Life’s an adventure with God.  This is what I wrote on the back of my doodle last year–“Walking by faith is not for the faint-hearted, in fact it is more like being a “thrill seeker.”  You allow yourself to let go of control of your circumstances and somehow things turn out better than you ever planned for yourself.”

This has not always been an easy thing for me–it’s never easy for anyone to give up their circumstances because we always like to try to make sense of things.  This year has been a solid year of faith building, especially in light of our finances.  I don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m an artist, not really a doodler.  I stepped out in faith in April of 2014 to do fine art full-time.  Then the journey began–besides all the challenges of refocusing my income stream to what the average person considers non-lucrative (thus the term “starving artist”), we were hit by sickness and death in the family, cars breaking down, pets needing special vet visits, and just this year on our home alone, the main water line to our house had to be replaced, an exterior faucet/pipe broke coming into our house, leaving our laundry room flooded and it had to be replaced, our deck had to be removed and disposed of (a new patio now needs to be added–next years project), half of our house needed new siding and a new window, and now we are awaiting a much-needed new roof which begins Monday–weather permitting.  Besides all the above, I felt compelled to take the leap of faith and move my studio away from my house to a location down town–another expense–but much more like “going to work.”  I don’t have to do the math for you–it’s all added up and all happened with only one regular income, which we are blessed to have.  Our goal–no second mortgage and no credit cards.  Each “event” individually would have thrown me into a panic attack.  After seeing how God has provided at the VERY moment provision is needed (often an art sale or commission) has been awe-inspiring to say the very least.  The most recent example if you are interested–our roof was supposed to have been put on in September (we had paid a 50% deposit the first of June), then it got moved to the first of October but we were going to be shy the full amount we needed to pay for the roof so I started to pray–what happens?  The roofing supplies are delivered to the wrong roof!  To make the story short–the supplier is crediting us $250 and upgrading part of the roofing package and the contractor is crediting us another $350!  All I’d asked God for was a “stall” in the project so we’d have all the money and He gave us a bonus.  Yes, it is now pouring down rain and is supposed to continue pouring down the majority of this coming week but I’m not worried–we’re covered–our roof isn’t so bad that it will leak and if it was, God has a BIG hand of protection and even if our roof did leak, He’d provide for that as well.  After all, our home, our jobs, EVERYTHING on this earth is of this world and temporary so ultimately, does it matter?

In closing–there are two ways to walk a tightrope–by sight/fear (looking all around, seeing danger and impossibility) or by faith/anticipation (swinging freely knowing God has it all under control and has ordained this very trial for you so He could demonstrate His love and care for you).  If we never had trials we’d never need God–therefore, we’d never know His power.