celebrating & creating.

I have a precious friend here that I spend a lot of time with. If this was the type of blog where I told day to day funny stories. Or day to day redemptive stories. Or day to day sad stories, I'd have been telling you lots about her lately. When we were just figuring one another out, one of the first questions she asked me was what my favorite color was. She was almost joking, but it was a sweet question. The Lord had connected our hearts on the big things, but we were still connecting the dots on the details. 


But what my favorite color is, is a BIG question. Over the next few hours, I answered her question. I cried some tears and laughed some and when the time had passed, I sort of giggled and said, "so that's the answer. COLOR is my favorite color." What I told her, in short, is that for many years I feel like our life was devoid of color. Our life was survival. It was shades of grey. It was sterile and keeping it all clean. That was partially due to babies and moving and lack of margin, but I also think it was a spiritual state too. As we were finding our place and moving around and learning and shifting and growing, being outwardly beautiful seemed like the least important and possibly least attainable goal around. 


And color just didn't have a place in our life. 


But maybe you've heard the story about how I made my first Naptime Diaries print. I was truly just in the hospital with Glory and the Lord prompted something in my heart to make a visible representation of the verse I was praying for her. And my first psalm 46:5 print was born. A few weeks later, my friend pushed me to put in on Etsy. And now I find myself a year later, having designed 100s of prints, and truly - so much more than that. It's not even about the prints any more. 


It's not about the big rings. 
The red lipstick. 
The colorful house. 
The worship/painting sessions. 
It's that the Lord is moving in my heart and showing me - while this isn't our home, this earth, this body - He has just massively blessed us with the ability to experience beauty. To celebrate His presence on earth. To feel hopeful. To watch His spirit move. 
And all of a sudden, color is all about this visual representation of God's grace. His hand moving in our life. Joy. Goodness. Eternity to come. And even the hard things, some colors make me feel like He understands our grief. Our worldly small grief that hurts Him to because He's our Dad. 
For real, a good deep tealish navy. Sometimes I feel like the Lord invented that color to say, "I love you kiddo. I'm sorry you're hurting". 


And beauty is changed in my eyes. I don't see beauty as this unattainable thing (my own or that which I can create or just view) that is pointless and only set up to make me feel separate from it. Beauty is His hand. Here on earth. And I can celebrate it and sometimes He enables us to join Him in the creating. And that's 100% of why I love running an Etsy shop, redesigning blogs, going thrift shopping, wearing lipstick, looking at art, listening to music or coloring with my kids. 


SO. Cut to the chase. 
It's been a year since I opened my Etsy shop. 
I know that in my own life, as we've moved and gotten bogged down with the daily. We've let our eyes drift off Him and His goodness occasionally, I am seriously feeling the need to CELEBRATE and CREATE. 


So I'm taking this week to go back to the drawing board and push the reset button on my heart. Ask Him to refresh my joy. Refresh my excitement. Refresh my heart. 
And while I'm doing that - this potentially celebratory and creative space shouldn't just sit here empty, AMEN? We need some excitement and I plan to deliver: 

(READ THIS PART FOR SURE) 

 Every day this week (Monday-Friday), I'm going to pick one person at random from the comments to receive a free print from the shop of their choice! True story! 

Every day this week I'll have a little tidbit from a wise, inspiring woman who celebrates and creates (woohoo!) 

- On Wednesday I am having ANOTHER massive one day sale. One day only. 40%. Everything in the shop except custom prints & silhouettes!!!

 Next week I'll check back in, after I've gotten my fill of celebrating what the Lord is doing and allowing Him more space to create in our home and tell ya'll what I've been up to. Man oh man, I'd love to hear the same from you guys. 

So - who's in? 
Who needs a little celebrating and creating this week? 
Who knows the Creator? The One worth celebrating? 
join me.