Sallie Dawkins

If you’ve read the books of my testimony (The Awakening Christian Series), you know God used photography as a tool for healing and restoration.
 

Every day, I embraced the challenge to find and photograph “one good thing.” Being the “official photographer” for events and special occasions allowed me to be a part of things I would have otherwise shied away from.
 

I probably have a bazillion photos. When I learned to create worship graphics with my photos, I thought that was the greatest thing ever. But then, I discovered that the dimensions for worship graphics were precisely the same dimensions used for 4x6 photos, so I started printing the graphics and making handmade cards. Then, I discovered I could order 4x6 postcards from those same graphics, which required much less work. Still, it's a lot of work, nonetheless. That’s how I stumbled into entrepreneurship, creating and selling stationary products.
 

I led a card ministry every week for at least a dozen years. God used all these things to teach me to meditate on His word and “be still” to hear His voice. Sitting with a stack of cards and postcards each week as I asked God who needed a word of encouragement and what He would have me say was the beginning of me learning the basics of listening prayer. It was how I learned about prophecy.
 

Today, as I was sorting stacks of photos, I came across this one from December 2015. I remember it like it was yesterday. A display on the grounds of Southwestern IL Community College in Belleville, Illinois, invited students to finish the sentence, “Before I die, I want to…”
 

There were so many good answers. Students wrote that they wanted to get married, see the earth's seven wonders, and be famous. But then I came to this note (see photo below), which profoundly marked me. “Before I die, I want to travel, become rich, be saved.”


 

In that higher education space, there was one human with great wisdom. “Before I die, I want to be saved.”
 

If you don’t yet have a personal relationship with God, you can. Jesus Christ came to save us from the consequences of sin. He was sinless but sacrificed His life to pay the penalty for our sins. It was an exchange. Our sin, for His Righteousness. And this restores us to Father God. When we invite Jesus to be our Savior and Lord, we are adopted into God’s family as sons and daughters. It’s a new life, a new way of doing things. Salvation means we are saved, healed, and delivered. It’s a process of ongoing revelation. The Bible is our guidebook. It’s the eternal word of God.