My dear friend Renee, in fingerpaint.

Yellow Rose of Love

I painted twice at my church yesterday. They like to have people paint during services and the topic was fingerprints. So I chose to paint with my fingers. It was so much fun. I loved getting messy and I think I might do it more often with my paintings.

So it was my second time painting and I didn't know what to paint. I just decided to paint the picture on the front screen of my phone. It was of a pinkinsh/purple rose, a picture I had taken about a year ago. There was no red paint so I decided to paint a yellow rose instead. It didn't turn out that great, but it was fun. Afterwards a woman wanted to buy my painting. I heard her story and felt compelled to give her the painting. Here were the details she shared with us:

Claudia's son had just died 3 months prior. He looked to be in his late 20's from the picture she showed me. He loved the color yellow and the color reminded her of him. When he passed away, she went out and bought dozens of yellow roses and gave them to all his "at-risk" friends, which she had always invited over to her house. She took them for the last few weeks to church at Mosaic (at the Mayan downtown) because the service reminded her of him. She thought that they might enjoy the service and it was the thing she wanted to do to help her son's friends in remembrance of her son. This particular service, none of the kids she had invited had shown. She decided to stay anyways. She said when I started painting the yellow rose she was captivated and didn't really hear much of the message. But she felt peace and comfort by the painting and wanted to have it framed in her living room. She felt that it was God's sign of love to her. It was so touching that God used me to show her love. I didn't even want much to paint that night and had no idea what to paint. I was not expecting God to use me that night. I was reminded of how God connects things in ways he sees best fits, regardless of what we want. It was a blessing to me, as well as to Claudia.

I'm a proud aunt.

The adorable Audrey Sofia Zerger.

A new Day. A new Year.