God will provide and open up doors for the desires of your heart, because He put them there with a purpose. This is my story of discovering my creative, artistic side.
Throughout my journey on the Race, I had multiple people come into my life that supported, encouraged, and helped grow my passion for photography. It started with a teammate letting me borrow her camera at a village walk in Mozambique and ended with another teammate lending me her camera for the last three months of the Race. During this journey, God has been healing me of old hurts and setting my mind and heart free, allowing creativity to flow. He has always been a step ahead in providing a means to explore this new passion.
But then God blew my mind.
This past week I attended a week long gathering of recently returned World Racers in Gainesville, Georgia, to allow time for processing the Race and the transition home. We have been told that God can move in BIG ways at Project Search Light, but I was not expecting this.
Thursday night at Project Search Light I had a dream that Justin, an AIM staff member and an encouraging friend, GAVE me his camera. I pushed this aside equating it to the fact we had a lengthy one-on-one on Thursday talking about photography among other things. I went about my Friday as usual, yet every time I saw Justin in session I felt my heart say, “He is going to give you a camera”. Then the evening worship started. I was dancing around and singing in the front row when I happened to look over my shoulder and there was Justin motioning for me to come with him. We went to the cover of the large room we were worshipping in where his wife, Ada, was waiting for us. He introduced the two of us, and then he said, “And we want you to have this camera,” as he handed me his Canon camera.
What??
I cried…. Hard. I could not believe this was actually happening! I gave them both many hugs of gratitude and appreciation in between tears. They said that they think God wants me to have this camera to continue to pursue this passion to show God’s beautiful creations to the world. Later, after I composed myself some, I went over and told them about the dream I had the night before. It was yet another conformation for them.
And the most touching part of this story is the camera he gave me was his camera he bought for and took on his World Race. This camera has traveled the world! It is like me. Great for beginners but has seen much!
God is so cool, guys! He likes to surprise us, make us smile, and give us the desires of our hearts because He is the one who placed them there. I am so grateful to the people God placed in my life this past year that encouraged and mentored me in this new area of expression. You all know who you are, and I thank you for all your words of love and growth!
So now what? I am going to take pictures. Lots of them! I have created a Instagram and Facebook page where I have been posted pictures from my Race. And I will be continuing to add photos on there now that I have a camera! Please go follow, like, and share either or both pages to watch this continuing journey!
