Masterpiece

Hello Illustrated Faith family!  

I don’t know about you, but God is doing a major work in my soul through the Illustrated Faith Created to Create and You are Beautiful devotionals.  It’s like He opened the skies and blessed me with words written straight to my creative, artistic heart.  He is whispering to me, “You are not alone, there are so many creatives like you!  Your creativity has great purpose in my Kingdom!  It’s time to step up and use your gifts!  Trust ME with the very places of your soul that are tender and vulnerable and we will make beautiful things together!  Be brave.  You are Mine!”

First order for me is to sort lies from truth.  And not just sort them, call them out so I can begin to believe and act on truth.  For some reason this is easy for me over other people’s lives.   I joke that I have butterfly eyes.  When others are frustrated with someone, I am the one who “sees” potential for beauty and goodness.   A student can tell me he is just “lazy” and I can look him straight in the eye and with 100 percent of all of my heart, mind, and soul tell that precious young man, “NO, that is a lie from the enemy. You can choose to believe the lie and choose to be lazy OR you can do something radical — believe what God says.  God says you are fearfully and wonderfully made, you have purposes on this earth that only you can complete.  You are gifted.  You are loved.  You are able to do all things through Christ.”    Yes, I have HUGE faith for others but for myself, I struggle.  I beat myself up.  

It’s time for my identity to line up with what Jesus says about me.  It’s time for me to truly live the resurrected life Jesus so dearly paid for.  There is nothing past or present that I have thought, done, or been that can keep Jesus from using me for His purposes.   The only thing that keeps Him from using me completely is my own belief in lies.

And so I journal.  I journal to take truth and put it into my own language.  That of visual art.

The starting point for all of us may be to go back into memory lane as Valerie did on Day 2 of You are Beautiful.  I highlighted every “I remember” she wrote.  Each highlight brought tears to my eyes.  For her, for me, and for every kid and adult who lies were spoken over.  Think back, call those lies out and ask God to give you truth in it’s place.  Warning—this is not for the faint of heart nor is it a one time prayer (and if it is may I say you are so very blessed).  Calling those lies out is a declaration of battle and a commitment that every time a lie pops into your mind and heart, you call it a lie and replace it with truth.

I knew that the key piece in my journaling would be the “left overs” from my RISEN journaling page in Matthew 28 that I blogged about over Easter.  

In my world, there are no “left overs” not in people terms and not for heaven’s sake in art terms.  It’s all valuable to me and I can find meaning almost everywhere.  So I purposed the outside section of the butterfly punched out from the main piece of artwork for this new entry to symbolize me in Christ flying high in the truth of who God says I am.  Get it?  Christ in me?  Cut from the Master’s cloth?  May be too #deep.  Moving on…

I added the “I AM” stamp from the kit to my page.  Highlighted who God says I am and the truth that He has written every single day for me — in other words, nothing is a surprise and nothing is wasted.  Added lots of enamel hearts, well, because He loves me (that’s hard for me to say guys because I often feel so unlovable) and scribbled in my own handwriting the truths that I thought He wanted me to weave into my soul.

A bit of washi tape and the awesome tab “changed’ from the kit.  I chose changed because He is changing me!  Yes, at age 50, He is changing me and telling me to fly.  He is asking me to see in myself what I have passionately tried my whole Christian life to sew into others.  

Fly my friends.  You are loved so very much.  

Hugs,

amy

ESV Leather Journaling Bible | Illustrated Faith You are Beautiful Devotional Kit by Valerie Wieners | Illustrated Faith Bella Blvd Precision Pen | Illustrated Faith Bell Blvd She Blooms Mix Enamel Hearts |  Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Pens in Pink Madder #129, Medium Flesh #131, Dark Naples Ochre #184, May Green #170, Cobalt Green #156 | ek Tools Butterfly Punch | Washi Tape | Stazon Black Ink Pad | Watercolor Art