My Story

 My Story

This adventure began when I sought to hear what Jesus’ voice sounded like to me.  I wanted to know it so well that I wouldn’t mistake it for someone else.

“The Shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them…and they follow because they know his voice.  They will not follow a stranger’s voice, but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”  John 10:3,4

I have always been passionate about flowers.  So, designing floral arrangements for my home came naturally.  But, when I felt Jesus encouraging me to start a business in floral design to help my friends in missions, it was the beginning of recognizing His voice into new adventures.  I had a floral design business called Inspired Creations for 20 years.

I then started to have a very strong desire to start painting.  I took classes and the desire grew.  The floral industry changed and I was being led to close down my business.  Even though I did not want to close the business, I sensed a strong change of direction and a desire to paint flowers instead of arranging them.  What has transpired over a period of 10 years is a reopening of my business of paintings and books.

I have always also taught children about God and at the same time that I wanted to hear what His voice sounded like for me, I began to help the children hear His voice so that they could get to KNOW Him, not just ABOUT Him.  I was learning as well that the best way to get to know God is to worship Him.  That started me on a coinciding journey of being a student of worship. I still teach children how to meet God in worship and help to enhance worship using the visual arts in our local church.

In 2013, I felt compelled to start a community art group called The Maker’s Space, to help others begin to hear God’s voice using art as a tool.  I had no idea what it would look like, so I researched other art groups to learn, but could find nothing that looked like it was right.  On faith, we began holding monthly meetings, using a different medium every month, and a yearly theme to learn about ourselves from God’s perspective.  It has become a safe space to slow down and hear what our Creator is saying to us, His creation.  He is always speaking to us, whether through nature, the Bible, or other people, but we aren’t always listening.  At present, we are still meeting, and have been asked to hold workshops with other organizations using art as a tool to slow us down to listen.  Some of our workshops and blog can be found at www.themakersspace.us

My paintings continue to grow, as well as encouraging other artists to paint what they hear God telling them to paint.  My hope is that the paintings spread God’s peace to you.

My new children’s book, “I Like Ike”  was published April 2020 and can be found on www.Amazon.com.  The concepts of worship were some of the same concepts I was teaching my new Border Collie, Ike.  I never could have imagined the adventure of writing and illustrating a book.

Looking back, God has been my Good Shepherd and has led me every step of the way even though I had no idea where I was going.  I encourage you to seek out His voice for yourself and follow Him on the adventure He has designed for you!

My Family

I started earnestly seeking God’s voice when my husband and I began having children.  As their parent, I wanted to know how to lead them, so I had to begin to know the One who was leading me.  My journey into worship and teaching children how to worship started there.  We have raised five children and three Border Collies.  We welcomed our first grandson in 2018.