Imagine getting offered six figures to take a job that helped you pursue your dreams at age 18. A Los Angeles office, worldwide publication, the world at your fingertips. Except just one thing is wrong: they want you to do something that completely goes against what you believe in. What would you do?

Samantha Stotts turned that offer down.

Samantha, an 18-year-old with her own photography business, quit college to chase her dreams. Not long after, she was offered hundreds of thousands of dollars by a major publication. To her dismay, her very first task was to shoot and write an article that showed why same-sex relationships were “cool”. After being told this, Samantha was lost. Her heart told her she couldn’t take the job, while her brain told her that maybe she could get through it.

“I didn’t hear anything from God,” she said about the interview.

Before this opportunity, Samantha had applied for over 30 internships that would have allowed her to chase her dreams through professional opportunities. She had been denied…by all of them. Time after time, she opened mail from different companies, the letters telling her that she wasn’t good enough to be an intern. For someone whose love language is affirmation, it doesn’t quite feel good to be told that you aren’t good enough. How many of us does that happen to, say, once a week? A month? A couple times a year? Could you imagine getting told that you are not good enough at what you love to do to be considered valuable? How about thirty times?

After driving to Los Angeles with a friend for the interview, she had a once in a lifetime opportunity dangled in front of her. An opportunity that she could not take. After taking five minutes in the bathroom to consult with God and make a decision, she was warned before she left the office that if she walked out, she would never get an opportunity like this ever again. She was young, in Los Angeles, in the industry, with a high-paying dream job just a scribble of a Vogue pen away.

How many of you are thinking right now, why didn’t she do it?! Why didn’t she just suck it up and fake her way through the first assignment? Let’s be real here. Not many people have the strength, the faith, the gall to make such a decision. But while she was in the bathroom, she pleaded with God for guidance. Samantha says that God told her that she knew what she had to do, and while it was undoubtedly the hardest decision she’s ever had to make, she knew it was the right one. Samantha says, “That's the point of this story. No matter how big or how small the opportunity is, standing up for your faith will always matter.”

A lot of us (including Samantha) are asking right now, what could God possibly have in store that is better than that offer? Well, no one really knows. However, those with faith in the Lord will tell you that God has plans to prosper you, ones that are better than yours. Hard to believe at times? Sure. But as I like to tell people, “just watch.”

Samantha’s story of courage, faith, and resilience definitely inspires me. She is patiently waiting on God to be guided towards her next venture, her next opportunity. She is a human being; one that has endured her own trials and hardships. You can check out here photography skills here, and see what she is up to next!