Jon + Moch Photography

We had the pleasure of taking John and Ashley’s wedding photos in Seattle a couple months ago. The wedding was at Holy Names Academy and the reception was at Lake Union Crew Building. It was such a gorgeous day and John and Ashley are awesome. I’m still amazed at how connected we can feel with the bride and groom and the wedding party by the end of the day. John and Ashley were so great to work with and they made the day perfect!

Meet Sarah, Beautiful Woman of July! Sorry it took a while to get this up but this one is dear to my heart and I wanted to spend a little more time on it. Sarah is a dynamic woman who is an inspiration us all. She is a super-mom and is a beautiful woman inside and out. You will find out just a small bit on why she is incredible from her responses below. Sarah definitely inspires me and I hope you can find inspiration in this issue for Beautiful Woman of the Month :)

Moch: What do you enjoy most about waking up?

Sarah: I love that Christ is waiting for me. Waiting to heal all my pain, answer all my questions, calm all my fears. He reveals, He forgives, He satisfies everything in me.  It makes me want to run down the hallway to sit with Him in my living room each morning.  I am not the same person if I have not been with Christ. I am critical, jealous, insecure, angry, impatient, lustful, materialistic, etc. without the daily plumb line of His presence. Over the years I have learned how fragile I am. Twenty-four hours of built up junk is truly all I can handle before I need some serious soul searching.

My time alone with the Savior may be the only measurable accomplishment of the day, but that is enough. When I had three babies all under the age of four and the only time that the house was consistently quiet was at 2 a.m., that’s when we would meet. I’d nurse my newborn with my Bible open beside her.  It was worth it and the strength and inspiration I received for the next day made up for any amount of sleep I lost.

I have found that not only does this need to be my top priority, but I need to pay attention to the quality of this time. I know I usually need no less than one hour in a totally silent house. Fifteen minutes is just “checking the block” for me, I haven’t settled down enough to be changed. Reading too many books besides the Bible can prove to be futile, too. Having other family members moving around the house is too distracting.  The only exception is the occasional early bird and then that child knows they may lie quietly with their head in my lap until I am finished. No moving or talking. Mommy is with Jesus and that is a sacred thing.  I try to workout after I’ve spent time with God, but if I don’t feel like I’ve been fed yet, I will continue on through my workout time (see 1 Timothy 4:8) and even my shower time. I have to be really honest about the quality of that time; I need at least one truth burning in my heart, something to “chew on” all day, my daily bread.

I hesitate to share this much about my intimacy with God sometimes. I don’t like some of the past responses I’ve received. Some people have instantly put me on a pedestal, “Oh, wow, you are so DEVOUT!”, or they feel totally condemned. “I could never do that, I just won’t even try at all because it looks way too hard.”  I am not doing this because I am strong, frankly, I have enough on my to-do list each day. I am doing this because I am so weak, because I cannot live without His daily influence.  I would do this even if no living soul knew I was doing it.  I am a desperate girl who has finally found a love that satisfies.

Moch: What is the best thing about being a mom?

Sarah: Motherhood is such a powerful time in a woman’s life, there really is no other time like it. God places an eternal being in your home and says, “Teach them everything they need to know about Me and my ways.” G. K. Chesterto put it like this”…How can it be an [important] career to tell other people’s children about mathematics, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe?…[A mother’s] function is laborious… not because it is minute, but because is gigantic.”  How in the world does one do it, how can you be sure to cover everything that must be covered? Where do you even begin?

I believe the answer can be found when you study how Jesus did it. He took twelve men and lived with them, 24/7. He talked, ate, slept, walked, prayed, healed and struggled with them. He would show them how to do things and then have them do it front of him. If they fell on their faces, He’d point out what to do differently the next time. Jesus thought this method was so effective that He hung the entire human race’s hope of salvation on his three years with twelve men. Who would have thought that you could transfer the message of the gospel to the entire world by such a simple means?

What we are ultimately doing is discipling our children.  Mothering is keeping your children at your side, eating with them, modeling for them, practicing ministry with them and correcting them.  This is the simple secret to changing the world. It produces the most solid believers with the deepest roots and then they continue on, making disciples. I may disciple many women over my lifetime, but never again will we have a captive audience for eighteen years straight. The potential to effect the world for Christ is staggering. That is the best thing about being a mom. My mothering is my “magnum opus” as Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web would say, my “greatest life work” because I believe it will change history and rescue many more souls than I could ever have done on my own.

Moch: What can you offer to young moms?

Sarah: Encouragement, practical advice, spiritual inspiration…  let me give you a little background on what I mean by that. Ever since I gave my life to Christ I have been pasionate about the virtues in Titus 2:4-5.  I didn’t find them all neatly packaged in these two verses until a couple of years down the road.  I remember the confirmation I felt that I was indeed being led by the Holy Spirit all that time.  The passage goes like this “Then they [the older women] can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

I may not be much older than other women, but I figure if I have learned even one thing that could make another woman’s path smoother then I want to give it to her. Those seven virtues have burned in my heart from day one; I have wept over them, read book after book, written a couple hundred pages on them and prayed for years. Before marriage I thought it would be the most natural thing in the world to love my husband and children, to be busy at home, to be pure, etc. Surprise surprise! Talk about needing to crucify my flesh. I probably should have clued in when the Bible had to specifically request older women to teach us younger women how to do these things. The motivation to fight through my sin is found in the last part of those verses “so that no one will malign the word of God.” When the Christian women are living in this way, the world has to stop and wonder who is this God that we serve. The world will see Jesus.

Whenever I get a email from a mom who wants help in any of these areas, it becomes one of my top priorities to give her my best answers. Anything from birthday party themes to verses on intimacy issues in their marriage, from how to correct a child to the best price on bananas. If a woman is trying to love her husband and children better or anything from Titus 2:4-5, I want to help her succeed.

Moch: What is your favorite thing about your husband?

Sarah: My husband is faithful to me in every sense of the word. He takes his role as provider very serious and would die trying to take care of me. He is able to gently lead me in life, whereas I’m afraid many men would be intimidated to be  my spiritual leader. But, its more than that, he loves me more unconditionally than I have been loved by an earthly love. I rarely see him lose his temper, even at 2:00am with an incessantly crying child. This is my favorite thing about my husband, in a word, he is “steadfast”.

Moch: What is the most difficult trial you have endured that you would like to share with other ladies?

Sarah: Learning to trust God through my husband has been very difficult several times in my marriage.  I think that Colby’s own human fraility and my fear that maybe he isn’t looking out for my best interest are huge distractions.  Airing my own opinions, especially behind closed doors, has never been a problem and I am Colby’s most trusted confidante. But, it is on those rare occasions when he draws the line in the sand and says, “ I hear you, but I’ve decided that we will go another direction with this. I will try to make this as comfortable as possible for you, but I need to know, are you coming with me… . in your heart, are you coming with me?” that I find out what I’ve made of.  It is in those moments that I see how vulnerable he is to me, too.  Right then, I can choose whether to make him feel completely incapable and lonely or I can affirm his God-given anointing as head of our family. 

The temptation to “give way to fear” (see 1 Peter 3: 6) is overwhelming for me during those times and I have to remember that I am actually trusting God through Colby.  Sometimes I need to just mentally erase my husband from the equation and make it about me and the Lord. Usually, these power struggles revolve around money or parenting, but sometimes its been about major changes in our company or decisions regarding relationships with other families.  Over the years I have slowly learned that 1) my husband doesn’t need a PhD in theology in order to lead me, he is anointed for the job and 2) he can be dead wrong and God will still bless it somehow and we will land on our feet if I am trusting God.

Moch: What do you most enjoy about yourself? ( I know, tough question but its nice to know that its okay to like yourself)

Sarah: Ever since I can remember I have had this little, internal clock ticking inside my spirit. It wispers to me each day and drives me on. Its like I have a compass that God put in me from my early days. My life is so rich and full because the decisions it has led me to. I enjoy that clarity in my life, although I don’t think I can take much credit for it. I was diagnosed with Leukemia when I was four years old and battled with the cancer for the next four years, then after I was married I was in two different, very serious car accidents.  I think those events turned up the volume on my ticking clock. Every day I think about how fragile my life is and how important it is to have my priorities in line with God’s.  I feel very grateful to be given one more day, a few more hours to glorify God and bless people. It doesn’t depress me or terrify me, I just know that life is a wisp of smoke and if you don’t live on purpose you will waste your gift of life.

Two of my favorite verses capture what I feel …

“ … let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith…”

                                          -Hebrews 12:1-2

“Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil. Therefore do not be vague and thoughtless and foolish, but understanding and firmly grasping what the will of the Lord is.”

-Ephesians 5: 15-17 Amplified

Moch: What are some of you passions for life?

Sarah: Besides the ones I’ve already mentioned, I would say that I am passionate about my childrens’ heritage. I want my children to be very confident in what they believe and to know how loved they are. Even their scrapbooks and one-of-kind birthday parties are my way of telling them who they are, that they are loved and wanted and they have so much to give to a hurting world.   My parents did a very good job of that with me and I feel like I get to stand on their shoulders, so to speak.  Now I want my children to stand on my shoulders, to know Christ sooner and love him more deeply, to ask better questions about life and to be spared of  so many of my sins. All this plays out in our family’s political views and priorities in life, our daily conversations and entertainment choices. Even the things my children eat and the toys that are available to them are purposefully chosen so that their minds and bodies are working their best and they can receive what I am trying to instill in them.

Some other things that I love, love, love to do are to restore and decorate.  I love to look at something that someone has forgotten about and see what I could do to make it useful and beautiful again. Hence, the garage saling, thrift stores, gardening, even my love of studying scriptures on subjects that most people have forgotten about.  Restoring and decorating are actually very spiritual and satisfying for me. I feel like God allows me to see the components that are missing and the adjustments that need to be made, then I can change an atmosphere in a room or piece of furniture and in a small way create heaven on earth.  Many times when I am decorating for someone I will pray for that person and ask that the final product will point them toward Jesus, that the peace that comes into the room will testify to the reality of God.

Moch: Who is a role model in your life?

Sarah: One of the most influential women in my life is actually someone I’ve never met, she is from the 1700s.  Her name was Sarah  Edwards, she married the preacher Jonathan Edwards and together they raised  eleven children and started the First Great Awakening, a massive revival that swept America. I love to read about her love for God and the way she handled things at home.  Several years ago I read a book called Marriage to a Difficult Man by Elisabeth Dodds and was so challenged. Jonathan is called a difficult man because his sermons were so “controversial” (i.e. biblical) that they suffered financial loss and broken friendships because of them. Sarah had such a vision for her family in every way and the legacy she left the world inspires me. Among the Edwards’ descendents there were 300 preachers, 65 college professors, 13 university presidents, 60 authors, 3 congressmen, and a vice president of the United States. Astounding. All because she sold out for the Lord and lived Titus 2:4-5 during her lifetime.