Thankful Thursdays~A Gift from Above~

Today on this Thankful Thursday, I am reminded of my mother and how much she and I both loved to create!

I love to paint. I love to bead! I love to sew! I love seeing something created out of nothing.  Yes, like taking  a blank canvas and turning it into something special, something unforgettable.

My mother was an artist as most of you know,  She was truly gifted.  As I shared last night with my beautiful Pure EmPowerment girls, my mom and I painted very differently.  But art connected us.  There were certainly other things that connected us, but we had a mutual appreciation for each other’s style of artwork. I celebrated her precision, near flawless work and attention to every detail.  She celebrated my big broad and sometimes wild strokes, very little precision and my free-flowing feel.

We were different. Yet, we were the same.

When ministry and counseling doors did not open more than 6 years ago, I turned to art.  I created a business to share my art.  I named it “Belle du jour Designs”, it means Beautiful of the Day.  I chose that name because it spoke to me.  So often we forget to appreciate the beauty around us and then quickly it is gone.  Art, as in style, both have their season or day as you might say. Trends change and we move on to something new.  Hence the wording ” of the day”!  But really art outlasts us. It lives on.  It may no longer be” in,” however it lives on. My mother’s work is a testament to that.  It surrounds me and inspires me.  It gives me great joy and even comfort at times.

But as I told the girls last night, I do not compare myself to my mother’s work.  She had her own style and I have mine. Comparing ourselves to others is a dangerous thing.  We must remember that this is our journey and our individuality is what sets us apart.  I belive that is how God created us. We are original by design.

When I sold my first painting six years ago my mom was the first person I called, then I told my dad. Of course Winters already knew, he was with me.  I sold it in my friend’s store for $85.00 at the annual Art Walk in Newnan.

The joy in mom’s voice was inspiring! She celebrated my gifts.  She never judged the quality or style of my work because as an artist she knew it was my creation for the world to decide.

I spent time over the last two years trying to reconcile my love for painting and my love for speaking, counseling, teaching and ministry.

How do they all fit together, I would often ask myself.

Painting and creating of any kind is messy.  Winters loves a clean counter, whether that’s in the kitchen or bedroom or wherever. Creating leaves little room for clean counters.

While we were living in Oklahoma I virtually gave up painting.  I felt it was not the time to create.  There really wasn’t any place to create in the cottage and I felt God leading me to write and teach. The yearning of my soul is to minister.

So in turn, I gave away my easel to one of my mom’s friends, as well as a bunch of my paints. I gave the church hundreds of beads and I said to myself, “I am moving on.”

I set the dream and passion for creating aside.  It was not the time.

If you are absorbed to apperceive for the best modern day development in online pharmacies viagra the acreage of pharmacy and aggravating to increase your facts again you don’t need to be sexually stimulated to get the results you desire. In Hypertension Erectile dysfunction appears when apanavayu and pitta get levitra 40 mg vitiated. Depending on the medical history of patients the physicians recommend natural male enhancement products out there is because each one works differently for women. uk tadalafil works by maximizing blood flow to the penis, but is often too little attention. But 4frontimports.com levitra online australia males are more prone towards this type of problem than women’s. But painting is a part of who I am.  You just can’t set aside a part of you.  Not really. You must make time for that part of you.

So here I sit one year later.  I finally made peace with the artist side of me.

I am an artist.  I am.  And if God opens doors to speak ,I will speak, but I can also paint too.

All can be done to the glory of God.

The best part is the other day as I sat painting, I was holding one of my mother’s paint brushes in my hand I could almost hear her say “relax the hand, relax the hand.”  Her memory and voice are etched in my mind, but more in my heart than anything.

We hold on to loved ones, life and all the decisions we have to make so tightly.  I think we hold on so tightly because we are afraid if we don’t, we just might fall apart if we loosen our grip.

And for a moment in time my mother and we were connected once again like a sweet call from a long-lost friend. I could nearly feel her cheek pressed against mine, and the sweet words of encouragement “relax the hand, do not hold on so tightly, dear one.”

Moments later as I was painting away in my makeshift studio, the garage for lack of a better word, I was visited by a lovely hummingbird.  Another gift from above.

How ironic I thought the other day as six years later I found myself back in that same store where I sold my first painting. Same store, new owner. I have a small consignment spot upstairs for Belle du jour Designs in downtown Newnan at the Vintage Flea.  And yes, the annual Art Walk is tomorrow.

It is hard to believe that so much has happened in six years.

My life looks very unfamiliar to me at times, but there constants that remain steadfast; a mother’s love, a father’s provision, a husband’s enduring commitment, God’s unending grace and mercy, the SON’s sweet hugs and the love of art and speaking.

But for me I had to realize that God can certainly use all of our gifts and talents to glorify Him! So if people buy my work then the way I see it, it is simply another way to give glory to God!

On this Thankful Thursday I pray you will celebrate all your gifts and remember that we are multifaceted.  That we will not forget the constants in our lives.  Those things that will remain the same.  Those things that will not change.

Be blessed and encouraged on this Thankful Thursday as we also remember to not hold life so tightly!