~The Misson

 
Yield The brush you wield
-Sarah Kate Mills

When I about 7 years old I surrendered my heart and life to the Lord. This means that I relinquished my gifts and my talents to him. I want to use my abilities to glorify God. Selling my art to help support missionaries is a way I can do that. If you can’t contribute financially, PLEASE pray! Pray for the missionaries that we are impacting and that their efforts are blessed and Pray for the people they come in contact with.

As followers of Christ, our lives should be a relay race of desperate carriers of the rod of hope. We must not forget that every stoning we endure, the opposition we combat, sea we sail, the road we travel, the prison in which we stay, everything we do, everything, is to pass the baton of redemption. It isn’t about selling art. It isn’t about giving money to missions either. It’s about doing my part in furthering the Kingdom Of God. It is all for The Message of Good News.

When I became homeschooled, I had more free time on my hands and less pressure to conform to my peers- and also fewer peers. Because of the significant decrease in daily accompaniment, I found myself living freely and independently in my head. I was young and impressionable, with no outside force impressing upon me. No mean classmates to laugh at my mistakes. No girls in which I could compare myself. No reference. Just time, boredom, and unbridled creativity. I didn’t know it then, but the doodles I scribbled whilst watching my math videos marked the emotional journey on which God and I embarked.

God is the Almighty Creator. He is the first artist (and the best). Ever since the dawn of time, humans have been replicating and interpreting His magnificent creation. My creativity is precious to me because it makes me feel close to God. A closeness that is more intimate than two artist that relate to each other and send #artistprobs memes back and forth. I paint the mountains He formed. I illustrate the sunsets he conjures. I sketch the people He died for

What God has done in me: harsh lessons

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I have journals full of ugly mess ups. I mean UGLY! You will likely not see those. I keep them in my journals or I throw them away. I intend to display the works I deem good. Through art, God taught me important lessons in sin and repentance. Not to say that my personal mess ups are hidden but that they are irrelevant. Repentance is turning the page and starting over but doing a little bit better.

There was a dark period of my life in which I was obsessivly self critical. I was consumed with frustration and grief over my mistakes, big and small. My agony was alleviated when I was told by an old friend from which I was seeking forgiveness, “ I forgive you. We are all just learning. We are going to hurt people learning how not to hurt people.” Not many people consider this, artist have to mess up learning how not to mess up. I have to forgive the ugly mess ups in my journals. I have to forgive my hands for redrawing the wrong angles. I have to forgive the pastel dust that sting my paper cuts. I have to forgive myself for forgetting what the face of an elephant looks like. (#trustory#artistprobs) I have to forgive the ugly mess ups in my past. Otherwise, Satan will take advantage of them and use them to make me stumble. My books are wide open but my journals are sealed. When Satan points at the stash of shame and says“ You are not a good artist! Look at how badly you messed up! Look at how many times you got it wrong!” Point at the Savor that hung on the cross and say “ Behold the masterpiece God’s grace framed for me.” Through art, God taught me lessons in forgiveness and identity.

The many nights I spent perfecting the human eye, drawing it over and over, is much less glamorous than the finished product. Even then, I can still always improve the finished product. ( when Jesus said “ It is finished.” I said #cantrelate.) I haven’t met many artist that openly talk about how emotionally defeating it can be to mess up. Especially when you are doing so well and you are so far into the process. The amount of inward frustration that can be accumulated is absolutely gutting. I have to persevere and bulldoze through the gridlock. Becoming like Jesus isn’t a sudden and perfect transformation. It’s staying up late slaving over what you have been working on for 2 months just so you can fall asleep with your face on the wet palette and to wake up to find that you’ve had a massive blood nose all over the best version of your progress- and to faithfully do it again. Hearing a sermon about sanctification is one thing; enduring it is another. Through art, God taught me lessons in sanctification and victory.

God is still working on me. Shading me to depict His will, blending me to imitate the purpose he has for my life. Oh how boring life would be if we didn’t have a purpose.

Thank you for letting me share little sneak peak of my testimony.

What’s a testimony?

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Romans 10:9-10

I’m for real. It’s that simple. If you believe that Jesus is who he said he is and did what he said he did, “ You will be saved”

How can it be that easy?

Because it doesn’t depend on you. Jesus took care of the hard part when he died on the cross. You are made pure in the eyes of God not because you are pure ( you aren’t. No offense. ) but because Jesus is pure.

Hear me well.

“You are not permitted  candidacy for salvation through your contributions, but through your  access to the holiness and love of God through Jesus. You have nothing worth contributing. That’s not saying you are worthless. That’s saying Thank God you don’t have anything worth contributing!”
- Sarah Kate Mills, 2019( quote me)

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 
8What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 
10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 
11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:7-11

Jesus is the prophecied Son of God. He died on the cross for your sins. He rose three days later. He is coming back again. Once you surrender and place faith in him, you are saved and the Holy Spirit will come into you.

Can ordering pizza guarantee that?

Anyways…. I believe you were about to buy my art…If you have any questions, contact me.