Creative Friday – Prophetic Artist Shari Breault

Let me introduce you to Shari Breault today, a prophetic artist, creatively gifted in Christ to reveal the heart of the Father to His children.

Shari started painting in 1981. At that time, it seemed to be an escape from a bad home situation but In the midst of everything, God anointed her pain for His glorious purpose. I see the unconditional love of the Father in Shari’s work. Her creative expression in Christ shines with beauty and grace flowing from her life.  This painting  is “Not Afraid To Look.” What do you see?

When children came along, Shari decided to lay down her art to raise them as a single mom. Trusting God, she chose to creatively express the beauty of Christ as a mom in her everyday life, yet deep inside the creative artist was alive waiting to come out again in God’s perfect timing.

Here’s a beautiful painting – “Seeing the World Through a Child’s Eyes”.

It was twenty years later that Shari sensed the Lord calling her to pick up her brushes again. She began to paint a lion.

“I love to paint lions,” says Shari. I didn’t know why until I met a gentleman, Dean Braxton, who actually had an incredible supernatural experience where he died and went to heaven.”

His experience opened his spiritual eyes to see things that others may not be able to see.

Shari says, “When he asked me why I paint lions, I hesitated to answer, thinking it was a trick question. I told him that I loved to paint lions simply because I liked them. Then he told me that there was more to it than that.”

In the spirit, Dean saw many lions around her. Shari admits that some people may think that a bit strange, but she has seen them in the realm of the spirit and with her natural eyes when she paints.

Shari says, “Seeing with the eyes of the spirit opens up my spiritual sight to paint to the glory of God.”

Below is the “Lion of Judah” looking up, calling us to a higher place in the Spirit.

Shari has a lot of dreams and visions from God that inspires her art. When God shows her something, she often thinks about it for a few weeks, wondering how to translate what God is showing her into her artwork. As the vision starts to reveal itself within her by Holy Spirit, her imagination takes hold and she begins to paint what she sees.

Lion and Eagle in a Portal of Glory

Butterflies and New Life

Fields of Worship

Shari desires that her paintings bring healing to people. God is answering that prayer. One day a lady walked into her house and saw the painting of the Bride dancing on the Water. When she saw it, the anointing on the painting brought tears to her eyes and she started to weep. Healing then flowed into the woman’s life that very day.

Overwhelmed by the Father’s love for her, Shari’s inspiration flows directly from her intimacy, worship and communion with God. There is a fire that burns within her to create. Many times she weeps for the nations, believing that God will open doors to travel, bringing her art into places where lives will be touched, and many will be healed and set free.

 

 

 

It’s such a joy to introduce Shari to you! Here is her contact information.

Facebook

Global Renaissance International

 

 

 

Creative Friday: A Visual Feast – Prophetic Artist Karen Martin

Welcome to 1st Friday and a Visual Feast. This blog, riversofeden1, flows in creative expression in Christ. For me that flows through words, stories, and prophetic insights. For others, like Karen Martin, creativity flows through art. Enjoy!

Karen Martin – Lover of Jesus, Artist, Music Teacher

For an artist, inspiration comes from many sources. I can see a beautiful flower, a pond filled with Koi or some simple pots. My vision immediately focuses on the beauty of God’s creation in many different forms. This stirs my spirit to create.

 

My abstract works are often painted during a church service. I focus on Jesus and ask Him to guide me in what He wants me to paint that day. At that point, I can feel both excited and overwhelmed when I realize that the whole congregation may be watching me through the process. I often ask myself “What if nothing of His glorious nature shows up on this canvas?” Then I realize that I have to get out-of-the-way and remember that He will guide my hand and my heart. I paint and trust.

 

Other times, God challenges me to feel His heart for certain issues. I focus on abortion or human trafficking. This stirs up my emotions for some time and then at some point, an image emerges in the conscience part of my brain that reveals the issue to me in visual form. “How do I do this?” is often the cry of my heart. I feel incapable of painting something so gloriously revealed with my existing skill set. So, the challenge is on. How do I paint what I see in my mind?

 

Art seems to be in my creative DNA in Christ. I started painting as a child. My creative pursuit of art is enhanced by many various passions and hobbies in my life. Marriage, family, teaching, acting, and music – they all enhance my work.

Painting is always a struggle for me to this day…but it is a glorious struggle where I place this gift in God’s hands and both of us flow together in creating something that will bring Him glory. He is the ultimate artist, isn’t He?

 

Karen Martin
Follow Me On Instagram: Renwowart

Looking Out, Looking In – A Spiritual Vision Unfolds – My Journal

Standing on the edge of a cliff, I look out over a beautiful panoramic view of a valley. I then look down at my feet, planted firmly in this spot.

Questions stir in me, shooting against the walls of my mind, each trying to one up the other in wanting me to make a decision…………apart from the Spirit of God. This internal conversation goes on and on and on.

Go………Stay
Wait……Move
There…..Here
Jump…..Stand

There is tension brewing within me between what is out there and what is right here. My heart cries out for adventure, yet the practicality of life’s day-to-days keep me anchored to my own fears in real-time. In the place that I stand right now, comfort and convenience can often become my best friends. Life can be lived through a lens of being too careful and too confined. Thank you Holy Spirit that you keep opening my spirit to see my life through an eternal lens of what it is in Christ not what it is in the world.

Is there a clear direction coming soon? Is there an answer to these weighty questions that I have been carrying for so long? I hope so. I don’t want to stand here forever. I like a change of scenery. I want to move within that sweet spot called destiny, called purpose.

Change is good. Change is in my DNA, or at least that is what I keep telling myself, over and over and over.

Yet why is it that at times, I fight this overarching storyline of my life? Why is it that I won’t always accept my own joy in spontaneity, travel and change? The voice of regret likes to remind me about what this has cost me, the price paid over years of travel. Lost time. Lost memories. Lost friendships. Sigh……….wait a minute. If I buy into this, regret would have its way and tell me what my life should have been like…….like this, like that. And if regret had its way, I would never ben standing on the edge of this cliff.

Lost in my thoughts, I smile and look up again to see this beautiful expanse of valley. Something occurs to me. I can’t stand here forever and at some point I have to shorten the distance between here and there. How? Jumping. There’s no way back. The distance between here and there must first be reconciled in me before any new step of adventure is before me

“Define yourself,” an inner voice whispers.

I think for a brief moment before words start flowing out of my inner being.

Travel
Journey
Places
Inspiration
Color
Nature
Oceans
Mountains
Cities
Museums
Art
Coffee shops
Writing Dreaming Photo this Photo that Creativity Originality Movement Intentional Spontaneous Sound Music Worship Vision

I could go on and on and on but at this point I sense Jesus is smiling. I have been brought to the edge of this cliff for such a time as this. All these words are open-ended. They come alive within action and action involves faith and faith always involves risk and cutting against the grain of what is normal or acceptable. These words integrate my purpose and infuse my being.

So, why am I still standing here, frustrated at times? I am the one holding me back. True reconciliation must take place inside myself in order to move. I have to come to terms with who I am. Not the terms of what anyone says but who God says that I am, how He is forming my life.

I must look at me, the ‘me’ Jesus forms, Holy Spirit breathes into and Father God loves. I am my biggest obstacle to my own well being by allowing so many others to write the script of my life at times, while I passively look on and accept their terms.

What’s next? I don’t know. I’m still standing in this place, on the edge. Been here for a while but I perceive it won’t be for long. This place? It’s been about 4 years now. Preaching about the edge. Talking about faith. Out of the box journey and adventure yet…..I am still here on the edge. Why?

God is doing something so deep in me that it goes beyond anything I have ever been through up to this point in my Christian life. I can’t always define it. I don’t always know exactly what it is. I only know that at some point I will be asked to jump. I hope that what Scripture says is true. I know it is but again….faith in action? There’s always a few questions asked by even the most spiritual of us.

 

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind. (Isaiah 40:31 Message)

 

This is all preparation time for me into the next phase of my life. One thing I do realize. We never arrive. We are always in journey. And there will be another time that I find myself at the edge of a cliff in preparation to jump once again.

For now, I wait, looking out, looking in. As these two perspectives are reconciled, I will jump into my next place of glory and faith. Christianity is exciting. Or at least I see it that way. Enjoy the journey!

In Christ,
Debra
About Me
Rivers of Eden Ministry

Holy Spirit, Bring It On- Cornelius Connections

We had a great meeting tonight in Nowy Dvor, Poland…………small group so very hungry to know the reality of Christ and their creative purpose in the kingdom. This meeting was off the charts. Why? Well here’s some observations.

Old school – you got pumped up by numbers, people falling out, loud prophecies, get in the face preaching.

New school…………creativity, Holy Spirit, relationships, sharing tears, healing, so much more. I am so excited about what God is doing with His body of young fresh leaders.

Someone (Margareta) actually had a dream that a Deborah was coming and she (Margareta) was to prepare to listen and receive the prophecy she would get at the meeting.  Well that is exactly what happened…..and so much more.

Peter and Cornelius………divine connection. Bring it on.

Great confirmation of a word given to me years ago. God is faithful.

November 1, 2009

“I am establishing Cornelius connections.”

There are divine connections being made by the Spirit, in the Spirit, for His glory. It is within this flow established first in the heavenly ream before it is manifested in the natural, that the Spirit of God shall establish incredible connections between people of one mind and one heart to advance the Kingdom of God.”

I hope you get the picture. It seems that God announced us by His Spirit before we actually got there. To me that is exciting. God is faithful. Release yourself to the NOW of God.

Nothing is impossible with God!

 

In Christ,
Debra
About Me
Rivers of Eden Ministry

 

My Favorite Blog Posts On Creativity

Here are some of my favorite posts on creativity and its expression though our lives in Christ! Enjoy and be creative!

Creativity – It’s All In Christ Jesus

In the beginning, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit spoke and created the heavens and the earth. Creativity flowed! There is seen, in creation, diversity, beauty, form, flow, and function on every level, from the smallest cell to the largest star. God breathed and formed a human being. There is creativity resident in man through His breath and in the power of the Holy Spirit in Christ. Read more…..

A Circular Flow – Creativity In Christ

Jesus did not live life according to a linear reality such as a timeline. He allowed people and situations to impact His life along His journey. He knew that He came from the Father and was going back to the Father (Circular Rhythm). In this way of life, He stopped, led by the Holy Spirit, for anything that intersected with His life. He moved circularly if you get my picture visually. He lived creatively to the sound of heaven. So He valued the day-to-day, led by the Spirit. His life was full and quite busy, yet He moved in rest. Read more…..

A River of Life – Creativity

Creativity is about flow and movement in life– what is in you, flowing out of you. The alternative to flow would be creativity trapped inside, with great potential, but growing lethargic and stagnant unable to be released. Creativity is about Jesus Christ in me. That is the foundation upon which my creative passion is founded, Christ in me in the power of Holy Spirit. He is like a river that flows, unhindered and free, through my life. Read more….

The Power of the Imagination – Captured for the Cause of Truth

Lewis’ imagination flowed through His work. The fantasy and beauty of Narnia manifests the eternal truth of Jesus Christ in the flow and form of the movie. The power of imagination is wonderful. It takes me to a glorious place in the Spirit where I find myself entering into the story. Isn’t that what it is all about? I enter the story and my life narrative is transformed. Read more…..

Creating Beauty While Living in A world of Chaos

This world thrives in the midst of tension and chaos. Unsettling on every front, current events drive us either into a sense a fear or subtle escapism. In Christ, I choose to bow my knee to neither. Perfect love casts out fear. As the love of Christ flows into my life, fear evaporates in the glory of His presence. Read more…..

Imagination in Christ

Christian imagination evokes both negative and positive feelings in people. In studying this each day. I conclude that Imagination is the connector between mind/heart giving us images, pictures, revelation – in essence, bringing heaven to earth. The mind and the heart, working together. Read more…..

Creativity – Expressed

Creativity has expression through people in art, music, dance, prophetic words, visions, dreams, revelation, and on and on. The Holy Spirit is endless, varied, and multifaceted in His forms of expression in our lives or in a meeting. This post is about Holy Spirit expression in our meetings in Rivers of Eden. The Holy Spirit moves and we interpret what He is doing or saying.  I can often see the direction that He desires to move, the picture He wants to paint, and the story He wants to tell. Holy Spirit is like the master conductor that says, “Follow Me as I lead the way!” Read more…..

Courage in All Ways – Especially in Being Creative

Creativity is courageous. It is a necessary element needing to be infused into the Body of Christ. Not staged or produced but infused. The alternative to Holy Spirit creativity, as expressed through God’s people –robotic Christians who know form and structure but never touch the heart of Jesus Christ. There has been enough of that. Read more…..

Creativity – The Breath of God

Creativity does not flow in a vacuum (a space or container in which the air has been completely or partly removed.) God breathed into Adam and that breath was life-giving. God created through His breath, forming Adam. Read more…..

Aslan is not a Tame Lion – C.S. Lewis, Imagination and Creativity

C.S. Lewis used the power of image stirring the imagination to run wild. His own imagination along with humor and creativity,all  invested in Biblical truth, still ministers to people of all ages. His passion  in telling an old story, still introduces many to God. Brilliant in theology and apologetics, He did not only rely on the preached word in a formal setting to convey Biblical truth. He used His imagination. Read more….

In Christ,

Debra Westbrook