Celebrating All That is to Come

FaithfullyDrawn is officially 4 years old today! :D Anniversaries are such a special time. A time to stop and appreciate all that has transpired. A time to reflect on all the happy moments, and give thanks for all the blessings poured out. While anniversaries are the perfect time to look back and appreciate just how far God has brought us, they are also a fantastic time to look ahead with hope for all that is to come! 

A Child of God (Drawing of myself in "Jesus years"), c. 2018

Vine and willow charcoal

18" x 24"

Back when I was a brand new Christian, God prompted me to do something very interesting. He inspired me to write two lists on my birthday. The first was a list of all the things that He had helped me to do. On this list were accomplishments, both big and small, and personal achievements, things He had helped me to overcome. The second list was a list of all the things that I hoped to do “someday.” Now, make no mistake, list number two was not a “to-do-list” nor was it a hit-list of resolutions for the new year. No, this list was a place to dream. God prompted me to put no limits on this list and dream as big as I wanted to! In the beginning, my dreams were very basic and might have seemed laughably simple to some. I wrote down things like: 

• be brave and join a small group at church
• sign up at the local soup kitchen
• try and make friends

Praise (Encore!), 2024

Oil on canvas

9" x 12"

From the post: Praise & Worship

These things were huge things to me though and, at the time when I wrote them, they seemed so far away. “Someday” felt so far off that often times I would just tuck list number two away and think to myself, “oh what a lovely idea. What a nice dream.” Year after year I wrote my two lists. And year after year I noticed something - God was helping me to do all kinds of things that I couldn’t do before! I got baptized. I joined, not one, but two small groups. A year later, I volunteered at my local soup kitchen and it wasn’t too long before I was organizing and coordinating groups of friends to come with me… because I had FRIENDS! And not just a couple. I realized that year that God had given me more friends than I had had collectively in my lifetime! God was answering. God was checking off my list and, in classic God fashion, He was going above and beyond (Ephesians 3:20). 

(Drawing Fundamentals Group class photo)

Now, please don’t misunderstand not all of these things happened instantly. I did not write a magic list and then *poof* all of the desires of my heart manifested into reality. Some of these desires came quickly, others came more gradually (many months or even years after I expressed them). And most of them required me to take certain steps. For example, I remember one funny conversation I had with the Lord about my longing for friends. It went something like this:

    Me *tearfully*: “God I’m all alone here! Please, please, please send me a friend!”

    God: “Have you tried leaving the house?”

So, yes some action was required on my part but the first and biggest step seemed to always be asking. Writing it down somehow made it more real, while simultaneously being the most non-threatening thing I could do. After all, list number two was just a list of dreams for someday.

The Outpouring, 2024

Mixed media on canvas

15" x 30"

From the posts: The Outpouring Begins & The Outpouring Part II: Cadmium Red

It was exciting to sit down and catalog all the things that God had helped me to do in a year. He can truly do miraculous things through us. And year after year, as I sat down to write my list, I noticed something too - not only was He helping me to fulfill the desires of my heart, but there were things that had gone completely unnoticed (by yours truly) that God was helping me to do! He was helping me to do things and I had completely missed them! It was only through the action of pausing and taking inventory to write my gratitude list that I realized these other surprise gifts had taken place. He was busy doing all kinds of stuff in the background but I needed the moment to stop and examine myself and my life to realize what was going on. Every time one of these ah-ha moments would occur it was as if I could feel my soul say: “OH WOW, LOOK WHAT GOD DID!” and “oh yeah that’s right, a year ago I couldn’t do that!” The answers became more and more dramatic, and more and more plentiful, and as the gratitude list grew so did my dreams. “What if I led my own small group? What if I had an art retreat in the wilderness? What if I wrote a blog? What if it reached people all over the world with a message of hope… and encouragement… and JESUS? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?!”

Self Portrait in God’s Light, 2021

Vine and willow charcoal on newsprint

18” x 24”

From the post: Lean Into God's Light

It has been several years since I took up my trusty Bic pen and composed my two lists. As I’m sitting here typing to you now, I can hear my spirit calling out to me: “oh, oh, oh how about this? And that?! Don’t forget that one!!!” Things like singing. Two years ago I could not carry a tune in a bucket. No joke, I was BAD! But God’s power shines greatest in our weakness. The Holy Spirit taught me to sing… and then He gave me a solo lol. 

(Me singing my heart out at my first solo, photo courtesy of Rebecka Sando)

“And how about the concert, Angela?! You can’t forget the concert!” Last September the Holy Spirit helped me to do a concert with my friend Dorene. Me, an artist! He opened the opportunity and gave me the courage and ability to take the stage and create a Spirit-led painting in front of an auditorium full of people… in real time! And it turned out beautiful! 

(Photos from The Masterpiece Collaborative Creative Arts Concert)

 

A little while after that experience, a memory floated to the surface of my mind. It was a long lost moment from when I was a kid in middle school. I was dancing around the living room listening to a rock CD on my mom’s stereo. When the song reached the guitar solo I remember thinking to myself what a wonderful feeling that must be for guitarists, to be able to share their gift on a stage with all those people and have an entire audience feel just as excited as they did …all cheering and clapping and feeling as happy as the musicians did. “If only there was a way to do that with art. If only people could get as excited about paint as they do electric guitars.” Something dawned on me with the recovery of this memory - He was still answering my dreams… even the ones that I had forgotten! I had stopped writing my list but that didn’t matter. God was going off script and dusting off the desires of my heart from when I was a child and bringing them to life! Is God amazing or what?!

(Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Croonquist)

Just writing about all this is getting me so inspired and wound up! I miss the lists and I don’t want to miss any of the gifts He has been pouring out all year long! So today, July 11th 2024, I propose we do something special for FaithfullyDrawn’s birthday. I would like to resurrect the “two list system” and invite you to get in on this and do the same! If you were to write two lists what would they say? What has God done for you since July of 2023? And what would your second list look like? What do you hope and dream to do someday? Feel free to post any revelations in the comments section below and remember no dream is too big or too small for God.