Well this wasn’t on the “blog calendar” for today…. and I’m more than ok with that. Tonight I was wasting time on Facebook and I saw a status that really caught me off guard. When I was first starting into the photography world, there were several photographers that used Showit that I remember checking out their sites. One of these photographers was Abigail Smith. She caught my attention because she was beautiful and she was a redhead!! I think we emailed a few times and left each other a few blog comments. We never met and we never knew one another in real life but she was a fellow
photographer that was starting her business in her very early twenties and so she stood out to me. I found out tonight that Abigail had been battling cancer for over a year and passed away yesterday. At first, I was shocked and then I immediately felt awful for not knowing about her illness…. and then I saw a link to this video. Evidently Abigail had a near death experience where she wasn’t supposed to make it through the night… but she did… and then she made this video. Michael and I watched this video in its’ entirety tonight in our living room and I encourage EVERYONE to do the same. I bawled and then I apologized to Michael for having an attitude earlier about something ridiculous and meaningless…. it’s like in an instant, I was reminded of how fragile our life is. As I watched this young, beautiful, talented woman talk about the overwhelming PEACE she has as she breathes through oxygen tubes and lives her last days here on earth, I had this thought…. How amazing is it that a girl under SO much continual stress and pain was experiencing such amazing PEACE and dare I say even JOY?? As I watched Abigail talk about her life and her pain and her joy in her relationship with Christ, I realized that this video and her story was meant to be shared…. and it was meant to go viral.
I really don’t know how to put this into words….. but my life, my talent, our business, our house, our marriage….. it’s not my own. I don’t believe we were put on this planet to live, work and die. There is so much that God wants to do with our lives while we are here on this earth and it’s our job to be open and willing to be used. I don’t have a story like Abby’s… but I do have a blog that can reach a lot of people and I think her story deserves to be shared… and shared and shared. What a beautiful, beautiful life. I pray that her story reaches tens of thousands of people. I pray that it changes lives, draws people closer to one another and brings them closer to a God that loves them. You can’t deny the amazing spirit within this sweet girl. Our hearts go out to her family and her friends.
If you’re a photographer, blogger, or social media guru with any type of platform… I would encourage you to share her story. :)
Thanks for reading!
— Katelyn
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