Many of you know that to fundraise for this trip I was doing prophetic paintings. Basically, people would say what size and type of painting they wanted. Then I would pray and ask the Lord what He wanted to say to them. I would take whatever the Lord gave me and turn it into a picture. It could be as simple as a word, or a piece of scripture, or even lyrics from a song. For example when I think of the word Dream the image that pops into my head is a dreamcatcher. I would then begin to paint that picture. As I paint I would continue to pray and ask for a deeper understanding as to why this is what He wanted to say. Anything I heard I would write down. I would then deliver the paintings and give the prophetic words with it. The painting was meant to be a visual reminder of the word from the Lord.
I posted about this on facebook asking that people solely pay to cover the cost of making the painting. I asked that once the painting was received that they pray about giving a donation. I felt like this was what the Lord was asking me to do for fundraising. When I posted about it, I expected maybe two or three of my closest friends to possibly buy one. I was completely floored by the response this fundraiser actually got. I ended up within 8 hours having to stop taking orders when I had 24 commissioned paintings to do. I even ended up with a waiting list just as long as the original list of people willing to wait until whenever I was able to get to them. The van is now equipped with a small art studio for this specific purpose. I have been working on that waiting list this last month, but the whole reason for this blog is not about fundraising. I wanted to share with you what happened when I allowed myself to see this gift as a way to evangelize.
During my ministry fast (here is a link to that blog if you don’t know what I’m talking about…https://melissajordan.theworldrace.org/post/not-so-fast) I felt the Lord telling me to use my art as a way to share His love with people. I felt him calling me to pray and paint without knowing who I was painting for. I was to write down the words I heard Him say and then I was to give them away to people. The catch was that I was to hand them away to strangers.
At first, this made me really excited. I was finally able to paint again. I would sit down to paint and the art would just flow through me. I began to find a style that I really liked and felt like it was absolutely perfect for what I was called to do. I sat down and made 3 pieces.
I wrote down the word for each one on a page I tore out of my journal. I folded the notes and carefully tucked the art into my bag. When I asked the Lord where I was supposed to give them out at, I heard him say Le Brea. I immediately thought of the Le Brea tar pits and felt like that is where I was supposed to go. So I shared that with my team and we made time to make sure I got to go.
We get to Le Brea and suddenly I’m filled with anxiety. I walked around to the place I felt like I was supposed to be and sat and prayed. All the anxiety of evangelism came rushing back and I felt paralyzed. After a pep talk with myself and praying, I felt like I saw the person I was supposed to give a painting to. I walked up to him and said, “Hi, my name is Melissa and I was praying and I felt like God wanted me to give you this painting. Will you take it?” The man looked at me and firmly said, “No.” He turned and walked away and I was suddenly deflated. I went back to where I was sitting and prayed.
I tried to work up the courage to try again but then I got a text saying we had to go soon. I walked back towards where we had parked. As I walked I battled that part of me that said, “You heard wrong. Evangelism isn’t your thing. You should just give up.” That is when I saw her. A woman walking towards me. Something within me said, “Try again.” I wasn’t very optimistic but I was obedient. I offered her the painting halfheartedly, thinking I’d be rejected again, but she didn’t. She took the painting and said thank you. It wasn’t this big grand thing, but it showed God’s faithfulness to me. Even when I thought He wouldn’t show up, He loved me enough to prove me wrong. The painting I gave away at Le Brea was the one that looks like a paper airplane.
I gave away the owl painting at the Pasadena House of Prayer. We were hanging out waiting for an appointment we had made and I saw her from across the room. I felt the Lord tug at my heart to give her the painting but I felt some anxiety again. Eventually, I worked up the nerve to go and hand her the painting. She accepted the painting and I went back to waiting for my appointment. Again it was just a small act of obedience to what God had called me to do. I pray that it was encouraging for her. I took a picture of the letter that went with this painting so that you could get a look at what the notes look like too.
This last painting I have to tell you about was actually the first one I gave away. It was the one that looked like a dandelion. I gave that one out at a church in LA called Churchome. We had decided to go to church there on a Wednesday night and were hanging around in the balcony after service. I felt the Lord telling me that I needed to give one of my paintings away so I pulled out the dandelion one. I prayed and asked God to highlight someone in the lobby below us. As I prayed one woman was standing in the crowed lobby all by herself. It was like the Lord cleared space around her for me to be able to see her. As I went down the stairs to meet her I prayed that if she really was who I was supposed to give the painting to that God would keep her there. I got down the stairs and she was still there.
I walked up to her and introduced myself. I told her I felt like the Lord wanted her to have the painting and that the separate paper explained it all. I asked if she would let me pray for her and she said yes. Once I had finished praying, the woman looked at me and said, “I was waiting for you.” She had come to church that night asking for God to speak to her. She said she had been standing in the lobby waiting because God said someone was coming to talk to her. I was blown away.
As we were talking my teammate was coming down the stairs. Apparently she too had felt the Lord say that I was supposed to give this girl a painting. She came down and started asking her questions about her life. We were able to pray over her father who was sick and over her moving. It was such a cool moment that never would have happened had I not stepped out in faith and went down to her.
That’s it for now. I am still painting and still planning on handing more out, so there will be more moments like these to share soon. Until then, thanks for reading and keeping up with all that’s going on out here!
