Let it OUT
Do you ever feel like you have something bottled up inside?
I do - often!
Sometimes, it is something that needs to be said. Sometimes, it is creative energy bubbling up that needs an outlet. Sometimes, I feel driven to share an idea or a realization that I have come to.
Can I be real, and tell you it often scares the living day lights out of me to think of letting it out? To be vulnerable enough to say it, or make it, or do it.
Here is what I have come to understand - when I get that feeling, it usually isn’t me, rather the Holy Spirit at work in me. He’s working something out. Stretching me, growing me. AND IF I WILL LET HIM MOVE, if I will TRUST Him, if I will be OBEDIENT to letting out what ever it is he puts inside of me - freedom, and blessing are always on the other side.
I have been avoiding this blog site for almost 5 years…convincing myself I wasn’t good enough to be posting things on the internet. I have been privately painting things and hiding them in a closet when they are finished. Telling myself I am a crafter, not an artist. I actually stopped painting for a while because I couldn’t hoard any more canvases in my guest room closet, and I wasn’t willing to let them overflow anywhere else. But a day came where I JUST NEEDED TO PAINT!!! So I did. And while I painted I prayed and listened.
See, immersing myself in creativity makes me feel connected to my God, who created me. He floods me with ideas and I always enjoy the process of creating, but unless I am making something specific - I never know what to do with whatever I painted or created when I am finished with it. For me, the value is in the making or creating. Once that is over, I shove it somewhere and I move on to the next thing.
As I prayed and listened, God got me thinking - Sure, for me, the beauty is in the process - but for someone else, it may be in the finished product. My gift came from God, it is a reflection of Him. Who am I to say it’s work is through and put it in a closet?
As I have mulled that over and tried to be vulnerable in sharing my art little bits at a time, God keeps bring me back to “WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING ELSE I have given you?”
The truth is, He has given me so much that I feel overwhelmed as to how to share that with you, and do His goodness any justice. But I shall try, because after all…Who am I to put his work in the closet?
Is there anything in you that God gave you? Any ounce of his goodness inside of you, waiting to be let out? My hands are shaking writing this. I practically feel naked on the internet. But, I ultimately want to be obedient, not comfortable.
I encourage you friend, Let It OUT! Freedom awaits. Don’t do it for the blessing - do it for the stretching…He has more for you than wherever you are today - the stretching makes room for it.
Let yourself out in me Lord, and in every person who reads this!
All my love as you stretch - Shaelyn
