Row Boat, Oars, and an Anchor

This past Sunday at church during our Relief Society class lesson (which is the Women's studies class), our teacher gave her lesson from a General Conference talk from 2014 by Dieter F. Uchtdorf titled Receiving a Testimony of Truth and Light (follow link to read).  It was beautiful!  It spoke to me so much that I felt the need to paint once again.  Come with me as I take you on a journey into my ever filling, slightly chaotic, vast abyss of a mind.

The talk is about having truth, and seeing it as light, and taking that light and sharing it with others once we are strong enough to do so.  This talk helps us learn how to be strong, what we need to have light and truth in our lives.  But this quote is what started my painting gears cranking.

"It seems to be a trait of humanity to assume that we are right even when we are wrong. And if that is the case, what hope is there for any of us? Are we destined to drift aimlessly on an ocean of conflicting information, stranded on a raft we have poorly pieced together from our own biases?

Is it possible to find truth?

The purpose of my remarks is to proclaim the joyful message that God Himself—the Lord of Hosts who knows all truth—has given His children the promise that they can know truth for themselves."

By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The words that stuck out in my mind were "hope, drifting aimlessly on an ocean, conflict, stranded on a raft, a promise of truth".  It sounds like hope is something useful, sometimes life really does feel like an ocean of chaos, where we are confronted with conflict and opposition.  Sometimes it seems like we are stranded, and that our little vessel or raft isn't very strong or safe.  But to have a promise from God, that we can find truth that is amazing!

Again my mind started thinking, and I remembered another talk that I had recently read with my Husband.  This new talk is from our Prophet Thomas S. Monson in the August 2015 Liahona and Ensign, titled Stand as a Light (follow link to read).  There was an inspirational part of this talk that spoke to me as well.  It touched my spirit, and mind with images of what to paint.

"I would like all of the youth of the Church to know that they are children of light. As such, they have a responsibility to be “as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). They have a duty to share the truths of the gospel. They have a calling to stand as a temple beacon, reflecting gospel light to an increasingly dark world. They have a charge to keep their light aflame and burning brightly.

In order for us to be “an example of the believers” (1 Timothy 4:12), we ourselves must believe. We must develop the faith necessary to survive spiritually and to project a light for others. We must nurture our testimony until it becomes an anchor to our lives."

By President Thomas S. Monson

Please substitute the word "youth" for "people.  And you can even substitute the word "Church" for world.  When we have that light of truth we ought to share it with others.  We can only share our light if it is burning brightly.  We must have faith, and a strong testimony. 

Now for what I saw with all this.  Anchor of Hope, Vessel (boat) of Faith, Oar of Testimony.

Anchor of Hope keeps our faith from floating away on the waves of life.  Because without an anchor to keep us steady and firm, any large wave or many little waves would carry us away from our save haven.

Vessel of Faith allows us safety, and security in that big vast ocean.  Its so much nicer to think that we can be sitting in a boat, rather than swimming, or treading water.  A boat can be anchored in place so that when those waves come it is immovable, strong, safe, and secure. (More so than without a boat)

Oars of Testimony allow us to act.  There is that scripture that says "Faith without works is dead." I can't place the reference right now, but its so true.  Faith and Hope are action words, they are action principles.  And yet they only become action principles when you have the right tools to make them such.  A boat cannot go where you want it just by being in the ocean.  All that conflict and chaos will have you spinning in circles or heading the opposite way you want to go.  But with a set of oars, with our testimony we can move our boat where we want to go, to keep our faith and hope strong.  To keep our faith and hope from giving out.

So take your Oars of Testimony, Get your Vessel of Faith, and Hold tight to your Anchor of Hope and you will be a light to the world, shining of God's love for all mankind. 

~Enjoy!

Anchors, Storms and a little Faith

As I have been scrolling through my Instagram feed, and my Facebook wall, over the past few weeks I have noticed a pattern.  People I follow post something that is personal to them like a challenge, a vent, a rant, an issue they are dealing with, and even something really upsetting or sad, and then they post positive things to help counter that negative post.  Its neat to see what helps people turn to when they need to be up-lifted.

I've seen cute baby animals, flowers, funny animal videos, positive quotes, snarky quotes, smiley faces, landscape pictures, ocean pictures, beach images, pictures of their family, pictures of their past, pictures of their friends.  All of these things are just a few ways people deal with negativity, hardships, trials, challenges, sadness, hurt, pain, etc in their lives.  I love seeing these patterns it really helps me build my hope for mankind keeping a love for others in their hearts.

So this pattern seeking got me thinking about what helps me when I deal with all those negative things in my life.  And when I started to ponder this question, I noticed I would look at the paintings on my walls.  We have paintings I have painted, paintings we've bought from stores, paintings our kids have done, etc.  But of all the paintings that I would look as, there is one that really sticks out to me personally.

 Why did I paint an anchor of hope?  It stemmed from a quote I heard about Being of Good Cheer, Having Hope, and having an Anchor for the Soul.  Here is the quote:

"There are tremendous sources of hope beyond our own ability, learning, strength, and capacity. Among them is the gift of the Holy Ghost.Through the marvelous blessing of this member of the Godhead, we can come to “know the truth of all things.” ² 

Hope is the anchor of our souls. I know of no one who is not in need of hope—young or old, strong or weak,rich or poor."  By James E. Faust  

Here is the Link where you can find the full message.  Who needs "Hope"? I do for sure, and I'm sure you do too.  See for me Hope a key to Faith, such an important key that without it Faith will falter and fail.  Let me explain.

Recently I was struggling with something really hard.  This trial was literally filling my husband's and my minds with fear, confusion, worry.  Our bodies were fighting our anxiety.  Each time we prayed about this trial, we kept getting the same answer "have faith that things will work out".  Okay, well, that is nice, and comforting, but only for a little while.  It is really hard to have faith, when so much rests on this trial we are facing.  So each night as I would kneel to pray I would look to this Hope Anchor painting, and just stare at it until I felt at peace once again.

While staring at this painting a thought in image form or even more like a quick moving image came to mind.  I pictured myself on a little row boat in the middle of the vast ocean.  The first image was me in the boat on calm serine ocean water just enjoying the beauty and peace.  The second image was of a terrible storm coming upon me and my little row boat.  I tried to row away from the storm but couldn't.  So instead I threw my anchor over board and hoped that by being anchored down I wouldn't be swept away by the heavy rain, whipping wind, and dizzying symphony of waves.  Every time the waves would pull me out, and drag me this way and that my faith would start to waiver, and tremble and falter.  But right before my faith was over come completely by fear, the rope which held the anchor would pull me back to safety and I was then given hope that all would be well.  That Hope from the anchor allowed my faith to hold out longer than it would have, and stronger than it would have, had I not had hope...in this little thought of mine.

Here is to us all holding onto our Faith because our Hope is anchored to safety, peace, calm, and anchored to the one who provides that for us.  Jesus Christ.

Lemons and a Song

So since opening my shop, I have really had to try and remember that it is not the center of my life.  I also have to remember that I really don't want to focus on making money, because these are talents that God has given me, and I want to share them with the world.  Why???

Because what I do with them brings me a bit of beauty and enjoyment, so why not share beauty and enjoyment with others?  Even if they don't buy, they will have a beautiful picture to look at during the day, instead of something depressing, sad, hurtful.

As a home school teacher life can seem very isolated at times since I spend all day with my children, as their mother and their teacher.  So I really try hard to make school time fun, creative, and help encourage my children to learn to love to learn.  During one of our recent music classes, we checked out youtube for some fun uplifting songs for my kids to hear, and watch the videos.  We came across the singer Alex Boye'; he has the most amazing voice and best uplifting music videos.  We found a new-ish one by him Lemonade.  Want to see his music video about Lemonade?  Follow this LINK to another post on my blog.

This song has become my life song right now as I see so many people needing God's blessings and prayers on their behalf.  So if life gives you Lemons make Lemonade, drink it and share it with others.  Because life is worth living, life is worth sharing, and lemonade usually brings smiles and laughter to people because of its sweet and tangy taste.

So I dedicate a new painting to Lemonade! Enjoy!

Blue Apple Blossoms

I love to paint, but a lot of my paintings are truly original works of art, very complex and unique, fun and innovative.  As I have been finishing up my business set up, I have been thinking its time to make paintings that I can easily re-create, re-produce, and hand paint multiple copies.  I know that even though I can re-create the same colors, and even use the same color scheme, the natural elements that I use would change as there are never 2 leaves exactly the same, no two apples grow the same way, no two snow flakes alike.  So there would still be a twist of nature in my art, and after a few very badly painted examples, I have come up with some good ideas that I think would be lovely in everyone's home or office.

Here is my Ode to Blue Apple Blossoms~