Sometimes I forget how big God is, and how insignificant I really am. He chose us from the beginning, and continually loves us, yet He lets us choose HIM. A few weeks ago in church, we watched a Louie Giglio video. It started out slow, with my mind wandering and by the end, my eyes were watering. {Which is absolutely not a common occurrence with me.} Watch this clip and then read on into the post.
WOW. WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW???
That was my reaction too. It may be a few days before you close your mouth, I know. :)
I always planned my life in my own little head. I’m sure many of us are guilty of that, but I had an obsession with it. Over the last year, I’ve been pulled from my bubble {O how I love the bubble!} and put into other bubbles, much to my dismay. When God changes our heart, though, we want to only do what he wants us to do. I’ve heard it a ba-dillion jillion times, and it’s more of a reality to me.
Take prayer, for instance. I was never much of a prayer person past meals and times of utter importance {like dying Grandpa’s} and now it’s my source of knowing what to do about anything! Here’s a way God has been answering a prayer I’ve been praying for 4 months. In February, a friend and I had a huge blow up and called our friendship off. We both selfishly said things that tore the other apart…and the day after it happened I wished I could take back everything I’d blasted off. I shouldn’t have talked to anyone that way. Four months went by with me wishing we could reconcile in some way. I finally decided to give him a call and we decided to talk it out yesterday. I wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do, although I knew it needed to be done, and it wouldn’t be easy. {Do Hard Things, right?}
A few months ago I started getting an “Encouraging Word of the Day” email from K-Love …you get a Bible verse sent to your email inbox every morning. Normally I scan it over and think “that was nice”. Yesterday morning, I quickly checked my email and this was the verse of the day:
“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. “
~ Matthew 5:23-24, NLT
--Nuts. Did He have to go and do that? :)
We talked, and see where each other stands. Had free smoothies. And I have a peace about it. Strange as it seems if you knew the whole story, but I have peace. And this morning’s verse was:
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins... “
~ 1 John 1:9, NLT
Hmmmm…
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
~Matthew 7:7, NIV
Prayer is a powerful thing, and so is our GOD!
Welcome to Tuesday! I hope you had a beautiful weekend. Smiles all around for sunshine. :] I’ve had to look over the entries countless times in order to decide who really captured diptych in a unique way and I’ve finally put my finger on it…
The winner of Please Don’t Eat My Daisies’ 2009 Diptych Dare is
Natalie
from Natalie’s journal
Here is Natalie’s entry:
One of the things that stuck out the most to me about this particular diptych was the 2/3 placement. Normally I think of diptych in a horizontal manner but Nat thought outside the box and went vertical. I LovE the eyes peeking over the top…this photo reminds me of girlhood innocence at it’s finest and I think you, Natalie, captured it perfectly.
Congratulations Natalie! You’ve won a complete photography blog makeove…you will receive a new custom made background, header, and button. Please email me at melysephoto@yahoo.com
As for the BONUS giveaway, I’ve used www.random.org to pick the winner and it’s:
Deborah
You have won 1 brand new header for your blog.
Congratulations to both winners and to everyone that entered! I LOVED looking through the different diptychs. I hope you continue to find ways to use them in your photography and blogging. :)
And I’ll post everyone’s entries below so you can see for yourself how differently diptych can be perceived.
These are Joni’s. I loved the post she did about her photos…she has a story for each. :]
And you’ve already seen Natalie’s, so without further ado, here are Mia’s:
Did you notice a new button on the left side of my blog? It’s for Wild Olive Tees that I found through MckMama’s blog. I love finding companies that make awesome shirts with a message. Why advertise for Abercrombie or Hollister {both of which are sister companies and support porn} when we can advertise for our Savior! WAY COOL. :) They are also having an amazing T-shirt giveaway. You can join in HERE.
Here it is! THE photography contest is finally here. I’m thrilled to offer you a Diptych Dare. Some of you phoTogs out there might already be in love with this form of art, it’s my newest addiction. :)
So what IS diptych?
WikiAnswers.com will happily explain:
A diptych is a photograph that uses two different or identical images side by side to form one single artistic statement. The two images can literally be in contact with each other, or separated by a border or frame.
You’ve seen some of my examples already, here are a few I found on various Flickr’s…
Are you ready to try? Read the rules before:
Contest runs from Monday, May 25, 12 am EST -Monday June 8, 12 am EST.
1 Complete photography blog makeover will be given away…you will receive a new custom made background, header, and button.
Blog about your diptych, with the title “Diptych Dare” and post your diptych. Come back here and leave a comment in THIS POST ONLY telling me where to see your work!
BONUS: Subscribe to Please Don’t Eat My Daisies and M. Elyse Photography to receive a chance in my bonus giveaway. Then leave a comment in THIS POST ONLY telling me that you’re a subscriber.
Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
One of my favorite phoTogs, American Mum, has a Fix-It-Friday thing every once in a while. She shows a photo, then shows how she fixed it with Photoshop. Simple as that! So I thought, ‘Hey…I’m always showing people in real life how I use my CS4, why not my internet friends?’ :) So here we go!
I’ll attempt to give you as much info as I can, and where I got the actions I used.
The first thing I did was ‘burn’ the edges. MCP Actions {click Try Me} has some really cool FREE ones…I used MCP Burnt Edges 1-High Res.
^Above, I used the Boutwell Magic Glasses action, also FREE, from Totally Rad Actions.
^Next up, Pioneer Woman. I know many of you drool over her already, and I’m sure you know about her FREE actions as well, right? If you don’t you can get Pioneer Woman Set 1 & Pioneer Woman Set 2. They work really well together…What I used in the photo up there is Slight Lighten from Set 1. I ran this action twice. It all depends on how much you need. Sometimes less is better if you’re going to Boost the color like I will below:
^ Also from Set 1 is my most used action of all, Boost. It just pumps your color and brightens all the details. This photo would be finished then, and I would say it as my ‘color’ copy.
^And the next best thing in PW’s actions set is Seventies. This action just makes cool look, well, cooler. :) It’s in Set 2.
^After I ran Seventies, I bumped up the contrast so the photo doesn’t look glazed over. I go to Layers>Brightness and Contrast…and the I adjust the contrast just a little. I moved the Brightness too.
^I LOVE black and whites. Sometimes too much! The action I ran on this no longer exists to the public, BUT you can use any B/W action {such as PW’s Black and White Beauty} and then here, I brought the Brightness down, and bumped contrast just a little. Here are the finished products!
More details about the photography contest coming next week!
|
|
