About ten years later, here is that same girl today. A young woman with a calling to use her camera all over the world for the honor, praise, and glory of Jesus Christ. So I get to see the world. I get to take pictures. What a dream job, huh? Some of the comments I've gotten have been like the following: "Woah, if I could do what you do - travel the world, man, I'd have THE life." Hmm. If only they'd consider the costs of giving your all to the cause of Jesus Christ. It's more than living a life of "leisure" (so you think) traveling the world and snapping pictures. It means abandoning ALL for the sake of the call. It means going against the grain of normality. It means being labled a "nobody". It means lonliness. It means not being the popular one. It means being told that you're radical and crazy. It means being separated from everything dear and familiar. It means sacrificing sleep (yes. and I LOVE sleep.) It means living out of a suitcase. It means not knowing where your next pay check is coming from and not being able to afford much in this life. It means sacrificing yourSELF to put Christ and others first.
SO. What does it REALLY look like to travel the world and take pictures? Imagine stepping into another country. Another culture. It is here where you are faced with the reality of life. Cows and chickens freely roam in people's yard. Trash and liter are scattered on the ground. Children with smiles as big as the sun, gayfully laugh and wave as they see you pass. The smells are putred. Exaustion hits. Bugs "eat you alive" - and your hands look like they have chicken pox. The sweat drips off of you as the sun beats on you with ferocity. AND THEN you enter into a tin hut. The place where someone calls 'home.' As you sit on a woven rug, you begin to look around the room and are amazing at what you see (or rather DON'T see). Not very many earthy possessions. (hmmm, you dont find any video games, computers, or TVs here.. I wonder what they do all day?) As you begin to talk to the woman who lives in this tin house, tears rolls down your cheeks as you see such a big heart where God resides within. She begins to relate to you a story of how she was determined to trust the Lord for something she needed, and how God provided. She tells you in her broken English, "So don't be afraid to trust God for what you need! He will provide if He wants you to have it."
So my friends, to me, this is THE DREAM. This is THE LIFE. For me, it's worth getting the negative comments I so often get in such negative tones of voice, "Psh!! Where ya headed to this time?? Gosh!!" or "Woah, when do you ever like WORK?" Friends, this IS the work God has called me to. It's not worth it to rake in millions of dollars and have everything I want. It's SO much more wonderful to pour out your life in ministry and service. It makes you realize how small YOU really are.. and how big God is. It makes you want to proclaim GOD to the nations!
Lord willing I'm headed to Thailand this summer to document an ABWE missions trip led by team leaders, Paul & Whitney (http://atkinsonanomalies.blogspot.com/). Who knows what God will do on the trip.. and what he will use out of it for the future! Maybe more opportunties? Only God knows what countries I will one day visit... but this I know: the Lord has said, "...[Leah] Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15.
God calls everyone to different places to be His salt and light. (Sorry Dana and David.. gotta pick on you here) ;-) I'll never forget saying goodbye to one of our New Zealand drivers in the Auckland airport. As he told one of my team mates, Dana (who is most likely getting married this year ;-D), goodbye, he said something like, "Girl, you dont need to travel the world to change the world. You're going to change the world by having a home with your husband and children." WOW. For some reason, that hit rock bottom for me. So wherever God calls you... whether near or far away, YOU CAN AND WILL IMPACT THE WORLD. You will live on in someone else.
I really am SO thankful to everyone of you who have been an encouragement to me.... I am so grateful to the Lord that He brought each and everyone of you into my life! [Sorry, couldn't tag everyone!] :-) THANK YOU to my fellow world impactors! ;-)
"And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go...The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard." Acts 22:10, 14-15
