The Slow Work of Grace: What Happens After the Breakthrough

There are seasons in our lives when we pray for a breakthrough.

We want the pain to stop. We want the answers. We want freedom from the things that have held us captive for far too long.

And sometimes, by God's grace, that breakthrough comes.

But what happens next?

That question is where my new series, The Slow Work of Grace, begins.

From Freedom to Becoming

My previous series, Spiritual Heart Surgery, was a deeply personal exploration of what happens when we allow Christ into the places inside us that hurt.

It began in Hidden in the Waiting.

Then came Opened by Mercy.

 Learning to Breathe Again.

And finally, Unbound.

The message of Unbound was freedom.

Freedom from the struggle of trying to figure out how to carry trauma, pain, sadness, and the things that have wounded us.

Not because those things suddenly disappear, but because we discover that we don't have to carry them alone.

Christ meets us there.

He wraps His heavenly, proverbial arms around us in a spiritual hug that reminds us that He is here.

And sometimes He gives us space to simply breathe in that love.

But freedom isn't necessarily the end of the story.

Sometimes freedom is where a new story begins.

The Quiet Work

After the breakthrough comes something quieter.

The rebuilding.

The restoring.

The refining.

The becoming.

This is the slow work of grace.

It is not always dramatic. In fact, much of it happens where no one else can see it.

Think about a seed.

Before there is a flower, there are roots.

And roots grow in the dark.

There is an entire process happening beneath the surface long before there is anything beautiful to see above it.

I think our lives can be much the same.

We may look at someone and see strength, peace, confidence, or joy, without knowing what God has been doing beneath the surface to bring them there.

We may even look at our own lives and wonder why we aren't further along.

Why isn't this easier?

Why am I still struggling with this?

Why does healing take so long?

But perhaps slow doesn't mean nothing is happening.

Perhaps slow means something important is happening.

Why Abstract Art?

The six paintings in The Slow Work of Grace are abstracts.

I've always loved abstract art because it gives the viewer room to experience something rather than simply identify something.

There isn't necessarily one obvious image telling you exactly what you should see or feel.

Instead, there is color.

Texture.

Movement.

Light.

Layer upon layer.

And that is very much how I think about grace.

There are things we can see.

And there are things we can't.

As an artist, my goal is to create work that is beautiful to look at, that may change the way you feel when you look at it, and that carries a message or meaning that has impact.

With these paintings, the surface is only part of the story.

Beneath the layers of paint, gold leaf, and copper leaf are Scriptures and hidden messages.

They aren't visible to the person standing in front of the finished painting.

But they are there.

And I love that.

Because isn't that often how God's work in us happens?

We may not be able to see it.

We may not understand it.

We may not even realize it is happening.

But that doesn't mean it isn't there.

More Than Something Beautiful

I want these paintings to be beautiful.

I want them to bring color, texture, warmth, and peace into someone's home.

I want them to work in a variety of spaces and to be pieces that someone enjoys living with every day.

But beauty alone isn't enough for me.

I want there to be something underneath it.

Something that makes you pause.

Something that makes you wonder.

Something that reminds you of a truth you may have forgotten.

Because Scripture isn't simply something beautiful to read.

It is God's Word.

It is wisdom for navigating this complicated, beautiful, sometimes painful world we live in.

And so these paintings carry those words beneath the surface.

The viewer may never know exactly what is written there.

But I know.

And God knows.

And somehow, I find that comforting.

The Slow Work of Grace

Over the next several weeks, I'll be sharing each of the six paintings in this series and the story behind them.

Each one explores a different part of this slow work:

The Hidden Work.

Refined.

Made Whole.

Abide.

Beauty for Ashes.

Made New.

Six paintings.

Six different expressions of grace.

And perhaps, in some small way, six reminders that God's work in our lives doesn't always happen in the way—or on the timeline—we expect.

Sometimes grace comes like a breakthrough.

And sometimes grace comes quietly.

A little at a time.

Layer by layer.

Day by day.

Until one day we look back and realize that something has changed.

Something has been restored.

Something has grown.

Something has been made new.

That is the slow work of grace.

And I can't wait to show you what has been growing beneath the surface.