After coloring this line art, I found myself feeling so thankful. I’m thankful that God has blessed me to be a creator. It’s such a privilege to be able to create that which you can envision and I wouldn’t be who I am today if I wasn’t able to create.
There was a time in my life when I felt downcast because I couldn’t do what I saw so many other people do, and I was determined to study and practice more and more so I could be like them. One day I realized that the more time I waste spend trying to draw, color, or paint like someone else the less time I spend developing as an artist. In Psalm 43, David says at least three times, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” The last line implies that when I put my hope in God then He will give me a healthy “countenance” or expression. I have hope that He will bless what I create because He has a plan to “give [me] a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
One of my favorite artists, Stanley Lau, told a group of us during a livestream that, “It’s a blessing to be able to create and you should be thankful that you can because many people can’t do what you do.” Hearing that helped me realize that the reason I can’t do what other people do is because our minds are unique. We all have an original mind that develops ideas in our own ways based on our strengths, weaknesses, and resources; and, God in all His Sovereignty, has a future and a hope for each of us.
Realizing these truths has been so freeing. I find myself enjoying playing and experimenting. I love the way that God has developed my mind and that He’s helping me explore strengths and weaknesses that I never knew I had. What I love the most is that I’m learning more about myself as an artist. I hope that if you’re a creative and you’re reading this that you would be thankful for how God has made you and He’ll show you so much about who you are and what you can do.
