Abide Persistently; 2014; 22″ x 24″; mixed media: watercolor, acrylic, pastel.

Artist’s statement: I feel a bit like a schizophrenic root system. Each day unfolds, a chaotic sprawl, too many off-shoots to identify a specific direction. Knee deep in the soil of life, a tangle of knots and kinks, I have no idea what is emerging above-ground.

Sometimes I just can’t see where I am going. But somehow I have a hunch that if I abide, if I sink my roots down deep and simply grow day-by-day as He directs, there is something up there in the light, sustained through all these wild winds, defiantly growing new and green.

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Roots are my current obsession. If you’ve been following this blog through the last few months, you’ve seen lots of roots, tortured tree trunks, and reaching branches.

Canopy of Hope; 2014; 30″ x 22″; watercolor.

Holding onto the Light; 2014; 22″ x 15″; mixed media: watercolor and pastel.

Abide (study #2); 2014; 8.5″ x 9″; mixed media: watercolor, ink, pastel, acrylic.

Abide (study #1); 2014; 11″ x 15″; mixed media: watercolor and pastel.

Holy Ground; 2014; 22″ x 30″; watercolor. Privately owned.

Ever since leaving formal employment in late 2012, working in a field I still passionately believe in, I’ve wrestled through a season of just enough direction for this moment, day-by-day. I feel in the dark concerning long term goals or vision. At first I thought only the first year would be like this, and I savored it. I needed the time and space for regeneration. Then, I felt sure God would reveal a specific path and I would take off at full speed again. But it’s been a year-and-a-half, and I’m still plodding along. All I know for sure is that I’m supposed to seek God each and every day, love my family as best as I can, and write and create. Sometimes I feel discouraged and wonder, is it adding up to anything? But as I persistently abide, I pray that somehow it is enough.