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Alone in a Pile of Problems

We're Amy & Jordan
We're here to help you take amazing photos, build a successful business and live a beautiful life. We're high school sweethearts, parents of three and teachers at heart. 
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Happy Monday, friends!

Honestly, this weekend was not fun for us. We realize we normally share the fun things in our life on this blog, but we also want to share the not-so-glamorous parts with you every once-in-a-while too, so that anyone else who ever feels like they’re alone in a pile of problems will know that they’re not the only ones! There were moments this weekend where we wondered, Does anyone else even have these problems?! Are we the only ones who feel this discouraged? Our to-do list is a mile long and we’re constantly fighting the feeling that we’re “behind,” so if you ever feel the same way, this blog post is for you!

We spent all day and night Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on a massive data storage project (fun, eh?) consolidating everything in our life from our first hard drives in high school up until now. Terabytes upon terabytes of information. It actually had little flashes of fun moments, for sure, like when we found old homemade videos we’d created in college, but, overall, it was a really slow, boring weekend; and, as with anything technological, there were a lot of little hiccups, plenty of frustrations along the way, and maybe even a few what-the-heck-are-we-even-doing?! moments.

But do you know what’s so awesome, friends? Right at the point where we thought, We’re never going to get all this done! and We don’t have time for this right now! God did a couple of really cool things.

On Saturday night, in the middle of one of these huge data transfer messes, we were talking with one of our sweet friends on the other side of the country. We shared our frustrations with her, and, like the good, wise friend that she is, she reminded us of a verse of Scripture that commands us to build our house on rock, not sand. Even though that verse of scripture is about so much more than business, she applied it to something as small and (seemingly) insignificant as data storage and it really hit us! You see, last month and this month, we’re working on tying up the loose ends in our business and re-ravelling the threads that got unraveled with the craziness of our last year. We’re smack dab in the middle of a two-month period of not growing, but refining. Systemizing. Building a foundation that our business desperately needs. But it’s been hard, to be honest, friends, because we’re not doing any of the the things we love about this business right now. We’re not shooting weddings. We’re not teaching workshops. We’re not doing the things that keep us fired up and motivated, and instead, we’re stuck in behind-the-scenes, nitty-gritty work. But you know what? That’s okay! Because in order to do the things we want to do, we have to be willing to do the work we don’t want to do  to make all the other things on our list possible in the first place.

All that said, after our conversation with our friend on Saturday night, we woke up on Sunday morning feeling the effects of the two straight sun-up to sun-down days of date storage fun, and we weren’t in the best mood. Then, we went to church. Now, normally, when we go to our church in person — meaning, we’re not watching online from the road — it feels like the sermon is almost always about rest or priorities. It’s become a joke in our house. It’s like God saves those sermons just. for. us. And we need them! But yesterday, he said a few things that were so perfectly and divinely timed, and so dang applicable, that we just had to share them with you, because they really helped us get through our Sunday, and we hope they help you get through whatever you’re facing this week, too!

1. God is in the resume-building business. He uses our past experiences to prepare us for future opportunities, which means He has us right where He wants us. 

We really needed to hear this one, because sometimes we spend so much time wishing we were “there,” where “everyone else” is. And that is just a lie! It’s so easy to forget about the value of struggle. But we’re learning to be thankful for it and realize all the refinement we’d miss out on if we were already “there.”

2. We have to be careful not to pray for God to reduce the odds in our favor. When He stacks the odds against us, that’s when we need Him most.

Ugh! We’re SO guilty of this! Anyone else? Sometimes we ask God to clear hurdles for us or move mountains out of our way so that we have an easier road to walk, but that’s not the right prayer. That’s us wanting to do everything with our own power and strength, instead of relying on and being dependent upon Him. We need to thank God for the opportunities He’s giving us to grow and seek His wisdom through it.

3. Sometimes we don’t ask God to help us in the smallest things, because they seem too small, but God is big enough to handle it all. 

You know what? We finally prayed about data storage! Seriously! It felt a little weird, but we asked God to give us clarity the to solve the problems in front of us and see them as opportunities for growth instead of “wasted time.” We prayed that everything would get taken care of — and we’re getting there! We felt silly praying for something so small and seemingly insignificant, but this weekend was a great reminded that no problem is too big (or too small!) for God.

Friends, we have no idea what you’re going through this week, today, or maybe even right now, but whatever it is, just know that you’ve got two people who get it. We’re with you! And we hope that you find some peace, like we did, in knowing that, whatever our problems are, they’re just opportunities in disguise.

Bride and Groom

If you liked this post, you may also love It’s Time to Fly.

meet us

Amy & Jordan

We're high school sweethearts who had no formal training in photography, but went from being elementary school teachers to making six figures as full-time photographers. We're teachers at heart (with over 30,000 online course students) and are here to help YOU take amazing photos, build a thriving business and live a beautiful life. As parents to three littles, we're all about making every minute count and love to share what we're learning along the way. We're so glad you're here!
 

Hey friend! we're

meet us

Amy & Jordan

We're high school sweethearts who had no formal training in photography, but went from being elementary school teachers to making six figures as full-time photographers. We're teachers at heart (with over 30,000 online course students) and are here to help YOU take amazing photos, build a thriving business and live a beautiful life. As parents to three littles, we're all about making every minute count and love to share what we're learning along the way. We're so glad you're here!
 

Hey friend! we're

meet us

Amy & Jordan

We're high school sweethearts who had no formal training in photography, but went from being elementary school teachers to making six figures as full-time photographers. We're teachers at heart (with over 30,000 online course students) and are here to help YOU take amazing photos, build a thriving business and live a beautiful life. As parents to three littles, we're all about making every minute count and love to share what we're learning along the way. We're so glad you're here!
 

Hey friend! we're

meet us

Amy & Jordan

We're high school sweethearts who had no formal training in photography, but went from being elementary school teachers to making six figures as full-time photographers. We're teachers at heart (with over 30,000 online course students) and are here to help YOU take amazing photos, build a thriving business and live a beautiful life. As parents to three littles, we're all about making every minute count and love to share what we're learning along the way. We're so glad you're here!
 

Hey friend! we're

meet us

Amy & Jordan

We're high school sweethearts who had no formal training in photography, but went from being elementary school teachers to making six figures as full-time photographers. We're teachers at heart (with over 30,000 online course students) and are here to help YOU take amazing photos, build a thriving business and live a beautiful life. As parents to three littles, we're all about making every minute count and love to share what we're learning along the way. We're so glad you're here!
 

Hey friend! we're

meet us

Amy & Jordan

We're high school sweethearts who had no formal training in photography, but went from being elementary school teachers to making six figures as full-time photographers. We're teachers at heart (with over 30,000 online course students) and are here to help YOU take amazing photos, build a thriving business and live a beautiful life. As parents to three littles, we're all about making every minute count and love to share what we're learning along the way. We're so glad you're here!
 

Hey friend! we're

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