Opportunity

Good morning,

I have been following a gal, Vicki Rawlins on Instagram for a while now.  What caught my eye was; the art she makes out of things she finds outside in nature. She makes incredible scenes all with no glue. She photographs the piece and then wipes it off the canvas and throws it back outside. What I really found interesting was her story. She was a successful mural artist in Chicago. She was diagnosed with a rare disease that came on from a rare side effect of a antibiotic. It affected her muscles and tendons and she could not hold a paint brush. She had one thing that completely helped her. She saw this not as a problem but, an opportunity!

Our attitude or heart condition is what God looks at. He doesn’t see race, gender, age, physical beauty or not, etc. He looks at our heart. Do we have faith to see beauty in the ashes?

Now, if my heart and faith are the most important things to God…I think it should be the most important things to me. 

In Vicki’s case she wanted to find an opportunity to heal and do what she loved, so she went outside. She looked at the leaves and little flowers and all the bits and pieces outside and she thought maybe I could use this as paint on a canvas. She tells how she spent hours in meditation or prayer and was trying to heal in a positive way. The Bible in James 1:2-4 it says:

Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. Be assured that the testing of your faith (through experience) produces endurance (leading to spiritual maturity and inner peace). And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed( in your faith), lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom (to guide him through a decision or circumstance), he is to ask of (our benevolent) God who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame and it will be given to him.

Vicki took a photograph of the first nature art she made ,never thinking it was anything but a kind of therapy, and sent it to her daughter. Her daughter told her this is special we need to share this with the world, and they did just that! It turned into a wildly successful business, so much more than what she lost as a mural artist.

Our attitude toward our biggest problems really are opportunities. We grow and excel when under pressure ,if…. we can see it as positive. How many know people or have experienced it yourself that when faced with a trial,  they crumble and grow bitter or weak of heart? Fight that with the Holy Spirit on your side. He is our teacher, comforter, friend who will help you find positive and even great things in your trial.

Love you, Teri