Opportunities

I am so thankful for the opportunity I had this past weekend to photograph the annual Summer Bible Conference @ James Madison University. I have been praying for more opportunities throughout the year and it is amazing to see how God answers prayers looking back at the year. When I began to first pray for opportunities, I saw nothing. I didn't see many opportunities, if not any. However after a while, I began to see some, but when I did began to see a few opportunities such as entering photography competitions, the opportunities shut down. This brought me back to a vision a girl shared with me at Grace Retreat. On last day of Grace Retreat 2011, this girl came up to me and told me a vision she had while we were worshiping. She told me she saw a window. The window was sort of small and really high; then the window disappeared. However the window came back later lower and bigger. She told me that the window symbolized opportunities in my life. As I look back at everything, I am amazed at how God has been working through my life. God used the girl to share this vision with me to remind me to never give up. I remember how excited I was to get my DSLR seven months ago. It was semi-sporadic. I always wanted a DSLR, but I imagined myself getting a job and saving up enough money to buy it. However, my dad asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told him I wanted only one thing -- a DSLR. I didn't think he would get me one. I remember I wrote something along this in my diary - God, if it's your will, please can I have the DSLR? And to my surprise a few days later, my dad told me I could choose one. I did not see many opportunities even from then on, but it was good. The waiting time is very special. If I never had to wait for anything I would not understand the significance or the importance of it. Now, I see that God is giving me so many opportunities to be able to teach others how to take pictures and to photograph others. When I take pictures, I want to show the world the beauty of God's creation whether it be people, plants, or animals. Going back to taking pictures at the conference - I am so much more appreciative of Esther and Susan for all their labor and hard work in all the past conferences. It was definitely enjoyable taking and editing pictures, but it was also different. It was a bit more burdensome than I thought it would be. I never really worked under the time pressure. I never had to get a good picture at a certain moment. Nobody really cared when I took pictures of certain things or didn't. Only I did, but at the conference I had to take pictures at certain moments for the video. That was the hard part. Now, I really admire the Grace Retreat photographers who take amazing worship pictures because I found that to be extremely hard. Before I was like - "oh, how hard can that be?" But the low light and people moving and changing positions...it's very hard!

Again, I am amazed at how God works and so thankful that He is working in my life. (:

My God answers prayers!

Now I'm not sure how photography fits into my future, but I'm praying about that. I know that God has the perfect plan. (: