© Laurie Justus Pace Graphics One Design 2009"For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;" Deuteronomy 8:7
The Picture: This is a watercolor on big watercolor canvas. I did it during a class demonstration on watercolor several years ago.
The Thought: I was reading Christian Fiction recently and part of one of the character's flaws was the 'gift' of manic depression. The Lord often has a serious sense of humor on these gifts. But truly it is one if you can embrace it. In every gift or challenge there is something there for us to receive and then give back to others. The character in the book referred to the 'handling' of the mood swings by comparing it to hills and valleys. Our life journey always has hills and valleys. That is a given we can agree on. The character had to mentally keep focused on the next hill top when they found themselves bottomed out in the valley of depression. They knew this too would pass.
Now for our family this is a serious illness having manic depression. I believe in many cases the only functional choice is often medication. Yet as I read through this verse above and pondered it... the little light in my head went off. The description of where God would bring you talked of those valleys and hills, AND spoke of the springs running through them. I would liken the springs to that of God in motion through all our valleys and hills. Forever present, His love is like that stream of water.... continuous motion in our lives running right beside our path as we walk.
On the drive into Jackson Hole Wyoming from the south, from the dry barren town of Rock Springs... you think you are in isolation on the moon and suddenly as the altitudes increase...the Snake River appears next to the road and you find it dancing beside you weaving from one side to the other and back.
Today imagine that in your life. God is a never ending stream at your feet, you only need to reach out to be refreshed.
Laurie
"Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth." Luke 3:5
Website, Laurie Justus Pace
Website, The Painted Pony
Blog, A Texas Contemporary Artist
Blog, Wonders of the Heart
Galleries:
Jackson, Wyoming – The Rare Gallery
Penn Yan, New York—Earthworks Art Gallery
The Village of Granville, Ohio—The Gillian Jones Gallery
Marble Falls, Texas – Patina of Marble Falls
Dallas, Texas—The Dutch Art Gallery
Atascadero, California – The Red Tree Gallery
El Dorado Hills, California—Our House Gallery
Hong Kong – SR Gallery
Erie, Colorado – The Daily Painters
Dallas,Texas – The Daily Painters of Texas
Centennial, Colorado—The Daily Painters Abstract
Organizations:
WAOW, Associate Member Women Artist Out West
OPA, Associate Member Oil Painters of America
AWS, American Watercolor Society
The Five Graces, 5Graces
Ask Art, Blue Book of Artists
The Thought: I was reading Christian Fiction recently and part of one of the character's flaws was the 'gift' of manic depression. The Lord often has a serious sense of humor on these gifts. But truly it is one if you can embrace it. In every gift or challenge there is something there for us to receive and then give back to others. The character in the book referred to the 'handling' of the mood swings by comparing it to hills and valleys. Our life journey always has hills and valleys. That is a given we can agree on. The character had to mentally keep focused on the next hill top when they found themselves bottomed out in the valley of depression. They knew this too would pass.
Now for our family this is a serious illness having manic depression. I believe in many cases the only functional choice is often medication. Yet as I read through this verse above and pondered it... the little light in my head went off. The description of where God would bring you talked of those valleys and hills, AND spoke of the springs running through them. I would liken the springs to that of God in motion through all our valleys and hills. Forever present, His love is like that stream of water.... continuous motion in our lives running right beside our path as we walk.
On the drive into Jackson Hole Wyoming from the south, from the dry barren town of Rock Springs... you think you are in isolation on the moon and suddenly as the altitudes increase...the Snake River appears next to the road and you find it dancing beside you weaving from one side to the other and back.
Today imagine that in your life. God is a never ending stream at your feet, you only need to reach out to be refreshed.
Laurie
"Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth." Luke 3:5
Website, Laurie Justus Pace
Website, The Painted Pony
Blog, A Texas Contemporary Artist
Blog, Wonders of the Heart
Galleries:
Jackson, Wyoming – The Rare Gallery
Penn Yan, New York—Earthworks Art Gallery
The Village of Granville, Ohio—The Gillian Jones Gallery
Marble Falls, Texas – Patina of Marble Falls
Dallas, Texas—The Dutch Art Gallery
Atascadero, California – The Red Tree Gallery
El Dorado Hills, California—Our House Gallery
Hong Kong – SR Gallery
Erie, Colorado – The Daily Painters
Dallas,Texas – The Daily Painters of Texas
Centennial, Colorado—The Daily Painters Abstract
Organizations:
WAOW, Associate Member Women Artist Out West
OPA, Associate Member Oil Painters of America
AWS, American Watercolor Society
The Five Graces, 5Graces
Ask Art, Blue Book of Artists
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