Mark Mabry

Last night I had the amazing experience of listening to Mark Mabry speak at a devotional.

As well as hearing Freddie Ashby and and Clyde Bawden, who do the music that goes with Mark Mabry's photography.

For those of you who don't know who Mark Mabry is....

He is a photographer.

He is known for his Reflections of Christ photography display, which are photographs that depict the Savior's life, as recorded in the New Testament.

And his newest display of photos, called Another Testament of Christ, which depicts the events of Christ visiting the Americas after His resurrection. 

If you are unfamiliar with these displays, I suggest you click on these links and familiarize yourself with them!

You won't be disappointed.

Anyways....back to the devotional. 

I was very excited when I heard Mark Mabry was going to come to ASU institute and bring some of his pictures for display. 

I own both of the Reflections of Christ and Another Testament of Christ book, and love to look at those pictures quite frequently.

His pictures are created with so much emotion that they are more the just pictures.

They are created in such a way that makes you feel like you are actually there witnessing the events that took place.

Whether it be the picture of Christ's birth, Christ's crucifixion, the healing of the sick, or Christ embracing a person, every time I look at photos, I feel like I am there in person. 

I also can just feel of Christ's love for me, as I can relate to many of the people in the photos.

They are that amazing!

Here are a few of my favorite images:

This is one of my favorites from the Reflections of Christ collection. To me, it represent Christ reaching down to us to help pull us on to higher ground. He is there to pull us out of any sticky or hard situation we may be in. He is there reaching down, it is just up to us to reach back to Him.

This is another one of my favorites from Reflections of Christ. It is a testament that Christ rose from the dead and lives! What a wonderful truth that is!

This picture is my absolute favorite one from Another Testament of Christ.

It is just so precious and shows Christ's love for the children, a category in which all of us fit in. It is a very tender picture that captures so much.

I also love this one from Another Testament of Christ. Once again, it just shows Christ's deep love for all of us, and captures that emotion so well. What I also love is when you look up close,  you can see goosebumps on the man's arm. I can only imagine how powerful it was to be apart of this picture. Although these men were two strangers, they both had their hearts set on depicting the events represented in this picture so perfectly, and you can feel that.

These are just a few of my favorite pictures. If I could, I would put every single one of his pictures on here. That's how amazing they are.
Anyways, during his talk, Mark Mabry told some stories about creating the pictures for the Another Testament of Christ collection, which were so amazing to hear, and of course deepened my love for his pictures! One thing he also talked about that has been on my mind a lot today is creating a perfect moment. He told us that earlier that day he felt like he was at a perfect moment in his life and he couldn't be happier. He then challenged us to think about the things that create a perfect moment in our lives, and the things that need to be removed for that perfect moment to exist. It really hit me hard that despite the circumstances in my life I can be happy and have that "perfect moment." I may not have everything I want or need right at this moment in time, but I can still find true happiness from the little things I have, and make changes in myself to have that perfect moment of happiness. It was such a great insight to hear and has really gotten me to think as I faced many circumstances throughout the day. It was an amazing little talk.
After Mark Mabry spoke, Clyde Bawden and Freddie Ashby performed some songs. They were amazing as well! One song they performed had especially excellent lyrics that were just what I needed to hear. It is hymn #115, "Come, Ye Disconsolate," which is one I've never heard before.
Anyways the lyrics go as follows:


Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish; 
come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded hearts; here tell your anguish.
Earth has no sorrow that heav'n cannot heal.


Joy of the desolate, Light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,
"Earth has no sorrow that heav'n cannot cure."


Here see the Bread of Life; see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above.
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing
Earth has no sorrow but heav'n can remove.


This is one of my new favorite hymns! The lyrics are so powerful and touched me so strongly as I heard them. Part of that could come from the fact that I had a very stressful day leading up the fireside, but whatever the reason may be, I love this hymn.
All in all, it was an amazing devotional. After listening to the music for a while, we were able to walk around and view the display of Mark Mabry's photos from the Another Testament of Christ collection. It was so amazing to look at them and think of the events that the photos portray, and like I said earlier, feel like I was actually there when Christ came.
It was an amazing evening, the Spirit was so strong from the start to the end!
It was the perfect lead into the Easter season! Christ truly does live! He died for us and was resurrection. He truly came and visited the people in the America's and healed and blessed them. He will come again! Let us all remember that as we celebrate this Easter season!