Whose plan?

Recently I went to a class about discovering and using your God given gifts so I thought I would share what I learned.

We talked about how God has a plan for us and if we want to know what the plan is, we need to listen. We need to pray and ask Him for guidance. The instructors said something that was kinda funny, they said usually people make up their own plans and then ask God to bless their plans. And that’s not the way it works, well, not if you want to do God’s will anyway. “Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.” Below are two verses from the bible that say pretty much the same thing over and over again:

Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.
Isaiah 46:11 From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.

From thinking about these verses, I have concluded that I need to spend less time figuring out how I can use my art to glorify God and more time improving my skill. God delights in seeing us happy and fullfilled and I think (!) the path to glorifying God with my work lies in making better paintings.

After the first of the year I wrote down my “plans” and number 9 was this:

“Continue to explore ways in which I can use my work to glorify God. Right now I think this will be mainly in the subject matter and composition that I choose, though whenever I think I know something, God usually shows me a different path. So I need to keep my mind open on this one and listen.”

Well, at least I was right about being wrong! It’s not about subject matter and composition for me, but to make beautiful paintings, whatever the subject. I am thankful that I got that message. I got an e-mail about the class I went to on that morning and I immediately felt like I needed to go. I also think it’s interesting how when I wrote out my “goals” in early January I didn’t feel comfortable with the word “goals” so I called them “plans”, which is the word used in the bible verses. I know that was God working in me.

6 thoughts on “Whose plan?”

  1. Loved your realization that we can bring our Creator joy by simply working to improve our paintings. As we do what we love, sometimes it’s easy to add the self imposed pressure to use our life to better serve God. When in reality His perfect will could be the path we are on.
    I enjoyed reading through your blog posts concerning consistent looking work, a painterly style, and the time it takes to sell.
    The portrait posted on Jan. 15th is exquisite. Lovely job!
    I noticed your nice Galveston painting. My husband and son are working to rebuild the area. My daughter lives in Houston. I was wondering if there is a plein air group in the area.

  2. This is a good train of thought, Joan. If we allow ourselves to be the clay, in all of its fullness, we will have purpose…sometimes profound purpose. If, however, we zoom out too far and try to imagine, control or manipulate what we surmise to be the mind of God, then our art (and lives, too?) feel less authentic, don’t you think?

  3. Wow, Joan, a much needed and thought-provoking post. Thanks for writing that. Can we go back and re-write our plans from the first of the year? 🙂
    I personally find it so incredibly difficult not to make intricate plans and ask them to be blessed, rather than be calm and trusting and receptive.

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