Pursuit 31 North Carolina Beach Retreat by Asheville, NC Wedding and Portrait Photographer

Wow! Where to begin when it comes to Pursuit 31 and what it has meant to meet the past several years?! I started pursuing photography as a hobby when I was around 15 and then after Stephen and I got married in 2010 I started my business. When I first started my business I knew I loved taking pictures and photography, but I was clueless about how to run a business, what sort of gear I needed to buy, what editing programs were the best programs to use and so on. In Spring 2011 another photographer added me to the big Pursuit 31 group and things have took off from there! Pursuit 31 is a Facebook group for Christian women photographers who are striving to honor and pursue God's will not just in their personal life, but also in their business as well.  I honestly at this point can't imagine my life without Pursuit 31! Ask me who my best friends are and I will start listing off women that I have met because of Pursuit 31. I know it sounds a little crazy to say that I have 4000 friends who are all over the world and who just so happen to share the same passion as me for photography and God, but it's honestly the truth. P31 is one of the rare places where I have seen women who truly have hearts to serve others and God and the cattiness/cliques, etc... that can usually be associated with a group of girls is just not present, it is SO refreshing!

Stephen and I are very fortunate every year in the Fall to lead worship at the annual Pursuit 31 Conference in Rome, GA at the Winshape Retreat Center and Karen's belief in us and our abilities has meant so much to me over the past two years! If you are interested in attending the conference this year, you can find out more info. about that here: Pursuit 31 Conference.

For the past two years I have been the regional leader for the Pursuit 31 North Carolina Group and this past weekend in Topsail Island the P31 North Carolina ladies got together for our first ever retreat in a beautiful house by the sea. The theme of our weekend and styled shoot (which you will see more images from later next week) was "Gatsby by The Sea." What amazed me so much over the weekend was how God took a group of relative strangers and unified us within two short days. We came into the weekend as strangers and left as friends! One of the things that God kept speaking through all of us over the weekend was using our gifts for His Kingdom, not letting the labels that others have placed on us and that we have placed on ourselves dictate how we live our lives now....all that matters now is who GOD says we are, and also not living our life or making our business decisions based out of a place of fear. I am a HUGE fan of the She Reads Truth Devotion Plans and I am currently reading through the "She Reads Truth Women in the Bible, Part 3," and one of the most recent things I read from that plan was,"You story is not your sin, your story is His Grace!" I think that perfectly sums up our weekend and what God was whispering into our hearts....on our own we will never be enough, we are flawed, we make mistakes and fall short, but with God we are more than enough!

HUGE HUGE HUGE thank you to Betty Grantham and Lee Johnson who came and donated their time and made all of the meals for us during the retreat! These two made delicious meals, decorated and themed each meal, and loved on all of us as if we were their children!! Also huge thank you to Triple Threat Cupcakes for providing the amazing beach-themed cupcakes, I had one of the banana pudding ones and it was SOOOOOO good!