Resolve: Words from Above – Part One

A large part of my creative process involves spending time with the Lord and listening to what He’s speaking. He guides my art, He always has… but now I’m pressing in to this much heavier than ever before. Each morning, I wake and spend time with Him journaling and recently, He gave me some words I felt prompted to draw. One of them was Resolve.

My Resolve is to build stronger connections.

Before we get into things, I thought I’d share my resolve, as resolve can mean different things. I’ve resolved to share more insights into my creative process. I’m committed to this, because I believe it helps to create a stronger connection with a finished art piece.

If you can begin to understand how and what motivates the artist to create what they have, your connection to the piece of art is amplified. I want this for people who see my art. So let’s look into the story behind this piece and see what I felt God was saying.

Humans are incredible creations.

We are the only creatures on God’s earth that can hold on to differences and let these things fester. Personally, I think pride does this. There’s an unwillingness to lay down a belief you hold on to so that a relationship can be restored.

It’s pride that exacerbates and drives the need to hold. Anytime you hold on to something through belief, something else is manifested because of it. There is nothing wrong with having strong beliefs… it’s the putting of the belief before the love of others that’s the problem.

We are seeing so many things living in limbo unresolved these days. I believe it’s why we have rumours of wars and why we have a prolific paparazzi and tabloid industry and it’s why we have a mental health crisis. Important things–things that really have the power to impact people in intensive ways–remain unresolved. I believe, through this word the Lord gave me to draw, He wants us to be people who Resolve.

It is easy to get caught up in quarrels and fights….

Proverbs 20:3 says, “It is honorable for a man to resolve a dispute, but any fool can get himself into a quarrel.” For the last few years, I have volunteered as a Street Chaplain and I have seen first hand many situations escalate into fights.

There’s often loved ones, or friends, (even me sometimes) who encourage the one involved in the fight to “walk away and be the bigger man.” We know that walking away is the bigger and wiser thing to do when physical fights happen, and they’re often resolved by this action alone… but applying this same action to the disputes in our families or workplaces isn’t as simple.

Sometimes you can’t just walk away… you have to make a decision, and the Lord says that the best decision and most honourable thing to do is to resolve it.

It isn’t easy to resolve something that may have been festering for years.

And honour, or acting honourably, is not one of the first things we seek to do when we’re navigating the hurt that disputes can inflict. Disputes, misunderstandings, and disagreements can create deep wounds, and from these wounds resentment and anger can flourish.

Anything that has a root can flourish. As I touched on earlier, it can grow to fully manifest something, and the root of unresolved disputes, misunderstandings and disagreements can grow to manifest war, exploitation and illness. Every instance of war is rooted in unresolved conflict. Exploiting and profiteering off of others is rooted in misunderstanding and ignorance. And illness is another physical manifestation that presents itself after years of harbouring resentment, anger and hurt, often from unresolved disputes and disagreements.

For all of time, the Lord has been working to reconcile us.

Ever since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden, the Lord has been working to reconcile relationships with His children. His heart is to know us, to have a relationship with us, just like the one he had with Adam and Eve before the fall. He knows what it’s like to have pure relationship, one where you can be all you were made to be without the interference of fear, shame or doubt.

You can live in the freedom He sent Jesus to buy for us. For all of time, He’s been working to reconcile us back to that place… a place of pure relationship with Him.

When we allow unresolved disputes, misunderstandings and disagreements to fester, we add more layers to the storehouse of hurts He’s working to heal. He knows the price of unresolved conflict, He knows what it produces in us. When we do resolve conflict (just like when we don’t), we cause things to manifest and grow. This time though, it produces things He wants us to experience and live.

Resolving disputes manifests unity and wellness.

Living in unity is where we’re meant to be–its pure relationship. It’s how you begin to thrive and achieve the things you were called and made to do. When those around you are truly for you in unity, when you’re in pure relationship, you’ll soar. Your energy is spent focusing on possibilities, not on having to defend your position, control the narrative or plan the next offensive attack.

There’s a verse the Lord shares in 1 Corinthians which really displays His heart for His children.

Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life.” 1 Corinthians 6:3 NLT

Here’s Dad saying… one day we’re gonna be together to do some great and mighty things, so right now I’m working hard to teach you all I know. You gotta be ready, you gotta prep for this time. Yes, it’s a difficult and tough road resolving disputes, but one day you’re gonna be resolving bigger disputes, and you’ve gotta know what you’re doing. I want you to be successful because relationships depend on it.

Masters at resolving…

He wants you to be a master at resolving issues. That nothing–no pride, no fear, no embarrassment, no guilt or doubt–will ever get in your way to prevent you from resolving disputes, disagreements and misunderstandings and ultimately restore relationships. It’s the heart He wishes us to have, one that’s prepared to give it all to reconcile and restore relationships to purity.

A heart that is bent totally toward unity and wellness. Above everything, He wants us to place the desire to resolve above the desire to be right. When we do, something beautiful is formed.

How is this represented in the finished art piece called Resolve.

This piece used two analogous colours, hot pink and violet blue. They actually sit in families that live beside one another on the colour wheel, but they are at polar ends of the spectrum. They’re close but keeping their distance…. this is exactly how I see the disputes in our families or workplaces.

When resolution happens, the two parties come together. The distance that was between them is closed and there’s reconciliation as they embrace their differences.

I see reconciliation as a very beautiful thing, and I’ve tried to convey this in my art. The Lord’s heart is to restore us to pure relationship, and pure relationship is very beautiful. In my piece, the hot pinks and violet blues come together, embracing and working with all the shades that are between them and the end result is a piece of work that is beautiful. He wants us to be people who Resolve.

Until next time, remember you have a hope, you have somewhere to anchor your soul.

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Note: The one of a kind original piece of art featured in this post is actually available to purchase. If it resonates with you, contact me and I’ll let you know how it can be yours.

Read all articles in this series.