Work in Progress

Refining Heart: Work in Progress

"Work in Progress" Christine Nichols, 2012

This art project turned out to be a week-long lesson about my heart and motives. To begin, the chosen canvas is significant because it was a commissioned painting that I couldn't complete. I was soooooo stuck for nearly a year as the unfinished painting mocked me with failure and guilt. The 2’x 4' canvas had a multi-colored background and a contemporary design of a person praising God with arms raised. It sort of looked like two parenthesizes inverted: ) (  My oldest son said it looked like the stitching on a baseball to him. 
The new painting began with a charcoal briquette symbolizing a lump of coal. I drew a large heart in the center of the praise design, then scribbled and scratched markings within the heart. This represented sin. While doing this, jealousy was revealed. Emerald green flashed in my mind, with the cliché phrase "green-eyed monster", but I was surprised that the Holy Spirit chose a drab, dull green to cover the drawn heart. The world sees jealousy as a strong emotion, full of passion like a sparkling emerald. Our society even describes it as a crime of passion when a jealous rage turns deadly, but the Lord viewed the motive of jealousy within my heart as drab and lifeless. Green is usually associated with newness and life in Scripture but in this instance, it had the opposite meaning.
The drab green heart was expanded by rings of blue, purple, fuchsia, and white. The Holy Spirit gave a cross-section view of my heart like the growth rings of a tree. The outer layers of my heart resonates hues of Christ, His Kingship, and holiness. In an online Christian art class that I took, the instruction taught us to cover the negative with beauty. The Holy Spirit lead me to cover the green heart of jealousy to a heart of gold with a smaller lavender heart within. The small heart looked like it was ready to take flight like a butterfly!

Next came a multitude of circles painted with crumpled-up plastic wrap dabbed in paint. The motion was a swift turn of my wrist like the movement of turning a key in a lock. After multiple layers of hues were applied to the circles they reminded me of blue roses with golden highlights. The Lord then spoke within my heart about a law of His creation: (A plant) "blooms before it sets fruit."  As I continued with the painting this week, He reaffirmed the word given by saying, "Go forward. Fruit forthcoming." 
To be honest, I was dissatisfied with the large heart in the center. It seemed out of proportion and looked like a kindergartener had painted it, so I added more "circle roses" to the outer heart rings to make them fade into the background and highlight the smaller heart of gold. But that didn't seem right either, so I added more roses across the gold heart and it nearly disappeared! I knew I had messed up big time by taking things into my own hands. I hadn't waited on the Lord for the Holy Spirit's guidance to continue painting. I was more concerned about the outward appearance of the painting and good reviews (acceptance) from family and friends rather than God's message within the painting. My eyes were solely on myself instead of Christ. I repented, asked for forgiveness, and sought the Lord's redemption, literally. I asked Him specifically to fix the painting and without hesitation, He gave the solution along with a test of faith. I was to mix fuchsia with hues of gold and apply it over the heart, covering the roses. The color mixture turned coppery-bronze. Then the Lord said to use a toothbrush to scrub the gold mixture into the heart. I obeyed and the heart looked an absolute mess! It was a vivid demonstration of what happens to my heart when I seek glory for myself instead of seeking to glorify God.

Next came the leap of faith. The Lord said to take the plastic bag covering the paint palette, turn it inside out and place it over the heart. The plastic bag had some wet silver paint on it.  I admit, I wondered if I had heard right or not, because it sounded so unconventional to me, but I obeyed and the result was a heart of mixed metals: Copper, bronze, silver and gold. It was then that the Lord said, "Refining heart. Work in progress." 

 

"Refining Heart: Work in Progress" Christine Nichols, 2012

 Original 2' x 4' acrylic painting. June 2012

The Lord said during the painting process:

"Blooms before setting fruit. Go forward. Fruit forthcoming. Refining heart. Work in progress."

 

By the way, the commissioned piece I mentioned in the beginning of this blog was finished after this painting. It turned out to be a set of three canvases with a message of being "Sent with His Scent" for a friend as she about to embark on a new life in the missionary field. What's cool is that the art was small enough to pack and take with her to Haiti. God knows exactly what we need when we need it! There is none like Him!! 

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All my paintings begin with prayer. I ask for the Holy Spirit's guidance from beginning to end (from choosing the canvas and paint colors to the last brush stroke), that the Lord's message would go forth through the art, and that Father God would be glorified. I believe all prophetic art has a message, but what the Holy Spirit speaks to me about a specific piece of art, may be different than what the Spirit says to you. Seek Him for a personal interpretation.

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Blessings,

Christine