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There is something unique about the process of painting. I am sure this can be found in other activities too but for me painting is what has been speaking to me recently. I sit down with a canvas in front of me considering the image I want to bring forth. I am always caught up in the moment when I first touch my brush to the canvas. There is something hopeful about the process.
Recently some friends helped me convert some space in my home to a small art studio and I find myself drawn to the room often. I especially love it when someone has requested a painting and I know who I am completing it for because I don’t only apply paint to the canvas but I pray for them. There is something amazing that happens in the process as I speak Jesus over the person who will ultimately end up with the painting. I sense the Holy Spirit moving and it blesses my heart to lift them up. Whether I have knowledge of who they are or not there is not a painting that has left my studio that hasn’t had much prayer layered into it just as the paint is layered on the canvas. It doesn’t matter what the final image is, though I do love doing ones that are based on my Jesus. I have been blessed to find many paint by number kits that depict a moment in Scripture. As I complete these I am so blessed to pray for whoever will possess the finished product. I am also working towards learning how to capture my own images as well. It is amazing to offer your willingness to a God who is infinitely creative.
As I sit in my studio, brush in hand, worship music playing I praise the One who is my everything and I pray. As I make each stroke of paint I hear the Holy Spirit leading me in prayer and it is an amazing conversation. I am so grateful for these moments of stillness before my King. There are some moments in the journey of each painting where I am having to learn how to cherish the process regardless of what I see. Inevitably at some point in creating a painting I question how the painting is coming together and with every one I have hit a moment where I say I am not sure if this is turning out well or I am not sure I am liking this one. But a canvas cannot stay unfinished and so I paint on. Just as I hit these moments in every painting I also hit the moment when I sit back and realize what God has pulled together and the image takes form before me. I am always struck how God takes my sometimes shaky brushstrokes, art mistakes and prayers and makes them into something that touches a person’s heart. Only God can take the lack of skill, errors and mistakes and making something beautiful.
Painting is a fairly new endeavor for me. I have never been artistic (or so I thought). Artistic activities stressed me and were a source of emotionally destructive thoughts about my worth. However God took an area of my life where I had no skill and He continually does the most amazing thing in my heart as I offer my hand up to His guidance.
I am not writing this to earn praise for truly it His hand that makes anything appear on the canvas. I am writing because if He loves me enough to open a new venue that blesses my heart and allows Him to show me how much He loves me I know He wants to do the same for you. Will you offer your hand to see what He will do in your life? Will you allow Him to take your willingness and create a beautiful painting with your life? You never know what the brushstrokes of the Master’s hand will reveal or how He might use them.