Friday, July 16, 2010

Its time to announce "Farewell" Im leaving for Germany for 7 months..




What if I told you I felt like a big fish in a little pond.

Would you think of me as haughty? Selfish? Pretentious?

What if I said I was made for more, would you laugh at my fanciful ideas?

Tell me to be realistic. (another wards settle...)

Im about to be 21...

And i'm no where I dreamt of being at my age.

Don't get me wrong life has been beautiful in most of its seasons.

But have I made a difference?

Could I stand before the Lord who ransomed my heart and know deep down (in this soul HE wove together) that i've made my Heavenly Father proud.

The truth is shaded in blues,

and its time to turn what I know upside down.

To cross over seas, fear caught in my throat.

Giving up the world I know. To be introduced to that of which my Savior has longed for me to enter.

I've always wanted to show the world my mind, I was just never sure how.

My camera has been keeping me company on my own adventures for quite some time now.

She hangs about my neck, whispering which memories i should keep alive.

Life is inspiring me and I guess in many ways I am trying to do the same.

All that i''ve been and who i'm becoming makes its ways into my pictures now.

I remember my sister photographing me and dreaming of being like her.

I received my first non disposable camera at 16.

After that I can't remember ever being without one. This isn't a hobby or a career, it's who I am.

We all want to feel some kind of love, and I want people to fall in love with what I capture.

The strangers life story your to busy to stop and hear.

The landscapes that beckons our hearts back to a time we communed with our Creator.

To capture the cries and eyes of forgotten children

I want to show the suffering and bring light to the justice WE CAN GIVE!

I am stepping out of my world and into something much larger.

This is all how it began, seeing life through a lens!

This is not my story.

My life is not my own.

But it is my journey to Germany and beyond...

For seven months I will be gone.

Doing the work I know God has called me to do.

As you read I pray your life will be changed as well.

Maybe he will inspire and stir something in your soul.


I want you to know that I love you...

Much of you know how eagerly I await what happens while i'm gone,

and those that know me well,

know my love does not change upon distance and time. I carry your life in my heart and so with your memory you stay very much alive to me. I appreciate any prayers and writings, while i'm gone. You never know what impact your word of encouragement could mean to me.

So I leave you with this thought.

“The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.

-J.R.R. Tolkien

2 comments:

Ashe + Aric said...

I'm so excited for you!! I'll be praying (and sending packages) the whole time!!

Kate said...

Ashley,

I know you're about to leave, but- we should fb chat (or something) before you do. I want to hear more of your heart, what you'll be doing in Germany, how you hooked up with YWAM, etc.
My 2 yrs with YWAM changed my lifestyle, stirred my passion, and glued my eyes to Jesus. I pray all of that over you, and much more of his revelation of love and purpose for you.

:)

Kate