Visions of Grace

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."
Isaiah 43:18-19

Lots of new beginnings for me lately - a fresh start on getting healthy, a new opportunity to serve, new church, new friends. And a new beginning to a dream.

Several months ago I contacted an online friend to see if we could spend some time together talking about how to go about getting started in the business side of the art world. I had been playing with my art for a couple of years, painting, mixed media, collage, assemblage. It was a wonderful thing to add to my life during this middle age. So much so that I dreamed of being able to one day quit my regular job and do nothing but art full time . Truly that would be a dream come true. So anyway, in talking to this wise woman, her first suggestion to me was to pray and ask God if this is something He wants for my life. Of course, I agreed, remembering that my usual modus operandi is to plow through and ask God to bless my efforts. So I prayed, fully expecting God to give His blessing, because after all, it was something that was good and brought me joy. But God in His infinite wisdom told me no. But even then, I sensed that the answer was really not now. I had to wait.

Then about a month ago, when I was full of the hope and possibility of going to Haiti, my art returned. I've been art journaling, trying to get back into it and then started painting. I feel a new freedom in my painting. It's just all coming together so effortlessly. I believe God is giving my art back to me now and is fully blessing my endeavor to set up shop online and has even provided a couple of 'in-store" possibilities. And even better, He has given me a purpose in my art ~ to help support our church's mission in Haiti with Global Orphan Project.

I've been struggling with trying to find a name for my shop, for my label. All of my old ideas seemed to fall flat, not really describing who I am or what I want to do. So I woke up the other morning and just asked Him, "What name should I use? What would best represent what I'll be doing?" And the answer came:

"Visions of Grace"

And so it begins....

P.S. Thank you Jane for your sage advice. You are a gem!