Finding my left arm

I was always interested in art, but I never felt like I had a way to explore that interest. I took art classes in high school, but our art class was more of a pen for rebellious and lazy students than an environment to discover and enhance our skills. In college, until I transferred to Bible college, I was able to start out on the ground level with some drawing classes before I found carving and sculpture. I found a part of me that I had never used; like I had gone through life for nineteen years without realizing I had a left arm. That extra arm sure would make it easier to do things like carry heavy stuff or even hug people. One-armed hugs are strange.

Art is an avenue for self-discovery. Every time I am working on a piece or even viewing the works of others, I am challenged to dig deeper into myself. Why am I attracted to that style, those colors, or those shapes? Why do I carve with so much curvature and negative space? Why am I so endlessly enthralled with tiny copper people getting into all sorts of tomfoolery? God is starting to answer some of those questions while He continues to plant new ones in their place. God uses art to teach me about Him, others, and myself.

Unfortunately there is a trend of separation between the art world and the Christian world. They seem almost in opposition to one another in most cases. God has given me a dream of reuniting them. Not by creating “Christian art," but by empowering a generation of Christ-following artists - and youth are the key.

Explore your local art. Encourage your youth to discover their passions and give them an avenue to pursue them. Join me in praying for a generation of creative worshippers.

Isaiah 55:9 says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." What if God means to surpass our wildest dreams?