Let's talk about the negatives -- can you picture that?

Negatives happened back in the day. I remember when I had an old-school camera, and listen good came from them. I took a photography class at Dana Hills High. If was fun.

Now I'm a believer, and negatives still happen (trials, temptations, testings, persecutions, afflictions, suffering, pains, enemy opposition). Yes, in the life of a true Christian as well, but God can bring good out of them.

Check out what the Bible in Genesis 39:16-22 tells us about dark times. This is a true story about a dark time for a man named Joseph.

"When he heard me scream, he ran outside and got away, but he left his cloak behind with me."

She kept the cloak with her until her husband came home.

Then she told him her story. "That Hebrew slave you've brought into our house tried to come in and fool around with me," she said.

"But when I screamed, he ran outside, leaving his cloak with me!"

Potiphar was furious when he heard his wife's story about how Joseph had treated her.

So he took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king's prisoners were held, and there he remained.

But the LORD was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the LORD made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden.

Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison.

The warden had no more worries because Joseph took care of everything. The LORD was with him and caused everything he did to succeed."

 “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” ~ Hellen Keller

Humble Joseph did the right things and had a lot of wrong things happen to him.

Remember this if you find yourself in dark times, believer.

1. Dark times are often permitted by God.

2. Dark times enhance the presence of God.

3. Dark times are the pathway for God to use (think about maturity and character).

4. Dark times bring in some perks given from God.  

Please pray and recognize ize His perks, tune your hearts and minds with His word. Let's hear what the Spirit is saying.

Photo by Josh Hild

We humans now shoot/take over 5 billion photographs with our phones daily.

We Americans take 20.2 billion photographs daily.

Today we take more photographs in 2 days than all the photographs that were taken during the entire time period of the 1800s.

You remember how it used to take days in the dark room after a photo was shot, before an image would finally appear. We had to trust that something good would happen even in and during that dark time. The one in charge could bring a lot of beauty out of all the negatives, but it happened in the dark. Of course! Good things can happen during the light of day but there are some exploits our Father likes to accomplish through his children during dark times as well.

Do you remember Ansell Adams? He had one black-and-white nature picture of mountains that sold for close to $4 million about 4 years ago.

We have to trust that good will happen when we're in the dark time

"God's ways are behind the scenes, but He's moving all the scenes He's behind."

Do you recall that man who was shipwrecked on an island and while trying to survive one day he got feeling real down hard because all his belongings at this makeshift palm frond-hut had burned up in a fire.. So depressed and is emotions and then a captain on a ship came and rescued him and explained to him: We saw your smoke signals! God allows us some bad things to happen but can bring good out of it.

Some people go through a dark time with suffering and turn away from God (or run far away from him), but there are more stories about people who turn to God, yes, who come close to God after suffering and going through a dark and painful time.

Please don't spend too much time trying to figure out the source of your suffering. Figure out accurately how to suffer, what yours to learn and acquire of goldy character.

Spurgeon spoke often of suffering and of those who hadn't had much trouble, the path was too smooth. Many lacked character.

Listen, pain plants the flag of truth in the rebel soul

Think about that story in the Bible where Jesus came to his team on the waves. He went boardless. What the disciples had feared most in their day was what brought Jesus to them. They feared the dark time on the waves in the storm with the winds blowing contrary.

I suspect that you're either exiting a trial, or about to enter a trial, or right in the middle of a trial. Cling to Jesus, God the Father's living word. He is for you not against you!

It's nice when the pain and that trial stops but the pain during the dark time can develop character in your life, if you let the Son of God work in the Lord over every area. knowGod.org

Come as you are to the Lord. ~ www.threads.net/@kurtwvs

How many photos are taken every year?

1.81 trillion photos are taken worldwide every year, which equals 57,000 per second, or 5.0 billion per day. By 2030, around 2.3 trillion photos will be taken every year.
According to Photutorial data, 1.2 trillion were taken worldwide in 2021 and 1.72 trillion in 2022.
The global pandemic reduced the number of images taken by 25% in 2020 and 20% in 2021.

How many photos are taken every day?

The average person takes 20.1 photos daily. This number is higher among younger people and lower among older people.
According to Phototurial data, 4.7 billion photos are taken every day worldwide in total.
By region, the number of photos taken by a smartphone user is led by the US: 20.2/day, Asia-Pacific 15/day, Latin America 11.8/day, Africa 8.1/day, and Europe 4.9/day.

How many images are on the internet?

750 billion images are on the internet, which is only 6% of the total photos that were ever taken since most of the photos we take are never shared.

How many images are on Google Images?
There are 136 billion images on Google Images.
By 2030, there will be 382 billion images on Google Images.

How many photos does the average person have on their phone?
The average user has around 2,100 photos on their smartphone in 2023.
iOS smartphone users have approximately 2,400 photos on their phones, while Android users have around 1,900 photos on their phones.

Other photo stats
12.4 trillion photos have been taken throughout history. By 2030, this number will increase to 28.6 trillion.
Users share the most images on WhatsApp: 6.9 billion per day. 1.3 billion images are shared on Instagram daily, with about 100 million in posts and more than 1 billion on stories and chats.
92.5% of photos are taken with smartphones, and only 7% with cameras.