Walking the path

(3-minute read)

The other day, I felt the Lord wanted me to write a blog post titled Joy. I didn’t realize that at the same time, my wife was attempting to paint a picture of Jesus titled Joy. The following is her story.

The story of the painting called “Joy”

by Jo White

I want to just say that I’m a new artist, self-trained, and definitely not a portrait artist. I find figuring out the colors of painting a portrait too difficult and capturing the person’s likeness extremely difficult. I have never had a desire to attempt it. But God had other plans for me.

I wanted to create a painting for Christmas, so my thought was to do the story of Jesus’ birth. As I prepped my canvas, the Lord started speaking to me, changing the story I was to paint. Instead of the beginning of Jesus’ life, I was to paint His Ascension into Heaven, the end of his life on earth.

My excuses began. I’m not a portrait artist. It’s too hard to do portraits and takes a long time to learn. Besides, I don’t want to do this.

Have you ever won an argument with God? Me, neither. However, I felt His undeniable presence, so I began painting a portrait of Jesus. In my mind, I could see a joyful Jesus. It’s not what I expected because I’ve seen all those paintings of Jesus ascending into heaven. None are joyful, just pleasant, and sometimes very serious.

Being a self-taught artist, I do a lot of painting and painting over what I had just spent hours on. Being a supportive husband, Don would come into the room and encourage me and tell me how much he liked my Jesus. Knowing my habit of painting over something I had just painted, with a relieved smile, he’d usually go back to his office to work on his blog. Returning later, he’d come in to see if I was finished with the painting and find “Jesus” completely wiped out. After a while, when he would come and find I had painted over all I had put to canvas, he told me his heart would drop.

In my heart, I knew this painting was important to finish. As I contemplated a joyful Jesus, the Lord showed me the life of Jesus, from being a heavenly being to becoming a man. A man who endured humiliation, pain, agony, betrayal. His dignity was lost to a created angelic being tempting Him to those He loved denying Him. Knowing His destiny, He began begging for a reprieve, yet knowing He would not have one. Submitting to the Father’s will, He allowed himself to be beaten, ridiculed, and nailed to a cross. Suffering a painful death and rejection from His Father, His body died. He didn’t even get to go home for 40 days. So, when I painted Jesus finally being brought home, I felt His joy. He had accomplished all He was sent to do on the earth. He was victorious! He had pleased the Father. He was ecstatic with unspeakable Joy! I had never experienced joy like I did while painting Jesus’s portrait. God actually changed me and my life with this one act of obedience. So, you may judge my ability to paint a portrait when you look at this painting. That doesn’t matter. But what matters is finding joy and knowing God has a plan for you, walking it out and in the Presence of a loving God.