Let's go back a bit. You see, this wasn't something that God hadn't spent years ahead of time preparing me for. I know that you probably don't see it now, but when I was married, I turned into a shell of myself with no confidence about anything. So God built me up gradually, as He is so good at doing (He knows the big picture would scare me speechless and motionless, so He only lights up the very next step for me...and then I gradually get to where He wants me to be without getting scared!) First, He helped me gain a little confidence with Avon. Then He surrounded me with strong, confident Christian women with a year of Mary Kay...showing me again how much I love to be surrounded by people. Then he literally dropped my first "real" self-employed job in my lap...where I was in charge of every single aspect from start to finish, and I began to find that I love photography...virtual tours. I worked with some phenomenal "older" realtors in Jefferson City and did all the house photography for them and kept their websites up to date. God combined my love of photography with my love of looking at houses and I was able to see some of the neatest, high dollar houses in J.C.
The confidence built through running my own business lasted through the housing market crash, and showed me that God intended to use this for something. The confidence that He knew what He was doing, so much that He would even orchestrate the tiniest details for me, carried me through my divorce, and filled me with a hope I couldn't understand. I didn't know what He was up to, but I knew that I could trust Him to see me through. The virtual tours disappeared, but He began to show me other ways I could use my photography. I even jumped at the opportunity to do a family photo shoot for a friend of mine, which was an absolute blast.
Fastforward to now...one of my best friends is on KC's Cowtown Butchers men's roller derby team. So, to support him, I went to his first bout. And of course took the camera. At the time, I only had one camera battery, so I took as many shots as I could before the battery went dead, charged it during intermission, and repeated the process. Then came home from the bout and loaded the pics to facebook.
Okay...this part might make you laugh...but you have to remember I am still being built back up by God and the confidence level is one of the things He is working on...
It didn't take long for the other guys on his team to notice that he was getting tagged in my photos, and they wanted to be tagged, too. So starts my adventure in men's roller derby. I am totally addicted. I love to take the photos, come home and edit them, and keep maybe a third of them. I am not always happy with all the ones that I keep, but sometimes I get one I absolutely love. And when the guys jump to tag themselves in the photos, it amazes me. I haven't missed one of their bouts yet, and hope to still be able to say that at the end of the season.
God knew that I would enjoy this outlet, and how very much it would mean to me to have this opportunity. And partly due to this opportunity, and the fact that I am still getting pictures published on the front of Jefferson City's Real Estate Guide (a bonus from the time working with my realtors, that I forgot to mention...has happened seven times now), I was given an opportunity to take family portrait "happy snappies" at church during a sermon series called Family Portraits. I have already done three weeks of it, two more to go, and gotten to meet people I otherwise would not have been able to, as well as serving next to another best friend.
God has put God-sized, God-given potential into each one of us. Some of us tap into it way faster than others, some of us never quite tap into it. There is more than one thing that He has put into us, too. So maybe we just don't always figure it out. However, He is more than willing to rearrange events so that we "stumble" across it and find fulfillment in life by tapping into it. He wants us to thrive in this life, and has put so much in us to be able to do just that.
For me, one of those things is photography, and using it to bless others (this is not a paid gig...my payment comes in the form of the guys getting excited over their pics...and I LOVE that!).
What is it for you?
