wysiwyghome.com

by Bethany Beebe

Can I be honest? As much as I love WYSIWYG and as much as I love the people and the city, this has not been easy for me. Living without a paycheck for almost two years is not fun, or easy, or what I thought I would be doing at my age. Honestly, when I graduated from college, I was ready to work for big name companies and earn a lot of money. The money was not even for me but for my parents. I don’t know how many of you out there have ever looked at the life your parents live and thought, “If I only had a job, I could fix it.” You could buy them the house they need so they don’t have to worry about moving again for the tenth time in four years. You won’t have to see the car being repossessed, or watch your parents struggling just to pay the phone, electricity, or heating bill; all of which I have.

It’s very hard for me to watch my parents go through everything that they’ve gone through, especially now that I am older. I understand a lot more now of what they are facing than I did when I was a child. I would tell them that I was going to buy them a new house, one that had everything my mom wanted. I really wanted to bless her because while my dad was in Bible College, she was the one who supported us. She worked hard her whole life so that my dad was able to follow the call of God. It was hard to see her working at these menial jobs while my dad was doing what he was called to do. So I really wanted to bless her above all for her sacrifice.

I never wanted the money for myself from these jobs I was qualified for after college. Don’t get me wrong; I would have gotten myself a few things, such as a house and car, but nothing outlandish. I just wanted to give back to my parents all the things that they had sacrificed so that my sister, brother and I could have a good life.

I was on my way to achieving that goal. I got a job at the company I had interned for as one of many production assistants. It was a big name company that all of you know. They have a few channels on cable you would recognize. But things happened; I was at the bottom of the list of at least a hundred other production assistants, so calls were hard to come by. Our apartment caught on fire so we left that area and moved to a more rural place.

There were no jobs of any kind in my field there so I did what any person would do. I settled. I settled down to two jobs, one as a teacher’s aid, the other was in a gas station. I did not get a day off for months because I was working all the time. But there was something that kept me going. It was God and the promises He made.

I was working so hard because I saw my future and I knew that He had something better for me than what my family and I were living. We were not living in squalor, but it was in a house that did not belong to my parents. I still wanted the best for them. So, I worked to save my money to go to WYSIWYG and do another internship.

The last thing I wanted was to work here. I didn’t want to go through another internship and I had heard crazy, odd, and random things about these people. And well, when I had visited with them a year before, I never thought I would be coming back. They could not offer me the one thing I really wanted: security for my parents. It was a real fight with my flesh to get on that plane. The idea of it sounded insane. Both of my parents thought so as well. They wanted me home as soon as the internship was over, well unless I started getting paid. And if it had not been for the Words I had received about working at WYSIWYG and the dreams I have had calling me there, I really would never have gotten on that plane.

So here I am, two years later, still working with them. I won’t lie; it’s hard. It was hard for my parents. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that my mom finally gave an unofficial consent for me to be here. That meant a lot to me because though she may not know it, what I am doing is for her and for my dad and to know that I now have her blessing, official or unofficial, is more than words can say.

Of course, my parents are still worried about me and every time I talk to them, they ask if I have a paycheck so I can pay off my bills. The answer is always the same: “no, not yet.” Then I have to hear my dad talk about my responsibilities to the college-loan people and that I have to pay my bills. But in the end, he finishes with, “I am proud of you for following the will of God.”

It’s hard enough not to be able to pay your bills but then having the people whom you have been trying to bless for the past ten years constantly reminding you that you have to pay them is also rough. But the one thing that is getting me through is His promise. I look at the promises that He has already fulfilled and they keep me strong enough to wait for the promises yet to come. Since I have been here, I have been able to fly home several times. I have gone to Taiwan and Hong Kong on a mission trip. I have food, a bed to sleep in, friends and people who have become family. Not to mention the impact I have been making on my ‘less-saved’ family members. They don’t understand how it is that a person that has no money is able to do all the things that I have done. I tell them it is the blessings of God.

So am I crazy for working here when I could work at any other film company? Well, maybe not any film company, but at least one that provides a steady income. I just know that this is my home, God has my back, and though I am unable to give my parents what I want to now, I will in the future. God has supplied me with everything I need for the moment; why worry about things in the future?

Bethany Beebe has worked with Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks in set production and prop-making.
She currently is working with Final Cut Pro, editing a DVD series.