I think it's a fairly well known statement that you should keep your personal life separate from your business, but I've often been one to NOT follow the norm (sometimes unintentionally, sometimes not), so why should I be surprised that what I am about to share is any different?
This is a website for my photography business which I have, by the grace of God, successfully been running for 14 years. For a few years now I have been feeling the strong urge to use my photography skills to tell people about Jesus. I thought putting things on my personal Facebook page was enough until the censorship started. Now, I firmly believe that now more than ever, that I need to put more of my writings on here.
So why am I making a post about this? Because I think there will be people who will misunderstand my intent with this or be confused as to why this kind of stuff is on a photography website. I have one desire: to share Jesus with as many people as possible. I believe God has given me the gifts of photography and music as one of the means of doing so. Therefore, I will use my website, because at this point, it can't be censored or taken down.
I recognize that some of the things that I post will probably tick some people off. It may even result in a loss of some business. I’m completely ok with that. My desire is not to please man, but God. My allegiance belongs to him. He's the one whom I'll be standing in front of one day to give an account for what I did with my life and the gifts he gave me.
I truly do not worry about gaining any business from this website. That probably sounds crazy and not “business-like” AT ALL, but I am just not one to fear. I simply believe that God will provide and He has. In addition, I have such faithful clients! They don't need to see a single recent image posted to know the quality, experience and service that they will get from me. I am so grateful that I don’t have to do much marketing, as that has been a struggle of mine since day one. I know HOW to market, but I don’t like to promote myself.
Despite all of that, I still try my best to keep my website, blog, instagram and Facebook business page up to date and worth visiting because I believe God wants me to keep doing it. Though I am at times tempted to stop, God continues to provide business that I don't ask for.
I truly love and care deeply about people. Know in advance that whatever I share flows from that. Will I do it all perfectly? No. I am still human. Might I anger some of you? Probably. But I will make this clear now and in the future: Love does not always mean saying or doing things that will make you feel happy. Any parent will understand that statement.
I pray before I post anything. I pray for the people that will read anything I share. I also don't just write and post. I wait for the holy spirit to prompt me, then I write, oftentimes sharing it with my mentors and people I trust first. I am not saying this to pat myself on the back. In a world where there is the ability to just spew anything online you want with very few repercussions, I feel it's necessary to make it clear that I take this very seriously.
I didn’t really want to do this. I am spread so thin, but I will continue to until God says otherwise. He is very persistent. ;) To me, and most importantly, to God, it is worth the time and effort I put into this whether one person or 50 people read anything I post.
May God do with this whatever He sees fit. My prayer is that people will not see me, but Jesus, despite the fact that these will be my words and my photos, with me sometimes in them. Jesus is the only one worthy of praise and adoration.
You are deeply loved. You are the reason for why I am doing this. Be encouraged. You are not on here reading this right now by coincidence. Take a moment and think about that before you scroll onto the next thing.
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Ephesians 3:20-21
Photo Credit: Sienna George, twelve year old photographer in training, who I've been photographing since she was three. ;)