When I decided in 2016 to attend college out of state, I began trying to think of ways to supplement my income. Photography can be a big moneymaker, and when I asked God if I could start a photography business, He said “yes”… on one condition. I must regularly provide free photography to individuals and organizations who need it but cannot afford to pay industry prices, such as non-profits and low-income families. I accepted His challenge, and during the summer of 2016, I photographed my first paying client.
It was my dream for “Provision for the Vision Photography” to become part of God’s provision for His vision in my life. The name was an abstract concept, but it just felt right; I didn’t think too hard about it. But as I struggled to launch this enterprise, Father God began to teach me the true meaning behind the name, as well as my true purpose as a photographer.
Several times over a two year period I considered quitting. My business wasn’t growing fast enough; I didn’t have the money or the time to keep going; I was more interested in missions. I was disillusioned, disenchanted with the industry… the high pressure, high price process of photographing real people in the midst of their insecurity and pride and making them look invincible and… inauthentic. I didn’t want to get paid to create a facade for people to hide behind on social media. Driving down the road during Christmas of 2018, I made a decision. “I’m quitting.” A few days later the still, small voice of the Lord spoke to me and said, “Print your business cards.”
I couldn’t understand why the Lord was encouraging me to pursue something so seemingly fruitless. But I did it anyways. I quit my job in April 2018, printed my business cards, launched a website, and waited for Him to bless my business. “If you do this with your whole heart, I will bless it,” He whispered to me.
That turned out to be the hardest part– running my business with my whole heart. I found I was constantly divided in mind. On one hand, I had no desire to do anything for the money. On the other hand, I had started this business for the express purpose of making money. And I desperately needed it. I even made a deal with God. “If you’ll send me photography jobs, I will prophesy over each one of my clients.” So I waited and waited for God to bless me… and not much happened.
Then during the summer of 2018, God began to teach me about work and wealth in His Kingdom.
In May of 2018 I was reading “The Supernatural Ways of Royalty” by Kris Vallotton in the back of a camper van over a bowl of Campbell’s soup that someone had given me, trying to figure out God’s design for my business as the numbers in my bank account slowly dwindled, when I read a statement which perfectly described everything God’s been teaching me:
“Most of us are still looking at God’s provision (what our bank statement says) to helps us determine our vision, and therefore are living within our means instead of His blessings. Yet we have been called to live beyond reason and far beyond the borders of our own abilities. We have to accomplish more than the Elk’s Club if we are going to call God our Dad. This requires us to live by faith in God’s provision.”
I was shocked. Here in a book written in 2006 were the exact words I needed to hear for my business. In order to achieve His amazing purpose for my business I would have to trust Him, not my business, to provide for me.
So it was no longer about the money.
A few weeks later the Lord started talking to me about the purpose of work. I was sitting down on my friends’ porch to shamelessly steal their wifi and work on my website. A familiar anxiety was creeping over me: a desperation to find work rooted in the fear that God wouldn’t provide for me if I failed. I felt God lay His finger on that spot in my heart where I didn’t trust Him. A few weeks ago my friend Emma had seen a vision of me resting in a hammock with the Lord. I put down my laptop, climbed into a hammock, and stared out at the trees. “Rest,” I could hear Jesus saying in my heart. “Rest in me.”
From that position of rest the Lord began to show me the true purpose of work, going all the way back to the book of Genesis. Traditionally, people have worked in order to gain, to support themselves. But the very first example of work we see in the Bible is God, the Creator of everything, who has everything, working in order to give (Genesis 2:2). The true purpose of work is to give. This was even true for Adam and Eve. God commissioned them to “be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign…” They weren’t working in order to support themselves. Rather, they obeyed God by doing the work of reigning over the earth, trusting Him to provide all that they needed (God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing throughout the earth and the fruit trees for your food.”) It was only after mankind rebelled against God by harvesting in a way that dishonored God’s design and demonstrated distrust in Him that humanity became slaves to the ground they were designed to reign over. “The ground is cursed because of you,” says God in Genesis 3:17-19. “All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat.”
We were designed to reign over the land, not be slaves to it. We were designed to invest in it, not take from it for our own gain. And we’re God’s kids! We don’t have to work for His provision, we just have to be obedient. Like the Word says in Matthew 6:
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
These revelations were confirmed a weeks later as I was praying with a group of friends and asking the Lord if I should pursue a job. My friend Casey felt like the Lord wanted me to read Esther 8:7– “Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, ‘I have given Esther the property of Haman, and he has been impaled on a pole because he tried to destroy the Jews.'” The Lord showed me how His children are in the same position as Queen Esther– Because of our intimacy with God, He has taken away the wealth of our accuser (satan) and given it to us. Kings and Queens do not work in order to eat. They do not work because they have to. Rather they work so that they may invest their very lives in the people they choose to serve.
The question the Lord kept pestering me with was, “What do I want to give? And who do I want to give it to?” I had so far been pursuing anyone and everyone who could possibly need professional photography, but a more experienced photographer recommended I specialize. After pondering it for several weeks, I asked God what He thought about it. “What should I give? And who should I give it to? Who is on Your heart and what do they need that I can give them?” I asked Him, sitting at a table on the second story of Whole Foods, eating a peanut butter sandwich, stealing their free wifi, and staring off at the distant shelves below. He highlighted to me a group of people in Chattanooga– young families who were raised Christian but struggled to connect with God and each other. He showed me what I had the opportunity to give them– a fun family bonding time filled with His presence and healing. Bingo. I had finally found my target market.
I put together a few giveaway campaigns and started work.
By the time fall of 2018 rolled around, I had booked more photo sessions for the month of November than I had booked in the entire rest of the year. I was getting excited.
And then something strange happened. As I fulfilled my obligations I realized there were far more effective ways to minister to people than photographing them. As I spent hours editing endless streams of photos I realized I had little time for my other dreams– dreams that were now becoming much more important to me than what was originally a money-making scheme. And while I have no doubt that people have experienced the presence of God through my photographs, I yearn to bring them a deeper encounter.
So I’m closing my photography business. I will no longer be pursuing a marketing campaign. My website will disappear. My Instagram will be erased. And while I’m ending this endeavor, I do not view it as a waste of time. Instead, I’m incredibly grateful to God for allowing me to walk through this process. Through it He has changed the way I work, handle money, and trust Him with it all.
To those of you who have prayed for me and my business, thank you so much! God made sure every prayer counted. Your support has not only greatly impacted me, it’s also impacted my friends, clients, and family. I’ve been amazed watching my journey of learning to trust the Lord ignite the faith of everyone around me. God really does provide.
To my clients– I love you! You each have taught me so many valuable lessons, although you never knew it. Thanks for letting me serve your families and businesses. And to my current clients: I don’t want to leave you hanging! If you still need some sessions, hit me up!
I’ll still be photographing… just informally. I feel like the Lord has reserved a place for photography in my life. Now I get to figure out what that looks like with Him.
Thanks for joining me on the journey!
Maddie
Maddie's Adventures 