WHERE
FREEDOM
FALLS

Not only is the world breaking in half politically, but my personal life has been a bucket of hardships, especially in the last 12 months. I have experienced a kind of pain that has been indescribable in divorce, moves, death, loss, and confusion. I have also witnessed my closest friends face painful diagnoses, break ups, death, job loss, marital problems, miscarriages, and familial division, just to name a few. It has all felt so much deeper and more painful than normal. My first thoughts are “gosh, is this just adulthood?” The answer to that is “yes”, but at a second glance, I can’t help but also recognize it for what it is. It is a deeply broken, sinful world where there is an enormous lack of grace and love for one another. A lack of a kind of love that only God can teach us to have. In a time where all I see is pain, division, and zero empathy for others, I have never been so spiritually moved. It has been an absolute reality check of my faith. 

As a small back story, and to get to know me a little bit better, I am 26 years old, and I have grown up in the church as a non-denominational christian my entire life. I have always known the story of Jesus. It has always been a part of my life, and I am so lucky for that. However, inevitably, I have majorly taken it for granted. I have known the bible stories, I’ve memorized verses, I’ve gone to church on Sundays and youth group on Thursdays. I have loved Jesus, but I didn’t truly know what faith meant. And I am going to be honest, I don’t think I truly knew what it meant until this last week. Genuinely. 

This morning, I was on the phone with my mom as I walked to my next gate and I was explaining to her how shaken I have felt by the movement of God in this last week. She said to me, “Maggie, one of my favorite things about life is getting to look back in hindsight and see all of the moments where God has fully worked in our lives, it is just so cool. It is also what helps me to live in the moment, it allows me to not worry about what’s coming and rather just surrender it to him.” 

That is a perspective we should all adopt. She is right. I frequently focus on my pain rather than praising God for what he has turned my pain into. In that moment I felt my throat get tight with emotion because all I felt in my heart was gratitude for what I have endured. In the moments where I didn’t want to be on earth anymore, when I felt like my whole world was shattering with heartbreak. It all went from disgust, sadness, and anger to gratitude. To joy. Happiness. Thankfulness. Peacefulness. and most of all? Faithfulness. God has brought me through every storm, every ache, and every tear.

I tell you this because it’s my testimony to knowing how God works in our lives. As a videographer/photographer of businesses, families, couples, and especially, weddings, I feel so convicted to make this post, today, before I enter my fifth fall wedding season as a vendor to so many of you. I truly love getting to capture your weddings as it is a huge day in your life. However, every year I do this, I also feel discontent knowing that I serve a lot of weddings superficially… and after last week, it is hard for me to imagine posting pictures and videos of love stories when we have experienced so much heartbreak as a country. The wedding industry tends to get shallow and be about the details, the dress, the food, the colors and the contents of the day rather than the marriage itself. Of COURSE I love seeing all the glitz and the glam, but the truth is, it just doesn’t matter. It isn’t going to define your marriage or your ability to withstand what is about to come in challenges and obstacles for the two of you.

So, it’s on my heart to say, to those of you getting married in the next few months, remember that your wedding day is just one day, NOT your whole marriage. Life goes SO inevitably quick, and your time with your spouse is even shorter, something Erika Kirk is experiencing right now with the loss of Charlie. We don’t know what day is our last, and we are not on this earth for very long. So love each other well, you don’t have all the time in the world. Be sacrificial. Be joyful. Be a servant to one another. Ask each other how you can serve each other better. Make the contents of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 be your foundation of love for one another, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 

For your marriage, it’s the first day of you two joining hands and becoming the most important team you will ever be a part of. So loving each other well is imperative. You will face battles together like no other. You will endure pain together in ways you’ve never experienced before. You will be blessed with joyful moments that you’ll never forget. You will determine your outlook and world views, together. Your wins are each other’s wins and your losses are each other’s losses.  I am in absolute awe of the strength that Erika Kirk is representing in the most devastating moment of her life, and yet, is proclaiming her faith in God, despite not understanding why. She lost her husband, her life partner, the father of her children, her best friend. The man she chose to endure life with. 

My favorite verse is John 13:7, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Not everything happens for a reason, biblically that isn’t the truth. If you believe in heaven, then you have to believe in hell too. Just as much as God is at work, so is the enemy. Hell doesn’t want God to win, it doesn’t want us to live forever with the Lord. It causes chaos, brokenness, heartbreak, devastations, and pretty much anything you can name that is painful. Have you ever asked why bad things happen to good people? That is why. The enemy is why bad things happen to good people. He is trying to break us, divide us, and destroy us.

So how does this pertain to marriage? And how does it pertain to Americans right now? If we don't wake up to what is happening and start acknowledging the true spiritual battle that is happening right now, then this is where freedom falls.  We are in times where we need to uplift one another and be a team ready to defeat evil, and that starts in your households. Then it expands to your families, your friends, and your neighbors. The world is getting darker and darker. We can either allow the division to consume us all, or we can rise up, join hands, and conquer evil in the name of God, together. God is bigger than you can ever fathom, and He is far greater than the enemy at play. So what does He do? He makes all horribly bad things into good. In moments when the enemy is trying to create hatred and division, God is using it to heal and bring us together. This is far greater than blue versus red and democrat versus republican. This isn’t about gun laws and first amendment rights, this is about heaven and hell. This is about love versus hate. This is about good versus evil, something we have seriously lost sight of in the last five years.  I truly challenge you to remember what freedom actually means.

If there is one thing that you take away from this, especially in a time where the world is hurting more than ever before, I want you to know that there was a man who walked this earth that gives us the ultimate freedom because he has already felt every ounce of pain you’ve felt. Every trauma, every tear, and every earth shattering thing you have endured, every broken part of you, Jesus paid the ultimate price on the cross for you to have freedom. He died so that you could surrender your sin and freely enter the gates of heaven to spend eternity with God. Even in your sin, even in your imperfectness, in your wrong doings and your mess-ups, He died for all of it so that you could experience His grace and His love. That kind of sacrifice in love IS how WE should love. To our spouses, family, friends, neighbors and strangers. Graciously. Boldly. Bravely. Selflessly.  In a world where it feels like hope is slowly seeping through the cracks of our broken hearts, God is where we find peace. God is where we find refuge for our tired bodies, God is who dries our eyes and is our place to find comfort in the midst of confusion and chaos. That's where freedom rises.

To end this out, I would like to share this sermon from lead pastor, Mark Driscoll, of Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona. This was a sermon he gave a few days ago that is everything to do with what’s been going on these past few days and if there is one thing left to watch in your life, this is the thing. If you would like to watch, you can view it below.












Humbly, I admit, I have felt so lukewarm in my faith lately. I am always nervous to share God’s word and the truth of the bible with others for the sake of not offending anyone. But how is anyone supposed to know the good news, and find TRUE FREEDOM, if I don't also share it? Charlie Kirk was martyred for speaking out his faith, boldly, so I will no longer allow silence to overcome with me out of fear. It's time to speak up and out. It is time to speak against the evil in this world. Charlie's beliefs were founded in faith of our God; since he was killed for having these conversations with the world, I proudly pick up a microphone, alongside millions like me, and will help finish this race. I am so convicted to share this publicly, in the open, and in connection with my business. This is the very foundation of my life and I truly pray that it can be for everyone. So here I am, trusting God, in bold faith, that this will speak to someone. I know that God’s plans are far greater than mine, so rather than living in fear, I live in faith by Him.

To leave this with a prayer, God I pray that you will fill the hearts of those who read this with your spirit, that they would feel your presence and that a fire would ignite within them to want to know more. Lord I ask that you anoint me and anyone else they might reach out to, that this would spark conversation that would glorify you, your goodness, and your word. That it would fly off the pages of the bible and infiltrate the hearts of your people. I lift up all those who are burdened with broken hearts, that they would know your goodness, faithfulness and your love. God give them comfort and peace that surpasses all understanding. And above all, Lord, I pray over every marriage coming into fruition, Lord, that they would bring you to the center of it and allow you to work in them to create a marriage on fire for you. That they would fulfill your good and beautiful purpose. Thank you, God, in advance for all that you are going to do in the middle of such a dark time in our world. 

In Jesus name, Amen. 

I love you all. 

Maggie.

I’m currently on my way home, back to California after spending the last six days enjoying God’s creation in the mountains of Montana. As I am sitting in the Denver airport during my layover, I am reflecting on the last seven days of emotions regarding the tragic events of last week. I begin my fall wedding season this weekend, but I couldn't imagine going on without taking a moment to acknowledge that our freedom is falling. My heart has been so incredibly heavy; a school shooting, an immigrant losing her life on a train by a convicted felon, and the great Charlie Kirk being assassinated for using his first amendment right. Not to mention, a thousand other horrible things that are going on in our world that is crushing. I am heavy. Our world is so broken, the evil residing is becoming so great. In a world where it feels like hope is slowly seeping through the cracks of our broken hearts, where do we find peace? Where do we find refuge for our tired bodies, something to dry our eyes and a place to find comfort in so much confusion and chaos?  Has our freedom completely fallen?