Unbound

○ Hidden in the Waiting → ○ Opened by Mercy → ○ Learning to Breathe Again → ◉ Unbound. 

Freedom doesn't always arrive with fireworks.

Sometimes it arrives quietly.

One ordinary morning you realize the fear isn't leading anymore. The shame has lost its voice. The burden you've carried for years has become surprisingly light.

That is the story behind Unbound.

When I began this series, I didn't know I would also be walking through a very literal heart surgery.

After years of living with atrial fibrillation, I underwent a cardiac ablation — a procedure where doctors carefully navigate to the places in the heart causing disruption and bring restoration from the inside out.

I couldn't help but see God in that.

That is exactly what He does.

He doesn't heal us from a distance. He enters the broken places, the ones we've guarded and hidden, and He works from the inside out.

My physical heart healed. And somewhere in that recovery, I realized my spirit was healing too.

Unbound was painted in that space.

Throughout this painting I included birds, flowers, open movement, and space — because healing was never meant to end with survival.

God restores us so we can flourish.

There was a time during this series when I questioned nearly every painting. I wondered if they were working. I wanted to paint over sections. I doubted my ability to communicate what I felt God placing on my heart.

Looking back, I realize that struggle became part of the story too.

Perhaps that's true for all of us.

Freedom doesn't mean we've never struggled. It means our struggles no longer define us.

The chains may have shaped our story, but they no longer determine our future.

This final painting celebrates what happens when the Great Physician finishes His work — not because life becomes perfect, but because hope becomes stronger than fear.

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." 

— Galatians 5:1

Thank you for walking through this Spiritual Heart Surgery journey with me.

My prayer is that these paintings serve as gentle reminders that no heart is beyond God's ability to restore.

Wherever you find yourself today — waiting, opening, healing, or walking in freedom — I hope you know this:

The Great Physician is still at work.

And His work is always rooted in love.