accountability

So, once again, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted and how much has changed. Those changes have been especially powerful in the past couple of months. After a long period of waiting, much of it dependent on Walt's continuing recovery from heart surgery and related conditions, I can see  - well, feel more than see - God moving in both of our lives in powerful ways. I'm not at all sure where he is taking us, but there are a few things I do know. That itchiness to return to making art really got rekindled during my July staycation. For twelve glorious days I journaled, bought and read books, visited museums and thrift shops, hung out with my husband and old and new friends, pinned, checked out websites, read backlogged email, decluttered my house, walked in the park, rode my bike and worked out.

I got launched on a journey of - well, I was going to say self-discovery but that's not quite right. Perhaps finding out who I really am in Christ. Not the person I thought I should be, but a recovery of the gifts and talents and point of view that God gave me. When I first became a Christian, I still carried a lot of baggage about what I thought that meant and I was very fearful that who I was was not acceptable. It's taken me a while to sort that out enough to be able to embrace the creative spirit God made me to be. I'm much more confident in His love and care for me which makes the opinions of others shrink in importance.

I've been using this book from Janice Elsheimer of late. It's a Christian version of "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. I love it and hate it at the same time, which probably means it's doing me good.

A good friend told me to look up Makoto Fujimura , which I did. He is an amazing and generous artist and Christ follower who founded IAM (International Arts Movement) which led me to The Working Artists Initiative.. Genius! It's been set up to solve the exact problem I've been having, which is to create good consistent work habits that will hopefully stay with me for the rest of my life. They sent me a leader's packet that will help me to set up a 12 week, six member multi-disciplinary accountability group. I have five interested artists and writers and am prayerfully looking for one more. It's kind of comforting to know that enough other people have this same issue so that someone actually came with a solution.