silly putty....
Imagine I have 3 chairs:
CHAIR#3~LOST HEART~person living in the kingdom of this world,unsaved, sees only the problems and has no peace
CHAIR#2~DIVIDED HEART~kingdom of SELF~ saved, seeing problems to fix, no peace, living from earth to heaven trying to MAKE things happen on your own, can’t rest, striving,cannot hear Gods voice, has a root FEAR, holds tightly, has an orphan spirit that feels like they are looking from outside the window wishing they could eat at that table, and lives life TO victory
CHAIR#1~ WHOLE HEARTED~ kingdom of God~~Saved,knowing you’re loved, living life supernaturally, seeing promise,unshakeable and in peace, living from Heaven to Earth,doing what God is blessing, TRUSTING, RESTING, seeing His face, hearing His voice, feeling His love, experiencing HIS presence, Abiding in His pleasure, You are anointed, prophetic, you have Doves eyes, rooted in LOVE, Holding lightly, Giving FULLY, Blessing others, you know you’re in God’s family. You’re a receiver who reflects where youcome from but you focus on where you’re going! You live life FROM VICTORY
(The story of the Three Chairs is from a Story I heard Leif Hetland share)
The old“ME”: from the 2nd chair perspective would have described myself this way:
I’m a wife, and Mother, & a Jiji,who tries to fix everything, I live for God, I’m a lover and performer for the one who created the heavens and the earth, I am a CREATIVE want to be
NOW this is the WHOLE HEARTED ME; from the 1st chair perspective
( prophetic words spoken over me)
I am a wife , a Mother, a Jiji , a daughter, a sister, and a friend who loves well, I am a intercessor, a seer, a visionary, a trail blazor, a forerunner, A CREATIVE PIONEER, “ a little house on the prairie type lady crossed with an African lady dressed in FULL African style… I carry all kinds of paints, projects, “things”, and material…. Paper and canvas in my arms and hanging in bags all around me…. I walk towards the sunrise with a huge smile, sunkissed cheeks and wind blowing the irredescent white silk of my dress and the white turban upon my head. As I turn in the winds my multicolored dreadlocks sling a palette of colors into black and white places helping perspectives to change and hard lines become organic.
19 years ago I would have never DREAMED of describing myself like this WHOLE HEARTED description! It felt arrogant and….
It felt WAY TOO BIG AND MUCH for me!!!
19 years ago I was a stay at home mom with 3 kids ranging from 6-17!
I taught 7th graders in SS, was an intercessor trained in inner healing, in cleansing streams, deliverance,
I had been trained in college as an artist concentrating in printmaker and stone sculptor,
I was told , in a laughing sort of way, that
“If I wanted to be an artist I’d better marry a wealthy man!” The WHOLE STARVING ARTIST THING! soooo when I got married I thought ART was not important and I put on the shelf YET I lived in constant fear that my “talent and skill” my dream of being “an artist” would never be a reality and what talent I had would simply dry up!
~~~Well……. I am here to tell you that
“THAT WAS A LIE STRAIGHT FROM THE PIT OF HELL!!”
The enemy worked over time trying to keep me from ever picking up a paint brush!
But something happened back in 2000, my little religious full of false humility self meet the Holy Spirit in a way I had NEVER been told about and my world changed!!
~~~I MOVED from the second chair INTO THE FIRST CHAIR
I felt like suddenly I was AWAKE for the first time!
When I would read scripture it came ALIVE!!! I was getting to know Jesus and all His attributes and the PURE BEAUTY and Magnificence of who He is…… I spent most of my days UNDONE!!!
Then one morning in 2001 as I was in my quiet time reading and chewing and meditating on the word and the beauty of Jesus and how deeply He loved….. this phrase hit my spirit,
“I WANT YOU TO PAINT LIKE YOU PRAY”.
IT CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD. I had NO IDEA what that could look like!!
That experience catapulted me into the ride of my life
and
I LOVE IT!!!!
I spent a good 3 years just exploring what “Painting like I prayed” looked like. How to stand in front of a canvas vulnerable , not having a real plan other than to “ask questions that could only be answered in color or images of movement, questions about what had been stirred up in my heart during my quiet time. This was Such a sweet and vulnerable period of time.
I had to learn how to stay in that first chair because I had found that on rough days I would slid back into that 2nd chair, that chair of performance and striving and not relationship and peace
During that time I felt Holy Spirit begin to prompt me to mentor a group of creatives in this process of painting like you pray.
I discovered Zechariah 1:18-21 and the term “craftsmen”.
I began to explore what that passage meant when Zechariah wrote of seeing 4 horns and 4 craftsmen and how the 4 craftsmen had come to terrify and throw down those 4 horns.
A light was beginning to dawn on me “THERE’S MORE” there’s more to being an artist whose inspiration comes from Holy Spirit and His revelation about Gods Word!
It was the week before that mentoring class was to start. I began praying for the class. I was extremely nervous about leading this group! This was new territory!!
As I prayed a RED EGG of silly putty popped in my head, I shook it off telling my self to FOCUS!!!
Then it comes back again and THEN a THIRD time!!!
THEN I finally clue in and ask Holy Spirit what He was saying!
AS SOON AS I ASKED I IMMEDIATELY HEARD,
“ YOU THINK WHAT I’VE PLACED IN YOUR HANDS IS A TOY….
BUT…… IT IS ACTUALLY PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES AND WHEN PROPERLY PLACED IT WILL SHAKE FOUNDATIONS!!”
~~~Have you ever seen plastic explosives and what it can do when engineers place it in the perfect spot??
~~THAT WORD WAS SOOOO BIG I almost dropped it because, I thought IT WAS TOO BIG TO BE FOR ME!!!
~~AND if I were still sitting in that 2nd chair I WOULD have dropped it!!
But, I literally felt an ALERT of HOLD ON !
That little phrase shifted something in my heart and I share it every chance I get because as this word is released it carries explosives for whoever is willing climb into that 1st chair and to take hold of it and CREATE!
I challenge you to pick up " silly putty"
OPEN IT and just hold it in your hands ask HOLY SPIRIT,
“Is there something YOU want me to know about the creativity that God has placed inside of me?”
~~ NOW LISTEN
take time to write down what you hear or sense ESPECIALLY if it feels TOO BIG!!
NOW BE BRAVE........TAKE ACTION on what you heard!