just do it.

Do I have a really cool God story for you!

Well, most of you know I run a photography business. What you might not know is that my dream/goal/wish is to be able to use my gifts to further God's kingdom. What I love about photography is the way I can tell a story with it. I believe that everyone has a story & they all desire for their story to be heard and told. I believe that God has given me a passion for people & photography for this very reason. So I've literally been begging God to let me have an opportunity to tell people's stories through photographs.

Stephen & I met with the missions pastor at our church early fall & one thing we talked about was how fun/beneficial it would be if I got to travel with our mission teams to the churches we partner with around the world to bring those stories back to our church. So people could know what we are doing around the world & be more of a part of the missions of Stonegate. I was super excited about the idea but knew with a full time job & a full time business it might not be the perfect timing.

Fast forward to the past couple of weeks - I've been thinking about it more & more and knowing that now would be the perfect time to get to do something like this since I now have 1 job instead of 2. I have been wanting to contact the church but it just never really felt right for me to reach out. So two weekends ago, I was at eTeen retreat and got the chance to hear from my friend Baron Batch. Baron is an awesome guy, football player, writer, photographer. He has a very powerful story - anyway, I read his blog ( http://baronbatch.blogspot.com/) and saw that he has recently been in Haiti. He took portraits of some of the kids that are available for sponsorship & came home and sold the portraits and sent the money back to pay for those kids to go to school for a year. AWESOME! Well, so I talked to him about it and he gave me some good advice - "just do it".

Also, at this retreat I talked to my friend April who informed me she was going on a women's mission trip to el Salvador over spring break. Also talked to my friend Doug Tull who told me if I really wanted to take photos on mission trips I should go with them to Honduras over spring break with Buckner. South America - over and over. I knew it would be a cheaper option than going to Africa 3 times in two years. Starting to grow on me. God planting the seed.

That Sunday our good friends, Casey & Allison, sent us links to a sermon series from their church in Lubbock - Experience Life, called "Just do it". I listened to two of the 3 sermons and was very encouraged. Practical ways to be in Gods will. Pray about what he wants you do to, then where he wants you to do it. Don't sit around and think about it forever - at some point you just have to do it. God will guide and direct your path one way or another. I am encouraged. I pray.

Monday rolls around and I am at my mentor, Becca, house as she's getting ready to leave for Africa the next day. We are talking and I'm telling her once again my heart for photography & all the fun stuff that happened Friday night at eTeen retreat. In the middle of the convo, my phone rings. It's the missions guy from church. I answer. He says, "wynne, I know this is last minute but we would love for you to join our women's mission trip to el salvador to take photos/video and really tell the story of the people there." WOW! Really? I was ecstatic!!!!!! I talked to the church an hour later on more details, remembered that my friend April was going so I called her, and that night I filled out my application!

God is so good to me. I had finally given it up to him after realizing that just like the camp thing, I could beg God all I wanted to let me do what I thought He wanted me to do, OR I could just trust that He knows what He's doing and he'll give me things to do as he sees fit. Lessons learned. God is good and I can't wait to go to El Salvador with these ladies & share God!

And get this, the main purpose of the mission trip is to share with the ladies in El Salvador how to do a daily devotional. They don't know how to get into the Word everyday & do devotionals, so that's what we are going to do! It is a very relational trip, and that is right up my alley! (I just finished, yesterday, doing the Bible in a year!! thanks to the encouragement of my mom!}

Could you pray with me that I will be strong in doing my own daily devotionals and also that I will learn some Spanish in the next month :) Thank you for your support and prayers my friends. I'll keep you posted!