GOD has a sense of humor, y'know? Of course, He's got a funny bone!
i've had this blog entry,
GOD's Rest, ready for write-up for a few days now, but didn't yet have the photos to use for illustration. So today, after completing the artwork for Cozette's bathroom, i was given the go-ahead/insight to use her bathroom to decorate this entry. i thought it funny:
GOD's Rest illustrated with Cozette's
restroom!
If you ever get to sit on Cozette's "throne," look for the butterfly with the Mickey Mouse ears. It's like playing
Where's Waldo as you await nature's call.
Below is the other wall of Cozette's cozy
restroom, a la
rln Art.
Cozette was very gracious in commissioning me to do her bathroom. The work was started with a heartfelt prayer the night before, petitioning for my Father's help -- that He would do the
real work by granting me the necessary skill to paint the scene that would make Cozette happy enough so that she wouldn't have to roll her eyes up to a blank ceiling. (hahaha) After all, she would be the one sitting and meditating day in, day out, staring at whatever painting was staring back at her.
She had a look at The Wall done at Midway, which she liked, but minus the surfer kids and surfboards. Being a woman and a keen stylist, her color preferences matched her towels. Cozette had a vision of something beachy and sandy, with flowers and seashells. The finished work was an interesting mix of what she had in mind and my own very simple creative skills. My talent is this: i keep putting on the paint 'til it looks right! And when i'm artistically challenged, i just whisper, "O GOD, please help me!" And He always does.
There were no hidden messages or Bible verses in this work, and none of my work can ever illustrate Psalm 19's The heavens declare the glory of GOD, for i am not equipped to capture the amazing artistry of GOD's brushstrokes when He spoke Creation into being. There are gifted artists past and present who can copy a limited version of GOD's handiwork, but they are all but poor imitation of the real thing, for no one can ever re-create what GOD has already perfected. Who but the Perfect and Holy One is able to create perfection?
My treasures on earth -- my travel experiences, the many photo albums which remind me of the variety of places visited and people befriended; my health and fitness, the exercises and diet with which i disciplined my body; my artwork, the paintings and b&w photos; head knowledge collected through poring over spiritual self-help books and attending retreats and seminars...
i once thought all these things were so very important, but now i consider them worthless because of what CHRIST has done. (Philippians 3:7, NLT)
Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing CHRIST JESUS my Lord. i have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that i may have CHRIST (3:8)
and become one with Him. i no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey GOD's law, but i trust CHRIST to save me. For GOD's way of making us right with Himself depends on faith. (3:9)
As a result, i can really know CHRIST and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. i can learn what it means to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, (3:10)
so that, somehow, i can experience the resurrection from the dead! (3:11)
i don't mean to say that i have already achieved these things or that i have already reached perfection! But i keep working toward that day when i will finally be all that CHRIST JESUS saved me for and wants me to be. (3:12)
No, dear brothers and sisters, i am still not all i should be, but i am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, (3:13)
i strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which GOD, through CHRIST JESUS, is calling us up to heaven. (3:14)
Not that i was ever in need, for i have learned how to get along happily whether i have much or little. (4:11)
i know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. i have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. (4:12)
For i can do everything with the help of CHRIST who gives me the strength i need. (4:13) He is the ROCK of my salvation.
It makes sense that since i'm the created, i am the Creator's very own -- to do with me however He wants. Since i owe everything to my Creator -- every breath i take, the skills and talents He gifted with this body, the opportunities and environments He orchestrated for my physical well being and development, the family and friends and people He put in this Life 101 to impact me so that i may learn what He wants me to learn -- it's perfectly clear to me that He owns me... all of me.
So what else can i do but surrender everything to JESUS? He gave me abundant life, He saved me from destruction, He made me a new creature, and He enables me to do all He has called me to do -- through the supernatural almighty power of the abiding Holy SPIRIT of GOD -- my Helper, my Counselor, my Constant Companion.
And GOD blesses me indeed! In CHRIST, i am continually blessed with His abundant grace -- greater faith and trust, peace, joy, contentment, health, cleansing forgiveness, emotional healing, loving family and good friends, genuine church family, acceptance, growth in the knowledge of His Word, simpler lifestyle, material needs met -- and the most important blessing of all: deeper intimate fellowship with Him. 
Be my strong refuge, to which i may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, for You are my ROCK and my Fortress. (Psalm 71:3)
He shall cry to Me, You are my Father, my GOD, and the ROCK of my salvation. (Psalm 89:26)
But the LORD has been my defense, and my GOD the ROCK of my refuge. (Psalm 94:22)
Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the ROCK of our salvation. (Psalm 95:1)
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the ROCK: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the ROCK. (Matthew 7:24-25)
And all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual ROCK that followed them, and that ROCK was CHRIST. (I Corinthians 10:4)
Delight yourself also in the LORD,
i delight to do Your will, O my GOD,
Sometimes when i paint what others have commissioned, i would covertly add my own two cents worth for GOD somewhere in the design.
Sometimes i would paint just for the fun of it, just to see what comes out. And i would have a casual conversation with GOD as i paint, in my head, or at times, even aloud -- "Okay, Lord, surprise me!" -- and He would delight me, each and every time.
This sulu (or sarong) is the outcome of a design of stripes intended for May Goulding of 
To me, it's always okay to be joyfully childlike, no matter if we're edging closer and closer to 60 or 80 or 100. Life is indeed short -- so i'm learning that being a follower of CHRIST is a serious commitment to living for GOD, but that He approves of my unrestrained joy and laughter, childlike trust and obedience, and living life to the fullest In CHRIST, for in Him, and Him alone, my cup overflows.