"Hope" 2018

One of my jobs is an Art teacher at a local private school. I've been teaching for 20+ years, loving every minute of it. My classes have ranged from 3 year old all the way up to 12th grade, homeschoolers and small groups. Each age and year bring out the best parts (as well as those wonderful areas we can work on) as I put aside agendas, preconceived ideas, and enter their world. I am honored to see through the eyes of another and what beauty lies within.

Recycled bottle caps, 2" plywood, acrylic paint, and 4500+ screws

The Seed - “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Early August 2017, a co-worker shared an article about creating class murals. God whispered to my heart His desire to do something through this idea. As His dream started to grow, it quickly turned into something much larger than myself, and I would need the Body of Christ to complete what He had started. As a community, we collected 50,000+ bottle caps and waited.

Then, completed overwhelmed with school and projects, on March 16th, 2018, I sat in my director's office and told her, " I'm not doing the mural."

Knowing that I was preparing for my part of the largest showcasing of the K-4th and JEDI arts that our school puts on, she replied, "That's fine. No worries."

Well that following Monday, God spoke something different, "You are to do the mural."

" I can't. I won't get it done." I stated.

" I am not interested in your success, I am interested in your, 'yes,' He replied.

I chuckled. 'That'll preach,' I thought.

Over the next two hours God laid out of plan of what I was to do to get the mural started. He spoke to my heart. "Hope sometimes comes just by starting. When people's eyes are on you, the fact that you launch into the deep ignites something within them."

I have been completely blown out of the way by his faithfulness, provision, unlimited resources, and how He speaks to us when we are weak. I realize that I have put him in a box, lived below my potential, for With God, all things are truly possible. I realized a lot about identity, uniqueness, the body of Christ, the glory of God, who he's created us to be, the necessity of each other, and wanting to be a part of something bigger.

The Meaning of “Hope” - When “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep...the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Gen 1:2)

From the beginning, God spoke life where there was chaos. The Trinity (upper right corner) is present amidst the darkness. And until the end, we have this Hope, represented by the pink flower, “…having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-2). The rainbow denotes His promises and covenant with His people. The hands (upper left side) signify His Body, His hands and feet to a dying world, and carry this proclamation and prayer: “The earth is the Lord’s, and all the fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.” (Psa. 24:1)