Mountain View

"If you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can tell the mountain to move!"  I've heard this scripture my whole life and assumed my faith was just too weak when the mountains I saw blocking the life I wanted remained stuck…

As I pondered my expectation of this scripture, it hit me: I tend to view mountains as external things:  lack of money or resources, a job or partner? 

But what if the mountain is something inside of me?  What if the mountains Jesus says my faith can move have taken such deep root in my personality, belief system, days, and minutes that when I look around, I have accepted them as my view?  It may not be what I long for; it may not satisfy the God-size dreams in my heart, but they surround me.  They give me a decent life.  They have become my comfort zone.

"Mountain View" is the first in a three-part series of paintings that depict shifting the mountains of complacency, pain, and unhealthy agreements in Jesus' name.  It opens wide the path towards God's good and perfect will for our lives when the power of the Holy Spirit works through our faith.

I asked many of you to confess what mountain blocks your path:  Hopelessness, anger, anxiety, selfishness, looking back, brokenness, fear, contentment, and so many others…Your raw honesty filled the blank space on my canvas.

As worship and testimonies came alive around us, I painted dark, looming mountains over your words: a picture of the lies that slowly erode our joy, numbing us with a satanic lullaby, costing us everything- with a Mountain View that convinces us "it could be worse."

Over the next two weeks, I will create paintings to illustrate how planting that tiny mustard seed in soil made rich by prayer and fasting can change absolutely everything.  I'm so excited and thirsty for this journey.  I'm thankful to take it with each of you!