A Rejoicing Artist!

Guess what I fouuunddd ?!

I had a feeling this was going to happen. After figuring out that the drawings definitely had to be somewhere in my room I just kept asking Holy Spirit where they were. I found myself walking over to a shelf with a journal I had on it and thought, “Hmm, maybe I threw them in something.” And lo and behold there they were! All four of my drawings and then some. I was so happy that I did a little “thank Yaa” dance.

I have no idea why I decided to put those in the back pocket of this journal but I’m just happy that I have them now . With that I know what it means a little more personally now when Jesus talks about the other end of the parable of the lost coin.

Luke 15:8 – “And when she has found it [the lost coin] she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

This is our Papa. Jesus said “likewise.” That means that like the woman, The FATHER called together all the heavenly hosts that stand before His presence and said REJOICE WITH ME. He celebrated us! And continues to each day. Over one. Over an individual. This isn’t just some general “party for the people who just came into the kingdom today! Wooh!” The Father desires to have a celebration for that specific individual because they  are so significant to His heart. That’s so amazing. So He had a “Brittany Zampella” celebration. I mean, even if you kinda think about it, no kid likes to share their birthday party with someone really. I know I never was really a fan of that growing up. I wanted my own special day. And yeah, maybe there was some selfishness in that lol but I still think there’s a truth there. It’s the truth that we all desire to be solely celebrated, to be the center of attention. That desire in and of itself is not wrong. What’s wrong is when we cling to the eyes of man to meet that and bank on the opinion of man for validation. That desire is supposed to drive us headlong into our heavenly Father. Because the truth is, we are the center of Someone’s attention. We are celebrated. And not by some nobody, this is the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE we’re talking about here. That fact that we still value the opinion of man more than that reality shows us how far we are from really understanding who He is. And I’m speaking to myself here too. The Lord has brought a mighty transformation in my heart concerning this issue, but there are still little remnants of the belief that the opinions and words of man matter more. But I know from experience that as we take the word, the scriptures that talk about who we are to Him and how He has set His love on us and meditate on them, sing them, read them, whatever, they WILL get formed into a reality in our hearts. We come to a place where one day we’re like, “Wait a minute…I actually believe this.” It’s my testimony. Don’t get me wrong, it is a process. Whether it’s a couple hour process or couple month process, a process is still a process so patience with ourselves is key. But we can find comfort in what David said here:

Psalm 51:6 – Behold, YOU desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You WILL make me no wisdom.

He wants it more than we do and it’s a promise from His word that He WILL make us know it deep on the inside

Weeelll, sorry if this post seems kinda all over the place, didn’t expect to get off here. This is definitely stuff I wanna be thinking on more. And as for my drawings? They are hanging up in my room so they will now be ever before me

Psalm 41:12 – As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, and set me before Your face forever.

This is rocking my artistic WORLD!

Hilarious. I don’t blog for weeks and now I can’t help but do one almost every day. I just gotta share this stuff though !

Okay so I was watching the archive of Bill Johnson speaking at IHOP during the Awakening. And number one, y’all need to get on that. I’m gonna be chewing on the stuff he said for a long time. Gotta love BillyJ 8). Anywho, He began talking about the healing rooms at Bethel and he mentioned how they have people paint while the healing rooms are going on as well as the worship and all that stuff. He was talking about releasing the power of the Holy Spirit and all that stuff too and goes on to say this…

” There’s an interesting thing about creative expression, whether it’s painting, drama, doesn’t matter what it is. Anytime your creativity functions out of an encounter with God, your creative expression can bring others into that same encounter. When it comes out of your encounter with God, something happens where there is a grace on that artistic expression that can draw the observer into the same experience. Creativity is an expression of wisdom, study Proverbs 8.”

Yeaaaah. Have fun chewin’ on that one! This is just rocking my world when I think about my art now. I sooooooo want this. As I was journaling about this with the Lord, I just typed out, “Bring me to that place of creating with You from a place of covenant communion.” Well in the words of Kris Vallotton, that’s a good word right there! For reals, the Lord’s really teaching me such cool stuff about creating. I mean, He is the Creator and all so that makes sense. But this is the way the Lord intended it to be, that’s how HE created. Everything He created was from the place of love, intimacy, and communion within the Godhead. Everything came out of that. All things were made through the One who IS love after all! John 1:1-3.

This same point is illustrated in the way a child is created too. His intention was for children to be created from a place of covenant communion between a husband and a wife. In his book Purity: A New Moral Revolution, Kris Vallotton talks about how in Genesis 4:1-2 it says that Adam “knew” Eve and that she conceived and Cain and Abel were born. Here’s an excerpt from his explanation:

“The hebrew word for “knew” is yada. It doesn’t mean that Adam had sex with Eve (the Bible assumes that you know that without being told); it means that Cain and Abel were conceived [or created] out of a deep personal relationship between Adam and Eve” (emphasis & brackets mine)

That to me is such a beautiful picture of creating with God. He desires things to be created out of covenant. I think it’s one of those “principle of the kingdom” things. Like, when there is deep communion, intimacy, yada…it’s inevitable for something to be created. Wow, it’s how things are created within us! I’m mostly talking about art right here but it’s the same process the Lord uses to create us and birth things within us! It’s from that place of intimacy that we are changed into His image after all! So cool!

Here’s my question now: “What will happen, what kind of art work and demonstrations of creativity will come forth as a generation begins to enter into that place of fellowship and communion with God in such a way that life is brought forth through the very things they create?”

I’m gonna find out

Oh! I have to tell this story that Bill shared to illustrate his point in that quote. After he says that he goes into this story of a woman who came to their healing rooms who had a stage four cancerous tumor in her brain. That day, one of their painters had just finished painting the word “HOPE.” That’s all it said. Hope. And as the lady is just looking at this painting all the sudden she starts weeping. A bunch of people come over to her right away to pray for her and she said that as she was just staring at this painting her tunnel vision left, the pressure on her brain left, and a liquid then started to flow out of her ear. She went to the doctor and was COMPLETELY HEALED! PTL!! The painting “HOPE” brought that woman into that reality, into an encounter with hope.

The Lord is just so cool 8)

Revelation 4:11 – For You created all things, and because of Your desire they existed, and were created.

Family

Acts 2:44-47 – Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

When I read this verse, I think of family. True family. I’ve been thinking a lot about family lately. I guess it’s all the warm holiday season buzz that’s getting to me. But on Thanksgiving this year, my heart just could not help but overflow with thankfulness to the Lord for the people He’s put into my life these last 5 months. I could actually feel my heart overflowing with this pure and brotherly love for my friends from Fire in the Night that was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I didn’t even know that I could experience this, that this was what the Church is called to walk in with one another.

I remember first really feeling this when I got back from FITN. I was a mess. But a good mess lol. I remember just weeping and crying with tears of love for these people, for the brothers and sisters that I got to know those 3 months.  Even as I just think about these people my heart just overflows with this like, “family” love…brotherly love. No wonder the apostles are always mentioning brotherly love! It’s such a beautiful thing that’s fascinated me since I’ve been home and feeling all of it for what seems like the first time really.

What’s awesome about brotherly love is the fact that it has the connotation of a family, if that phrase even makes sense. There’s probably a lot of things that are significant to brotherly love, but a couple things come to mind for me when I think about it. Number one…transparency. You’re never more yourself than when you’re with your family. There’s no need to hide or try to be anyone else, you’re just you. When I was at IHOP, I’ve never felt so much freedom to just be myself. It’s like the real Brittany came out, a Brittany that I didn’t even know was inside. The Lord did sooooo much to cause that to happen and one of the main things was the people I was with. Just the love that was exchanged between all of us created this atmosphere to just be. That sense of Love allowed you to let your guard down cause you knew these people would love you no matter what. They saw you when you were feeling awesome and they saw you when you were whining in the bathroom of the Prayer Room at 2 in the morning (not that I ever did that of course ). For reals though, you just felt…safe. I guess it makes sense when you  put all the pieces together really. You have a group of young adults seeking the Lord and getting transformed by His love, then as they receive His affections over them it inevitably overflows into the people they’re around, that’s just the way of the Kingdom. And what happens when Perfect Love is released? Fear is gone 8) . Hence the feeling of safety, safe in the love of the Savior. Now that doesnt mean that it’s any easier to be vulnerable, there’s always that risky feeling and all, especially with people you haven’t known for very long. But I just remember that feeling of security when I was with these people and that still exists as I talk to them now. So beautiful.

Number two…faithfulness. You even see this portrayed in movies today. Family always sticks together and doesn’t leave you behind. My goodness, am I thaaannkkfuuulll for the numerous times my friends have fought for me, encouraged me, and talked sense into me while I was whining in the bathroom at 2 in the morning . We need each other. The Lord made it that way. The body reaaaallly does need each other and I encountered that so clearly during FITN, just how the body works together. I’m forever grateful for having people who’ve spoken life into me day after day, calling forth my beauty and identity in the Lord, and speaking words of edification, exhortation, and com-fert . I am also just at grateful for times they’ve put me in my place lol. Those moments where they’ve brought me back to the truth, sharpened me, convicted me, and told me to stop whining because my Father’s a King, and princesses don’t whine. Thank You Lord! It’s so freeing to be able to have people who you can count on to just be real with you in complete sincerity and love for you. Awesome.

I could probably go on forev. Main thing is, family is family forever when it’s the Lord who’s made us family in the first place. My beloved friend Tiffany from FITN, who basically inspired me to write this blog entry, said something absolutely beautiful about this today in a note she wrote on Facebook. She said,

I know that three months is a short amount of time but there’s just something – a truth and a depth – of the way of the heart that is forged when the Creator of heaven and earth is involved. A kind of relationship that transcends even the deepest of what is understood about “friendships” when the King of Glory ties and unifies hearts and minds toward one purpose and one reality.

When I read that sentence, something in my heart just melted. She could not have said it more beautifully. She’s absolutely right. I remember one of the last nights in the Prayer Room before we all left that the Lord comforted me as I was feeling all that Tiffany described here and grieving yet being so thankful for what the Lord had allowed me to take part in those three months. I could feel His tenderness towards me as He said, “Brittany, they’ll always be your family.” Every time I recall that it brings me comfort and peace. Like Tiff said, this kind of stuff really does transcend even the deepest friendships experienced in the world because it’s the Lord who’s knit us together and drawn us as one after Himself. I remember even just thinking about how, friends who don’t know Jesus and all, when they leave one another…that’s it really. Unless they’ve entered into the family of the King of Kings through Jesus, when they say goodbye, that really is goodbye…forever. But as a child of God, as brothers and sisters, because of Jesus, we are always going to be family. We will always be brothers and sisters. And even if I don’t get to see some of these people again on this side, I can rest assured in my heart that for all of eternity I will interact with them at some point! That is so amazing! I’m just so grateful to be apart of the best Family ever. My Dad is King and Creator of the Universe. My Husband is the King of Kings, the Lord of Hosts, the One to whom every knee will bow. My Friend who’s always with me is the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God who lives in me. And my brother’s and sisters are beautiful weak and broken people, covered with the blood of the Lamb, and forever victorious because of the triumph of the Cross.

Thank You Papa for adopting me, for adorning me and crowing me as Your royal daughter, as Your kid. Thank You Jees for making a way, for being the Way and my everything to give me new life and make me new. Thank You for those You’ve given me, for my brothers and sisters and that we’ll always be family, You know that I can’t thank You enough. Thank You for teaching me what family is really about, what Love is really about, what You are really about. Let this love abound still more and more in the heart of Your Church across the world. And bring the prodigals home. Bring home my brothers and sisters that are still orphans, abandoned, and need a home. Bring ‘em home Papa.

I don’t even know if half this blog had any type of flow to it, it’s kinda all over the place but whatev. There’s still so much in my heart that I’m feeling and want to express but I just don’t know how. Family, this true family, is just so beautiful. For all my beloved FITN-ers who may be reading this, I love y’all so much and can’t wait till whenever we get to meet again Thank you for being the awesome examples of children of God that you are!

So let this all-over-the-place of a post end and “let brotherly love continue.” Amen and amen.

Ephesians 3:14-15 – For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name…