A moment with God
The deadline pressure was on. My oil painting was going to need time to dry, so I had no choice but to paint if I wanted the piece in the exhibition. Despite my frustrations I descended to the basement and reluctantly started to paint. I had a preconceived idea of how I wanted the painting to look, but my inner feelings took over. In anger I began to strike the bottom half of the canvas with black paint. When I came to my senses I was afraid I had destroyed the painting. I quickly took a cloth and wiped off the areas where the paint was heavy. I then stepped back to assess the damage. As I studied the painting from a distance something happened. I began to see my life in the painting and parables from the scriptures started popping in my head simultaneously. The parable of the sower was first. Like some of the seeds that the farmer sowed were being choked, so I felt my life being choked. I saw how the pressures of life and darkness were creeping in slowly choking the life out of me so that I may not produce fruit.
However, it did not end there. The radio was on. This was both weird and a shocker because I am not too in to music—especially secular music. Nevertheless, Jordin Sparks’ song, “Battlefield” came on. I was tired of hearing the song play by now because the stations played it like twenty times a day. I had never analyzed the lyrics before. But then and there it was as if my ears were opened and I listened.
"Can't swallow our pride,
Neither of us wanna raise that flag,
If we can't surrender then we both gonna lose what we had,
oh no" - Battlefield, Jordin Sparks
Immediately after that song “The Climb” came on.
"Keep on moving
Keep climbing...
It's all about
The climb
Keep the faith
Keep your faith" -The Climb, Miley Cyrus
Can you believe it? Jordin Sparks and Hannah Montana! God really uses any method possible to reach out to His children and show us His love and mercy to strengthen us. It might sound silly to admit this but when those two songs were over I was in tears weeping, trembling and on my knees. I looked at my painting once again and noticed that the top of the painting was bright and full of life. It was as if God was telling me it’s not over yet my son. With this inspiration I felt it was necessary to change the title of the painting from “Red Poppy” to “Mientras hay vida, hay esperanza”, which means, “While there is life there is hope”.
It’s amazing how at first I was oblivious to the radio but the Holy Spirit wanted me to listen and opened my ears. If you note but songs mentioned the fact that at times life is a “battle”. Sometimes as Christians we forget that we are in constant spiritual battle and we ought to have the full armor of God according to Ephesians the 6th chapter, so that we can take our stand against the devil's schemes. I would encourage anyone who is a follower of Christ to examine that chapter carefully.
I will never forget this experience for many reasons. First, it was a beautiful moment with God which gave me the strength to keep on. Secondly, it was my first experience that I can recall that God gets involved and inspires my art in a spontaneous way. And finally, to top it all off the painting received the honor of “Best of Show” at the 2009 Cultivating Growth Group Show. There is no doubt the hand of God was involved because I purposefully didn’t share this story until after the show. I pray that God keeps inspiring my art for His Glory.
Noel Acevedo
Sept. 29, 2009
2009 Best of Show "Mientras hay vida, hay esperanza" - Noel Acevedo
