A New Adventure

     A week ago, I started a new job that God gave me in customer service, working from home. Like any new job, the first few days were stressful due to all the newness. By day three, I was settling into my new routine and starting to learn about the computer programs for my job.

    It has been an interesting first week working from home. The first two days were stressful due to technical glitches. By Wednesday, they were fixed, and it has been smooth sailing since. The trainer is great and is doing his best to make sure we are all on board and understand everything he is teaching us. So many jobs these days just throw you into the deep end and hope you can swim. With this job, you have to be trained. Thankfully this company sees that need and gives time to do so.

    I love not having a commute. I know a few people who enjoy their commute, and I'm happy for them. I am not one of them. I feel like a commute is simply a waste of time. There are other things I could be doing instead of driving. Mainly chores around our home. Yes, I am aware my opinion on a commute being a "waste of time" does not make much sense. A commute is simply a part of life. I have tried to use that time for prayer, podcasts, etc. But despite my love of routine, I do not enjoy that part. Maybe I just don't like driving. I am enjoying my commute from our bedroom to the living room.

    I am thankful that with this new job, Blessing is not home alone all day. Meaning that if my hubby and I have somewhere to be in the evening I no longer feel bad for going out because Blessing has had company and freedom in our apartment all day. It has been fun watching her move from her bed, crate, mat by the door, and bed in our room throughout the day. She was really confused the first two days when I was home, but by Wednesday, she started to understand and now understands when mom is "at work" vs "at home."

    Another very exciting outcome of working from home is that I no longer need my steel-toe boots and can wear skits, dresses, and all things girly. 

    It is also not a physically draining job. I have energy after work now. For the last four years, my jobs have been physically intense, and by Friday, I am dragging myself to work. This Friday, I had energy all day. It was a rather exciting feeling. Sure, I assume it will be mentally draining at some point. It is customer service. But for now, I am enjoying not feeling drained.

    On my last day at the factory, I was thinking about how I would miss not having coworkers to talk to during break, and I do. I also discovered that during my break times I can get chores around my home done, where before I would be thinking about them all day and be making lists of them. Now I simply get a few things done on break, and when the work day is done, I don't need to worry about them.

    On Wednesday, I did groceries after work, and it felt so satisfying and exciting that I didn't need to shower before going to Walmart because I wasn't covered in dust, dirt, and sweat.

    Basically, this job is everything I have been wanting for years and I am very thankful for it.

    Now I am praying for the right shift time. During training, you are on the day shift. Once that is complete, they will be assigning us to shifts based on business needs. I am praying for the day shift starting at 7 am and not the afternoon shift.

    I realize that over the last two years with Covid-19 that many of you transitioned from working in an office to working from home. What was your experience like? Did you enjoy working from home or would you rather go to the office?

    I pray this post finds you well and that you have a blessed new day and week.

God Bless

~Hannah

Not my usual editing style, I was playing around with Paint.net and like how this photo turned out.

Obedience = Blessing

    Recently God and I have been on a personal development journey. He has been teaching me about my self-worth, with the understanding that I would not be leaving my job without learning this lesson. Plus, when God says He has something to teach you, you have two choices, obey or go kicking and screaming. After a few seconds of kicking and screaming, I obeyed.

    After God and I finished my lesson and, were both satisfied with the results, I started thinking about my next job. I looked over Indeed a little and saved a few posts but hadn't applied yet. The entire week (from the 30th to the 3rd) I was having brain fog and didn't take any initiative in my job search. I was not sure what was causing the brain fog, but I was too tired to fight it. Now I know it was God because He wanted to bless me.

    Then on Friday, June 3rd, God sent me an email from a company in the customer service industry that  I had applied to when I applied to my current job but turned down because they were not paying enough. Since then, they have figured out how much people need to make.

    I knew it was a mass email that was sent to many people, but, I also knew it was from God. So I applied. The field I wanted and the pay I needed.

    Tuesday, June 7th, I was contacted to set up an interview. I picked the Friday of this week for my interview. Figured I should give my supervisor a little notice that I would need to get off work a little early.

    On Wednesday, June 8th, at lunchtime, I saw a voice mail on my phone. It was from the recruitment department of the company I applied to. Saying that they wanted to move up the interview up so that it, along with a background check (dealing with customer's personal information) could be completed before lunchtime on Friday because they wanted to have me start orientation on Monday, June 13th. In three business days. So I reschedule the interview for Thursday after work and told my coworkers that I was expecting to leave my current job a whole lot sooner than expected. No, I did not have a job offer at that point but I as watched God work I got the feeling I was going to get it. Talk about a hectic lunch break. I was expecting to eat my salad and enjoy visiting with my coworkers. God had other plans. Typical. 😉

    The next day, Thursday, I had the interview and received a job offer at the end of the call. Customer Service, working from home, good pay, no more dirty, smelly factory, goodbye steel toe boots. Okay, I will miss my boots. We have gone through several jobs and lots of life together, but it's time to put them on the shelf for a while. Heck, this will be the first time in five years I will be able to come home from work and sit down on my couch before taking a shower and not worrying about getting my couch dirty from my work clothes. I will no longer have a "work wardrobe" and a "personal wardrobe." I can pack up all my "tomboy" clothes and pack them away.

    I have been praying for this job for three years now, and God has answered my prayers. As much as I enjoy my steel-toe boots, I love shirts, dresses, and high heels and want to wear them regularly and not just on Sundays. Yes, I have worn makeup to work off and on, and sometimes do my hair, but it just feels like a waste of time and product if it will be covered over by dirt in an hour. Seriously, last month I sanded raw spoilers. To those of you who have spoilers on your car. Enjoy. Like most car parts, there is a long and very detailed process to getting it onto your car. I would come home dirtier than my husband, who works in a mechanic shop.

     This morning when I got dressed I was so excited to put a skirt on with a pretty top knowing that I would be doing this a whole lot more often now and it makes me excited. I can finally go to work as the girly girl that I am and not worry about getting all dirty.

    If you are waiting on God to answer a prayer, don't lose faith. He is listening and He has a plan. Yes, it's hard to hear that in the middle of your frustration. I too get annoyed when I think I know better than God and "know" what He should be doing. Obedience is not always easy either though, there are plenty of examples in the Bible and I'm sure in our lives today that show how hard obedience really is. But the good news is that it's worth it. God is a good God and only wants what is best for us, his children.

    So that's my good news friend, and the best part about it is that it had nothing to do with me. It was all God. I simply obeyed God and He blessed me for it.

    I pray that this post blesses you and reminds you that God is faithful and good.

God Bless

~Hannah

The Son rising on a new day and new journey. Hallelujah

Took this picture as a thank you present for a family member and I love how it turned out.

Expectations vs Reality

    I recently decided that I wanted to start blessing people with my photography. I thought I would offer some portrait sessions to some friends and family. My love for photography has been growing recently, but, pictures of flowers and Blessing are getting a little boring. I need to expand my repertoire. I was going to book a session for a family member this Saturday, but by Wednesday I was exhausted and I knew I would have no people skills by Saturday. Then I decided to bless myself with a portrait session with Blessing.

    I spent the next two days getting excited and building myself up for this photoshoot. I wanted to mix a sunrise photoshoot with a portrait set. I've never had people in my sunrise shoots before so I wanted to see how it would go. I had all these ideas for poses and such, but it's harder and more time-consuming when you are both the photographer and the object of the photo. Blessing was a trouper though, she patiently stood around smelling the flowers while I set up the camera and sat nicely during the pictures themselves. What would I do without this dog?

    Turns out, not so easy. Guess I should have done more homework on how to do it. Basically, it's a lot easier if the sun is completely in the sky and not in your face or creating shadows from other angles. I'm sure there is a way to make it all work, I just need to figure out what it is. I also thought that if I  put the camera in portrait mode vs manual mode it would handle all the settings itself, and I wouldn't need to worry about my iso setting. Wrong again. After a little while, I was frustrated and no longer enjoying
myself. We packed up the car and headed home. I tried to convince myself to think of it as a learning experience and not as a failure. But I'm a perfectionist, and when you are a perfectionist, it can be hard to look at a frustrating situation and see it as a learning experience. Before leaving the park, I took a quick inventory of the pictures I had taken and found one that I was happy with and figured with a little editing it would be pretty.

    There is always next time though, and I will plan a little better. It's funny though, I am the queen of planning and organizing. Although now that I am reflecting on it, I realize that my plans don't always work. I tend to overpack my time and energy. I tend to think I can do more stuff in an unreasonable time frame. The really ironic part is that I have friends who are also great planners, but their execution fails or at least lacks much of time time. What I'm trying to say is that a) I need to learn from my mistakes, and b) I need to give others more grace in areas where they struggle because no one is perfect.

    So what areas in your life did you once consider yourself supreme to others? Do you also need some self-reflection? I assume the answer is yes, because, no one is perfect.

    I hope this post finds you at the end of a restful weekend and ready to take on the challenges of next week.

God bless

~Hannah

 The one and only good photo from our photoshoot.

More than a Paycheck.

    It all started when God said I was not leaving my current job. Despite how much I dislike my current job. Thankfully I quickly realized from past experiences that it meant He had something to teach me. So I said, "Okay, I'm listening because I want to get the heck out of this job."

    But then He told me He wanted to teach me about my self-worth, and I knew it would get messy, and I do not like a mess. Thankfully it only took about a week, an ugly tear heart-to-heart with my hubby and a handful of rejection emails from companies I had been applying to before I got on board. God got my attention.

    For most of my life, I have struggled with my self-worth. For most of my adult life, my worth has come from my ability to do. To work and earn a living, to cook/clean. To do anything "productive."

    For the last number of years, weekends have been a struggle because a) I have no routine (something I can/should fix myself)  and b) I am not doing anything "productive" and, therefore, I am worthless. Yes, I am hard on myself. There is nothing wrong with working hard. I was raised by a workaholic and a hard worker who likes to putter around. Neither of those titles is intended to be insulting. I love and respect both of my parents and appreciate the work ethic that they instilled in me.

    But I'm tired of determining my self-worth from the number of hours worked, the size of my paycheck, and how clean my home is. I've known for a long time that I need to go to God for my self-worth, after all, He did create me, and therefore, I should be going to Him for my self-worth. He wanted to tell me I'm valuable, and He wants to tell you too.

    But being the stubborn and independent woman that I am, I wanted to do it on my own. I wanted to earn my worth. All it leads to is stress, anxiety, depression, and exhaustion.

    So after that heart-to-heart with my hubby, he reminded me of my need for Jesus in that area of my life and that only Jesus can tell me that I'm worth it. It was then that I decided that I am tired of feeling this way and time to go to God. Of course, He was happy to listen and teach me just how much I mean to Him.

    I started by digging into my Bible and reading verses and passages about His love for me. Bible verses I have read a thousand times, but I needed the refresher. The Bible says that it is alive and active and sometimes we just need to read a verse with fresh eyes for God to reveal something new to us. A few days later, I had read a handful of Bible verses and was coming to accept my God-given worth. As head-knowledge anyways. Head knowledge is not enough. We need to believe it in our hearts and souls.

    So once I accepted my newfound knowledge of my God-given worth, I received an invitation for a "pre" interview meeting. That way they could put a face to the name and decide if they wanted to bring me in for a full interview. The interview was successful, and it sounded like I would be getting an interview. A few days passed, and I asked God why I hadn't been contacted. He said," You are the one holding yourself back." and I said, "Okay, then we have more work to do." So I started praying that it would go from head knowledge to heart knowledge.

    I was desperately hating my job, getting more miserable with every passing day. But God knew that and I knew I just wanted to get this "lesson" over with so I could get out of this job. Once I confessed to myself and God that I was praying with the wrong motive I started praying for myself and not just to get out of my job.

    By the end of the week, I was praying hard. On Thursday, the "wall" between head versus heart knowledge started to come down. Not all at once, but a good start. The next day, Friday, I spent time at work telling myself that I am more than a paycheck and the "wall" continued to fall. Around noon on Friday, my supervisor came and asked if anyone in my department wanted to work overtime the next day. We all said no. Once he left, I started to feel bad and regretted my decision. I felt the need to work the next day, even though I had made plans and was looking forward to them. I started telling myself that "I'm more than a paycheck." Over and over, I repeated it until the bad feeling went away, and I started to cry tears of joy. Because I finally believe that I am allowed to enjoy the activities I had planned for the weekend and not feel bad for saying no to overtime.

    So there we have it, friends, I finally found my God-given worth and it brings me to tears yet again because I can finally stop striving for the empty "worth" that the world gives and rest in the worth that God has freely given to you and me when He died on the cross for us.

    I don't say all this in a prideful way or in an attention-seeking way. Yes, I know I share my blogs on Facebook, and so much of Facebook is for attention or at least that's what it feels like. I share because I want you to find your worth in Christ too. Whether you are a seasoned believer and need a little reminder. Been a believer for years but never accepted this part, like me. Or, you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior yet. If that last one is you, what are you waiting for? If you are waiting until you are "good" enough, then I have good news for you. God loves every part of you. Mess and all. Plus I hate to burst your bubble, but no one is "good enough," only Jesus.

    So, friends, I'm going to sit back and enjoy my God-given worth and watch a chick flick with Blessing while my hubby is out and not feel guilty.

    And now that I have learned and accepted the lesson God had for me, I will wait and see what job He has for me next and remember that a) He is my provider and b) the number on my paycheck doesn't mean much.

    I pray this post blesses you right where you are today and that you either already know your worth or will soon.

Love

~Hannah

Enjoyed a guilt free morning of photography and captured this beauty outside our front door. 

This little town is starting to grow on me.

Bite-Size Pieces

    I was listening to a sermon the other night on Romans 12:1-2. The pastor said there was a lot to learn from these two simple verses. As I enjoyed the message, God reminded me of the importance and difference between quality and quantity of time with God. A concept I have known for years but, just like everyone else, needed a little reminder.

    He reminded me that it is better to dig deep into a passage verse than read a chapter. Mainly because I tend to treat reading a chapter like a check list item, and I do not take the time to read everything well.

    It reminded me of a story I heard years ago where a father gave his two children each a muffin. He told them to take the top off the muffin and save it for later. Then they were instructed to eat the bottom of the muffin slowly. So they did. After finishing the bottom, they ate the top (saving the best for last, in my opinion). After they finished eating the top, the father asked if the children were still hungry. Both children said they were full. The reason being is that they took the time to not only enjoy the muffin but also giving them time to digest it properly.

    The same goes for the word of God. When we read quickly, we don't take in nearly as much as we would if we took our time. I have been amazed at how rick a simple paragraph can be and how much God can show me in a small amount of text verse a full chapter.

    There is a time and  place for reading a full chapter or even a book. Group Bible studies are one of those places. Or if you want a bigger picture of what is going on in the passage you are reading. But I have found over the last little while that when I read a smaller passage I remember what I read throughout the day and therefore am also learning more and growing.

    I just looked at my word count for this post and realized how small this one is compared to other posts I have written in the past. I think it is fitting though, a small post for a small yet important message.

    I pray that this post reminds you to continue connecting to God in whatever ways you spend time with Him and check if you are spending quality time or simply a quantity of time with Him.

God Bless

~Hannah

Found these pretty flowers on a little sunrise photoshoot this morning.

God Answers Prayers

    Recently I started looking for a new job. Overtime season was coming to a close at work, and with vaccine requirements reducing, it looked like a good time to find a job that I enjoy. I have spent the last four years in jobs that require steel-toe boots and a fair bit of dust. I am ready to wear my "Sunday best" to work and return to customer service or work in an office setting. The search for a new job began with a lot of prayer and a few resumes submitted.

    One night I was settling into bed and praying over my job search. God said, "step out in faith." So the next day, I got on Indeed and applied to a handful of jobs I had saved over the last few days. Feeling accomplished, I started praying over those submissions and waited for God to answer.

This past week I applied online for a job and then decided to go to the business and hand them a physical copy and show my face. Figured if it is a customer service job, what better way to apply than by showing my face.

    A week goes by without any responses from businesses or God. I felt frustrated. I know job hunting takes more time than that but when God gives you a direction and you follow it, most people want an answer. Or is that just me?

    One evening, Blessing and I are out for our evening walk, and I'm praying and telling God that I am tired of working in dirty factories/ warehouses and tired of my steel-toe boots. (side note, I love my steel toe boots, I live in them, but now I'm tired of them) I was wondering why I had not heard from God and wondered if God and I were in a transition in my prayer life. (I transition between journaling and praying while I walk) Usually, I do not notice that we are in a transition until I feel dry and wonder why I have not heard from God in a bit, and then I change our routine up, and we are back on track. Except I did not think we were in a transition period. Needless to say, I was feeling frustrated and a little lost. As Blessing and I walked, I reflected on the timeline of when God said to step out in faith and realized it had only been a week. I thought it had been longer. Guess I am impatient. The Holy Spirit then reminded me that the teacher is quiet during the test. Meaning, chill out. Go about your routine and chill out. Fine. I'll chill. Or at least I will try. I do not "chill" well, but I will try.

    A few days later, I am at work and was told that we are heading into overtime again (new department). As soon as I heard the news I knew that God was answering my prayer. Just not in the way I wanted, but it was an answer. Not that I want to spend more time in a dusty, dirty factor, but God has other ideas. I know it's God's answer because even though I have no interest in working in this factory, let alone longer hours, my family could use the money. Heck, with everyone trying to recover from Covid and how it has messed with everyone's finance we could all use extra cash. Plus I just got my six-month raise and my benefits. I figured we would use my benefits until I found another job, guess we will be using them a little longer than expected.

    I am not thrilled with God's answer, but I know He has a reason for why I am in this job, and I am going to do my best to have a teachable spirit and learn why He wants me there. Please do not think of me as a saint for that statement. I have simply worked in a few jobs over the last few years, and despite disliking them or at least parts of them, after the job was finished I was able to look back and understand why God had me in those jobs. And seeing how God does not change and always has our best interest at heart, I know He has a reason why I am staying in this job. So I will try not to grumble too much when I look in the mirror after work and see all the dust. 

    God answers prayers according to His will, not ours, and sometimes the answers do not look like what we want. Over the last few days, I have been reflecting on the prayers God has answered for me over the years, and I could not come up with an example of a prayer that did not turn out the way I wanted. Yes, some prayers were not answered in my timeline, but they were always the answer I wanted in the end.

    It has been an interesting experience having God answer prayer and not have it line up the way I wanted. Surprisingly I'm not mad. (Again, don't take that as me saying I'm an incredibly righteous woman of God. I have plenty of flaws). I'm not thrilled by His answer, I'd like to work somewhere cleaner, but I'm not mad or upset. I'm not shaking my fist at heaven, a few months ago, I did when I did not get a job I thought God wanted me to have, and instead, God gave me the job I have now. Guess you could say I have grown in the last few months, which is always a good thing, especially for a believer in Jesus Christ. If you are not growing in your faith and relationship with God, something is wrong.

    So friends, what prayers has God answered recently that did not turn out the way you wanted? How did you react? Feel convicted yet? 😜 I know I sure did when someone commented on my reaction to God's answer six months ago.

    I pray that this post encourages you, challenges you, and reminds you that not only does God hear our prayers, but He answers them too.

God Bless

~Hannah

Last Sunday Blessing and I went for a sunrise photo walk. Love how this photo turned out.

God truly is an incredible artist and has blessed me with a few photography skills along the way.

Why Hannah? Why Not.

     Why Hannah? For starters, it is a beautiful name. It is also a younger name whereas Ruth is an older name.

    I have spent the last year pondering the idea of returning to my first name, Hannah, and then finally on March 2nd, 2022 at around 9 am, I was thinking about it again and having a lot of anxiety over it. Then God spoke, “If you are still thinking about it, it means you want it.” Instantly I felt at peace and knew my decision. Two hours later at lunchtime, I texted my hubby and the rest of my family and informed them of my decision. Then I started telling my coworkers and asked them to make the necessary changes.

    It has been quite the transition for me and everyone around me, but I am thankful that everyone is doing their best.

    When people ask me why I returned to Hannah I do not have a black and white answer. Or at least not one that I think will make sense to anyone.

    I considered going back to Hannah when hubby and I fir got married but it did not feel right. Now it does.

    In the Bible both Hannah and Ruth are important characters, Ruth even has a full book. I spent years relating to Ruth and wanting to reflect her character; loyalty, devotion to family, hard worker, etc. In the last few years, I have found myself relating more to Hannah and her story. She loved God, had a devoted prayer life, and loved her husband.

    This next part may sound a little silly or odd but bear with me. Like I said before, Hannah is a “younger” name compared to Ruth. I consider myself to be a rather “old soul.” More so in personality than character, but still. I would rather curl up in bed at 8:30with my book or journal and Blessing than go to the bar. I enjoy older television shows like Murdock mysteries and Downtown Aby instead of police shows. I find it a little funny that someone my age prefers this life over a “younger” one. So I thought if I returned to my younger name, I might feel younger. Silly, I know. I do not intend to change my lifestyle choices, or start going to the bar.

    Either way, I have fallen in love with my first name and am happy with my decision. The day after I announced my decision to my family and coworkers I started to regret it. I was sitting in my rocking chair reading my Bible before work and wondering if I had made the wrong decision. After a minute of thinking about it, I realized I was still happy with my decision, I just was not looking forward to correcting everyone. As a child, I did not like my first name and a few kids teased me with it and used the nickname Hanhan. It no longer offends me and I have even debated letting people call me that nickname. Although I would rather my full name of Hannah.

    By now I am sure you are wondering why my parents raised me by my middle name and not my first name. Well from my understanding mom and dad like Ruth more than Hannah. Except Ruth Hannah does not flow as nicely as Hannah Ruth. So they picked Hannah Ruth and brought me home and for the first two weeks of my life I was Hannah and then they decided that Ruth suited me better and decided to raise me on Ruth. There was also the bonus that the two women I am named after, Mom's aunt Ruth, and grandmother Hannah, Ruth was still alive when I was born, and sharing a name gave my great aunt and me a special bond that I will always cherish. She is gone now though. So I do not feel bad for “leaving” that name behind and moving on with my new/first name. Hannah.

    So there it is friends, the story of why I have returned to my first name of Hannah.

    Thank you for taking the time and reading along with this post and my other posts and for allowing me to share my hobby with you.

God Bless

~Hannah

                   Today's photo is simply a pretty flower from my mom's garden last summer.