"When I came to Sioux Center a year ago, I thought drawing and painting were a long-lost ghost of my childhood, confined to the 20-year-old art supplies heaped in the back of the closet in the spare room. Little did I know that--and much more, how--God was going to revive them. But here I was in October of 2017, walking the pleasant, shade-dappled fall streets of Sioux Center, staring up into the leaf-dropping, breezy trees, and learning to rest in the Lord. I had just had a year that was as busy as they come. Between college graduation, a two-month mission trip to Spain, and moving out of my childhood home, I had slept in over ten different places during the previous four months. I was ready for a rest. And so, as I walked slowly, staring up into the leaf-hung boughs soon becoming barren branches revealing their intricate design, the Lord brought me into rest. Deep rest. And creativity. Though I wouldn't have named it as such. All I knew was that if God thought He had enough time to individually design and then watch over every branching-off bough, stick, and twig of every oak, maple, and birch, then why did I have to be worried about my life if God was taking even better care of every branching-off detail of my soul? Anxiety melted off me. My heart and my mind were impermeable to its advances. Deep rest in the Father's arms was all there was, and anxiety's lies became a far-off fable. It was from this place of rest that I was set free to dream again, to imagine again, to wonder again. To grab my childhood toolbox long forgotten, and to create again. In January of 2018, in mid-winter when prickly trees poke their stark branches above the fresh white snow, I began to color again. And I will never be the same. Drawing one day what I thought was simply going to be an illustration of a prayer based on John 15 for a friend and her husband two thousand miles away, I was awakened to a whole new reality: interacting with God through art. I couldn't stop. Soon, the blank white pages of my journal were filled with these prayer illustrations for friends. My journal was a skeleton of its former self because I was ripping so many pages out of it to give to others! I couldn't keep up with the inspiration that was coming into my mind! I didn't want to keep it to myself! Art and creativity and the truths they can communicate are meant to be shared! Since then, the Lord, aside from teaching me to keep creativity a part of my daily life--even if it's as small as a 5-minute drawing to give to the store clerk--has taught me to share what I've learned with others. Over the last several months I've had the opportunity to interact with the Holy Spirit through art with adults and children alike--to teach, and more importantly, to be taught by them. Each day I am growing in rest and in wonder at my King and in His creation. And this is just the beginning. Will you join me?"
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