It is important to remain a student. There’s always more to learn. And often in the learning, we realize how much more there is to know. You also get to a point where it’s good not to know everything, you don’t have to carry that burden anymore (not that we ever know everything, but often in the folly of youth, we think we do). Learning and remaining teachable is such an important part of life. It’s true in our relationships as well. The Holy Spirit was sent to be our helper. It’s pretty amazing to think that God sent part of Himself here to be a direct link to Him, to comfort us, and to give us wisdom and strength. In the church I went to growing up, we never learned about the Holy Spirit. And now I realize what a friendship I had been missing out on.

The past few weeks have been super difficult. It’s been the valley of the shadow of death, the dark night of the soul. I’m still here, still breathing, and still joyful, but it has been a bit of a beat down. When you learn how to battle, you develop a certain endurance. When the enemy realizes the old tricks don’t work, he gets busy devising a myriad of ways to try and overwhelm you so that you want to quit. So my resolution through the trial was simply to stand firm, and to be still and know that He is God. I still had my breaking point, but I think it’s good to be honest with God about where we are at, He can handle it.

This week I was able to finish up my mini journals, which I was pretty pleased about. In my artistic venturings over the years, I haven’t always been the best at finishing every project I started. I have determined to change that. I had watched a free art video the other week and learned how to create your own hand-dyed ribbons, and I couldn’t resist but add those to the journals as well. They are just made with some old off-white fabric that I had, which I tore into different sized strips and then dyed with watered down India ink. I also included some photos of the paintings I did as part of my mentorship course. I had been struggling with not loving what I was making, and after doing a lot of studying of art that I love, I realized that I needed to loosen up my work. So the three paintings above are my beginning attempts at loosening up. I really love the hollyhock one and want to continue in that direction.

Below is my art journal submission for the week. I really love all the pink. Pink and coral get me. I grew up pretending I didn’t love pink so much, because I’m a middle child of brothers. But I just love pink. I also love the embroidery. I need to get back to doing some more embroidered patches to add in to my journals. While I don’t always love doing a full blown embroidery piece, doing little patches is a very accessible way to enjoy some stitching. I’d love to know what projects you are working on this summer, feel free to drop a note in the comment section below.

And, as always, thanks for stopping by!