The other day some of us had the opportunity to be led in worship through painting. I like to paint canvas back home, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn how to turn that into worship. I was expecting to create a piece of artwork that would be somewhat decent and would have Jesus written all over it, I was expecting to encounter the Lord in a new way, and I was expecting to walk away with new understanding of who the Lord is. And I got all of that. I wasn’t expecting, however, to have God speak to me about my identity in Him through this painting.
One exercise that we were led through required us to paint blindfolded. We didn’t choose our colors beforehand, we just went with it. I decided to use my fingers instead of mess around with a brush. As I started swirling the paint around on my paper, I just began to feel God take over. He kept telling me with every swipe of my finger that this is how He made me. He put careful thought into every stroke. He specifically put each mark where He did for a reason. He had me cover the entire page, because there is not one part of me that was not created by Him. He had me press my fingers into some of the wet paint on the page to indent my fingerprints into it, to solidify that this is me. As I swirled, swiped, and pressed I grew more and more excited to see what this painting looked like. He told me that that was how He felt when I was being created. He was excited to see what His creation looked like.
I didn’t know what I was creating, but I just knew when to stop painting. At that moment, He spoke over me that His creation was made perfect. And my creation was perfect. No matter what others saw in it, it was perfect because it was mine. I was so excited to see this painting. When we were allowed to take off our blindfolds, I was so struck by what I had created. The textures and colors were amazing to me. I still find myself looking at it in wonder. To me, it’s perfect. And I would bet that’s how God felt about me when He was finished, “Yeah, I created that! And she is perfect!”
We were told to pair off and switch our painting with our partner and ask the Lord to give us a word about their painting to give to them. The words that were spoken over me were courage and belonging. The dots represented “courage bubbles”, that were soon to burst. All the blending and swipes of the colors represented belonging. These are two words that play a huge role in my identity, and God just blew through those today. He calls me courageous and He says I belong…all because I am His.
I didn’t think I’d get out of this day what I got. But I am so encouraged by this encounter with the Lord through painting that I want to do it again, many more times! And I’d encourage you all to try it out too! It’s amazing to see Him work through a new medium. Along with painting blindfolded, we also created a work on canvas. I’m not as in love with it as I am with my paper painting, but it was spirit-led as well so I am going to bless our ministry here by donating it to them.
Here are pictures of both of my paintings from the day….
Be blessed in the new things God has for you today! Open your ears and eyes to experience Him in new ways!
