Shades of Charcoal

 

           Shades of Charcoal- For Depth

When I think of fair colors, another thing that comes to mind is art. I LOVE ART!!! In almost every form or medium, I just love it <3 There are so many tints and hues of paint; there are so many different pencils, charcoals, pastels, chalks, and clays! So many mediums! So many possible forms of expression.
As I thought of art in a gospel sense I felt that each of us are very much like a painting. We start pure and white. A blank canvas ready to be transformed! At first the brushes of paint may seem like fatal strokes that destroy the once pure fabric stretched tight on that wood frame. But as we put our lives in the master painter's hands He helps us become greater and grander than we were before. Some of the dark paints may seem like stains that ruin the picture. But what they truly add is depth and emotive motion! As Jane Eyre says "You need the shadows to appreciate and see the light". I know that as we put our lives into the hands of the master painter, our Heavenly Father, that He will help us go from static to dynamic! The process might seem staining and it is difficult at times, but we will be so much better off in the end.

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so...righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery,neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be compound in one" 2 Nephi 2:11

Here is some of my art :-)

Black and Blue

Black and Blue- For Bullying

For those of you who have been bullied or are being bullied right now, you're not alone.
If you are someone who bullies others, Stop It.

We each have such an immense impact on those around us. The Power of One is real and we have the option to either use it for good or bad.
For some reason through out my life people have loved bullying me. Once again, at first I could not understand why God would let that happen to me. How could He allow His other children to abuse me so deeply? But I soon realized that some trials are not from God. He has given us the gift of agency (or the ability to choose) and He will not take that away from us. He could not control how others treated me. But over the years I have been so grateful for the hardships I went through. I grew so much closer to my Savior as I overcame extreme insecurities. He of all people I knew understood such brutal emotional abuse. He said in the New Testament:

"18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me." 

(John 15:18-21)

For those of you are struggling with this same trial I want to testify to you that your Father in Heaven loves you and that you are never ever alone! Don't let anyone let you believe any different. The only opinion that matters is yours and God's. Please love yourself because the greatest being in all the world, the Savior Jesus Christ, loves you. You are worth the life of a God. Our Savior Jesus Christ would die just for you. He would have died just for me. Please never feel that you are alone!