I don’t know why, but I felt led to pray that when I went on vacation mid-month for a “divine encounter.” I didn’t know what or who I was looking for or why I would even ask God to ordain that. Especially because anyone who knows me knows I hate talking to people out of social anxiety. But rather than that, God revealed His presence in my life in such a creative way. Our God is the God of Creation. One night after Bible study, I spent some time in prayer and felt like God was telling me to go down to the beach. So I went, wondering what or who I was going to find, and sure enough, I had a divine encounter, albeit not how I thought it was going to happen. I went down to the beach and saw this magnificent display in the sky. The sun had already set behind some storm clouds, but it was still shining so bright it may as well have still been up. Colors danced across the sky and the extreme wind was blowing the storm clouds away so as not to obstruct the view. It was then that I felt God showing me His immense presence in my life and telling me that He was blowing the storms out of my life. I had certainly been seeing Him do that in the weeks leading up to that moment, but doubt had always a factor. With God though, I have no reason to doubt that seasons are just that, and seasons change. Just as I hoped my life was getting ready to change.
A few minutes later though, those colors were gone and the clouds changed direction. Still I knew that even when I stand in the storm, I never stand alone. God is with me.
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I’d been praying a for a space to go, get out of my house, and work, or rather create. But also to build community. Through a series of recent events I believe only God could’ve ordained, that prayer was answered, and I could not have been led to a better place. It’s an open door, which are so easy at times to overlook because at times they seem so insignificant. But God can build something great out of the mundane. I believe in my heart of discernment that God is going to do great things and open many doors there. I just have to be faithful and wait. And I hoped that God was about to do a lot through this little thing He’d done.
While I was on vacation in the later half of the month, something else happened. I realized that I had put my hope in my achievements, and me realizing that I could not achieve them, at least not yet or by myself anyway, was what broke my confidence and burned me out. That’s when I realized as I revealed in Post #1 that I was trying to push my way out of God’s will for my life. I realized that I needed to put my hope in, or rather back into the one whom my hope comes from; Jesus Christ. So that being said, in the month of June I finally learned how to Surrender. My hopes. Dreams. Goals. Business. Ministry. I finally learned how to surrender it all to God, and since then, simply being able to pursue a few little ideas here and there as opposed to one big thing has been quite refreshing and liberating. With that, I truly found rest in the presence of God. I sensed that God was going to do something while I was on vacation, and sure enough, God opened a door. I received a message on our second day of vacation that our short film “Faith Healing” was an Official Selection for the upcoming Christian Family Film Festival in Ellington, NY. These last few months have been exhausting and uninspiring for me and many of my filmmaking brothers and sisters, but I truly hope this can inspire everyone to carry on, even if your life or career seems to be on hold. Then a few days later, something else happened. I received another message. Faith Healing had been selected for the Great Lakes Christian Film Festival, and we couldn’t be more excited! All this I believe proves one thing; be still and know that He is God. Be patient and trust in the Lord. His Time. His Provisions. And His Plan. But remember, it’s not about the accolades. Let the accolades inspire and motivate you, but use them to honor God in our craft. Let them confirm your calling from Him. We feel so honored to have been chosen for the film festival, and we can’t wait to see what God will do through this open door.
With all that said and so many seemingly small new ideas coming to light, I felt ready to pursue new ventures. Perhaps even new doors. Even on sentence a day gets you one sentence closer to a story, and I was ready to start writing new ones. Dave Ramsay once said that when you try to do everything at once, nothing gets done. There are so many project I want to do in my life and that I wanted to work on every little bit of all at once. But I couldn’t focus, and nothing was getting done. All of that was contributing to my ever-present anxiety, depression, and constant exhaustion on top of everything else. The thing that was both my calling and my passion was becoming my dread and detriment. I made the decision to step back from Project 29:11 Productions completely, and I’d been praying for rest, but like I said before, I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how to release control, and I truly don’t know what I am in God’s eyes, my own, or everyone else’s if I’m not pursuing the calling Gad has on my life and my passion. I felt like if I didn’t push forward, I’d fall behind. But the discouragement I was feeling was killing me. Not only that, but I later learned that many of the people I thought were ahead of me were actually in a similar place as me. It seemed like everyone kind of just stopped, but I still didn’t know how to just be still and rest in God’s presence. So I began pursuing ideas. Not projects. And not full on scripts. But a million little ideas began to build a project I’d been wanting to do for a long time and began to write a script. To have God’s anointing on something seemingly small or that I wasn’t even planning on starting yet was truly a blessing. And it reconfirmed the calling God has on my life as a filmmaker. Going back to where I began, spending years at time working on ideas before committing to any one of them as a project. Not only that, but these ideas are something I never in a million years would’ve thought about, let alone felt so strongly about. And if they are what God wants me to make, I believe He will guide me down avenues that will provide what I need. For God knows my needs before I even ask Him (Matthew 6:8). All in His timing, planning, and provision One day I even took a surprise trip down Memory Lane to retrieve some reel footage for a crew member to where Project 29:11 Productions got its start; our first ever award-winning short film, Good & Faithful. I’ve been so focused on Faith Healing and other projects these last few months that her older sister project got completely overshadowed. Seeing where we came from and how far we’ve come since then lended perspective to where we are now. And now God has opened a door that once again confirms the calling He has on our lives, as you’ll see in tomorrow’s post.
The storms of life were raging inside and outside of me. A season so to speak of being humbled and even humiliated. Pride being removed. And healing coming after being completely humbled. God began to speak to and move in me. He was beginning to heal my damaged relationship with Him as well as my broken heart. I’d let a lot of emotions from the previous months, and even years, of bitterness, frustration, grief, and whatnot, get under my skin, and it was affecting my mental health as well as my work and social life. I realized that I was trying to push my way out of God’s will for my life and it all caught up with me. I came home for work one day with absolutely no energy to do what I loved or anything for that matter. I constantly felt anxious, depressed, tired, as well as behind in my life and career and inadequate. I was burned out and dreaded every minute of everyday. Between work, keeping house, and other matters, rest was difficult to find, and I know I was standing on the precipice of a breaking point. To be honest, even thought I’d been praying for rest for some time now, I don’t think I really understood what it truly means to rest in the presence of God.
Finally, one day I was driving home from work and I could barely keep my eyes on the road. There were times even when I was afraid to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Then I just realized, “I can’t do this anymore. I just can’t do this.” I needed to stop. I needed to learn how to say “No.” I needed to be willing to surrender even great opportunities and take care of myself. I was exhausted. I needed to rest, and sometimes that means being willing to say, “No.” But it also means being willing to trust that the people around you will understand. I admit that I am a people pleaser, and as a film director and leader, the last thing I want to do is let anyone in my charge down. Because more than my professional relationship with these people, I value my personal friendship with them. At the end of the day, I rather lose a movie deal than a friend. This isn’t something that I’ve personally confessed to anyone, but that’s the other half of the battle, and one that I hope God will help work in me on. I took a break from social media during June because of what people tend to celebrate nowadays, and I wanted nothing to do with it. Little did I know how much God would move this month. I ended up completely stepping back and pushing everything off for the entire month out of directionless exhaustion, depression, and burnout. But it was truly an amazing season where God began to teach me about something I had been praying for nearly a year; how to truly Rest in the Presence of God.
I’ll be making a series of posts over the next few days sharing this incredible journey God has taken me on this past month and I hope you’ll follow along. Watch NOW!After much prayer and discernment, we are proud to announce that Project 29:11 Productions' first ever award-winning short film "Good & Faithful" is now streaming on our website, https://project2911productions.weebly.com/good--faithful...!
We hope you'll go check it out and enjoy! And please subscribe to our mailing list for future updates like this one! Thank you for your continued love, prayer and support! Hello everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read this. Change is never easy, but it is happening, and I believe in and trust in what God is calling me to do right now. This will be a long post and a long story.
In December 2023, while struggling to complete post-production on “Faith Healing,” some difficult situations arose in my personal life. I was so burned out by this point that I prayed for nearly 6 months that once “Faith Healing” was complete, God would allow me a six month period of rest, but that did not come right away. Well, now today, I please to say that by the grace of God, I am now out of those situations, but I have not taken the time to truly rest like I’d prayed for or recover from the toll they took on my mental, emotional, and spiritual health. God has just felt 1 million miles away lately. It’s not easy being a young entrepreneur, let alone a filmmaker. I knew I needed to make a change. I needed to rebuild my relationship with God, and that means surrendering control. After a tough conversation with my pastor yesterday and spending time in prayer and Bible study today, I heard God tell me to step back. So that is what I am doing. For now until God moves in me to move forward and continue, I will be taking a step back from Project 29:11 Productions, its social media, and its website. This is tough, but it’s the right thing to do. Don’t worry! As opportunities arise, such as when “Faith Healing” is selected for film festivals, we will let you know. And we trust that when the time is right for us to start again, God will move in us to move, and God will provide all we need in his timing, planning, and provisions. “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19. Thank you all for your continued love and support! We ask that you would pray for us in this tough time, and we hope you will join us in the future when God reopens the door. God Bless you all, and see you soon! Would you like to support Project 29:11 Productions' next film?
Well, while we are not currently in production, we do believe that God is on the move and preparing us to make our biggest project yet. As always, it is the love, support, prayer, and donations from you that allow us to do this by the grace of God, and now, we need your help again! Please consider helping us make our next film by Adopting-A-Prop! By clicking the link below, you will be taken to our Amazon Wishlist, which has several props and set-decorating items saved to it. Please consider supporting us by purchasing one or more of them! Adopt-A-Prop Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/18I9WEVLFHYGQ?ref_=wl_share Thank you so much for your continued love and support! If nothing else, we just ask that you join us in prayer as we persevere in this calling God has placed on our lives! Welcome everyone to the launch of the new OFFICIAL Faith Healing website. We hope you will continue to follow us on this incredible journey God has had us on. Faith Healing post-production has finally wrapped up, and it is now running through the film festival circuits. We'd like to ask for your continued prayers over that.
And if you'd like to learn how to screen Faith Healing at your church or event, please contact us here on the website or email [email protected]. Thank you and God bless! |