This morning, my Beloved Husband and I were talking about hoodies. I know. Such a significant topic. But what came of that whole conversation was thinking about things I like, and that felt like a mental excursion to somewhere pleasant.  The “biggie” things like faith, family and friends are not what I chose to consider today, but the things that just appeal to me for no good reason.

Several people that I follow and admire on social media participate in artistic prompt challenges like “Inktober”, and I decided this morning as I walked in our woods that I would make a list of things I love, and maybe someday would use it as a monthly prompt list for sketches, paintings, or something like that. So here is a list of some things I like.

Ancient church architecture

Aroma of cinnamon

Ballet, especially when the male dancers leap

Banjo

Bass; the sound, not the fish

Chocolate and coffee – duh

Christmas lights

Clouds

Comfortable socks

Dew globes on blades of grass

Driving through the prairies

Dry humor

Fences

Fonts

Getting up early

Green olives

Hockey

Hoodies

John Donne poetry

Lakes, oceans, streams and rivers

Lemonade, the sugar free mix kind

Listening

Naps

Personal snail mail

Piano music

Prisms

Puns

Quirkiness

Rain chains

Red, in the autumn, but not the rest of the year

Riding with my BH on deliveries

Scent of a Christmas tree

Silence

Smell of baking bread

Sound of rain

Soundtracks and orchestral music

Stained glass windows

Thinking

Three

Thunderstorms

Trees, and I could do an entire month on trees

Vagabonding, or what used to be called Sunday afternoon drives

Voices of those I love

Walking in the woods

Washing my hands with warm water and massaging them

Waves, especially with white caps

Weeds and wildflowers

Wind

Word "delight"

Yellow fields

Well, it looks like it will take more than a month!

Have a beautiful day.

Coram Deo.

Brenda

In May, my Beloved Husband and I went to Santa Fe, New Mexico where I attended the big plein air convention, and he vacationed and helped me schlep my painting stuff to different sites to paint. It had been a long time since I had done much representational painting, and I had never really painted en plein air - which is painting out doors. I learned a lot, met lots of people, and came home with a new hobby. Or so I thought. I started painting en plein air more often, and decided to post my representational painting on Daily Paintworks. 

Imagine my surprise when DPW invited me to be a Spotlight Featured Artist for a couple of weeks! I felt honored by this opportunity, and have been painting more furiously ever since! As a featured artist, DPW published an artist interview, and I want to share that with you for today's blog post. By the way, I have been doing my representational painting under my business name, Brenda Kay Paintings. (Paintings shown are available on DPW.)

DPW SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

What did you want to be growing up?  

Well, the first thing I remember wanting to be was a cowboy, and when I realized that girls could only be cowGIRLS, I was severely disappointed!

I really could not decide what I wanted to be, but when I was entering my second year of college with an undecided major, my Dad said, "You know, you will always be drawing. Why don't you study [commercial] art so that you have a way to earn a living, and then if you still want more school, you can go back and get more." The better I get to know artists, the more I recognize how unusual that parental direction was! And he was sure right. 

When did your artistic journey begin?  

I was the kid in elementary school that was often picked to do the art stuff, like painting Christmas scenes on the windows and 'fixing' the out-of-proportion US map.  Maybe that was the start of the journey. 

Did you have any long periods without creative expression? How did you get back on the horse? 

 I did. I set aside my art for many years while we raised and homeschooled our (now adult) kids. We had just been through traumatic times and my health was compromised during that time, so we decided to put first things first. I did still dabble with some art here and there, but it was not until our kids were on their own that I really started to refocus on my art.
Which mediums and genres do you gravitate toward? Which ones don’t appeal? 

 I love acrylics, and my primary artistic calling is abstract painting! I really delight in expressing concepts in non-objective art. Plein air and somewhat representational painting is my new side pursuit, and I am finding a lot of joy in learning and getting more skillful in these genres. Daily Paintworks is a great place for me to share these paintings.

I have difficulty appreciating photo-realism/realism in painting.
What was the process like of pinpointing your personal style or finding your voice?  

Interestingly, I had always done representational art until dear friends commissioned me to do a large abstract painting for their home. I didn't even know where to begin to paint a quality work of art that was non-objective, so I began to study and practice abstract works until I found my abstract painting becoming second nature, and I found that I could communicate effectively with that genre.

Now I am in the process of studying and practicing more representational art and plein air painting and I am finding that I don't yet have that inner direction that comes almost naturally in these genres. Particularly in plein air painting, I am finding so many factors that require my attention that I struggle to find my stride! But I am feeling it coming along as I practice.  

Name an artist (or artists), well-known or not, who you admire. Why?  

There are so, so many!

Fred Ingrams, for simplicity in design and excitement in color

Jim Wodark, for plein air chops and interesting color

Bob Burridge for teaching skillfully and compelling color

David Huang, metalsmith, for detail and brilliance in his vessels

Timothy Botts, calligraphy, meaningful design and lots of color

And also lots of poets, musicians, dancers, actors, authors, and other artists
If you could offer one piece of advice to your younger, creative self — what would that be?  

I still need to tell the same things to myself now - don't get too uptight about the results. Do the next right thing, and keep at it, and let the results be left up to God's timing. Just don't give up. 

Do you utilize any habits or tricks for winning the distraction and procrastination battle?  

Whew, this is a tough question! I do find it is helpful to get SOMETHING on the substrate, and then respond to what is there. It helps me to remember that, as I heard from artist Kathie Odom, "While I am painting, nothing hurts!" Ha ha! 

In moments of self-doubt or adversity, how do you push forward? 

 Another tough question! I find that my first response has to be to ask my Heavenly Father whether I am following His lead. More than anything, I want to be doing what He calls me to. So sometimes He will prompt someone to send me an encouraging note (or an invitation to be a featured DPW artist!), or maybe I will win an award or sell a painting. Sometimes I just begin to feel more confident by doing the next thing as a matter of discipline. And sometimes I just have to choose to paint as a discipline even if I don't feel better!
What are some of your long and short term goals for yourself or your art? 

 I really don't have goals. I know that is not the way I am "supposed to" answer, but it is the truth. I would love to be able to paint when my Beloved Husband retires, and help support our family if possible, but I wouldn't call it a goal.
What does success mean to you personally?  

I have asked myself this question before, and my best answer is that I want my art to communicate - to bring truth, goodness, and beauty into the world in a way that helps people see that God is True, Good, and Beautiful, and that He is extremely fond of us! It is a very tall order for paintings to do that, admittedly!

 What is one of your proudest moments in your creative life?

 There have been significant moments in my artistic journey, including awards, invitations to juried exhibitions and events, and good sales of my work, but at least today as I type this, I think one of the "proudest" moments for me was seeing the impact of one of my paintings on someone. Most years I host an open studio/open house in my home, and I invite as many people as I can get my hands on to come and see my new work! One particular year, I saw a lady in my studio gazing at an abstract work that was on my easel. It was a very meaningful work to me, but I was not yet sure that it was communicating like I wanted it to. But there she stood, weeping in front of that painting. She asked me about the meaning of it, and yes, she had indeed been impacted in the way that I had hoped. Not much can top that. 

Cover image, Courage Dear Heart, 2021

This morning, I went for a walk in our woods. It has been a while since I have been there because we were traveling, and have had cold and wet weather here. I must admit, I am a wimp when it comes to cold, wet, bugs, humidity, and just about anything … You would never know that I love to walk there! But I sure do!

It really bothers me when I see big trees down in our woods, and right now there is a big one down on one of the main trails. It is almost white – naked without its bark. I was looking closely at it, though, and found surprising beauty! There are patterns in the surface of the logs, presumably made by bugs under the bark. I hate the idea of the death of the tree, and I hate the idea of bugs, but the beauty of these patterns redeems those things. 

Fallen log in our woods

Yesterday I saw a reference to a book of photos taken through a microscope. The photos were of human tears, and surprisingly, there are patterns in them. (Don’t ask me why – I have no understanding of the science involved here!) The artist captured her own tears to examine and photograph, and intriguingly, there are different patterns when the tears come for different reasons, such as grief, happiness, and peeling onions! Again, these patterns preserve the evidence of sadness and yet show something beautiful. 

When dreaming recently, I met a Lion, and I knew that for me, it represented Jesus Christ. And I loved it/Him so much! I instinctively curtsied in my dream, oddly enough, and felt such longing when I woke up. Like homesickness, I guess. I mentioned it to my Beloved Husband and he asked whether the idea of a lion representing Jesus came from C. S. Lewis’ writings, or from the Bible. I thought maybe both, and maybe I will write more about that sometime, but I know that Lewis impacted my imagination. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Whatever It Takes, 2018

In my Bible reading lately, the phrase that seems to be hitting my heart the most is “do not be afraid”. Surely I have focused on that phrase before – it is repeated so often in the Bible! But it has been impacting me in a strong way. This morning, I especially loved this long time favorite, John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.” Another one that seemed especially meaningful to me today was John 16:27 “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.”

We'll Be All Right, 2021

So how to tie these thoughts together… Well, I am seeing a pattern of redemption – maybe of restoration or compensation. I am seeing sad or frightening things turned to beauty. The hard things are not just for me to ignore or run away from, but are redeemed and made beautiful. “Fear not. Accept My peace. The Father Himself loves you.”

Coram Deo.

Brenda

This is quite different from my usual Beyond the Studio blog posting, but I wanted to take this opportunity to share the video that was made by the Fort Wayne library local television crew of a talk and demonstration I did for the Fort Wayne Artists Guild. 

Click here for link to video on YouTube. 

I hope you enjoy the program!

Coram Deo,

Brenda

Have you noticed that, although many things are not yet “back to normal” after last year’s shut downs, we are busy again? I mean, too busy. I had heard people saying they were understanding the value of putting first things first and slowing down, and that we ought never to go back to being so busy. But how do we keep from that? I have found myself forgetting deadlines and missing paperwork and just generally not being able to find that time for just being that I really need. How about you?

My creative tank is running perilously near empty, too. I am pretty sure that it is at least partly because I have been unable to walk in our woods for at least a month – we had The Virus at our house, and I have been pretty slow in recovering my strength and stamina. I really seem to need to slow down and focus in order to feel like my soul is ready to paint.  What do you do to fill your creative tank?

Here is a beginning; a start to refreshing and refilling my tank. I am working on, and have nearly finished a painting that started out almost accidentally. I had ordered a new type and size of canvas to try, and when it arrived, the box had been crushed in shipping, and the canvas was broken. The bottom stretcher bar was split and the canvas was stretched and torn. The canvas was replaced (by Jerry’s Artarama, where I get almost all of my art supplies), and my Beloved Husband suggested that I paint on the broken one.

So, I have painted, and done so without a lot of intensity and forced concentration. I have painted freely and with joy in the paint and mediums and color. I have painted reaching upward, flowing downward, adding crushed treasures and golden hopes. Can you see these things in this work?

In today’s Bible reading, these verses struck me as very apt for this time and for this painting.

Psalm 51:17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit.

God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

2 Corinthians 4:17 For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison

You may have noticed that I have been quiet lately. The sad part of that is that we will have to call it an unexcused absence. (Do you think that it will go on my permanent record?)  Since I have no good reason to give for my blog/newsletter delinquency, I will keep this to a relatively short post, and encourage you to connect with me on my social media, and my new art alerts via my website.

First, though, let me share some of the art that has been sold in the last little while. One of them even sold before I was able to post it to my website by someone who follows my Facebook page! That is always so exciting for this artist! :)

Recently sold. (Woo-hoo!)

It has been delightful to be involved in some in person art events this year, and some that are sort of in person but mostly virtual. I have been very honored to receive some awards in some exhibits, and am anticipating participating in more in the upcoming months. I am also quite excited for an outdoor art fair coming in June. I don’t do these very often anymore, so this is doubly exciting for me.

Here are a few places to see my art in person:

Jeffrey Krull Gallery, Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN

Fort Wayne Artist Guild Popup Gallery, Jefferson Pointe Mall, Fort Wayne, IN

Lakeland Art Association Spring Members’ Exhibit, (May – June 11, 2021) Warsaw, IN

Village at Winona Art Fair, (June 5-6, 2021) Winona Lake, IN

Every Good Gift, 2020

One of the changes in my daily routine of late has been making more time for reading. I am always trying to do that, and it always feels difficult to take that time without feeling like I ought to be doing something else! Maybe you know what I am talking about. A few of the titles that I have especially enjoyed lately are

The Singer, The Song,  and The Finale by Calvin Miller (an incredible trilogy of poetry)

Art + Faith by Makoto Fujimura

False Colours by Georgette Heyer (a hilarious historical romance!)

The Artist’s Handbook by Mark David Hatwood

Several audio books by P. G. Wodehouse (highly recommended for long drives)

Ink by Marc Thomas Eckel (drawings only – no words)

That Lovely Fragrance, 2021

This has been a very business-y post, but I hope it finds you well! Thank you for your interest in my work. It means more to me than you can imagine!

Coram Deo.

Brenda

My Instagram page is probably the best place to keep in touch: https://www.instagram.com/brendastichter/

I also have a business page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrendaKayPaintings

And I do (very rarely) post a video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCrbfbdixZYgMrPsQBVJ9dg

To receive a very short email blast each time I upload new or newly updated art to my website, go to my website here https://www.brendastichter.com/ and go to the very bottom of the home page to click the Get New Art Alerts button. (I wish I could link it for you here, but I can’t figure out how to do it! Bother.)

Several days ago, I attended a year’s end gathering with one of the artist groups that I am part of. Virtually. We had a Zoom social and “paint-along”. So there we were, a bunch of artists using technology with varying amounts of success. (Actually, most everyone was pretty good at Zoom, and my guess is that we all have way more experience with virtual meetings than we ever hoped to have!) By the time I left the group, only one or two were painting the shared photo, but several of us had shared some of our more recent work.

When I shared my work, I have to admit I was (secretly) disappointed at the lack of response. I shared a couple of things that are a little different from my usual larger format abstract paintings, but I still thought they were pretty successful pieces. I noticed that other artists’ work looked a little colorless and somewhat misshapen on my screen, and even though I made adjustments when I shared, I recognized that the lighting was not great for my works either. Clearly, this digital sharing of our works in progress just didn’t do the original art justice.

The First Noel, 2019

Similarly, several years ago, my Beloved Husband imported a load of little Japanese mini-trucks. While it sounds quite impressive, it was mostly just a lot of paperwork and headaches! But after a LONG time and too much money, eventually the trucks arrived, and he and some friends excitedly went to try driving them! But because of some of the legal hoops that had to be, um, driven through, the trucks were shipped with controls that severely limited their speed. Before he was able to work on them and get them adjusted, my BH could only go about 10 mph at full throttle. It was not a good demonstration of what fun they would be to drive, and how useful they are.

You know, I have also been thinking about Christmas. Especially Christmas in 2020. Our celebrations are curtailed, and our decorations are feeling forced and a little passé. The music is not preparing me as I would hope, even though I have found new music to enjoy this season. (And if I hear I’ll Be Home for Christmas or There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays one more time…) I have gifts wrapped and under our (artificial) tree, but I am just not personally ready to celebrate Jesus’ birth. It looks to be an underwhelming remembrance of God becoming man this year.

Which, after all, may be just as it should be. When Jesus appeared here in this world, He did not glow or have a golden halo around His head. He was not born into pomp and circumstance and riches and splendid surroundings. He was a wrinkled, newborn baby who was born in a stable to a poor mother. And when He grew up, he was not spectacularly strong or fabulously beautiful. He did not overthrow the oppressive government under which His family and friends were suffering. In fact, the Bible says in

Isaiah 53:2 -3

“He didn’t have an impressive form

or majesty that we should look at Him,

no appearance that we should desire Him.

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.

He was like someone people turned away from;

He was despised, and we didn’t value Him.”

  I might have called Him a pretty poor representation of God Almighty, Creator of the universe, the Beautiful One, the One Who hurls thunderstorms and conducts the tides, the One who causes nations to rise up and then to crumble.

Yet, He was the True Representative that limited Himself to reach us in our small brokenness. We could not have borne the Creator of Light in all His splendor. That omnipotent Power would have crushed us to dust. His Beauty and creativity would have overwhelmed our senses, and even the miracles He did while He was on earth were almost more than humanity could bear.

 He Who Is Mighty Has Done a Great Thing

 in a private collection

  So yes, the photos and videos were washed out and not quite straight, but we could share   them in the midst of the shut-downs.

 The mini-trucks were underpowered and throttled down, but we could get them here legally.

 Christmas in 2020 looks like it will be less than spectacular, but we can celebrate Christmas.

 And GOD Himself came as a poor girl’s baby, born in a stable, but we could see Him and yet   survive.

   And what a gift! What an incredible limitation of Himself to become one of us and offer us   the gift of true, eternal life in His presence. Merry, merry Christmas.

 Hey; this is Jake Stichter. I'm Brenda's son. I'm a musician, a woodworker, a guitar builder... I am a maker. I'm also a recent seminary graduate – I received my Master's degree in Media Arts and Worship from Dallas Theological Seminary a few weeks ago. My wonderful mother offered to let me use this blog space as a place to discuss some ideas that have been percolating in my head for the last little while as I've been progressing through my degree. This essay is a re-working of a project I did for one of my classes, and it touches on something close to my heart: creativity. I know that every person has some form of creativity in their life, and I want to encourage more people to feel free to bring that creative passion into their surroundings! This is written from a specifically Christian viewpoint, but even if you don't share my religious persuasion the things I'm saying still ring true for you. I hope you enjoy my small piece of creative outlet, and I hope it inspires you to explore your own creative pursuits! 

I'm here to ask you a favor. A really big favor. A favor that might change the fate of your neighborhood, your church, your town, or maybe even yourself. Are you ready? Here it is: I want you to make something. 

What I'm asking for doesn't need to be something intimidating. Whether you're a seasoned painter or someone who doesn't think they have a creative bone in your body, I know for a fact that you already have a valuable, skillful creative outlet already within you – because you are human. Made in the Image of God. The Bible tells us that God's very first revelation of Himself was a creative one: taking nothing, and making something. Taking chaos and creating order. When we create, it is a reflection of God's original interaction with the human story. It's not the same thing; it is an image which is distorted by our own frailty and incomplete-ness. But it's still a small, beautiful, real reflection of God's presence within the human experience, and that alone gives the creative process an intrinsic value that no person can take from it. 

And I know you already do something creative, because creativity is more than just painting, music, dancing, and poetry. Cooking is creative. Knowing which flavors and textures will work together in a dish is a flourish of genius which amazes me. Building a house is creative, too. The ability to take wood, glass, metal, and paint and turn it into a safe, attractive building is no less skillful, artistic, and amazing than what the painter does with a canvas. It just doesn't have the same prestige attached to it. There are thousands of ways to express your God-given creative calling. 

But why? Why am I asking you to do this? Your church needs you to. Romans 12 tells us that the church functions like a body. Every body, whether your personal body or the Body of Christ, is only fully healthy when each part is present, and doing its own job at peak capacity. Your art form – whether it is playing a guitar, cooking a meal, or being present with those who hurt – is part of how you contribute to a healthy body. Your (human) body is more than just a disembodied brain on a stick; your person-hood is made up of emotions, senses, flesh, bone and muscle. Similarly, the church body is more than just people gathering for a series of intellectual propositions. I believe our creative projects feed the heart and soul of the Church, so I believe a church without its people being creative is one which is ultimately malnourished. 

Not only does your church need your creativity, your world needs it too. In the words of Andy Crouch: “Culture is all of these things: paintings (whether finger paintings or the Sistine Chapel), omelets, chairs, snow angels. It is what human beings make of the world.”1  These little things we do with that which surrounds us... they all add up to something. Something large. A culture. Your little gift to those around you gives us all something new. A new perspective, a new window into reality, a new idea. And that little gift can only come from you. You have been given a unique set of circumstances, experiences, high moments, low moments, and everything in between. Nobody else can create the thing that is within your imagination. 

I'm not asking for you to make an earth-shattering, genre-defying piece which alters the course of human history. That is more than one person can handle. Instead, my hope is that each of us will shift our little “corner” of the world. I completely believe your act of creativity can shift the course of one relationship. Maybe even a circle of friends. Perhaps we can even dream big and say that it plots a new course for your entire neighborhood. And that's enough. We don't need a million people trying to change human history, we need a hundred million people each trying to create one little piece of beauty. When this finally happens, I truly believe mountains will be moved. I KNOW we can show a hurting community the things it is longing for, which we have through our faith in Christ: hope, beauty, peace, truth. 

So won't you please join me in the quest to make an omelet? Our world may depend on it. 

(If what I'm saying resonates with you - if you feel something pulling inside you - and you want to dig into it a little more, I would love to share the little pieces of creativity which have impacted me in the making of THIS little piece of creativity: Please check out “Culture Making” - Andy Crouch, “Culture Care” - Makoto Fujimura, “The Magnificent Story” - James Bryan Smith, or “It was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God” - Ned Bustard, ed.)                

1 Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling (Downers Grove, IL: IVP books, 2008), 22.

As I walked out to our mailbox this morning, I looked at my hands as I buttoned my jacket over my paint covered shirt. My hands were paint covered like my shirt, and I thought about how, when my Beloved Husband comes home to find paint on my hands, he knows my day has been a success. I also remembered that just a few days ago, one of my artist friends posted a status on social media showing her hands and pants covered in paint. I don’t know whether it is really an artist trait or not, but many of us seem to wear our paint smudges as badges of honor. 

Sadly, though, it is not just my clothes and my hands that are messy these days. My house, my (Corona)hair, and my inbox are messy too. Didn’t we all think that we just lacked time in order to get everything cleaned up, so to speak? I have found that I am less motivated to get work accomplished as I wait at home for our nation to “open up”, so I think I could say my mind is messy, too. 

Three paintings based on books written by the Inklings - for an exhibit that was cancelled

Painting based on The Great Divorce by Lewis

Painting based on Leaf by Niggle by Tolkien

Painting based on The Silver Trumpet by Barfield

When I started college, my major was ‘undecided’, just like about half of the other freshmen students. After a year or so, my dad suggested I study commercial art, saying, “You will always be doing art, so you might as well get paid for it.” So my training was in a neat and tidy form of art where each corner must line up perfectly and there must be no smudges on the illustration board. Also, as a freelancing commercial artist, I had to have at least some business sense and be able to keep track of receipts, income, clients, and so on. It was definitely not an advantage to be messy!

But with life has come homemaking, child rearing, homeschooling, running a coffee shop, caring for extended family needs, helping with cows, proofreading papers, and many, many other messier things. Important things.

Let's Go Fly a Kite, 2020

My art is messy now – at least in the process of being painted. My studio matches my messy hands, with paint on the carpet, walls and ceiling as well as canvas. But my art is also more important now. Every painting has meaning beyond marketing.

About a week ago, my mind was so messy. I had passed from my current “normal” benumbed waiting, to anger and impatience. My Heavenly Father was getting a full dose of my attitude.  My prayer was reminiscent of some that Job prayed when his circumstances were horrible, and it had not taken very much for me to be in that state. Job 6:8 – 10 “If only my request would be granted and God would provide what I hope for: that He would decide to crush me, to unleash His power and cut me off! It would still bring me comfort, and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain . ..” (To tell the truth, it scares me more than a little that I was asking GOD for that! I am grateful to tell you that GOD instead took my messiness and gave me His great love and mercy instead.)

Gratitude, 2020

So how do I, as a messy artist, move forward during this time? Not only in my art practice and business, but in my messy life? How do I know who to believe and how to act? What do I paint, and how do I find and share encouragement? Am I, a mess, acceptable?

Here is a passage from the Old Testament book of Psalms that helped me find comfort and stability today.

Psalms 19:7-9 “The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise. The precepts of the Lord are right, making the heart glad; the command of the Lord is radiant, making the eyes light up. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are reliable and altogether righteous.”

God can be trusted absolutely, both to be true, and to accept me as I am. Messy.

Coram Deo.

Brenda