I have recently set a few new goals for myself. Of course I will be sharing a few of them throughout the year and how I am doing with reaching them. One goal that I had set for myself was to enhance my creative side. During my reflection time I begin to wonder where I fell off in permitting my mind to push creative boundaries, then something unique happened. The Lord began to answer unspoken prayers. He began to take me back to my childhood and reminding me of the things that I loved to do, such as my love for reading and my favorite childhood television series that helped me fall in love with various things such as literature and art. My favorite form of art was sketching. Everything was a rough draft for me. I was decent at it and then I just stopped. I cannot figure out for the life of me why. As an example, I never stopped reading, I only grew to love that even more. To include various genres. But why did I stop sketching. Why did I stop desiring to practice the skills or acquire new ones? I had a hard time answering this question for myself. But in me searching for answers God revealed something to me that I thought was pretty profound.

I have been reading Poverty, Riches and Wealth by Kris Vallotton because I believe that we all can do with understanding where the mentality of lack comes from and how we can learn to think beyond what we do not have in the physical but what we have in the spiritual realm and trust that God will increase us as we seek Him, increasing Him within our own lives. Which is a topic for another time. As I continued reading, Vallotton talks about Bezalel being the person of creativity. Created for a purpose. Exodus 31:1-5 talks about Bezalels skills.

As I was reading this the phrase “practice makes perfect” came to me and that is when the Spirit gently rebuked this thought and simply replied with “no, practice is a part of the progress, men will strive for perfection but will never reach it because of their tainted hearts.” And that is when it came to me that I stopped sketching because I could never get a line, a circle, a nose or the shading “perfect”. How did my heart become tainted when it came to something so simple as sketching? Because I compared myself to other people who had similar skills and even better ones. I believed the lies of the enemy when he told I would never be as good as anyone else. No matter how many times I drew or sketched something out, I would get it will never be perfect. Because I believe those lies, I lost the love for creating my own art.

Isn’t that just like us though? To quit something because we believe the lies that we are told and tell ourselves that we will never be good enough? What if we can reclaim what we have lost by looking to the One who gifted us with such gifts and talents? The One who not only knows better but has ordained a time and place for when we look to Him with such ferocity that we begin to become who He created us to be. That creative thinker who sees past what everyone else sees and find the beauty in the imperfections. The person who is a okay with their piece not being as good as the next person but good enough for them because they decided to wake up, show up and put their best foot forward. The individual that ask God into their heart and thought process to go beyond just surface level thinking. Asking for the wisdom, the knowledge and the understanding of their craft.

What struck me the most is when God told Moses that Bezalel was gifted to work in “all kinds of craftsmanship”. Why this meant so much to me is that I am a person of many gifts and talents. That is not me tooting my own horn but acknowledging that God has placed an abundance of gifts and talents within me that I have been neglecting. I have had plenty of people wonder in amazement how I have my hands in so many things and get them all done in a timely manner and with excellence (their words not mine). However, I have also had my share of people that tell me I am a Jill of all trades and master of none. It is funny to think about how negative words can really affect us when we think we have broken them off our lives. But God has the final word.

I am thankful that I serve a God who is alive and well. A God that still chooses to love me in my imperfect state. One who places gifts talents and passions within me, calls it to life and ensures that His word does not come back to Him void but in fact seen to complete fruition.

So, I ask you all this. What is something that you once loved but quit because you thought you were not good enough? Whatever it was, ask God to reveal if it was truly for you and if the answer is yes. Repent for not accepting his gift and ask how you may get back. I grantee that if it was for you, it never left. Its been a sleeping giant inside of you waiting for you to take accountability of it so that you may impact the world around you for the glory of God.

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

Albert Einstein