And the Giveaway Winner Is...

Todd!

A dude! Unexpected, right?

I had just counted up the total number of folks between platforms and then a notification popped up saying, "Todd just subscribed to Manna Mama." I thought, of course. The Lord works in ways that I don't know because here is our friend, supporting the page, and he also happened to be the lucky Number 25.

You see, Todd is a wonderfully talented photographer. He is humble in his talents. He lets the photos speak for themselves as he posts on his pages. If you take a look on his Etsy page or his Instagram pages (links below), you can see that he has been given a gift for capturing stories in a photo.

Talk about stories. A few years ago when the war in Ukraine erupted, Todd had just sold his house and had met his now wife, Whitney (she is an absolute gem). He bought a Tahoe, drove all over the southern part of the US looking for stories to tell and stories did he tell. Although great experiences had, he knew there was more that he needed to do.

So, he packed up his things, boarded a flight to Ukraine, and started documenting the war through his lens. Let me tell you. The photos he shared showed raw humanity, kindness in a time of utter despair, and palpable fear across a bomb filled horizon. He also found a way though to show loving human connections, a hurt people reliant on the compassion of others, and fragile hope in a broken part of the world. And he still stays humble about what he did.

I don't think he would ever title it a calling from God but as he tells the stories of others through his photography, it is evident that he has been given a gift. He is able to see beyond the eyes, to see into the hearts of those he encounters, to see the beauty within a simple object or the promise of an unassuming landscape.

We may not always understand the gifts we have been given. We may even be afraid to wonder if we are using our gifts in the way that God intended. We may even be hesitant to acknowledge the presence of God working through our lives.

That's okay. Talk to God about it. Sit with him. Ask him to reveal himself to you. Ask him to show you what it is that he wants you to accomplish. He works in ways that we do not know or understand. There's always a story to tell.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ToddTheAmerican?ref=search_shop_redirect

https://www.instagram.com/toddtheamerican?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

https://www.instagram.com/americanmedialtd?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==