To be treasured

It’s true when they say God knows the desires of your heart. I desired to be used by Him. That has always been my number one desire. I remember countless nights in worship at youth group, begging the Lord to use me. 

I came on this race expectant. I knew that He would use me, my story, my heart, my gifts, all of it. And He has. He has used me in ways that I never would have thought of on my own. It’s been wild. But the weirdest part for me was what He hadn’t used. I came on the race knowing my strengths and gifts and thinking I knew exactly what avenues He would use to use me. The main one was photography. Every mission trip I’ve ever been on, I’ve been the photographer. I figured this trip would be no different and packed all of my camera equipment. Equipment that has very rarely been taken out of my bag these past four months at all. 

I’m on a team with another photographer. She’s so passionate about it. It’s new for her, she’s constantly learning and growing. She is incredible. She takes her camera everywhere, meaning that I don’t have too. This gift that I thought would be a huge part of what I had to offer in missions, I have still yet to use. I realized that recently. I saw that my camera has quite literally been gathering dust. I was meditating on this one night, wondering why, wondering when I would get the chance to use it, wishing I could. We were at a ministry where we were originally told we could not take any photos. Why was I just now getting passionate about photography again when I couldn’t use it? I went so long without taking photos, but now it was like I craved it. I wanted to take photos so bad. 

A week later we headed to our new ministry. We had met a lovely young couple at the English speaking church and decided to do ministry with them for our last week. They are from the States and around our age so it was so nice being able to talk about musicians and memes and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I learned so much about ministry from them and how to help an organization succeed without thinking we know better as Americans. They were really passionate about that, me too. 

We went over the needs of the ministry the first night. One big one being media content. Alex is the volunteer coordinator and Jameson is the fundraising coordinator. He said that they needed photos of classrooms, teachers, students, a video tour, all of it. I got so excited. Photography for ministry? What a dream. He said he wished they had better content for Giving Tuesday, the website, to send to sponsors, etc. The engagement rate on their social media was low, he assumed because the quality of the photos weren’t great. Better content meant more donations that could actually really help the organization. It mattered. My photos mattered. 

The next day, we headed to ministry. A place called Tesoro’s De Dios, God’s Treasures. It is the most insane place. They have all kinds of therapies for children with special needs, physical therapy, speech therapy, family therapy, and the coolest part: horse therapy. Depending on ability level, kids would ride the horses doing different activities. There was a child in a wheelchair that rode the horses to stimulate the same muscles that would be moved if he walked. There was a child that rode the horse while doing math equations to stimulate his brain in multitasking. There was a child that rode the horse while moving his hands up and down or side to side as instructed to strengthen his core muscles and full body. It was the coolest thing to watch. They all loved it. Some passed a ball back and forth, some put blocks on a string, some had to call out numbers and colors, all while riding the horses. 

I truly loved the people at Tesoro’s. Mucho. I never wanted to leave. The ministry is incredible. They educate local schools and churches on how to be more accessible to these families. They do home visits delivering bags of food to the families that attend. They have computer classes and special needs teachers. They lead Bible studies for the moms to have a community that understands. All at no cost to these families. They even pick everyone up and drop them back off after in a big bus every day so that it is accessible to all. 

I’ve never worked with a ministry like this before. They saw a need and filled it so well. They serve 130 families right now and have over 100 on the waitlist. They just need more resources, money, teachers, land, all of it. Taking photos here felt so purposeful. I felt so seen by the Lord. So used by Him. It was so special. I had free roam to walk around getting pictures for a couple days. It was a dream. The Lord put a desire on my heart to do it more. When we left Tesoro’s, we headed back to House of Hope. It just so happened that they needed media content as well that day. I walked around the campus, taking videos of each woman in their homes with their children. They each made a video thanking their sponsors back in the states as I directed them. It felt like a dream day. 

My creative side was able to soar that day. All of the House of Hope media was shot a while ago by an older woman with an older phone, blurry selfies and awkwardly angled close up videos. Being able to send good quality photos and videos to the ministry to use for supporters and media content was incredible for both of us. They were so grateful. It helped so much. Ministry is a lot of planting seeds or watering and yes sometimes even harvesting. It’s a lot of never seeing the results or how you helped. But this was such a practical, hands on, way to support the ministry. I was able to see the effect that was made right away. That was an incredible feeling.

A day full of using my creative gifts to serve. A day full of pressing into what He has given me and giving it back to Him. A day full of feeling treasured by God. A day of worship through my art. A dream day.

Thank You, Lord, for using me, when I can see it right away and when I can’t. Thank You for knowing the desires of my heart and sending me to ministries with that very need. Thank You for orchestrating this day so beautifully to glorify You alone. It’s not for me, or my gifts, or these ministries, its for You, all for You.  
-K

Here are some of my favorites: 

(Poor quality upload, lo siento)