Creative Church Conference

I am thrilled to be attending the Creative Church Conference this weekend at the Boise Vineyard as artists and creative arts leaders from all over the country gather to explore what it means for artists to be in community. 

As I have been preparing my heart for this weekend, God has been highlighting the word fully to me. It means completely or entirely, to the fullest extent, without reservation, without exception. 

Then he brought me to Luke 13:10-13:  

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. 

When the ruler of the synagogue protested because he was healing on the Sabbath Jesus says, ought this woman whom Satan bound for 18 years be loosed from this bond?"

As an artist, I feel the gap between where I am and where God is calling me to be and I think that a lot of us can identify with being bound for a long time in our creative lives.

Bound by fear, unbelief and insecurity in all its ugly forms. 

Oh how many times I have felt bent over, crippled under the weight of my own inadequacy. Unable to fully straighten myself.

But Jesus never leaves us where he finds us. 

Jesus calls the woman over - yes, we play an active role in our own healing - spoke words of freedom over her, laid his hands on her and then healed her on the spot.

 And her only response was to glorify God.  

My heart is full of excited expectation for all the staggeringly beautiful things that God is going to do in and through his creative ones this weekend!

Are there areas in your creative life where you are feeling bound in the things God is calling you to walk (or run!) in that I can pray for you about? 

There is still time to register for the conference at creativechurchconference.wordpress.com

* Note: All Photographs are from the 2012 Creative Church Conferences