Topaz Eyes
24 x 24 framed | Oils on Canvas
by Laurie Pace
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Shop other Available Artwork.
John 13: 34-35
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. “
It has been a long February still sick with what I started in mid January. I started on antibiotics Friday…hoping we can end this drain…thanks for your prayers, they are appreciated.
I am ever so grateful for the two paintings that sold. One stays here in Texas and one heads to Illinois. The Texas one is a first time collector but I feel like I know her because we met through mutual friends on Facebook. The Illinois collector has been with me at least ten years, picking up small pieces here and there. This is why I will continue to paint for smaller pricing to keep it affordable. If there is something special you want painted, now is the time!
The Other Night
As I read in the passage from John, love is truly a powerful gift we can share with others. Love covers much territory in our lives with our family and friends. With it comes concern, often worry and more. Life is not easy these days. Have you ever had trouble sleeping because of a situation in life that involves others, but your worry cannot solve anything? All good ideas and intentions will never be used.
Tears were rolling down my face when I picked up my Bible about 1:30 a.m. desperate for peace to return back to sleep. What crossed my heart was the song written by Horacio Spafford. ‘It is Well with My Soul”. If you don’t know it, look it up. The back story of who this man was started me realizing he was a modern day Job back in the late 1880s and early 1900’s. The very things that rarely happened seem to hit him and his family in a repetitive pattern of loss, and he rose and met each one with his faith. Jesus gives us peace.
John 14:27 ”Peace I leave you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let yours hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Horacio lost most of his financial investments in property in Chicago during the great Chicago fire. Many people died, and over 100,000 were homeless. He and his wife did all the could to help in their community. It would be a short time later, his wife left for England with their four daughters under the companionship of some ministers going for meetings. Horacio was trying to close an investment in NYC and would follow a few weeks later. The ship his wife was on hit storms the first days and finally better weather, clear skies and bright stars at night. Their trip was coming to a close soon. That night the four girls were tucked into bed. Their mom took a stroll with one of the elderly pastors and then turned in to bed herself. Just an hour later a steel boat from Scotland rammed their ship…and their ship went down in less than 12 min. The four girls were strong of faith. The oldest two clung together on deck as they were sucked into the water and their mother held the baby to her chest with one arm and clung to the second youngest daughter. The suction pulled her apart from both of them. The youngest two were lost immediately and the older two clung together but were tired and cold. A young man tried to help them in vain. They both did not have the strength even with him in the water helping them crawl on to a piece of wood… they simply closed their eyes and slipped into the depths of the wreck below. Horacio’s wife was found unconscious drifting on a small plank of wood. She sent a telegram back to him in New York “saved alone”.
The next trial hit after they had three more children…and the youngest son died at a young age of almost 4 years of age. The couple carried on in their faith helping others and moved the family to Palestine to begin serving with their two daughters to all who were in need.
By the time I digested the entire story twice through different sources, I was able to find that peace. Make each moment count in every day serving where you can.
All is Well with My Soul by Horacio G Spafford 1873
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
- When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.- Refrain:
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
- Refrain:
- Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul. - My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! - For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul. - But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul! - And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Follow the Spirit of the Paint... Laurie
Laurie Pace - A Texas Artist
Laurie is an international artist, her paintings are collected in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, DuBai, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, St Thomas, Romania, Greece, Croatia, and Ecuador.
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