A vision...

On a recent trip to the art supply store, I purchased a white gel pen and a very large 9B pencil/crayon with the intent of trying a night sky.  My 13 year old daughter told me about a new technique they were learning in her art class at school- smudging with a paper stump.  We bought a package of them, and she showed me how to use the them because she thought it would make a nicer sky than simply using pencil strokes.

Soon after, my dear friend wrote to me about a vision she had seen.  She described hands reaching down from the heavens holding a wedding gown over a cityscape. She said she felt compelled to tell me about it so I could draw it, and she knew I had done a few pieces with hands in them recently.

As my friend described her vision, I saw it at in my mind as being at night, and knew I had to draw it with my new tools.

After I sketched in the hands, fabric and city lightly, I used the paper stump to shade in the darkness of the sky and the city.  Afterward, I used the white gel pen to dot the sky with stars, add the lights on the bridge and windows, and created the lace effect on the fabric. 

I sent this picture of it to my friend who said, "Wow. I can't believe how amazing that is!!!! Girl it's so gorgeous and sooo close to my vision that I think you saw it too."

Here is an image of the lace detail.

Editing to add this verse, though it seems to be in reverse;


Revelation 21:2 (NIV)I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Daughter...

A woman from the congregation of my church that I am becoming friends with was speaking with me on a recent Sunday morning.  She is aware of the issues I've been having with fibromyalgia pain. She told me that she had now been having trouble with her left thumb- it was painful and wouldn't bend at the base joint. She demonstrated that it, indeed, would not bend at all.  We prayed for healing for both of our issues with widespread pain.

Later that week,  after a bible study session at our church, she told me an amazing story through tears welling up in her eyes. 

She said that during the service just days before, where we had sat with each other, she had a vision of Jesus approaching her and putting his hand on her forearm.  His robe draped over her arm, and he moved his hands downward and held her hand cupped in his.

Two days later, she was telling another friend about her issues with her thumb. When she attempted to demonstrate its refusal to bend, she was shocked when it suddenly had full range of motion and no pain!

I was overwhelmed by her emotions and her story, and I knew I had to draw a prayer for her next.

I always sign the back of the sketch with the recipient's name and the date of the prayer.  I gave it to her the following Sunday at service. As I approached her to give it to her, I noticed she was wearing a name tag, and I was disappointed to see that I had spelled her name incorrectly.  She had a fairly "normal" name, but I saw instead of an "a" she had a "y" in the middle.

I hastily found a pen to correct my error and gave her the drawing.  She immediately cried and we hugged.  She said she had goosebumps. I apologized for misspelling her name, and we laughed.  She said that she added a "y" as a teenager to jazz up her plain name.  That her true given name on her birth certificate is with just as I had spelled it... with an "a".  She said even her children don't know the real spelling of her name. We chuckled a bit and I told her God knows her by name and I guess He gave me her real name, and we laughed and hugged some more.

Later that afternoon, she sent me a text message with a photo of the drawing proudly displayed in a frame on the wall of her home.  

Two paths...

Two paths on the beach.  Are they diverging or coming together?

If you think about it they both end up in the same place whichever direction they are going.  Standing together on the beach watching the sun rise or fall, or standing together where the paths meet. Or perhaps travelling in opposite directions with great distance between... there's much to be interpreted here.

This was a prayer drawing on the topic of a relationship. 

But also a suitable representation of Him guiding me and the fellow believers around me on our paths.

Letting go...

I've been listening to a lot of sermons on forgiveness and the healing it can bring to a person.  To forgive as God forgave... 

I want to, but HOW.

I've been praying on it and meditating on it.  I watched a few good messages on it, from Pastor Craig Groeschel and Joyce Meyer, and even a few Ted Talks.

I really enjoyed Pastor Craig's honest story in the message above.  At first, begrudgingly, he asks God to "do something" for this person who he needed to forgive.  Then, his prayer grew more earnest and true over time, and eventually, he was able to forgive this person with a letter, and his forgiveness touched this other person and led him to a relationship with God.

This drawing was to show me that letting go of the past hurts would lead me to a closer relationship with God and peace.

I discovered today that my sketch book had been mistreated.  It ended up under the seat of my car, and some pages were torn or dirty.  I was so upset, because the pages that were ruined were the past few drawings I had done in the front of the book.

The dove drawing, which was about half done, had a small tear and some wrinkles, but no dirt.  I almost tore it out and tossed it, but I was called to finish it instead.  While I am still a little upset about the drawings that got ruined, I had to remind myself that I had already photographed them and told their story here on this blog... That now they are "just paper".  The rest of the notebook, all of the white pages, remain clean and undamaged, waiting for me to draw more.

I finished the dove, and sent it to two of my friends.

The reaction was perfect.  The drawing meant different things to each of them, but they both "needed" to hear the message of the drawing tonight.

Which is why I will keep drawing; there are messages coming out of my pencils that speak to people that need to hear something.

I was asked if I made any resolutions this year. Yes, I did.  First, is to finally read the bible, all of it, in context, not just verses here and there, and to keep praying and drawing... a lot.

The pearl...

On New Year's Eve, I was drawing with my two youngest daughters.

"I can't draw people" is usually followed closely by "I can't draw hands".  I told the girls that my resolution was to read my new book (a beautiful new bible from one of my sisters) every day, and finish it by summer.  I was also going to keep practicing my drawing, and hope to get even better by practicing.

I told them that I was going to try to draw my hand because hands are very hard for me.  I laid it gently to the side, and began to draw.  They were amazed watching my fingers and palm appear.  The creases, lines, and tendons, and my wrist tattoo reminding me to "Be still..."

I finished shading it this morning, but something was missing.  And I prayed on it, and was reminded of the parable of the pearl in Matthew 13: 45-46  "45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.""

Side note: Pearls are my birthstone - coincidence?

And so, I added the pearl to my palm, as if I was observing it, or about to share it with someone.

Which leads me to where I am in this very moment.  Sharing it with someone. I prayed this afternoon on how to share my testimony, how to share the Word of God, this Good News, how to "create more and better disciples" as is the mission of my church.

I clearly heard and was drawn to begin this blog.  And so I have.

Today is 1/1/2019.  I hope you will find something that speaks to you within these drawings.  With each drawing comes a coincidence that I cannot explain.  A coincidence that I believe is the work of God within my hands.

As I have heard it said before... 

There are no such things as coincidences. 

Coincidences are God working anonymously.

This blog is my way of revealing Him.

Songbirds...

This drawing is another prayerful drawing related to myself.  I have four beautiful daughters.  And through the last year, I've really been in a season of winter with my two oldest.

I wanted to pray for my children, but they aren't believers yet, and I wasn't sure what He was telling me to draw.  Then I remembered the tattoo on my ankle depicting Mark 4: 30-32   "30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

I began to draw my favorite songbirds, each representing the personalities of and ages of my children.  I added snowy branches to represent our season of winter.  And of course, this drawing had to be in color to represent the beauty within my girls.

I scanned the image and made it the cover of my Christmas cards for them, and inside the card I explained the traits of each bird that reminded me of them.

I made them each an ornament of their bird to remind them of my drawing and my love for them.

This drawing is now framed and hangs in my bedroom, with photos of my girls on either side of it.

I pray each day that God brings us through this winter season and into spring, where they will know and feel and accept my love for them.

Dad...

This drawing began with the rosary.  I started it at the hospital while I was staying there for several days with my father, a devout Catholic, who raised us in his faith. He was quite ill and needed a family member to stay at night with him.

At the time he was wheelchair bound for the most part, and sometimes easily confused.

Soon after he came home, I decided to add his likeness to the drawing.  This was quite stressful to me, even more than the thought of "messing up" Jesus' drawing.  If I made a mistake, I would see it.  My family would see it.  They would say, "That doesn't look like Dad at all!"  I was worried that I would miss the mark on his image, and that felt very wrong to me.  I could have told myself that it is just paper, I could throw it out if the image was terrible, but I didn't tell myself that.  I told myself that I could draw him, and I asked God to help me draw him.

I chose my favorite picture of Dad, taken at my youngest sister's wedding.  He was smiling as she pinned on his boutonniere.  I ever-so-lightly sketched him in, and showed my two sisters, and of course, my youngest immediately recognized him and the photo I was using for reference.  I was relieved slightly, because at least it was recognizable as Dad.

I spent what felt like forever building up the shading and contours of his portrait.

It's funny what you notice when your drawing becomes a portrait of someone that you know; the nose is spot on.  It's sort of the signature nose of Dad's family. I'm really proud of that nose.

And of course, as I worried would happen, because he's my father, and I live with him- I see every imperfection in the drawing.  His eyes are too big (though they really look very kind and gentle). At first, his mouth looked strained instead of having the hint of a smile, but I worked and reworked the smile until he looked more like the photograph.

And I was proud to show it to one of my family members, who said briskly and without further comment, "His head is too small."

This post isn't about what is wrong with the picture, it is about what is right.

First, that it isn't finished.  I feel that I'll be adding to the right side at some point in the future, but I've put the image away for now.

Secondly, not long after finishing his portrait to the point that you see it now, Dad drastically improved.  He has been using his walker instead of the wheelchair for a couple of months now, and his mind is sharper than it has been in a very long while.

The prayers that I sent up while I drew this were intense, were heard,and were answered.