THE SPIRIT IN YOU
When I arrived at the photo shoot, everything appeared to be fine. As I was getting my hair and makeup done, I begin to notice the artist’s body language when she was speaking about the photographer. While I am witnessing this, the Holy Spirit begins revealing to me that I needed to be using the entire armor of God even greater than I normally use it. I suddenly begin thinking, “Oh no, what have I gotten myself into?” As I am observing how the photographer is interacting with the other staff on set, I am seeing the classic signs of a photographer who is a sexual predator. As it gets closer to my time in front of the camera, I start to become a little nervous and begin mentally writing my classic, “Don’t talk to me in that manner” speech. After a few hours of mentally preparing for the worse possible situation, and asking God for discernment, it is finally my time to model. I pushed myself to be a better model, so that I would not have to be in the studio any longer than I had to. My shoot ended up being all right. The photographer was professional towards me, however, sadly, I witnessed some unprofessional conduct between the photographer and a few other individuals who were working on the project.
Once I left, I took time to reflect on my afternoon. I was feeling a little discouraged because it seems as if I came across sexual predators on a weekly basis and the more well-known the photographer, director, or casting agent is, the more they tend to get away with inappropriate and borderline criminal behavior towards their clients.
My faith has been stretched in this season. This is not a career path that I would have chosen myself, but God led me here and so I am diligently following. On a monthly basis, I have a mini mental breakdown asking God if I am actually equipped to do this, but every time I ask, “God, can I REALLY do this?” He reminds me of two main concepts. First, He doesn’t call the equipped but equips those who are called. Numerous Bible heroes were born to do great things but before they could be successful, God required them to take a step of obedience that didn't make
sense at the time. What would have happened if Noah had not obeyed God to build an ark during a drought but instead waited until he had human evidence that rain would be arriving? Second, He always gives me a small reminder that there is still wholesome individuals within the field. He reminds me that some of my best friends are photographers, models and makeup artists and if I hadn’t followed Him with this part of my life, I would have been robbed from certain blessings. This time, though, He revealed something uniquely different to me. He said, “Leah, there is a reason I showed you that song when you were driving to the studio, this journey is not going to be easy in any way, but I am going to be with you wherever you go.” To me that was