A Giant Pink Octopus

 

Hello, hello!

Our time in Ghana is winding down (February really flew by!) and I wanted to share what ministry has looked like the past week or so.

 

The first night we got here we were introducing ourselves to our hosts and when I said I was an artist Pastor Paul said “oh we have a lot of work for you!”

I didn’t dare to dream what I hoped that would look like.

 

A couple of weeks ago we were working on construction and helping finish some cement walls in a small building by the Lord’s Gym. This is a site run by Paul and Angie (our hosts and ministry partners) to reach out to local kids and give them spaces where they can learn and play.

 

When we were finishing up Paul goes “Now where are my painters?” Some other team mates also love painting. We raised our hands. Paul reaches his arm out in a grand gesture. He then says it’s our job to cover these walls in murals.

 

I think I actually started jumping up and down, I was so excited.

This past week my painting crew and I (I was automatically and unanimously voted into the position of project manager) have been covering this little room in flowers and sea creatures and we also decided to put a map of the world so the kids could see where they live.

 

I asked one of the girls what we should paint before we started planning and she just said “yellow” so two of the walls are yellow and two of the walls are blue (for the ocean).

 

For me month one was a lot about abandonment. The Lord asked me to surrender a lot of things and was stripping me of things I had been falsely placing my identity in.

At debrief I was praying over all this and processing these things, and the Lord suddenly addressed something that has been at the back of my mind for years.

 

I was doing red letter journaling, which is a form of listening prayer where you write in two different colors, one for what you are saying and the other for anything you think God might be saying to you. You should try it sometime, it’s pretty wild what will come up.

 

So anyways, as I was journaling, I got this from the Lord: “You’re afraid I’m going to ask you to give up your art. (Because you love it so much). I’m not. I made you like this. I delight in you. You’re creativity reflects me and my creation. I love when you are most yourself. I love when you are making things.”

 

I was overwhelmed by how kind the Lord is. He knew that this had been nagging at the back of my mind as I struggled through so much abandonment last month. Instead of letting me sit in subconscious fear of the possibility of having to abandon my art he basically said “here, I know your worried about this, don’t be.”

 

Then in confirmation of these words, as soon as I got to Ghana from debrief there were so many opportunities for me to use my art as a form of ministry and to glorify God.

 

My team and I did some brainstorming and I drew up a design plan for the room. Since then we have been painting away and we have a few more days to finish before we leave. I also have to say that I am in my element and having a blast. The Lord is so good to me.

 

Pray for my team and I (Team Radiance is with us too as I mentioned before) that we finish out strong and have safe travels when we head to Togo this weekend.

Also when I have better access to WiFi I will post a picture blog of the mural project. For now if you want to see a couple more progress pictures you can head over to my instagram page: @hatties.world.race !

Thanks as always for your prayers and support. Happy March!

 

Much Love,

Hattie

P.s. if you think of a good name for the octopus it’s still up for debate. Let me know in the comments below 😉