Layering and Excavating...Day 7

It is for freedom that Christ has set you free.  Stand firm, then,

and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yolk of slavery. 

Galatians 5:1

I had a art gone bad day!  But God STILL used the experience to reveal himself to me. 

Today I tried a collage process called "layering and excavating" which basically involves adding and subtracting from a piece of work until the piece is done. My idea was to do a piece based on Galatians 5:1 which is the cornerstone verse of a bible study I am involved in right now. 

I layered text from the book of Galatians, scraps of paper, a photo of a hand with chains dropping from it's wrist that I digitally edited, layers of acrylic gel medium, paint...and a few other things.  I was suppose to let the gel dry before applying a layer of paint and then rubbing it into the word "free" that I had etched all over the collage. 

Well....I was impatient to get to the finished product so I applied the paint BEFORE the gel dried, then quickly proceeded to the rubbing process which resulted in the whole hand I had adhered to the piece rubbing off. I was so FRUSTRATED.  I needed to distance myself, so I walked away for a few minutes and then came back to the project to see if there was any way at all I could salvage it. 

This is the amazing part.  When I came back to the piece I realized that the shape left in the middle from where the hand ripped off was in the shape of a heart!

Lessons:

Layering: God takes all of our worry, wounds, weaknesses, and sin and layers them them with his peace, healing, strength, and grace.

Excavating: God uncovers  things in our lives that don’t belong there (John 15)…things that dim our witness, cause others to stumble…sin.  Often as  he excavates, treasures are revealed to us that were previously obscured (like the heart).

Patience: Today I was in a hurry because I wanted to get to the finished project but God is not like that.  There is value and purpose in the process and he is painstakingly patient with us as he does his layering and excavating work.

God is so caring to bless me with these lessons…all from one messed up piece of art!