“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26
Over the past few months, my family has been grieving the loss of my grandmother. In this process, I have been in awe of how I have seen the Holy Spirit sew things in my life together - unbound by space or time. He reminds me of the exact verse I need just when I need it. Or places a card or painting into view from some time in the past somehow perfectly connected to just this exact moment in time.
I started painting shapes on canvas, asking the Lord to show me His truth. To understand better how He works outside of the linear timeline we can barely imagine being outside of. I layered colors on colors. A harsh line here, a soft moving line there. All the while leaving bits of the layers before. As I painted, the colors became cloth, pieces of quilts, like my grandmother used to sew. But unlike her quilts, mine have no pattern or order.
I could see something important from the layer before and painted the perfect contrast next to it, to enhance it, to make it important. A texture from the first layer makes the 7th feel complete, the contrast from layer 2 to 9 makes my heart sing, the organic brush strokes pop out of the squares on layer 16 in a way I couldn’t even imagine on layer 1.
The quilts are impossible. They could not have been planned. Just as the Holy Spirit seamlessly weaves our stories together. Not in a way we would have planned. Maybe not even a way we understand.
One night, God meets me in a dream. We are walking together on one of my quilt paintings. It feels vast, without end, fields of color all the way to the horizon. We walk from a teal block over a smattering of rust, to a yellow field - which He touches and makes part a lighter butter yellow. He points to other places and explains in detail the way each piece works together. The painting needed this rough spot to contrast with the peaceful turquoise painted beside it. We walk and talk about various color schemes and layering and how each works for His glory and according to His plan. He changes one space to another color or blurs the lines in another showing me how variety, color, contrast, and texture are very important parts of His plan for creation. It is the most peaceful, hopeful dream I have ever had.
So I keep painting and painting, until I feel at peace. Many quilt paintings later, I am ready to share them in the hopes they will encourage you in your story. Whether you are in a green blotch of growth, an intense red square of pain, or resting on soft yellow brushstroke, I hope these are reminders of the grand narrative God is writing. That He is loving and good and has a plan for the joy and pain alike in each one of our stories.
Lord, meet me again in the swatches and blotches, amongst the chaos and happenstance. Come, Holy Spirit and minister to me through art.
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1 1:17
Shop The Spirit Quilt Collection by clicking any image in this post!
0 comments