Make Believe Home (Where Our Inner Child Feels Safe)
Our Make Believe Home is the place where our inner child feels safe. My inner child feels safe studying God's word, walking my prayer path with the Lord, and reading fairy tales/stories.
I believe stories of other worlds give us true glimpses into our true home in heaven. Places where walking trees, dancing streams, and talking animals exist. Through exercising our curiosity and imagination of things that "don't make sense in the real world" or "belong in children's stories", I think we unlock true visuals of the unseen; True vision of God's Kingdom. It takes childlike faith and the ability to believe. Anything that makes our heart leap in a story could be prophesy of what exists in heaven, making our spirit stand on it's toes.
For example, any time I read about Aslan or see water form into a massive being or a stampede of horses from Narnia and LOTR, something deep goes off within my spirit that brings tears to my eyes and relief to my weary mind that there is so much more than I even know. This is what this collection is about for me: Fixing our eyes on the unseen beauty of God's Kingdom through exercising our childlike imagination in the Make Believe and finding rest and hope.
The Home Collection
A series of oil paintings encompassing my portrait work, abstract work, and landscape work inspired by our Earthly home, Heavenly home, and Make Believe home (Where our inner child feels safe).
The Story Behind the Home Series:
I set out in the beginning of this to create a collection that captured my earthly home, heavenly home, and make believe home (where our inner child feels safe) and I learned so much more than that on the way. I learned about all the things that make me who I am and how these different types of homes are beautifully intertwined and cannot be separated. Over time all these things make up one home, our true home. Our make believe home can hold the most true glimpses into God's unseen kingdom and our earthly home holds physical evidence of His presence everywhere if we're looking. These pieces are filled with nostalgia, whimsy, holy spirit fire, solitude, and beauty.
Each of the pieces capture different moments in time where the Lord safely planted my feet on solid ground and has never stopped surrounding me with His Holy Spirit. They are reminders to me of the grace I've experienced during my most difficult obstacles in life and where the Lord made me feel safe. Each piece holds an explanation to this in their descriptions.
I learned on the way that Psalm 23 became a lifeline for me in a season of fear where all I could do was say these verses over and over again until my mind was clear again. I was reminded that long ago my inner child was felt safe through being outside and playing make believe, reading books, and my mom spraying lavender mist on my pillow to help me sleep. I’ve always been afraid of the dark and nighttime and I discovered that I’m still a scared little child that needs her Heavenly Father to make her feel safe all my days. The very thing that allows me to see such beauty in our world is the same thing that fills me with fear and anxiety. I’m extra sensitive to ALL the things around me not just the good.
Home is holding my fathers hand and remembering that I shall dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life and surely his goodness and mercy will follow me. While my feet are planted on this earth, my thoughts are in heaven and while I’m here He makes me lie down in green pastures and He leads me beside still waters. Psalm 23 feels like the story of us trying to live on this earth knowing our true home is in heaven, but He lovingly allows us hidden treasure of heaven on earth. Our cup overflows.
Discovering all these things I was able to create the work I’ve been the most proud of creating in my journey so far. Many puzzle pieces were given to me over the years to be able to create the final vision of these pieces you see here. I have created portrait pieces, landscape work, and abstract work and I never imagined I would combine all three into something so life giving to me. They are the completed puzzle and I am so thrilled to have physical evidence of the images that have lived in my head for so long and what I think are the true works I’ve always been meant to create. I want to end with this verse “I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the lord, the God of Israel who call you by your name".