Arrival...Refrigerator?

Living Color
Contemporary Art Daily Painting Horse Palette Knife by Laurie Justus Pace


20 x 20 inches of astounding color!

Contact me for commission work or information on this painting. Laurie

Normally I would read from Luke this morning, but I have minor issues to handle so it will be tomorrow. Minor issues are folks needing artwork DRY and shipped for Christmas. I am up after only 4 or 5 hours of sleep and working late last night to HOPEFULLY finish up today the last one.

Here is the beginnings of it:



I sneaked out the door for an hour yesterday morning to do Target with Mom. She is in the holiday mood. I need to just stay out of stores and then I do not spend money. I picked up a few gift bags, and a few small stocking stuffers and was in the men's department buying Terry some more long sleeve heavy pull over the head shirts to wear under his uniform at work. The others have shrunk as he gained weight. Must be all that candy I found in his backpack and the hot chocolate (homemade from Droste chocoate every morning) I send him out the door with. My phone always rings when I am out enjoying life and it was Covenant Kids asking if we would take children for respite care over Christmas. I had to shield my phone once my mom heard what they wanted as she is quite opinionated on the subject. I told them I would consult my main squeeze and call them back.

In my head I am thinking, children in the house at Christmas? Wow what a concept. Children in the house at Christmas? Wow how delightful. Children in the house for Christmas? How blessed are we! Chldren in the house at Christmas? OH MY GOSH. We are certifiable.

COURAGE, I come out with the thought of courage. Everyday we should be courageous enough to step out of the comfortable lives we live. There are hundreds of ways to approach different situations in our lives and we are all guilty of finding the one of least resistance and taking it. Terry and I are pretty well the opposite, we tend to make life harder sometimes because we are both rather bull-headed. Thank you Dad for that gene. God wants us to have our Heart's Desires. Do you remember this? To get them we might have to step out of our comfort zone. Are you sure you know what your heart's desires are? How about making out a new type of Christmas List this year? What exactly are the truest deepest desires in your heart?

In Psalm 37:3-5, God gives us insight on His thoughts: "Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."

God is just like my own dad. He takes delight in providing for me the things that I truly want...the things I will write later on my list. But as any earthly father, He will not give us everything at one time; our needs and desires change. Often we desire something that is not good for us and He has better plans in mind. He knows what we need before we do. He wants what is best for our ultimate good.

Sometimes I hear, "Gosh I would love to paint and create as you do." My reply is simple. I am 56 years old and it took 56 years to get here. This includes every step of my life through painful times and depth of agoraphobia, living with alcohol and drug abusers in my immediate family, years of study of art, hours and hours of practice practice practice, painting, drawing, practicing; no different than a basketball player has to practice daily, I have to paint daily. This was my journey but it may not be yours. While you may cry out to God, "Lord, I desire to be a full time artist, this is the desire of my heart..." be careful what you pray for. I love what I do, but it was not instantaneous, but it has always been a desire of my heart. It is hard work and I often put in 15-18 hours a day honing my skills as an artist.

I heard someone say once that when you think of things like this it is like flashing bait on a hook in front of a hungry fish. Once the fish swallows the bait, it goes to places it did not want to go to. There are somethings we see we want and we need to not go after that "bait". God withholds somethings for our own good.

So how do you know what is your path? Trust and believe. Write down all those desires. Surrender them to Him and allow Him to work. Keep your vision in your heart and believe. Abraham did when he believed God would grace him with a son in his old age. Then he was confronted with the test of sacrificing the "desire of his heart" back to God. Abraham had to be willing to give it all up and trust. That is what we need to do as well.

If we are willing to die and give all we have, God will not only give us those desires, He will give us more than we could imagine.

Courage my friends, Have courage this day. Live your dreams and release yourself from the constraints you place on yourselves. Step out into unfamiliar territory and know your GPS (GOD'S PROTECTIVE SERVICES) is at work. Try something new. Be Bold. You will discover things you did not know about yourself and a new world will be ahead of you. You will discover the true desires of your heart.

Hope, Peace, Joy and Abundance,
Laurie

"May He grant you according to your heart's desire, and fulfill all your purpose." Psalm 20:4

"Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed.: 1 Chronicles 22:13