More about Art Masterpiece and me

One thing I didn't mention about the Art Masterpiece program is that this gives me an opportunity to reclaim something I let go of. I've grown and matured and learned from mistakes over the years. God has graciously been patient with me and revealed new things to me over time and helped me to heal from poor choices. He's given me other things in my life to help reclaim what was meant to be. Now I am 42 and can look back at all that has shaped my life and where I am now. When I was a teenager, I was told by an Art teacher, one whom didn't know me, I was just seeking advice from, that becoming an Art Teacher would be a very difficult field to get into. That day my young heart was totally discouraged from ever pursuing what I enjoyed most. I was told there were limited positions, usually each school only has 1 art teacher..... With just one word I gave it up. Back then I couldn't of imagined that there were Christian schools, public schools and charter schools and lots of them. God had placed that creativity within me, that desire and I didn't know what I know now that you aren't truly "alive" completely unless you are pursuing that passion, that gifting you've been given. Yes I have expressed my creativity in other ways. If it wasn't for Photography, my husband and I may never have met. I would never have changed being a stay at home Mom either. My daughter told me yesterday, when I once again shared this story with her, that she wished I could be her Art teacher at school. She says that her art teacher is mean. She's very excited that I'll be doing Art Masterpiece in her class! Sad maybe her Art teacher wasn't meant to be an art teacher after all if she isn't totally enjoying it. So in my e-mails today I received this "daily reading" it's from Ransomed Heart. This can further explain in a way what I've been talking about. Oh and by the way, if you are in a position where you can influence a young person, always encourage them to pursue their dreams to the fullest. It's taken me longer to get where I needed to be but God gives back what is lost. Read on.......

Over the years we’ve come to see that the only thing more tragic than the things that have happened to us is what we have done with them.

Words were said; painful words. Things were done; awful things. And it shaped us. Something inside of us shifted. We embraced the messages of our wounds. We accepted a view of ourselves. And from that we chose a way of relating to our world. We made a vow never to be in that place again. We adopted strategies to protect ourselves from being hurt again. A woman that is living out of a broken, wounded heart is a woman who is living a self-protective life. She may not be aware of it but it is true. It’s our way of trying to “save ourselves.”

And, we also developed ways of trying to get something of the love our hearts cried out for. The ache is there. Our desperate need for love and affirmation, our thirst for some taste of romance and adventure and something to be wanted for is there. So we turned to boys or to food or to romance novels, we lost ourselves in our work or at church or in some sort of service. All this adds up to the woman we are today. Much of what we call our “personalities” is actually the mosaic of our choices for self-protection plus our plan to get something of the love we were created for.

The problem is, our plan has nothing to do with God.

The wounds we received and the messages they brought form a sort of unholy alliance with our fallen nature as women. From Eve we received a deep mistrust in the heart of God towards us. Clearly, he’s holding out on us. We’ll just have to arrange for the life we want. We will control our world. But there is also an ache deep within, an ache for intimacy and for life. We’ll have to find a way to fill it.

(Taken from the book: Captivating, pages 74-75)
From The Ransomed Heart, by John Eldredge, reading 297

That been said, I'm off to another Art Masterpiece class this morning. Enjoy your day. Live life to the fullest :) Just as a reminder don't always believe the crap some others may tell you, because often they are speaking from their own wounded lives and experiences, (hurting people hurt people, Joyce Meyers once said) we've ALL had them one way or another, some have healed, some have not.