Wild Love

Wild Love. Completed 2015.

I completed Wild Love over the course of my first year at Bethel Supernatural School of Ministry (BSSM) in 2015. It’s funny to me how many people felt the need to speak into how the artwork was going before it was even done, especially from people who are not artists. I often will do the head and face last since that requires greater detail. While working on the dancer, I had several people say, “She has no head.” No, duh! I’m not finished yet! It’s happened so many times while I’m in the middle of work that now I’ve just learned to ignore them. Anyways, I digress.

This painting is from a vision God gave me of me in the ocean during a storm, far away from shore. The waves were enormous, and I was drenched, but I wasn't drowning, instead I was dancing. I was fiercely and wildly dancing and causing the waves to dance with me. I moved across the water and splashed and moved the waves like a dancer moves silk, but I wasn't control in the waves, I was dancing with them.

One of the best descriptions of God's love is the ocean. The ocean is very dynamic. Dynamic means changing or moving. Now, the Bible says God's love for us is unchanging and that is correct. The chemical content of the water in the ocean will always be H2O, if you change that you no longer have water. The same is with God's love. God's love for us will never change, it will never fail, and it will always accept us even when we've failed. If I take any facet of love away, it is no longer love. So how is it dynamic?

You cannot tame the ocean. Sometimes it is fierce and wild. It can tear down walls that men build and turn them into dust. It is furious, strong and can destroy what we build to keep us from it. But then other times it is calm and sweet, it is peaceful and tranquil. As water washes over us, it cleanses us of the dirt and grime of the world. When we get into the water, it gets into every crevasse and saturates our entire being. The ocean is overwhelming; the deeper we go the more there is to discover. We often want to stay near the shore where it is safe and just play in the shallow end, but that's not where the cool stuff is. The ocean has many hidden secrets for us to discover, but to find them we must go where we can't see the bottom or the shore.

God's love is the same. It has the power to tear down walls that are keeping us in bondage. It is a furious, wild, strong love that is unwilling to leave us broken. His love is sweet and calm. We can come to Him with anything, and He will comfort us and rejoice with us. His love is encouraging and doesn't count how many times we mess up. It is peaceful and overwhelming. Just like the ocean, the deeper we go the more there is to discover about Him. We can't play in the shallow end where it's "safe" if we want to know Him more.

Wild Love is quite personal to me. In the vision I had, I encountered God’s love in a tangible way that I hadn’t felt before. I was not aware that the painting was for me though for quite some time after it was finished. In fact, the dancer resembles me quite closely, which wasn’t intentional, but I kept telling myself it was just coincidence. I actually gave it away to a friend that was drawn to it, and for a couple of years, it sat in my then future husband’s apartment because she needed some place to store it while she was at BSSM. Later, during a conference in my home church, I had the painting displayed, and the speaker started to prophesy over me through it. (She told me after the service that I needed to get it back. Getting it back was pretty easy. My friend didn’t have space for it and was feeling like she had to return it anyways, so God worked everything out). She prophesied into my future and spoke into things on my heart that I hadn’t shared with anyone. At the time, what she prophesied didn’t seem to tie into the meaning God had given me for the painting, but today as I walk in some of the things she prophesied, I can see how the love I experienced in that encounter was the springboard for what I do now.

I am empowered by the love of God. Without knowing His love, I would be just performing for Him. But being rooted and grounded in love enables me to be fearless. I know He has my back. I know I can rely on Him. I can take risks. 1 John 4:18 says that “perfect love casts out all fear.” Are there things in your life that God has asked you to do that you’ve let fear determine the outcome on? Maybe there are dreams you had that have died because of fear. Perhaps it’s time to dream again. Did you know that God wants your dreams even more than you want them? He put them in your heart for a reason, but none of that happens without first knowing Him, His heart and His love. I will write more on this in another journal entry, but when you are surrounded by His love, it is safe to dream. What would it look like for you to be empowered by the love of God? What would you do if you were fearless?