sunflowers

I had fun playing with my camera, back grounds, and lighting for these beauties...








Sunflowers are among my favorites. Meg Ryan, in "You've Got Mail," comments on daisies and says they are a happy flower. I also put sunflowers in that category. They're serving their purpose well in brightening up my days.

I enjoy sunflowers for a couple of reasons along with them being a happy flower:

Some say I have sunflower eyes. Around the pupil of my eyes you can often find a sunflower-type shape in a sort of amber color with a few darker, brown, polka dots throughout. Beyond the sunflower you find the range of color from aqua to variations of green that my eyes have decided to display that day. [they can change color daily.]

Once when being prayed for, a lady said God gave her the picture of a sunflower for me. She went on to share how I had been spending so much time looking and stretching up - like the face of the sunflower, but now it was time to stop, glance down, and see how much I had grown. I was preparing for a very intense ministry trip and was staying at a farm for some intensive preparation and time of prayer before heading out. It was there on that blessed farm after one of our sessions I was told I had been like that of a sunflower for the whole previous year. 

Here's what God had for me: It's time to rest Janelle. Persevering, stretching, growing, refining, all wonderful and God-directed, but it's time to glance down, see how tall you've grown, how far you've come, and allow yourself to rest. Rest in Me. Rest in what I've done in you in the past year. Rest in My sovereignty and know that I will lead you when it is time to get up and walk again, but for now, it's time to rest in the meadow. Your face has been stretched up high toward Me and yearning to grow, but now I am sitting down in this meadow and long for you to lean upon Me and rest, My beautiful sunflower.