My Husband and I took a trip this past winter up to Northern Minnesota. My mother-in-law had recently gifted me an old film camera. Back in college, I had taken a black and white film photography class where I learned to shoot, develop, and make prints manually of 35mm film. I figured this trip would be the perfect time to dust off my old film photography skills.

Throughout our trip my husband and I documented our experiences using that old film camera. We waited a few months to get the prints developed and when we got the text that our order was ready for pick-up we were disappointed to open the envelope of prints and see the first picture was an insert that said “A light leak has been detected on your film which will affect the quality of your images”.

Through the process of removing the film I was not careful and allowed some light to sneak into the undeveloped film which partially overexposed the film. The images looked great….except the parts that were blacked out due to overexposure from the light leak.

My husband and I sat down disappointed as we looked at the memories from our vacation. But the more we looked over the images, we remembered the memories of moments spent together that we will cherish a lifetime. Even with the flaws, the images were beautiful to us for what they represented.

It got me thinking about how God views us. We are beautiful and made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). But each and everyone of us is sinful. Our lives are imperfect and blackened by our sins. Our testimonies show the fallibility of humanity in a wicked world. But God, through Christ’s death on the cross, has erased our sin so we can live a beautiful life serving God.

Our testimonies and lives as Christians are a little like my vacation pictures. They aren’t perfect. There are black spots we might be ashamed of or embarrassed by. But just like the imperfect picture points to a greater beauty and a fuller memory – our imperfect lives bring glory to our Perfect God who has redeemed us and forgiven our sins.

Your Monday Mission is use your testimony – even the broken and blackened part of it – to Bring Glory and Honor to your Father in Heaven who has redeemed you through Christ Jesus.

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” – 2 Corinthians 12:9