What is an artist?

It is the 5th week of my fifth year of Grand View and the light at the end of the tunnel is nearing. I am a visual arts major, which basically means I draw a lot, and I don't really know what is going to happen when I graduate. On top of all that, I am taking an art history class and the question that pops up a lot is, "What is art and why do we make it?" Good question.

If I don't have an answer for what art is then what in the world am I doing majoring in it? I had a minor mental breakdown, thinking that I had wasted the last few years of college doing something that doesn't even matter. But I have come up with an answer. I believe it to be true, though many people may not.

I create because I am created. 

It makes total sense. I am created in the image of the greatest artist EVER. He uses different medium for different subject matter. He uses intricate detail in his work. He even designs his art to serve a purpose. 

So as I am doing one more assignment for my drawing class I am directly reflecting God's character without even knowing it. That is nuts. And it's exciting! It makes me want to work hard to be like my Creator in this way. It's one more way that I can know him more.

So here are some of my works from last semester. The idea behind the drawings are to look at a part of human nature that everyone can relate to, but not everyone likes to talk about. I chose fear. Every drawing is an example of a phobia that someone, somewhere has. Fear is one of the strongest emotions and no one likes to be controlled by it. Ever since I made the decision to put all of my trust in what Jesus has done for me on the cross and to give my life to him, I still get scared, yes. But I don't have to fear death anymore. And if I don't have to fear death then what else is there to fear? Anyway, here they are!

                                                 

Yay Grace!

For the sole purpose of me remembering what the Lord has been teaching me, I need to write this down.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the Holy Spirit and how thankful for the blessings that come along with it. Not only do I have assurance in my salvation because God has given it to me as a deposit guaranteeing my inheritance, but he chooses to help me follow him and love him. I was also thinking about what it means to walk in the Spirit. I know that my default setting is not too pretty, but sometimes I think that by changing my behavior I can somehow get away with looking like I am in the Spirit...which basically defeats the purpose of relying on him in the first place. I have noticed that lately, at my best in my flesh I am impatient, easily frustrated and far from compassionate...among many other things. But God has helped me to rely on him more and when I do it's like magic. All of a sudden, I care about people and what they are going through to the point of crying with them, I don't care if they don't meet my expectations or fail me and I am not angered by things that usually annoy me. 

Two things I want to learn from this. 

1. That I can do absolutely NOTHING apart from Christ and I need him desperately if I want to love him and love people. He really does deserve all the credit for every good thing that has come from my life and any little bit of growth that has occurred. 

2. I don't want to forget specifically when it was so very obvious that God's Spirit was working in me. When I got together with a couple girls and instead of getting frustrated when they didn't want to talk to me and were unloving, I was patient and persisted to find out how I could love them and what was going on in their hearts. It was so opposite what I would naturally do in that situation. 

Today was really awesome as well, but I must admit that my attitude was not the greatest when the day began. I woke up to a phone call from Josh Moklestad asking me if I could sing for church. Before I even answered, I knew what he would ask of me and I almost didn't answer because I wanted to sleep in. But the Spirit pulled through and I agreed. Immediately I went into panic mode wondering if I would forget the words, what should I wear, wear do I put my hands while I sing. Just as I was going through my book of lyrics to quiz myself on if I knew them or not, I realized that everything I was doing was totally on my own strength. Instead of trying harder to make sure I wouldn't make a fool out of myself, I didn't think about praying for God's help instead. So that's what I did. And of course he didn't fail me. As we were running through the songs, I also had an episode. I went back in to panic mode. Now I was really in a pickle because my memory is totally shot after episodes. But God gave me LOTS of grace to continue to entrust everything to him. And of course we sounded great, God helped me to be humble and give him all the praise for what happened this morning. All this to say that it's totally worth it when we choose to rely on God rather than ourselves so don't forget that! That story seems like such a dumb example but God used it, no doubt.

Yay Grace!

I Forgot

Wow. It's been a while. What can I say, the combination of having a bad memory AND being busy has it's affects on my blogging. However, I don't want to give up!

I am currently reading a book called Me, Myself and Lies. It basically challenges you to search through your thoughts and gives you ways to capture them and make them obedient to Christ. It's not an easy read by any means, thinking about what you're thinking about is hard work! But today I read about remembering and it made me remember (weird, right?) that I forget what God is doing and has done for me so often. It asked the question "What are you doing to remember what the Lord has done?" And my answer was...nothing. Then I remembered that is why I started this darn blog in the first place. So I'm at it again. 

Trying to remember specific details, even from the last few months, is not easy. But I do believe that there is a reason that God asks us to dwell on what he has done for us. So quickly I get caught up in the here and now and I don't really believe that He is good or trustworthy when something bad happens or when I get anxious. I really want to believe what is true about my Father, because if I don't, it basically screws up everything else and inhibits my ability to love him back. 

Ok so I am going to do a little photo thankfulness journal. Every photo represents something that I am thankful for, specifically in the last few months since I have posted. Here goes!

I am thankful for...

 Creation...

How it shows God's immense power, and his intricate detail. We don't even deserve this kind of beauty.

 For my abilities that God has given me. To not only walk and run and be able to move but to play sports.

And for the ability to paint and draw and for giving me opportunities to serve using this gift.

 For the pleasure of seeing two of my friends continue to grow in the Lord.

And watch their lives change as they get married.

 For the blessing of being an "almost aunt" 

 and to learning from two couples that I admire dearly.

 For learning from their perseverance 

and being able to rejoice with them.

 For getting to be a real aunt and to watching these two girlies grow into beautiful women someday,

and for their personalities...even if they are crazy sometimes.

 For my family and knowing that they love me and that we can be wild and crazy together.

For my grandparents and their lives, that  they live so close and that I get to see them almost every day and for the blessing of a job.

For Des Moines. That we live in a free country, that I get to go to college here, that I have a church home that I love, and that God got ahold of my heart here.

For my roommates, that they love me even though they see my bad side. That they strive to love Christ and serve one another, even if we are imperfect.

For my brothers in Christ. Though they can be butts sometimes(see picture above), they want what is best for their sisters and they strive to love us like Jesus did.

And finally for my sisters in Christ, my closest friends.

 I can be myself around them knowing they are just as nuts as I am,

they continue to love me, even when they have seen my sin out in the open,

 even though I don't get to see them all the time, 

 I know that they will always be my friend

and they will never stop caring about me.

And that I get to serve alongside of them as we love Jesus together.

I know that I could come up with a million other things that I am thankful for, but these are a few. Hopefully I will be a little better about getting on here and remembering what the Lord is doing!

House Cleaning=House Bonding

On Sunday, May 15th, we, the residents of the girls house, cleaned like we've never cleaned before. It was hard, but totally worth it. The whole day was a major success, both in the fact that the house is probably cleaner now than it's ever been, and I feel like I know those girls a little bit better. 

The day started off by us saying we were going to get up at 8...waking up at 9, and coming down to find Molli and Allie making breakfast for us! I could smell eggs and french toast all the way in the attic. 

 Here they are, serving us!

 Eating yummy breakfast

 The teamwork of Jenna and Molli. This is what the sunporch look like empty!

 Jenny came over for a bit to help us too! It was much appreciated.

 Molli Miller, Master of Blinds. She took all the blinds down, bleached them and wiped them down, then put them back up and wiped them down again! 

 Eating lunch: Pizza and breadsticks.

 Jenna and Dottie were on kitchen duty. I wish I would've done before and after pictures. They did a great job!

 The infamous To-Do List. It was fun to be able to cross things off when they were done.

 Ky with her magic eraser. She was so excited to use this!

 Ky tackling the mold. It was pretty scary looking!

 Ashley vacuumed all the furniture. I couldn't believe all the gunk that was in there!

 Kathy "Mama" Reed. Bless her soul, she ripped out our old shelves and built new ones with her own two hands!

 Allie and Ky taking a muffin break. This was at about 10pm and we still hadn't had supper. We were on a mission!

 House picture with our honorary roommate.

 From smallest to tallest!

Our gangsta picture. We had to get one in since we were wearing bandanas!

It was a pleasure being able to work hard with these ladies and I am super excited to see how God uses us in each other's lives and in the lives of others! I think that we all have a heart to be hospitable and we are even more eager now that we have a clean, "flipped" house to bring people to. Summer here we come!