The Spirit and the Bride Together Testify (My personal journal this week.)

4-3-25

My brother ended up stopping by today so that his daughters could play with Faith. While the girls were playing, he brought up a concept that he had been learning about and my spirit perked up. Through a Bible class, he was learning about “Love Feasts.” He talked about how during Bible times, especially during the early church, that the believers, the brothers, and sisters-in-Christ, would meet together over meals called Love Feasts. Their “church” time, their testifying and preaching times were had over meals together. He mentioned that there wasn’t church pews or rows of seating but people sitting together around tables and food, that we went from an emphasis on food during “church” to just a small segment called “communion” in our modern church services. A sad reality, for even church communion is based on the Last Supper which was a Passover Seder meal in which Jesus preached and testified one of His most important messages, and all over a meal around a table.

My spirit perked up with this concept because of what had happened to me on Purim. When going in to grab some beautiful food that represented the Feasts of the Lord at a gathering I was attending, God got ahold of my heart. The best I can describe it is that God hugged my heart and I felt pure love. In that moment I heard Him say, “Come to the table. Come to the table.” Fellowship and food matter to God. He is the Bread of Life after all and all of God’s Biblical Feasts revolve around the harvesttime of different foods in Isreal for a reason. God is speaking. In fact, the day before this, my friend whom I had invited to the L’dor V’dor (“From Generation to Generation”) Passover Seder told me that she had bought tickets for her whole family. She said that at first that she almost didn’t because of the cost and not entirely wanting to go, until God convicted her, reminding her of how much money she had spent lately on takeout food and frivolous spending and things. He pointed out that if she was willing to do that that she should be willing to spend the same amount or less on a Passover Feast celebration. How will we use our time? We need to use our time wisely, rehearsing and testifying in preparation for the True Love Feast that is upon us, the wedding Feast of the Lamb.  

4-5-25

Knowing that I was going to be photographing my first wedding without my husband Joe tomorrow, I began to lift this to the Lord. I didn’t understand why God didn’t want him there especially knowing the symbolism that I was about to walk into, for I knew that I was going to be photographing a bride being handed over to her groom on a bridge. Joe is not able to attend due to his work having their annual inventory.

Well, I believe that God answered my concerns for a friend ended up messaging me an article that talked about Passover. It talked about how the book of Exodus is remembered by God as the time when His courtship to His people first began. God reminds His Bride, Israel, of this in Jeremiah 2:2 when He says, “I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.” It also talked about how the Jews throughout history and still to this day, read the Song of Solomon at Passover to commemorate the time when their courtship with God began.

Three things came to my mind after reading this. The first is that I believe that God is showing me that I am going to this wedding alone as a reminder of when my own journey began, my own courtship with the Lord, in order to spend the day reflecting on my first Love. He will always, ultimately be my Ultimate Bridegroom and the One that truly wooed me through my first desert, as well as, every one after.

The second thing that strongly came to my mind is another way that God had proved this point, that He is my True Prince Charming. For, I grew up watching a live-action version of Cinderella. It was my favorite movie growing up. And to me, the man that played the prince was my prince charming. I didn’t have a crush on this man, he was just the Prince Charming that I grew up with. When I thought about Cinderella, even more than the Disney version, this version was my version. Anyway, he passed away less than a week ago. He was 90 years old. I just thought it was strange and not a coincidence that he finally died when he did. He could have died at any time, in any year, but he died right now of all times. So, I just know in my heart that God is reminding me of His rightful place. This man was fantasy, but Jesus is not. Even Joe, as my true love, is fantasy compared to Christ Jesus my King. He will not yield His glory to another, period.  

The final thing that came strongly to my mind is that the culmination of human history is a wedding. It is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, our true Love Feast. Sadly, I don’t believe that this actor knew Jesus which breaks my heart. Don’t make the same mistake. Don’t miss out on your place at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Don’t miss out on your True Prince!

It is Time for Bridge Stories:

 Time to Complete the Bridge

4-7-25

I photographed the wedding yesterday. When I pulled into this Christian ranch, the first thing that I saw was their sign with their logo which was the Star of Bethlehem. I knew God was speaking for He has called me, and all of us, to give birth like Mary to the Word of our testimonies, to experience Christ, the Word, and then to make these experiences know by shining them forth, by being the light of the world. This is what my own Joseph and I’s ministry, Bridge Stories, is all about. It is about letting our stories, our testimonies, become a bridge that leads others to Jesus. God wants to use our modern stories, the same way He did His saints of past generations, to save the lost. In fact, He wants to align our stories with theirs, from generation to generation, in order to form the strongest two-part bridge possible, a truly powerful witness and light. He is the Living Word after all, and He is the Word of our testimonies – of ALL testimonies.

Do you know how you can see a beautiful sunset and try and take a picture to show someone later, only to find that the image is nothing like what you really saw? Well, this is the best way to describe what I saw yesterday, the visual that God laid before me, for I, even I full of words, don’t even believe that my words will paint a picture worthy of the moment. It was beautiful and completely God.

During the reception, I overheard something that the bride said to a guest that I believe I was meant to hear. For, she said that when she first started to plan her wedding that she looked at a lot of Pinterest boards. However, eventually God laid on her heart to let Him be her “board,” to be the One to truly plan it. After she surrendered to this, God instantly gave her a vision of a bridge, along with seeing this bridge on a beautiful day. It rained all week, and so she mentioned how she told God, “The vision was of a beautiful day.” And God was faithful to her vision, for despite all that rain, it truly was a picture-perfect day. There was a blue sky with no wind and a delightful coolness.

My spirit also perked up when I picked up one of their programs to see the verse that they had placed on top, for it was Revelation 19:7, an all too familiar verse to me. In fact, this verse is one God reminded me of right before Joe and I photographed a past wedding where we literally had to help get a bride ready for her wedding day by finding a way to refashion her dress in order to make to fit. Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.”

During the reception she then talked about how she had planned and coordinated her whole wedding, saying jokingly “I don’t recommend it.” I planned and coordinated my entire wedding myself as well. It is a lot of work, but well worth it, and how symbolic. For as that verse alludes to, the bride is the one that is supposed to make herself ready. After a betrothal a bride-to-be usually enters the time of her greatest mobilization, for there is a lot to do. There is a lot of planning and preparation that goes into getting ready for such a big day.  How much truer should this be of us, oh Bride of Christ? It is time to get busy.

When I first arrived, like always, I went right for the wedding dress to take pictures of it. It looked very old and so later when I sat by the bride, I asked her about the dress, knowing that there would be a story behind it. She said that her great-grandmother had made it and that her grandmother had worn it at her wedding. She didn’t even hesitate about wearing it, especially since it didn’t even need to be altered. From generation to generation, I knew God was speaking.

I then went to photograph the groom whom I hadn’t met yet. I thought to myself later about how he looked like a modern Jesus. That if Jesus wore modern wedding clothes that that would be what He looked like. I learned later that my thought was not unique for this idea became a theme during their toasts. In fact, one said that they used to call him “Baby Jesus.” Another told a story about the groom’s young niece, how she once saw a picture of Jesus in someone’s house and asked if it was her uncle. The bride than started her speech by saying, “Everything you heard was true, he looks a lot like Jesus.”

As the guests waited for the ceremony to begin, a man and a woman played beautiful worship songs that all talked about the wedding of the Lamb and being the Bride of Christ. Knowing that the ceremony was going to start on the bridge, I headed up there and stood alone in the middle listening to this God glorifying music, since they had placed a speaker on the bridge. It was a beautiful moment, one that left me in awe and the real awe hadn’t even started yet. The bridge, which I knew in my heart wasn’t by accident, was a two-part bridge, a double arch metal bridge that was the only access to the wedding, the ceremony, and the feast.  

Eventually a man started walking towards me and introduced himself. He was the father of the bride and he was on his way to his position at the far side of the bridge. As he walked away from me, I delighted in the image I was seeing of the father walking alone and then standing alone on the bridge, waiting on the bride.

A little bit later, I walked towards him in order to position myself for his encounter with the bride and we began to talk. As we did, the vehicle bringing the bride and her bridesmaids arrived, positioning their vehicle in a way that blocked the road, allowing no further access to the bridge for latecomers. As we both noticed this, the father said, “If the invited haven’t shown up by now, then it’s too late for them. They are not getting in.” And unlike my wedding, where that shofar trumpet sounded right on time, this wedding was late to start. The invited had had at least an extra twenty minutes in order to arrive, but now time was up.  

When I first saw the bridge, I was a little shocked for I had thought that it would be a bridge over a lake or stream, not a driving bridge. But now, I see the extreme symbolism of this bridge, for as I said, this roadway was the only access to the wedding. Once the wedding began and the feast that followed, the road was closed, period. Do not be left behind!!!  

As the father and I continued to talk, a man made an announcement for all the bridal party and guests to come to the bridge. The women then went to the far side of the bridge and stood near the father, while the men stayed on the other side. The groom stood in the middle of his groomsmen, more towards the middle of the bridge. The bride then got out of her vehicle and approached her father and embraced him tenderly. There were a lot of tears. Hand in hand with the father, she was then escorted to the middle of the bridge. Once there, they were asked “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?” After saying that he did, the father handed her over to the groom. Now, hand-in-hand with each other, the bride whose wedding dress was from generation to generation, along with the groom, who looked like a modernly dressed Jesus, then proceeded off the two-sided bridge. As they started, the men met up with their significant other’s and all the couples followed the bride and groom off the bridge and straight towards the tables set up for the wedding ceremony and feast.  YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP. I was in such awe watching this scene unfold. It was beautiful.    

The sight was filled with beautifully decorated tables with giant loaves of bread in the middle, along with filled champaign style communion cups. After the ceremony, everyone sat down and partook in communion together. IT WAS A LOVE FEAST and I knew it wasn’t by accident that all of this was taking place during the typical church time, a first for me. For, their wedding started at 11 am on a Sunday morning, during church. I partook as well, and let me tell you, I didn’t have a measly oyster cracker and tiny glass of grape juice. No, I had a whole slice of handmade yummy bread and two wine glasses of grape juice, a double portion, all while sitting around a table having fellowship with others. God was speaking.

Passover is crossover. This time last year, I was introduced to this prophetic word and I knew that it wasn’t by accident that our Bridge Stories ministry was officially recognized with a starting date that coincided with Passover. This year, I literally then saw a living modern vision of Jesus crossing over a bridge with His bride leading all His Bride to a Love Feast, or a Passover feast. Next weekend is Passover and Friday night I will be sitting with my family, and now my friends, at L’dor V’dor’s (From Generation to Generation) Passover Seder. I know God is in all of this.

In a place whose logo is the Star of Bethlehem, God literally showed me what we need to do in order to crossover once and for all from death to TRUE life. In fact, I learned from Joe this morning that yesterday at my church, at this exact same moment in time, that the man who often gets up to give prophetic words was giving one that Joe was able to hear. The man said that God wanted to remind us about keeping our lamps lit in preparation for our Bridegroom’s return and our wedding feast to the Lamb. He said that God wanted to remind us about what we should be doing in order to be productive, to be prepared.

Bridge Stories my friends, is about giving birth, like Mary, to the Light, to the Word of our testimonies so that God can use them as a bridge for Jesus to walk across into the hearts of others. Jesus is the true Passover Lamb, and He wants, needs, by God’s design, to crossover us, His people, His ready, hard at work, shining the Light of Jesus Christ, Bride. He already has crossed over the stories of past generations. Now it is time to complete that two-part bridge, to connect our modern stories to theirs, so that He can fully crossover and defeat death and Satan once and for all, so that WE CAN THEN ALL CROSSOVER HAND-IN-HAND WITH THOSE THAT HAVE GONE BEFORE INTO THE TRUE WEDDING FEAST OF THE LAMB. THAT IS A LOVE FEAST for sure!    

The Spirit and the Bride say “Come.”

On my way home, I noticed a cloud in the sky. It was the only cloud in the sky. It looked like a dove, one white dove with a background of solid blue. I began to think about God giving me a sign of His peace after such a day. But then, I turned on the radio and the first thing I heard were the lyrics “The Spirit and the bride together testify,” and in that moment that heart feeling I had felt “at the table” on Purim returned. God once again hugged my heart and tears filled my eyes. I knew exactly what I was seeing and why. This dove was a sign of the Holy Spirit that along with this Bride, together testify. We together say, as the title of this song proclaims that “The King is Coming.” He is coming SOON! Believe. Believe and get to work Bride of Christ. Our greatest moment of mobilization is here. Join me. Join the Spirit and through your testimonies say to our Ultimate Bridegroom, “Come!”