the Word of God (1/10): Genesis 1
in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. in His divine and mighty power, He breathed life into existence. “Let there be light,” He proclaimed over the darkness. “Let us make man in our image,” He commanded over the dust. He saw that it was good.
the Word of God (2/10): Exodus 3
i remember the first time i received a vision for a photo project. this concept of honey and houses and pleasure flooded my brain and it floored me into 3 am creativity, i camped there for hours. i had no doubt that God had spoken to me. the next morning and from then on, i began to battle a ton of insecurity. “i’m not good enough for this,” “i don’t know what i’m doing,” “no one will understand,” i told myself. even still, a group of people said yes and we found a house for our gallons of honey. the night before the shoot, i laid in my bed riddled in self doubt. the same God who brought me a concept told me to read the story of Moses and the burning bush. i didn’t feel like listening and i didn’t feel like reading, so i rolled around on my phone and moped around in my room until i made eye contact with my bible. i’d never read that story before. it brought me to my knees, partly because this story was clothed in insecurity and God’s victory, partly because my Father just knows me and He hears me. a year and a half and a number of projects later, i still struggle with the same insecurity sometimes. there are days when i let how many likes i get on my pictures or how many followers i have define how good i am at photography, and sometimes it keeps me from sharing. however, i’ve learned that i am His vessel, i am a heart of stone that He is slowly chipping away at with every project and every photograph. i will never have a perfect heart, but i do serve a God who is perfect in His timing, artistry, and vision. He speaks through me, even when my photographs are poorly lit, under/oversaturated and incorrectly focussed. i can’t control the effect my photograph will have when it leaves my hands and reaches yours, but my prayer is that you receive it with love, knowing that it came from the complex and divine mind of God, and not me. i am only His vessel.
the Word of God (3/10) Ruth:
Ruth, a woman who runs her race; she chases life boldly and lives passionately for the Lord, even through times of trouble. Boaz, a man whose hands are buried in his face in meditative prayer when he notices her; he seeks the Lord in all he does. He calls out her noble character, then after knowing her for a time learns that she’s even kinder than he first thought. her family calls him Ruth’s guardian redeemer. he pursues her, he loves her, he cherishes her. she allows herself to be loved and love deeply, despite how she’s been hurt in the past. their lives are built upon His love, it is a firm foundation for their relationship.
the Word of God (4/10): Job
suffering teaches us that there is a time for everything and that we must endure times of trial to grow. in this story, Job learns that God is constant through loss, grief and failure. after losing everything he owns, his health and his status, Job falls on his face before God in worship. His faith shows us that God allows suffering in our lives to overwhelm us with our inadequacy and drive us into deeper intimacy with Him. God is not looking for a perfect heart, but rather begging us to run the risk of getting intimate with our brokenness. where our strength ends, His begins. we have been designed for relationship with Him—given a God instinct designed to function in the dark. He’s working in the pain, the mundane, and the waiting. we don’t have a say in our seasons, but we do have a say in our perspective. He is still good. may falling apart feel like coming home. (much of this is inspired or quoted by pastors/podcasts (at red rocks young adults) songs, and quotes from authors. these influences have helped point me to Jesus and the Word during intense times of suffering in my life).
the Word of God (5/10): Jonah
originally i thought i’d be posting one picture from this series every day for 10 days. every day quickly turned to every other turned to days inbetween turned to wanting to quit this little fiasco all together. daily i run away from this simple task God has given me of sharing with people the message He’s put on my heart. i am intimidated by what other people might think of me and what my performance on instagram says about my art. like Jonah, i’m constantly running from God. for me, it’s because i’m afraid. whether fear of rejection on social media, in a friendship, relationship, job, assignment, or fear of physical danger, i’ve been realizing i spend much of my life in this sort of limbo. i’ve been learning that the vessel God chooses to work in and through is not for us to judge; i will never ever have a perfect heart and i know i am the last person who is equipped enough, talented enough, holy enough, or passionate enough to take these photographs that embody God’s heart for His children. i am a sinner. i’m prideful, insecure, jealous, bitter and lazy, but God, who views me through the lens of his perfect son Jesus, cherishes me as His daughter and for some miraculous reason beyond me gives me these visions, a camera and a mousepad to hopefully bring His word to life so that you can experience the same hope, joy and love that His sweet gospel has given me. He has shown me after years that He is still good in the running, pain, failure, and rejection. He has calmed my fear into peace and my sorrow into joy. even when i don’t deserve it, He chases after me.
the Word of God (6/10): Luke 15
this is the pursuit of pleasure—hedonistic trips to spiraling chaos every weekend and slowly every weekend turns to mid afternoon indulgences turns to midnight on a tuesday, wednesday, thursday. temptation infiltrates the mind—it knocks hard and it doesn’t walk home when it’s ignored, it knocks louder. we can’t help but answer and now pleasure tears down these walls and its windy forces swoon in and entangle our souls with sensation. regret and shame wake up next to us and choke us the morning after and the day feels different now. it’s all consuming slowly yet somehow slowly turns to suddenly and suddenly we just don’t feel like ourselves anymore and can’t quite put a finger on why. this darkness makes us dense, the world becomes heavier and it’s burdensome—all the more reason to go numb.
the Word of God (7/10) Romans 10:
but temptation is a sensation and it too will pass. He knocks on the door softly, only entering when invited. when He comes inside He brings a wet cloth and He wipes us clean of our iniquities. Jesus is pure and He drenches us in love that feels like lemon and lavender, He plants fresh soil in our empty souls and sprinkles seeds over the dirt. He waters our hearts and tends to our needs like a sweet gardener, He remains in us. salvation is everlasting. there is life giving freedom and refreshing grace that covers every burden, mistake and trial. salvation is fulfilling—His word is near, it’s alive and it’s active. if we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord and God raised Him from the dead, then we will be saved. in Him old has gone, the new has come. He is the true vine.
the Word of God (8/10): Psalm 19
agh i get so caught up in the labels of life sometimes you know like i’m a student i’m a photographer i’m a daughter i’m a friend i’m a worker i’m a sister i’m a worrier and i remember one night i just wanted to be stripped of these worldly labels and have this moment with Jesus and fall before Him like a child, i was exhausted from caring about all my labels and i just wanted to be jordan you know and i just wanted God to tell me He was proud of me. well that night, a girl i’d never met heard the prayer i wrote in my journal and she called my name over a crowd of people, “someone in here just prayed that they wanted to fall before God like a child.” when i met her she prayed this vision over me: a girl in a white dress in a green meadow dancing with Jesus under the sun. i took this picture before i heard her prayer. God told me while i was taking the picture that He believed in me and then that night a couple weeks later, God told me that He was proud of me. i’m literally crying transcribing this haha because it continues to bring me to my knees that God just literally knows me so well that He would seek me out in a crowd and allow me to literally fall before Him like a child. having a relationship with Jesus is intimate, i’m literally talking to the Creator of the universe when i pray. He’s just so sweet that He calls me by name. nothing is deprived of His warmth!!! God is the sun!! the earth was made with intention and purpose and agh!! we woke up today!! that is reason enough that there is something for us to do, to say, to hear, to show, to give, to receive, it is reason enough that there is a purpose and intention for our lives. nothing is deprived of the warmth of the sun, Jesus chip away at our hearts of stone.
the Word of God (9/10): James
James 5 says that our prayer is powerful and effective, my friends and i have witnessed this to be true—when we pray He hears us. He fills the space with His presence and it’s like medicine to a broken and tired heart. God answers us—He gives us friends to do life with and He does not leave us as orphans. i’ve been learning through constant change that home is not a place, it’s a community.
the Word of God (10/10): John 6
i’ve been uncomfortably vulnerable on instagram this June and it’s been really weird. however, as this series comes to a close, my prayer is that you would feel encouraged to go and do the same. i pray that instagram might become a place where we share our stories for the sake of being vulnerable—for the sake of each other. we are not perfect and we never will be, and that is a very good thing. the human race is filled with passion, and my hope is that you would see the people in these photographs as human, just like the tax collectors, pastors, children, mothers, and kings in scripture. i have been blessed by the people who have chosen to be vulnerable with their stories for the sake of the life-giving Gospel. i hope you feel, through their stories, that the only way to true satisfaction and fulfillment is through an intimate and vulnerable relationship with Jesus. when we are vulnerable, we open ourselves up to pain, but we also open ourselves up to connection, compassion, empathy & growth. the Word of God is alive and active today, it’s relevant and it’s important. there are infinite ways to experience the same day, and all of our stories are unique and orchestrated by God and they matter. i’m not really sure what to do on my end now, but if Jesus is the bread of life, then please consider this as me breaking a piece of the bread which has changed my life literally changed my life and i am never the same, and gifting you with the same unconditional love. He says that whoever comes to Him will never go hungry and that whoever believes in Him will never be thirsty. i’ve learned the secret of contentment this week and it’s Jesus Christ and it’s so freaking hard to believe but if we seal His truth over our hearts then it will set us free, and there will be no more chains no more shame no more guilt—the enemy has come to steal and kill and destroy but Jesus has come to redeem and love and save. you are worthy of love and you are worthy of your future and i pray you take hold of the courage to repent and surrender your burdens because in Him you have new life. the word of the Lord is near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart.