~ God told me to be an artist, week 49.
Friday 1st December, 2023.
This is a weird sentence to write, but as you read this I am in Miami!
Like whaaaat?!
Sorry if the title of this blog doesn't make sense as a reference, it's song lyrics from Will Smith's song Miami - it's all I can hear in my head since I've been here - 'Welcome to Miami, Bienvenidos a Miami'.
It's so wild to be here. I arrived yesterday and am still pinching myself. I'm here as part of the Be Still Media festival - which if you've followed me for any length of time you'll know I won one of their art competitions in April this year. Be Still Media gather as an art community annually and this year the meeting place is in Miami.
It's not a holiday I expected to be taking but hey, who am I to turn down an invitation to somewhere out of the wet and windy England!
I love travelling to places alone, the adventure of being in somewhere new and having to figure it out is so exhilarating. It's something I used to find fairly daunting but now I can't believe I ever felt this way. I think a part of me feels proud of how far I've come after feeling like I was afraid of everything when I was in my late teens/ early 20's.
So here I am, chilling in Miami, living my best life, just totally undone buy what God is doing in this season. I definitely don't feel like I know exactly where I'm headed but I'm finding a greater peace in the unknown, something which in itself is a huge gift from God.
As I write this it's weird how much a specific memory keeps popping into my head. It's one of me, sitting in my lounge in April 2022. I had been signed off work with stress and I was feeling like a pretty big lump of failure. I felt directionless, afraid and resigned to the idea that I'd messed everything up so badly this time that there wouldn't be much God could use me for now.
But God.
God, as it turns out, is pretty incredible at using people in their worst moments to birth something incredible for his glory and our good. He specialises in redemption and restoration which are amazing things to experience, even when the surrounding experiences are really freaking hard.
From sitting in my lounge feeling like my world was crumbling to now, sitting in Miami, meeting a community of artists who have acknowledged and given me prize money for my artwork - I NEVER could have imagined this.
Only God.
Only God can place his hand upon your cheek, wipe away your tears, then lead you on a journey you never thought possible in such a short space of time. Only God could lift me up from the floor of my living room and seat me in a country on the other side of the world with other artists who can encourage me and I them in a wonderful community.
It's unbelieveable turnaround.
And I know it's only the beginning.
God is not done yet, this is just the start of his purposes for me and what he wants to bring forth in and through my life.
Hallelujah.
If God is whispering something to you, no matter how hard, impossible or far fetched it may seem, lean into it. For goodness sake, don't take as long as me to answer the call.
Just say okay, if it's your will, I'll follow.
You'd be amazed at what God can do in such a short space of time.
See you next week, Cath x
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