Here’s a question… What do I do when I don’t have a secondary job to do? When my camera sits useless without a SD card in my backpack… What do I do when my ministry host hands me some water colors and a piece of paper asking me to paint what God has put in my heart to share with a person of His choosing?
Prophetic art is something I have never done before and I must admit that I had absolutely no expectation of it actually working. I assumed I would scribble something that hopefully resembled redemption on a sheet of paper and maybe make a sad attempt to explain it to some poor somebody. Little did I know the patchwork quilt God was sewing together through the different paintings and thoughts of my team.
With so much indecision and a ton of uncertainty I started painting a fig tree (Habakkuk 3:17-19)… As my brush met the paper over and over again the joy of painting filled my soul once more. I have not held a brush in a very long time. As our allotted time ran out, my team gathered together and put on the armor of God before heading out into the city to find the true owners of our morning’s work.
I was sitting on a bed in a tiny home of a refugee from Tibet when I felt the gentle fingers of Jesus pushing me forward. My ministry host’s drawing had led us to the home of this elderly couple and their mentally ill daughter. Katherine, my teammate’s painting of a flower surrounded by darkness depicted the state of the young woman’s mind… And as I sat there I knew this is the one for which my painting was intended…
Slipping it out of my backpack I let it rest in my lap… The truth is, I was afraid. This family was struggling and though there is power in my words, I felt that out of the eight Christians in the room someone else would be able to explain the love of Christ better than I. I take the photographs and I write about others speaking life into the hearts surrounding us… I don’t take the steps into the fray. I hide.
I held my painting in my hands, looking down at it and searching for the five seconds of courage it would take to rise from the bed and reach out to the girl before me. Thankfully God does not listen to my excuses. He just grabs my waist and pushes me into the trust free fall. Bre, my team leader saw my inner struggle and gave me the courage to do it.
In the moments to come I found myself kneeling on the floor, holding a picture of a tree shaped like a cross explaining the unending limitless love of a father to another bleeding soul. The spirit of the living God in me spoke the words that He wanted His little one to hear and all I had to do was get out of the way.
After the salvation story was told, prayers were lavished over the house and the people living there. We took our leave and who knows what will happen to the seeds planted there… God knows…
What do I do when my camera is not present for me to hide behind? I get out of the way and let Jesus shine through because He is my hiding place not my abilities… not my camera… that’s what.
All for now through the eyes of a storyteller.
