standing at the red light holding a sign that says, “Will work for food”. We are quick to judge the woman with long beautiful blonde hair walking down the street. We are quick to judge the man driving the red sports car that just went zooming past in the fast lane.

I’m guilty. Are you? Are you guilty of judging someone else without knowing their circumstance? Better yet…are you guilty of judging yourself? Comparing yourself to others and putting yourself down?

If we’re doing all this judging, how on earth are we loving unconditionally? Isn’t unconditional love an accepting love? Maybe, just maybe, if we would ease up and stop our minds in mid thought and just love in the moment we could make a drastic change in not only our lives but the lives of others.

If we aren’t loving ourselves first, how on earth are we supposed to love someone, anyone, else? I’m pretty certain that it would be nearly impossible to love your neighbor as yourself when most of us don’t even like ourselves.

We say such rude things to and about ourselves that if a complete stranger walked up to us and said those things we’d want to throat punch them! So, why is it okay for us to speak so degrading and disrespectful to ourselves?

It’s time to stop!!

Today, I want you to know….I love me. I’m going to love me unconditionally because I’m an unique and divine masterpiece. I’m going to stop judging myself so harshly and forgive myself for the mistakes my flesh has made.

I want to walk forward in this life loving you for all you are and all that you were created to be….no matter who you are! 

So, starting today, I’m choosing to love me in order to be able to do what I’m called to do. Love my neighbors as myself.

No more judging. No more not forgiving myself for my mistakes. No more disrespectful and degrading words about myself in my head. It’s time for me to love me, unconditionally…because it’s what I'm called to do in order to be able to love you unconditionally.

We are made in HIS image. What's there not to love about that????

Blessings~

Bo 

09/29/2014

EVACUATION ROUTE

There are times that the storm is so wicked you can’t seem to escape it. No matter what you do you can’t break free of the cyclone that is crashing in around you. And then…you begin to think about it. You think about it more and more and more. And it becomes stronger and stronger until it has completely consumed your being.

How do you escape the thoughts of the storm? How do you get away and free yourself? The storm seems so strong you’re afraid you might drown.

Ever experienced this? These hopeless feelings of doom where no matter which way you look there seems to be no way out. I’ve been there many times. Too, many to count. And looking back to those circumstance I realized my focus was me and my storm. And that’s all I wanted to focus on. I didn’t want to even fathom the thought of thinking about something else.

In times of a troubled mind we need an evacuation route. Just like people who live on the coast need to know what route to take to escape the hurricane before hits land. Except at this point, our mind is already so consumed with the thoughts of our personal storm that it’s not just hit land it’s embedded upon our being.

More than ever that’s the exact time we need to reach to God. He is our evacuation route. If we cast our fears upon Him He can bring a comfort like no other. He meets us and accepts us right where we are.

He already knows the circumstances. This is a time that needs an evacuation route and that route can be found through prayer. And there is no wrong way to pray. Ever! In my most precious moments of prayer when I can’t think of what to say, I simply whisper, “Jesus. Please help me.”

He is waiting for us to reach to Him. He wants nothing to steal the joy He has given us. NOTHING!

“Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith builds perseverance. Perseverance must be complete so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

Take the evacuation route. Get out of you mind and stop allowing those thoughts to steal your God-given joy.

Blessings~

Bo

09-25-2014 

Chasing Lightening Bugs

The days have been steamy hot with, little to, no breeze. Last night, I was pleasantly surprised by the temperature when I took my dogs outside to play. As one of my 

fur-babies rolled in the grass the other played ball. I believe they, too, were happy to welcome the break of intense heat.

Then, something caught my eye. It was a flash. No, it’ was a small flicker of light in the field behind my house. I experienced one of those moments where you see or hear something and you hold your breath and try not to move until it happens again. And, then, there it was again. And again! And again! Little flickers of fluorescent lights, everywhere.

LIGHTENING BUGS!!

It had been many, many years since I’d seen lightening bugs lighting up the dark like that. I was tickled with excitement. As I sat and watched the light show I reflected back on memories from my childhood. I remembered the joy I had as a little girl just knowing that as the sun began to settle down there, without a doubt, would be thousands of flickering lights for me to run and chase, in hopes of catching. I would see the light, run to it and do everything in my power to catch it. And even though I’d go right to the light, I’d never see the bug unless it was lit up.

Are you old enough to remember those simple days of summer? Can you hear the belly laughter from your inner child and feel the excitement within?

What if? Just, what if…..we chased after God like he was a lightening bug? The excitement! The laughter! Just the joy in knowing He is your faithful light in the field of darkness and He is there even when you don’t see Him.

He is that little flicker of light that brings hope.

He is waiting for us to chase after him with childlike faith and allow Him to light up our world.

What are you waiting for?

Blessings~

Bo

6/21/2014

In The Blink of An Eye

Last weekend my son, Tyler, and his sweetheart, Heather, exchanged wedding vows and began their life partnership. It was beautiful; to say the least.

This photo was taken by The Lovely Lens Photography in St. Louis, Missouri.
 Do not crop or edit this photo in any way.

This afternoon as I sit relaxing under a tree, I’m thinking of all that has come to pass. It’s as though it happened in a blink of an eye. Some things I simply didn’t see and many are a blur.

When I say the wedding was beautiful I don’t mean the bride. She was beyond beautiful. Her everyday beauty, inside and out, is breathtaking. However, on their wedding day she was simply stunning. You could not take your eyes off of her.

Only a few pictures from their photographer, Tammi Camp of The Lovely Lens Photography in St. Louis, Missouri (whom I highly recommend) have been revealed. The other photos I have seen are from family and friends. Looking through those photos I have found myself saying, “I didn’t see that!” or “Where was I?” or “I don’t remember that!” And in my small realm of a mind it’s hard to grasp that those moments happened and I didn’t see or experience them. Especially on the wedding day of my only child.

I don’t have the best memory in the world, but is it possible our minds get so overloaded we literally don’t remember? Before arriving in St. Louis for the wedding my mind was already in a world of chaos. Living states away I simply was not able to be a part of the things I wanted and desired to be part of. I’m sure if I say, “Little girls dream of their wedding day all their lives” you know exactly what I mean. Well, a Mom dreams of things for her children’s wedding day as well.

This is not something I really want to share, but am led to do so. Being brutally honest with myself and sharing with the world I must admit.... there were times when the beast within my body reared its head. My tongue! I allowed my emotions to react and my tongue to whip all because of my own insecurities and selfishness. I’m sad to say, more than once.

Regardless of who you are I’m pretty certain you’ve experienced something similar like this in your lifetime, and maybe even on a daily basis.

James 3:2-5 (ERV)

We all make mistakes. A person who never said anything wrong would be perfect. Someone like that would be able to control their whole body too. We put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us. With these bits we can control their whole body. It is the same with ships. A ship is very big, and it is pushed by strong winds. But a very small rudder controls that ship. And the one who controls the rudder decides where the ship will go. It goes where he wants it to go. It is the same with our tongue. It is a small part of the body, but it can boast about doing great things.

…..and can whip in a blink of an eye! Could this be the reason there are things I didn’t see, or why things seem a blur? Has my mind blocked things from pure shame?

I recently read…… When our hearts desire something more than this world can give, God isn’t ashamed to be called our God.

I jotted that down in my journal and unfortunately I didn’t make note of where I read it. I like to give credit where credit is due.

Those words stuck me like a ball bat. I wanted and desired to be part of things of this world that really didn’t matter. I allowed myself to focus on them and in turn said and did things that should have never been said or done. The words of what I read gave me the assurance that God still loves me even though my focus was not on Him. It was of the world.

Ever since I wrote that statement down I’ve been praying that God would show me a moment during the wedding that wasn’t blurry. For Him to guide me to let go of my focus on, “what I did or didn’t get to do” and “what I did or didn’t get to see.”

In James 4:2 God tells us, “You have not, because you ask not.”

I prayed and asked. He delivered. He not only reminded me of one thing, but several.

1. I was wanted and needed there for my love and support. (No matter what the darkness of my mind said. And even after my tongue got the best of me.)
2. On this day my son was happier than I’ve ever seen him. The glow of his joy filled that entire church.
3. But nearest, dearest and forever etched on my heart and soul…… When I entered the doorway to be ushered down the aisle as mother of the groom, I was not escorted by an usher. My son, whom was standing in the front of the church with his best man and groomsmen came down the aisle, took my arm in his and proudly escorted me to my seat.

These are the things that really matter.

 

This photo was taken by The Lovely Lens Photography in St. Louis, Missouri.
Do not crop or edit this photo in any way.

For those reading who attended the wedding…… This journal is the best I can explain anything. If my actions affected you, I am deeply sorry and pray for your forgiveness.

Blessings~

Bo

06/07/2014