Comfort, acrylic painting on canvas, 15x11

This is one of my newest pieces. It holds alot of meaning for me because it represents God’s comfort. I tried to make the colors soft and soothing. It seems like angels wings. When I think of heaven or heaven colliding with the Earth I always envision multiple colors like that of a rainbow. This represents God and heaven colliding with my reality here on the Earth to give me a supernatural sense of comfort and peace, depite my circumtances.

“He shall comfort the comfortless.” 

This is what I kept hearing in the Spirit as I created this piece, reflecting on my own discomfort and hurt that only God could comfort. I am going through a season in my life which is difficult, long and drawn out…feels like it will never end, but I know it will. God gave me specific instructions saying that if I can do this special thing then my period of affliction will be over within a year. In the meantime, there is a lack of fleshy comfort, a real deep lack. In times like this it is necesary for me to press into God for his comfort. It is available. It is enough.

God gave me comfort today by bringing this verse to mind.

1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 This brings you great joy, although you may have to suffer for a short time in various trials. 7 Such trials show the proven character of your faith, which is much more valuable than gold – gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away – and will bring praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 because you are attaining the goal of your faith – the salvation of your souls. 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who predicted the grace that would come to you searched and investigated carefully. 11 They probed into what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified beforehand about the sufferings appointed for Christ and his subsequent glory. 12 They were shown that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things angels long to catch a glimpse of. (1st Peter 1:3-5)

It’s kind of interesting because the verse was from myself in the past when I was 19 years old, just after my Dad died in October 1988. After the funeral and on my way back to Basic Training in the Army, I was making a tape recording for my family to tell them how much I loved them and to encourage them and this was one of the verses that I read. My grandparents kept the tape for  along while and my grandfather added to it. My Grandfather passed in 2000 and my grandmother just recently this past year. So my brother ended up acquiring the tape and apparently got around to listening to it today. He called me up to share it with me. Interesting. We actually talked twice on the phone as he played the tape for me, but he didn’t discover this part ’till a little later.  He called back for a third time just to share it with me. Apparently, God promted him to do so.

It is so appropriate for what I am going through. As I review the verse, now, its as if it has fresh, new colors I had noticed before.

New Birth, Living Hope, Great Joy, only suffer for a little while, proving my faith and character, more valuable than gold…

It reminds me of something I read in Job today about wisdom, wisdom also being more valuable than gold and rubies…My trials produce wisdom.

Imperishable inheritance …

This is what I remind myself of. I have an inheritance in Heaven which can’t be taken from me. It can never be stolen. I believe not only do I have an inheritance in heaven, but I have one here on the Earth as well. It’s just waiting for me to grasp, to comprehend. His death on the cross and his resurrection accomplished so much for me…if only I could comprehend its full depth…our ability to do so determines our freedom and our ability to walk in victory.

This piece is meant to comfort and encourage the viewer. There’s a realm in the Spirit world with God that you can go to beyond your circumstances, a place where peace resides regardless of what is happening in your life. In life there are seasons and some seasons can be quite uncomfortable, but God promises that there will also be seasons of gladness and rejoicing. During the difficult season, hold on to this promise. Hold on to the fact that God loves you and has a divine destiny for you. Hold on to the fact that his comfort and his love is enough to sustain you. Hold on to the fact that in the end it will all be worth it and all the difficult times will be like dung compared to his surpasing greatness. Hold on and stand on his word! Let the Great Comforter comfort you now. His love is enough. His love is better than anything in this world. His love and comfort will carry you through.

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” John 14:18

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Phillippians 3:8

I made this piece, too, right afterwards…at the time not fully comprehending why, just stirred by the Spirit. But now I see why, especially after reading 1st Peter 1:3-5, which didn’t come ’till after the picture was made. God wants us to undertand that although we may go through seasons of suffering we don’t have to be victims to our circumtances. He did it all for us on the cross. We can be sure that if we trust Him and stand on His word, he’ll carry us through to the finish line and we’ll have his promises. We will achieve the destiny he prepared for us. Just hold on and stand strong!

Victory, acrylic on canvas, 12x9

His Love Never Fails, acrylic on canvas, 6x20x.125

This painting is currently available at the Riverview Gallery in Portsmouth, VA until the end of February. The original is $120 (which includes the frame) or $100 without the frame. For the next month you will have to go there to purchase it; however, if it is still available afterwards then you can contact me directly. This piece was featured in the Abstract Art show, “But, What is it?” at the Riverview Gallery February 5, 2010. I made this piece just for the show, and it marks my first official showing ever. The weather was bad, and there weren’t many people there, but I met other artists and learned some things to help me advance in the art world. I feel like God has opened the door for my art and I have walked through it.

 This picture is titled, “His love never fails” because this is what God wants all of us to know, and He showed me personally in my life just recently. As I created the painting I was singing to the Lord and meditating on just how much he loves us, even when we can’t see it or experience it. I had just overcome a hard trial where God was testing my trust of him. I was being stretched in my faith. During this trial, life was not the way I expected or thought it should be. I felt like I was suffering, and I was fearing things would only get worse. I had a very specific fear and the more I focused on it the more uptight and anxious I became to the point that I could barely function. It was all I could do to just keep my anxiety in check and accomplish my normal day to day tasks, but I was too emotionally drained to do anything creative. This frustrated me, because I wanted to be creative, but my fear was immobilizing me. I was angry at God because I didn’t feel I deserved this trial or circumstance nor did I feel it was just. When I went for prayer the person who prayed for me told me the thing I feared was a very real possibility and I was mad at God for that, since I wanted him to tell me things would be O.K and encourage me. During this time, I began to feel abandoned and unloved, after all I thought if God loved me then why wouldn’t He answer my prayer and fix the situation I was in? Why would he even let me go through it? I probably went through a high level of fear for about two weeks and it was very draining. Finally, I just decided to just accept what it was I was afraid of. I told God I would choose to trust Him regardless even if I didn’t understand , and I stood on bible verses which reminded me of his love. I decided that I wanted God’s will more than my own, and I wanted his presence more than life going the way I wanted. I thought of the apostle Paul who had endured beating and imprisonment for God and yet kept his faith, and even more than that He remained joyful. Although, honestly, thinking of his life was not all that encouraging to me because I wanted to have a better life than what he had. However I did note his joy and peace, which was certainly greater than my own. Why? Because he really knew God’s love, and he also knew that this life is only temporary and his greatest reward for be in heaven someday. I thought, if he could do it, I can do it because we have the same God. It is God who gives us strength and peace, which is beyond what the world can understand. I began to plan about how I would respond if the thing I feared were to happen, and you know the interesting the that happened? The fear went away. After that, it seemed God being moving suddenly (after a long period of standstill) and my circumstances then gradually shifted. God began pouring in his blessing. And I realized, God had allowed me to go through the situation so he could address the fear and remove it. It was kind of like when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac. Was he willing to do it? God didn’t actually let him go through with it, but it was a pivotal point in his walk with God. It meant that he trusted God and God was more important to him than anything, and Abraham needed to have that kind of faith. So God in essence was asking me, what do I love the most? What do I trust in? Up until that test, although I claimed I trusted in God I was really relying on a set of circumstances and conditions for my security. When that was threatened I reacted in fear. Now, how many of us have certain conditions in life that we depend on to be secure and happy? Probably most of us, I think its only natural, and until God challenges us with that, we might not grow in that area. None of those things are guaranteed to us, as hard as that is to accept. Fearing the loss of those things can sometimes imprison and hinder us.

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15).

It’s only after you let your expectations of those things go and choose to trust in God regardless of what you have or don’t have, that you begin to experience the true peace and joy of God which is not dependent on circumstances. God love is rich, wonderful, and abundant all the time, but sometimes we don’t understand it, and we misjudge God as harsh or uncaring when its not that way at all. If we could only know how much he truly does love us. Sometimes it takes God stretching us or allowing us to be in an uncomfortable place before we can really gain a fuller understanding of it. So allow God to stretch you and don’t doubt his love for a minute.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

“What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8)

Creative Miracles, oil pastel, original

This represents the essence of God as Creator. There is white light emanating from the center and color reflected in the center almost like a prism. The colorful rays then extend outwards representing God’s amazing creative power to do anything-create, save, heal, deliver, set free, love, anything…it’ limitless. The orbs also represent his glory, his radiant presence. There are mysteries hidden within His white light, if only I could dig deeper to discover them. Think about how white light is a combination of all the colors in the universe; in essence it contains the existance of everything-that is God symbolized by the white light. That is why he is above the laws of this earth or even the universe because he created it all and can bend the laws at will. He can do anything He wants, and that is good news, because he can change your circumstances in an instant or even change you. He can change people’s hearts and attitudes, and he can certainly move in your life to do whatever you need, if you would only ask and believe.

I wrote this psalm, reflecting on his wonder…
Your glory fills the sky
Who can fathom your wonderful essence?
Who can comprehend your unending goodness?
You are everything.
Wonder, Delight. Love.
The entire universe exists in your being.
Without you, there is no form.
You hold it all together, lovingly, carefully.
Every detail thought of.
You know the beginning from the end.
You know me and love me.
Your plans are so good, so rich…
They far exceed our expectations.
Your mercy and generosity is amazing!
I want to live with you forever,
wrapped up in your amazing arms,
your colorful glory,
your gentleness, your awe.
I live for you, Lord.
eternally greatful.

Testimony: As I was finishing up the orbs on this and reflecting on the goodness and power of God it seemed like I was under attack. Finances depleted, the car broke down, no money to fix it, and without the car it was impossible for my husband to do his job. Circumstances shouted, “Doomed! It’s over! It’s all collapsing!”

I was confused, “God, why? I thought you would take care of us. We gave alot for you.”
I heard, “Do you trust me?”

I looked at my circumstances again thinking, “I don’t know.” I looked at my picture again reflecting on God’s ability to do creative miracles, to create from nothing. He created the whole world, my car, me! Is he surely now going to forget me?

God said again, “Do you trust me? When are you going to stop looking at your circumtances and what you don’t have and start looking at what you do have, Me!”

Needless to say, I prayed and begged God and tried to believe. I got a ride home, and wouldn’t you know it the same night God also provided money to fix the vehicle. It was fixed the next day and there was quite a bit of money left over. We had nothing, and in an instant God changed it! He is so good!

It feels like major catastophe to us, but its nothing for God, a simple breath could fix everything or give us a new vehicle if he wanted. Why do we get so stressed out?

original acrylic painting, 02-07-09

I am creating in you a new heart. Do not be afraid because I am doing a new work in you. Through these trials and tribulations you are encountering I am refining you. Do you not know that you are not part of this world? Why then you do get so uptight, tossed to and fro by the wind, because of your circumstances? My child I have set you apart from the world. I have called you by name. You are not limited to this world or bound my your circumstances. Arise now and take dominion over these things. Use the authority I’ve given you to call things that are not as though they are. I did not create you to be a victim, but to be an OVERCOMER! You are created to be above and not below, the head and not the tail. Do you know who I am? Really? If you did and if you understood my love for you, you would not be afraid. My love for you is bigger than any problem that you encounter. Do you not see that my Kingdom is available to you? Rise up, now, come to this place of authority. You see, I have created you for such a time as this. I created you to shine like a light in this dark world. The world will see that you are set apart, that I have called you as my own. I am calling for a bride, set apart, without wrinkle or blemish. Will you let me make you holy? Will you let me burn away anything in you that is not pure? Do you understand that I am calling for a new order of things? I am calling you to a higher level of holiness. You say you want to know me, yet sin in your life has separated you from my revelation. My revelation comes as you become more pure. I am seeking those pure in heart, those that want me above anything else. I am looking for those who will do my work, not for their own selfish ambition, but because they love me and want to see me be lifted higher and want to see my love poured out for all the people. If you trust me, you will not do things of your own accord, but will wait on my timing. I am building a strong foundation in you, of solid love, one that can hold the weight of my glory. Please prepare yourselves and allow me to do this work in you. Study my Word to show yourselves approved. Let me show you areas that you have withheld from me, where you have not trusted, for I want to do away with all sin and fear in you. Do not think that you have arrived, for you have higher yet to go. I want to show you new things. I desire to release my revelation to you. Do not worry about falling back, for I will uphold you. I have you in the palm of my hand. If you place your trust in me I will not let you fail. I will not disappoint you. My plans for you are very good, to give you a hope and a future, to fulfill your dreams, for you to have a destiny greater than your wildest imagination! Come up here, bride, where I am, in the secret place. Let me love on you! My love is greater than anything imaginable! It will be enough-always. I will create in you a new heart so overflowing, so full of my love, that my glory will be released wherever you go! You say you want signs, wonders, and miracles. They will come as you put me first and obey me, as you put your motives right, and seek to glorify my name and not your own. I created you, my love, to be poured out on the world, to drawn all men unto me. For I have so much to give, I need willing and faithful servants that I can trust. Will you be that bride? Will you ready yourself for me? I am waiting for you my beloved. I will always love you! Forever!

Your Father God.