I have had the most pleasantly stressful summer….if that even makes sense. The places God has been leading me to, are vast and furiously chaotic.
I’ve always been a bit of a visionary, so when an idea comes, it is never small. Most often I see the eventual; full in all of its grandeur, with little blips of busyness along the way. But never the whole picture. I almost wish that I would only get the next step, the one that I need to take right now. Seeing the end and not knowing how to get from here to there is hard.
But God
In His infinite wisdom, God gives me exactly what I need. Not what my friend needs, or someone else walking a similar path, but me. My experience is tailored to exactly what I need: to see, to hear, to experience. It is what keeps me going in the right direction. I’ve had well-meaning friends tell me that I’m too busy, that God wants me to rest. But I think they speak from what God is telling them, and I am not them. I am me, and I’m often told that crazy is what I do J I run at things with a sense of urgency that probably isn’t always necessary, but I figure He made me this way, right?
So, busyness is what I do. I take the vision and run –fast. Not knowing how to get from A to B can be frustrating, but it is exactly what keeps me relying on my Father for each and every step. If I knew what to do ahead of time, I would just do it and forget to include the Lord in my journey. Obedience is the key to a vibrant relationship with God.
Isn’t it funny how being obedient, something you love, and stress can sometimes find their way into the same sentence. But this longing in my heart has been there ever since I can remember. I’ve tried to push the desires to create aside in order to do my duty as a wife, mother, and co-provider in our home. But the creative juices gush forth as the levee cracks open from the building pressure and need.
Obviously I have a great desire to create…not only with words but with paint, and pens, and pictures and anything else that I can get my hands on. I truly believe this desire comes from my Father, the Master of all artists, and like a child who follows their parent around imitating their every move, so I do.
This summer I’ve been teaching art classes and doing fairs, and encouraging others to create just for the sake of their sanity….and mine goes out the window.
But only for a time. I’ve found that anything worthwhile in life takes time, and effort, and often not a small amount of sacrifice. Could God take me from housewife and mother to an artist in the blink of an eye? Of course, but what will I have learned along the way?
No. In my experience, the way God works is so much more complex than that. He will take me from a comfortable calm to an all-out frenzy of activity, and in the end, I sit back satisfied that we did it together, He and I.
Summer was chaos.
But I am beginning to move into a more comfortable pattern of work and play and ministry, and God willing, that stress of trying to be too many things at one time, will lessen.
The lessons learned are many.
The friends I’ve made have been fantastic.
The artist I have become is something I never thought I could.
And I couldn’t be more grateful.
God bless you and all your creative endeavors! lisa
Lisa is a daughter, wife, mother, writer, blogger, artist, author, maker and instructor of a creative life. Join her in celebrating the creativity in life at creativefaith.me where she offers Creative workshops in her studio and local art centers, as well as free online tutorials and ponderings about the creative things of life. You can also follow her on Instagram (lisaellen_art), facebook (, lisaellenart) and twitter (@lisaellenstudio).
Can’t wait to see more of your creativity! Thanks for sharing what God has been doing in your life.
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