The opposite of fear is…

Here are the notes from an activity that I facilitated for a group of artists, followed by my own sharing of what I received while doing it.

Question: What do you think is the opposite of fear? (choose one only)

1. Faith

2. Hope

3. Love

4. All of the above

Answer:

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” 1 John 4:18a

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

→ Only when we have experienced His perfect love and unconditional acceptance are we able to 

• Trust in Him fully that everything He has planned for us is for our good

• Believe that He will never leave nor forsake us

• Base our hope on His unfailing promises

• Face all adversity without fear

Often, it's a matter of changing our perspective to see things from God's perspective. The next activity will hopefully help us to do just that.

Activity:

1. Using your digital sketching/drawing app, write down all the fears (including worries & anxieties) you have.

2. Draw the outline of a big heart around all your fears. Colour it in slowly, stroke by stroke, to cover over all your fears while giving your fears to God and asking Him to reveal His love for you.

Play these songs while artists are drawing and colouring the heart:

I Will Fear No More by The Afters 

Stand in Your Love by Josh Baldwin

3. Write on the heart key words to help you remember what He spoke to you just now. You could also draw pictures/symbols to represent what He has shown you.

Play this song while artists are writing/drawing on the heart:

Rest in Your Love by Martin Nystrom 

4. Take turns to share. 

Closing prayer. 

Sharing of what I received:

I heard Him say in this order: Rest, Peace, Joy, Assurance. The last word - Assurance - came as a surprise but it reminded me of my favourite hymn after I had just received Christ, Blessed Assurance (by Fanny Crosby). We have assurance not only for eternal life beyond this life, but He also assures us of His loving presence, protection and provision in this life. God brought me back to my early days as a Christian, to my first love for Him, and the joy that results from a childlike faith in Him.

1 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

2 Perfect communion, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight.
Angels descending bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love. 

3 Perfect submission, all is at rest.
I in my Savior am happy and bless’d,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

Lord, make my mess into Your message

 

Notes from a recent sharing with a few artists.

1. View the following and share responses:

- Broken Hallelujah by Dawn Schneider

- O Come, All Ye Unfaithful by Sovereign Grace Music

- I Will Rise by Chris Tomlin (with paintings from Arts Release Creative Studios)

2. While thinking about all the problems and challenges you've faced this month/year, draw lines across a piece of blank paper using a pen/fine tip marker - they can be zigzag, wavy, curved, spiral etc, and in any direction.

Next, colour in the spaces created by the lines while allowing God to show you where and how He had showed up in the midst of your troubles. What do you see in your picture?

Egs of the kind of drawing can be found at

- Nandrigal Yeatrukollum (Accept My Thanksgiving) by Jeswin Samuel (with video of Aimee drawing and colouring in)

- Endless Praise by Anne Soh

- By His Stripes by Anne Soh

- Big Picture by Anne Soh

Bible passages (read aloud while artists are colouring in, then share insights after):

Psalm 42 - aspects of this Psalm can be seen in the painting Broken Hallelujah, also it reminds us to draw near to God in our lowest moments and put our hope in Him even when the solution isn't apparent

Jeremiah 18:1-6 - the clay may look messed up but the potter has a plan to mould it into something good / useful / beautiful, and God uses it to tell Jeremiah a message for the nation.

Hosea 1 & 3 - the prophet's life is way messier than any makjang K-drama plot but God uses it to reveal His redemptive message for the nations.

John 8:2-11 - instead of answering the men immediately, Jesus started writing in the sand. Some translations say He was drawing lines, much like what we did in this activity. Ultimately, people were convicted of their sin and the adulterous woman was forgiven.

→ Whether it's through pottery, drama, drawings or any other artform, when they depict how God shows up in the midst of our messy lives, He will use our artworks to bring across His message of forgiveness and redemption.

Therefore…

Habakkuk 3:17-18 - we will rejoice in the Lord even though we may be going through hardship, pain and suffering, and don't see any results.

→ When stories / artworks project hope while being authentic and “firmly aware of the brokenness within which we live and build, suffer, expect, laugh and cry,” (Seerveld, 2000) they will become vessels to change the hearers and “heal our wounded souls.” (Mead, 2017)

References:

1. Calvin Seerveld, Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves: Alternative Steps in Understanding Art (Carlisle: Piquant, 2000), 112.

2. Geoff Mead, Coming Home to Story: Storytelling beyond Happily Ever After (London and Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017), 3.