“I Was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me” is now available
for sale in my Etsy shop!

For each sale, $10 will be donated to Rescue Haiti’s Children.

“I Was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me” was created in ink and watercolor. The prints are reproduced with toner on Archival-quality, 80lb bright white card stock. Print will not have watermark, and will come with artist’s hand-written signature. Please note that the coloring may slightly vary due to your monitor.

Print size: 8″x10″ on an easily-framed 8 1/2″x11″ sheet.

Click here to order your copy!

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The Rescue Haiti’s Children team is still laboring in Haiti.  Haiti’s needs will be long term, and Rescue Haiti’s Children will need continued support as well.  In light of this, I have decided to make a few changes in regard to the original art sale.

Changes: Instead of selling the original paintings, I will be selling prints.  This way more people will be able to buy their own copy and we will eventually (+hopefully) be able to donate even more to Rescue Haiti’s Children.

Also, due to time restraints and the creative process, I will be spreading out the paintings.  I currently have “I was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me” finished and ready to make prints of, which I will be selling in my Etsy shop.  Over a longer course of time I will be creating more pieces for the Matthew 25:35-36 series.  I will inform you all as they are made available.

Thank you so much for your support and enthusiasm!
I’ll keep you updated!

I’ve been reading J.R. Miller’s book The Family (formerly Home-making) and have been drinking in its beauty and wisdom. I highly recommend this book to every Christian who desires to bring honor to the Lord in their entire lives and learn how to better serve their families. This following quote is from the chapter, “The Parents’ Part.”

“But the true idea of a home is that it is a place for growth.  It is a place for the parents themselves to grow - to grow into beauty of character, to grow in refinement, in knowledge, in strength, in wisdom, in patience, gentleness, kindliness, and all the Christian graces and virtues. It is a place for children to grow - to  grow into physical vigor and health and to be trained in all that shall make them true and noble men and women.

“. . . A true home set up and all its life ordered for the definite purpose of preparing and sending out human lives fashioned into symmetry, filled with lofty impulses and aspirations, governed by principles of rectitude and honor and fitted to enter upon the duties and struggles of life with wisdom and strength.”

- J.R. Miller, The Family

The first painting in my series to donate to Rescue Haiti’s Children is titled,
“I Was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me.”

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5″x7″ Watercolor painting by Breezy Brookshire

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I was left in the rubble, forgotten by the dead,
Amid the stench and smoke, I laid broken and unfed.

You knew not my kindred or family of birth,
But redeemed eyes saw that our Creator gave us worth.

He led you by my dying cries and rushed to set me free.
Though I was but a stranger, you loved and welcomed me.

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(detail)

I will be posting pictures of the paintings here on my blog as each one is created.  Once I have completed all six they will be available to buy individually in my Etsy shop. To buy on Etsy, you will need an Etsy account and a PayPal account, both of which are very easy to set up.

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For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you clothed me,
I was sick and you visited me,
I was in prison and you came to me.’
- Matthew 25:35-36 (ESV)

Last week I began my twentieth year.  (Most would say I’m nineteen, but…)

~

I think most people my age want to rush into their futures.  In some ways I do want to plunge into my plans.  But I am so enjoying the life that God has given me right now, that I want it to slow . . . way . . . down so I can thoroughly soak it up and appreciate it.

Perhaps that is why I feel old-ish.

There are those days when I get a little antsy.  Not discontent, but . . . I guess the word is eager.  Eager to see what comes next.  But there is still so much for me to learn before that time comes, and there is so much in the waiting to keep me busy!  ;)

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. -Ephesians 5:15-16 (ESV)

But am I redeeming the time?  And I don’t just mean that in the context of preparing for marriage, but for the entire short, fleeting vapor of my life.  Am I preparing to be a wise and teaching mother? A physician? A gardener, a nurturer of souls?

I often fail and allow frivolous things to distract me, but my Lord is always beside me, teaching me, guiding me back to where I need to be.  Helping me to notice the little things and see His fingerprints.  Showing me His Sovereignty and Providence.  And drawing me ever closer to Him.

As a daughter of the King of kings, I need to want to be as productive as God will give me strength to be.  So while I soak up this beautiful life with its little foibles and fascinations, I’ll leave the time tables up to Him and learn all I can to be prepared for whatever He has in store for me.

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“May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace.”
- Psalm 144:12 (ESV)