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KK, nice to know! I joined back in September 2024, so I am still new!
Here is my story: When I was around eight years old, I went to a check up at the doctors. They checked my heart and it sounded a little weirder than normal, so they gave me an X-ray. Well they found out that I had a hole in my heart, and I would have had to get a surgery to sew it back up! Well my mom was terrified so she prayed over me, and many other people prayed over me.
Then one day we went back to the doctors and I had another X-ray, and miraculously the hole had closed up on its own! And so I didn’t have to get a surgery! I had no idea what was going on when I was younger, but now looking back on it I will always thank and praise God for it!
Moral of the story, "always listen to a carrot cake when it screams at you."
What an awesome testimony! Seeing God heal is one of my favorite things!
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
A lot of great analogies are lost on me. God as a Father is a dearly sweet one I understand from the perspective of a daughter. My dad is wonderful.
But then God as a King? I live in a country with a president.
God as a Judge? I’ve been to court once, but that was just for jury selection and since I didn’t get picked, I didn’t see them in action.
God as a Shepherd? I’ve not been around farms with sheep.
God as a military Leader? I didn’t grow up around the army. What I know of those things are through movies, books, and audio dramas. But that’s not a personal experience and knowledge.When Jesus was speaking parables, it was with analogies that the people could understand. Shepherds, farmers, fishermen, subjects of a king, landowners, married people. They could personally relate to what He was saying.
I think about what I understand from these pictures. God as a loving Father. God as our marvelous Creator. I’ve heard scientific explanations and also done some exploring on my own. My doll-making and woodworking also flesh out that truth, especially God as the Creator of humans. God as an Author–for some reason that analogy resonates. Huh, wonder why….So I wondered what other things around me are good analogies or pictures of God’s character and prayed that God would show me. One morning, in the stillness before the rest of the house arose, I lay in bed thinking, as is often on my mind because of my home improvement retail job, about construction. Specifically if there were any analogies there to Christian living.
“16 inches on center” came to my mind. For those not familiar with that phrase, often studs in a wall are spaced every 16″ or 24″ based on the center of the board, which makes figuring how many boards you need very easy. Deck joists are typically 16″ or 12″ on center and railing spindles no more than 4″ on center.
Psalm 103:12 says that the Lord has removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west. Casting Crown’s song “East to West” describes this distance:“In the arms of Your mercy I find rest
Cause you know just how far the east is from the west:
One scarred hand to the other”The idea of 16″ on center is that it’s not just where east and west begin in our Savior’s arm span on the Cross. It’s way out in the center west and way out in the center east. Considering, though, that you can go either direction infinitely, the center of infinity is WAY far away.
That’s the power of Christ’s forgiveness and removal of sin.
That’s the power of cleansing blood on the Cross.
What great love!That’s amazing! It’s such a profound mental image.❤️
I love how many different analogies there are in scripture for God and his relationship with us.
One of my recent favorites is that he’s the Artist that makes all things beautiful in His time. It’s an image that has changed how I viewed my own art, and how I thought of the struggles I face.
He makes a sunrise and he makes a sunset, and both are beyond what a camera can catch. He makes the girl who grows up hearing of him, and he makes the girl who grows up abused, and both are shaped into beautiful stories of redemption and love. He’s the Author of our stories, but he’s also the Artist that shapes these vessels of clay through crushing and building up until they are beautiful indeed.
This is also why creative arts are so filled with evil influence, because the enemy is trying to darken anything that points to God. I attend a small secular college, and as I walk through the Fine Arts building, I see so much deprivation in the minds of human artists as they search for Beauty. Too often they give up and instead glory in the darkness in their world.
I have heard it said, “Art must reflect the ugliness of the modern world.” People seem to have lost their taste for beauty when they lost their taste for God. The world is ugly, except for those parts that are in complete submission to the Artist. Yet, as the reflections of God are obscured, those points of light may shine brighter. We need beauty, though not as much as we need the Beautifier.
So I walk out of the Fine Arts building with my head full of hope. Beauty is like Hope: neither can come from within us, but both come from Him.
You have listened to fears, child. Come, let me breathe on you... Are you brave again? -Aslan
I have a friend who is in an art school right now and it’s been really interesting talking to her, because all of her art pieces have literally been inspired by dreams or other ideas God has given to her, and they all have some sort of revelation or message in them, and she’s been able to have a lot of good conversations with her classmates as a result. It’s cool how it has been such a tool for evangelism for her!
"Real love is for your good, not for your comfort." -Justin Whitmel Earley
That’s amazing! I love art with a message, and something like that would be incredible. She has a valuable tool indeed!
You have listened to fears, child. Come, let me breathe on you... Are you brave again? -Aslan
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