my journey to my artist mission

The other night I went to a b'day party with Ashley for one of her school friends.  It was at Incredible Pizza.  Anyone that has been there knows why I stayed around -- the place is crazy!  During the actual party time, in the b'day room with everyone, I was able to sit down and chat with some of the moms of kids from Ashley's class.

One mom and I got into a nice convo about art, owning your own business, etc.   She has a desire in her heart to do something with photography.  She gets that natural high all artists get when they finally find their passion.  She asked me simply, how I started.  And my answer was -- well, I opened up my shop.

In fact, it took more than that.  So what did it take? What did I do to get to this point?  Well, first there had to be a mission behind it all.

I knew something was growing in my heart when I felt that twinge of jealousy when I saw others out there pursuing their art dream.  It was a good jealousy because it got me moving.  I was still in school, getting my Graphic Design degree, while working full time, being a mommy and a wife and a housekeeper.  I was busy enough already.  I knew if I was going to do this thing, I would need to give myself time.  It wasn't going to happen fast!

I gave myself the year 2010 to design and pray.  I knew the Lord had put in me this desire to create art for Him.  But the direction/mission behind this art -- for that answer, I needed quiet reflection.

I didn't put much pressure on myself.  It was not a race.  I was in school - so always designing. Those late nights of working on designs for school assignments kept me creating.  And with each assignment and project, I tried to incorporate my faith one way or another.

I knew, though, that when it came to Christian art, I had to tread lightly.  It had to be well thought-out with room/time for prayer.  I was aware that I was stepping into an arena where what I created would be representing my Lord.  I did not want to use His name if it wasn't purely for Him.  Some of my designs do incorporate old hymn lyrics, but most everything I do is straight from the Bible.

It has been my experience, life is not easy.  We all have our valleys.  We all have our mountaintops, too.  It is what we do with our time while on the mountaintop that will determine how we spend our time in the valleys.

My mission started to solidify in my heart ... I wanted to bring God's word into people's everyday lives in hopes of bringing God's healing love into people's hearts.  Art licensing -- having my art on everyday objects started to appeal to me because of how much those pieces of art help me in my daily life.

As an example -- I have a coffee cup that I absolutely LOVE. It has a verse from one of my favorite books in the Bible - Lamentations 3 ... "Morning by morning, new mercies I see."  That verse is now imprinted on my heart.  I didn't need an index card to carry around with me to memorize it.  I just lived my life, and because of this artist's work, that verse lives in my heart.  My hope is that the Lord can use my art for others like he used this piece of art on this one coffee cup in my life.

And that is sort of my journey to how I grew to know my artist mission.

I have this mission printed on cards, and I include them with each product I sell.  Here it is:

my ART is based on Psalm 119:11

"I have hidden YOUR word in my heART."

It takes God's word in my heART to keep me chugging through
my ridiculously crazy busy
and at most times heART lifting
but sometimes heART breaking
but most of ALL incredibly BLESSED life.

 My hope is that a piece of art I create brings you
closer to God's word
and the peace that comes from knowing Him.


PRAY. LOVE. LIVE.