Our gift

"What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God." ~Elenor Powell

God is so creative! Look around at the splendorous world around you. He created this amazing world that we all have this tendency to take for granted. We fail to see the beauty in the everyday things surrounding us.

We get too busy with our daily lives and forget to take in the astounding beauty he created just for us! We too have this creative ability. We were made in God's image, right? So we too are creative....each and every one of us! God gifted each one of us with creative abilities....some of us are creative in the way we decorate our homes, the way we solve problems, or the way we communicate.

Some of us are gifted with the ability to engineer or design amazing creations like bridges....

or buildings....

Me, I was gifted with the ability to paint.

And these are my tools.

God put this desire in my heart to paint and eventually I could no longer deny it. For denying it was like telling God I wasn't worthy of this gift He had given me. It was like refusing it. But by using this gift He so graciously has given me, I bring honor to His choice.....glory to His name. For He uses this gift to reach out to not only me, but to others. I am His vessel and I can choose to honor Him by doing what He has called me to do....or I can choose to put it off, make excuses, and not honor His choice to give me this gift.

What gift has God given you? What desire has he placed in your heart? He placed that desire there for a reason. To motivate you to do what He has called you to do. He is that still, small voice that won't let you ignore it. He whispers to your heart....fans the desire. Don't ignore it....for in doing so, you choose to not honor your purpose....your God given purpose.

I've chosen to honor Him.

What will you choose?

Being a creative creature

I just happened across a wonderful blog today who had excerpt below posted on her blog. I just loved it, so I had to repost it here.

"...a Christian, above all people, should live artistically, aesthetically, and creatively....If we have been created in the image of an Artist, then we should look for expressions of artistry, and be sensitive to what has been created for our appreciation....We are all in danger of thinking, "Some day I shall be fulfilled. Some day I shall have the courage to start another life which will develop my talent", without ever considering the very practical use of that talent today in a way which will enrich other people's lives, develop the talent, and express the fact of being a creative creature." 

 --from The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer (italics in the original text)

Our deepest fear

I hit a bit of a rough patch earlier in the week (I won't go into details here....just suffice it to say many tears were shed and I'm on the other side of it now). Some encouraging words from my Mom helped steer me back on track...that I'm a child of God, that I am acting in obedience to His will for my life and He will use this seemingly not so good thing to further His purpose for me and my art.

Then today while researching a weekly discussion topic for my online backgrounds class (something new I'm trying out for this class), I came across this from Marianne Williamson. It seemed to reiterate what my Mom had said to me. I was moved to post this because I felt that there is that someone out there that needed to hear this like I did today.

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. 
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us. 

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? 
You are a child of God. 

Your playing small 
Does not serve the world. 
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking 
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, 
As children do. 
We were born to make manifest 
The glory of God that is within us. 

It's not just in some of us; 
It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, 
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 
As we're liberated from our own fear, 
Our presence automatically liberates others.