Embracing the Call: Author

God… who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Romans 4:18 ESV

Author. It sounds too big for me. But He calls things that are not as though they were. Our role is to simply, obediently, walk into what He says we are.

In an effort to embrace what He calls me, I take some uncomfortable steps of faith. Establishing this blog for one. Calling myself (by faith) an author and teacher on this author web page. But you may notice something conspicuously missing.

A head shot. A photo of the author.

A head shot or headshot is a modern portrait where the focus is on the person. The term is usually applied for professional profile images on social media, the ‘about us page’ or a corporate website and promotional pictures of actors, models, and authors.

Wikipedia

That’s one of the steps of obedience. I hired a photographer to take some shots of me, the author highlighted here.

The day of the shoot arrived. It didn’t come without battle. The photographer was an hour and a half late… her map taking her way off course. (The enemy will try to muddle up even the smallest step of obedience.) But arrive she did, with me a little more rumpled than I had been at the appointed time.

I showed her the places I thought I wanted to use as backdrops. The ordinary places where I meet with Him. Work with Him. Talk. Pray. Complain. Question. Listen. Praise. Give thanks to Him.

But I was open to her professional judgment. If she didn’t think they would work, well Amen! we’d do something else.

She set up lights. Took shots to test the lighting. Then she began with the direction. Cajoling a smile from one who nervously sat in her messy corner, on her front porch swing, at her back porch table. Almost 200 pics she snapped. (The proofs show the strain in the smile toward the end.)

She said she’d email the proofs in a couple of days. But they didn’t come… Finally after waiting an additional two days beyond the time they were supposed to arrive, I texted to see if she had sent them. Shocked, she couldn’t believe I hadn’t received them.

A glitch on her website caused a delay of a full week before I saw the proofs. But the day they arrived was just the right day. My daughter was home to help me filter through. Because you know we don’t really see ourselves. We see through our eyes but not what we look like on our ordinary days.

My daughter, she told me what she would like to see on a book cover. Who she would be drawn to. She noticed the above mentioned strain in the smile. the too straight back. the fake. not the natural ordinary.

Bless Him for using what the enemy meant for harm to bring about good when it came to choosing shots for the photographer to edit.

Still waiting for the final head shots to return. Maybe the next post will be the reveal.

All part of the journey. Embracing what is not yet. Trusting His call. To bring into existence. That which does not yet exist.

What is He calling you to become? something that doesn’t yet exist?

What step can you take today? what simple obedient step of faith? to answer His call on your life?