Filming Take Two
I can’t believe this time last year God woke me up one morning to tell me to make a movie and now here we are right on the verge of filming our second one. Last year I was praying that God would show me how to help my youth group (see blog, I Made A Movie) draw closer to Him and one another, and to help us grow, and He answered my prayer by telling me to make a movie. I remember the excitement, the hard work, the obstacles and then the payoff.
Our first movie, Second Chances, was about a group of teenagers that had one foot in the church and the other one out. It followed them through some devastating life events that, in the end, lead them to the Lord completely and wholeheartedly. We filmed for three months and edited for what seemed just as long, and then the payoff. We got our very own red carpet experience. Our movie premiered on the Big Screen, we were driven there in an H2 limousine and we walked the red carpet. Not too shabby for first timers.
Now we are about to start our second movie, Love Never Fails, and this time we have amped up our game. We will have more special effects, more equipment, more experience and better knowledge of what we are doing. Our story follows a young girl through life, love, loss and so much more. Our theme is that God’s love never fails us, it never lets us down; even when the people we count on the most let us down, God never does. Sometimes the scripture “his ways are not our ways” plays a crucial role in our life and we don’t really understand why while we are going through, but by the end of every battle, on the top of every mountain and when the storm has passed and the skies are clear, we can see why His ways are always best.
I am excited to be working with the same cast from Second Chances. This group of young adults are fun, energetic and most importantly they love the Lord. I am so proud to be a part of a church that let’s us pursue our creative side in such a big way. We are praying that this movie will reach even more people for the Lord and that God will continue to use us however He wants to while we are filming.
Our original plan was to start filming in the Blue Ridge Mountains, October 18, 2015, but due to extenuating circumstances we were unable to do so. Our next date was set and then one of our lead actors got into a car accident. The next thing we faced was scheduling differences because, unlike movie stars, our cast members have other jobs they must work and this project won’t pay the bills. I must admit I felt like giving up after so many attempts to start filming. Things just didn’t seem to be working out. I questioned whether this was the Lord or my own head getting in the way. I put the brakes on during the holidays and at the beginning of January I went to the Lord in sincere prayer.
I asked the Lord specifically what did He want me to do. I even put a fleece before the Lord (Judges 6:36-38). That is another message for another time, and I do not suggest fleecing the Lord unless you have prayed and sought Him first. However, my fleece was answered. I was in a place of uncertainty, a crossroad if you will, and I asked the Lord if it was truly His Will for us to continue filming. I sincerely wanted to know if this was of Him or of me, because if I have learned anything throughout my 19 year walk with the Lord it’s this; anything I attempt to do outside of Him will surely fail. I also asked Him that if it was of Him, then would He please have at least one of the actors contact me about the project. This was key because we had not discussed the movie in about a month, we had put off filming so many times due to the above reasons that I just assumed they all felt like I did, defeated, and maybe this just wasn’t meant to be. After all my prayer was answered with our first movie so maybe movie making had accomplished its purpose. My group had drawn closer to the Lord and one another and we even grew in number. Check. Check. Check. All of my prayers had been answered. However, I was not going to give up without finding out exactly what God wanted. I have to add that no one knew I had these feelings of uncertainty, I only prayed in my prayer closet about this matter to the Lord and I left it in His hands. Within the fleeced time frame all three of my lead actors came to me and asked about the movie. I was blown away. I felt peace in my heart about moving forward and we set another date. Guess what? That date didn’t work out for us either. At this point it was no longer frustrating but an obvious war. War? Yes, war. A spiritual warfare between us and the enemy.
Anyone that knows me knows that I am competitive. And when it comes to fighting the devil I know who I am in God and that the victory has already been promised to me. I will win! I have the go ahead from the King of Kings to engage in battle and that He has my back. When I realized this all of a sudden my eyes were opened to the fact that this movie, this film, this story is more important than any of us even know. If the devil is fighting so hard to keep it from happening then God must have great plans for it. I went from feeling defeated and exasperated to excited and determined.
Have you ever heard that old saying “anything worth having is worth fighting for”? It is true. I really believe that obstacles and road bumps are put in our way to test us; to test our faith and our belief in God and ourselves. Do we really want what it is we are asking for? And if so how bad do we want it? If everything in life is handed to us on a silver platter then we won’t appreciate its total value. It is when we work for things that we understand their worth, it is during the tests of life we gain knowledge and understanding and it is when we step out in faith that our relationship with God grows. These works and tests are only victorious though when we are seeking the Will of God and not our own will. I love the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I think sometimes we feel like we are going insane because we choose not to do anything different. We want to force God to do it our way, but when we let go and let God we see the answers we were seeking all along but in a way that makes us better.
I am overjoyed that we had those road bumps because it gave me an opportunity to really seek the will of God and His plan for our next filming adventure. Through those battles I was able to clearly see how important this adventure is going to be to so many people. I am ecstatic to be doing something that I love with people that I love for the One that I love. I am also more determined than ever to push through any obstacles that come our way and see this project through until its completion. I am elated that we will get to see new places, take more adventures together, laugh a lot but most importantly that we are creating something so much bigger than ourselves; we are creating something that God will use however He sees fit to increase the Kingdom.
Please pray for us as we move forward. If you would like to follow our filming adventures and encouraging scriptures about love go to our Facebook page,Love Never Fails, and follow us by clicking Like. To God be all the honor and Glory.
Comments
Post a Comment