India First Friday

It’s past midnight and here I am still awake at my computer. Tomorrow, the alarm clock will ring all too early and we will shoot our first wedding of the season. My feet will hurt from standing all day and my eyes will take on a tired blood shot hue. I should be fast asleep by now, but I’m so thrilled that I can’t go to bed until I finish this post.

Tonight, we opened our studio gallery for First Friday and displayed the photos and videos captured during our mission trip in India. Hundreds of people walked through our doors. Hundreds of eyes read the stories of the little girls who have been rescued in India. Many people purchased a little girl’s photo to take home, frame and pray for. It was a night I will never forget.

So often, people return from a mission trip changed, and yet they can’t seem to put words to their life change. They can’t seem to express all they heard and saw and felt that impacted them so greatly. Tonight was our chance to bring the life-change we felt in India to people back home. Tonight was our very first chance to blend our profession with our love for Jesus Christ and His work around the world.

Four different women came to me with tears in their eyes tonight because they were so impacted by the photos they saw and the stories they read. One woman told me, “You’ve changed me tonight…we’re going to help in a soup kitchen or do something for others after tonight.” Another woman told me, “I was so tired and wasn’t going to come tonight, but I came anyway and I’ve been so blessed.” Outside one woman said, “Thank you so much – to know that a blonde haired couple like you and your husband actually care about these dark skinned little girls over seas is so special. Even if what you did doesn’t matter to anyone else, it mattered to me. It healed me.”

All I could do was smile and say, “thank you”. As I lay my head down tonight, my heart is so full. Here we are, next door to a tattoo shop and a bar and yet, we have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus Christ and for His spirit to work through our passion and touch peoples’ hearts. That’s powerful.

Last night, Jeff and I prayed for this event and my one request was that we would honor those 90 precious orphan girls from the orphanage we worked with. These are girls who do not have moms and dads. They sleep on concrete floors and own barely enough possessions to fill a small locker. They live in a world that constantly tells them they are worthless. However, tonight, we honored those precious little girls. We told there stories. People took their photos home. Tonight, their lives were priceless.

Thank you to everyone who came out. Thank you to everyone who donated to help us go to India. Thank you to Journey Church International for taking us on the trip. Thank you to Invisible Girl Project for seeing the need and being the hands and feet of Christ. Thank you to my husband for telling me “we’re going to India”. Thank you to my amazing father-in-law who worked all week helping us get the studio ready! Thank you to Brandon Golden and his band for serenading us with beautiful music all night.