In the midst of the Spring Showcase for Christian Meeting and Convention Association in 2011 a young woman is frantic. She is a self-professed “type A” personality which suits her well as a meeting planner. She is in control of her life. She has a rosy future. She has the one and five year plan mapped out. Until. She discovers she is unexpectedly expecting her second child. Her first is just 18 months old. What is she going to do? Beside herself with anxiety she attends a painting workshop “Art as Worship”. “No experience necessary?” She asks me. ” Absolutely not”, I answer. There, on the patio of The Cove in Asheville, NC. the Lord shows up. We feel His presence as the wind whispers through the trees just beginning to bloom. He meets with us. He meets with His frantic daughter. As she paints, she feels His presence and through paint and canvas expresses her heart to God. It is not until she finishes that she tells me the story with tears streaming down her cheeks. Papa has reached out and touched her. I pray for her and paraphrase the Philippians passage “Do not be anxious for anything, but bring everything with thanksgiving to the Lord and the peace that passes human understanding will guard your heart and mind.” [Philippians 4:6-7] She cries more. That is the exact scripture she settled on the night before.
The next day she rushes to my seat at breakfast to tell me that she is a changed woman. All of her anxiety is gone. Peace and joy has replaced it to the point that her husband could tell the difference through a phone conversation. “Thank you Ms. Deborah! I am a changed woman!”
Hallelujah! Although this is not a story about MY art transforming a life. It is a story of God using the arts, the creative process, the act of painting, to break down barriers of thought and reach the heart of a matter. He changed the heart and the mind and emotions followed.
This what I call a gateway experience. God does amazing things when He looks and finds willing vessels and submitted hearts. He healed this young woman of her worry and anxiety. He replaced it with His joy and peace. I simply created the landing strip for His visitation. Hallelujah! Come Lord Jesus!