BESSIE THE BEAST TO BELLE THE BEAUTY

This week has been very exciting, crazy, and bittersweet for me!! Many of you who know me or have worked with me know about Ol’ Bessie (a.k.a. my 1998 Civic)!! All my friends and family even referred to ‘her’ as Ol’ Bessie & she has taught me many character building qualities, that’s for sure. For the past couple years my parents, siblings, and friends have asked me when I would be investing in a new vehicle, but it was just not the right time. When it comes to finances, I am very focused & do not like to spend money or purchase the latest thing just because, especially if it causes more debt… so for me, I had other priorities & why would  I invest in a new car when Bessie ran just ‘fine’ (well, at least she got me from point A to point B)?

I’ll be honest, I’ve had my share of ‘I feel embarrassed’ moments. I mean, I’m a professional wedding photographer & sometimes I roll into very nice and high-end venues in none other than Bessie herself. I wish I could  find the words to tell my clients not to judge me based off of my car. With that being said, do I think any less of those who drive older cars? ABSOLUTELY NOT – I did it for 8 years!! Yes, I had her in high school, college, and 3 years out of college & I was a little sad to see her go. If anything, it kept me focused, reminded me to work hard, and NEVER EVER take for granted the little things in the life of driving a car. Like, I never went to a Drive-thru (not that I would eat fast food either, more for starbucks) because my driver side window got off track every time I rolled the window down. I often had to put the car in park to drive & then back up to reverse because it was too stiff to move from park straight to reverse. I could go on and on about the quirks of Ol’ Bessie because trust me, there are many & I do NOT take for granted the patience & humility I had to learn from her.

Well, the time was approaching for wedding season 2015 & I knew deep down I needed to get a more reliable car to do all the traveling I am about to embark on. Before I knew it, April was upon us and quickly approaching. I began to freak out a little bit because I have a wedding at the end of April that is a little distance away in Ohio & Ol’ Bessie makes us all a little nervous when I make these trips… Not only was April upon us, but my parent’s bought a DQ  and live there & let’s be real, I just needed my dad to test drive vehicles since I have no idea if something is wrong with it. I thought to myself, when is this ever going to happen? The normal feeling of fear began to creep in, but not too long before I began resting of the written Truth & scripture that I have studied over the past year. I have read a lot of the Old Testament & come across numerous times when men in the Bible talked about inquiring upon the Lord for this or that. A part of me thought it might be silly to ‘inquire upon the Lord for a vehicle’, but I believe he is Lord of all & Christ wants to be in a constant relationship with us even in the day to day matters. Instead of fear and worry, I began praying for wisdom, discernment, and the possibility of a new vehicle. Not only did I pray about it, but I Believed in what I was praying about. God is so faithful & within a week, a co-worker of mine began talking about this CRV (I have ALWAYS had my eye on a CRV ) so I started asking her a ton of questions. This was on a Monday & by the end of the week I was test driving this CRV and contacted a few of the Honda ‘guru’s’ to ask their opinion on this & all of them thought it was a pretty amazing deal. Have I mentioned yet, it came with remote starters? My FAVORITE! Anyhow, I instantly felt at peace about it because it was not a coincidence. It all happened so fast & so unexpectedly. Within two & half weeks of praying about it, I purchased the CRV on Monday & sold Ol’ Bessie on Wednesday… just. like. that.  She is gone as of today & it feels a little weird. I also believe that by the time May rolled around I would have a newer CRV, but the journey to purchasing it may have looked totally different if I did not inquire upon the Lord. Maybe I would have spent WAY to much instead of getting this amazing deal or maybe the process would have been beyond stressful. I’m not 100% certain it would have been, but I do believe the Lord provided because I actually asked and believed instead of allowing fear to paralyze the power of His promise and belittle just how much He cares.

Some of you reading this are thinking this is not that big of a deal, but it is for me & super exciting. I was humbly thankful for Bessie for the transportation & the humility I learned along the way. I found that perseverance & remaining faithful goes a long way. Soooooo we are out with Bessie the Beast & in with Belle the Beauty & tonight, I’m simply thankful…

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