Has This Ever Happened to You?

I can remember it like it was yesterday.

I was sitting in a gallery demonstrating my work at an art walk in Waynesville, North Carolina… Just minding my own business, when all of a sudden this guy walks up to one of my pieces and said with a gasp “It’s like the hands of God are reaching out to me saying I’ve got everything under control.”

I wondered to myself “What just happened?” and then all of a sudden it hit me.  This guy just had an encounter with the living God through one of my baskets. I thought “Woo hoo, Jesus loves kudzu, too!!” 

Is that even possible? Absolutely! 

When you invite the Holy Spirit into your creative process, He will literally come move through the work of your hands. Your work becomes much more than just the sum of it’s parts… it becomes an intersection point where God can show up and release the light and life of His presence!

If you’ve never experienced this kind of demonstration of God’s love through your work, there’s no time like the present!  The next time you create, invite the Holy Spirit to be present, in and through your work. Create with all your heart, listen for His voice and then respond.  After you’re done, watch what he does with the work of your hands.

When God shows up, things change and He wants to use you to release that transformation.

Has something like this ever happened to you?  Share your story of transformation below and let’s encourage one another!

Matt Tommey

22 responses to “Has This Ever Happened to You?”

  1. Anita Roleff Avatar
    Anita Roleff

    Yes, l was praying for my granson and an image of jumper leads plugging into the cross came to mind..so l painted it, and entered it into a Rotary art show… the assistant loved my painting and said l feel like opening it and finding treasure behind it…Anita Roleff
    I have an image of the painting, l won an award for it…

    Reply
  2. Deborah Nell Avatar
    Deborah Nell

    Yes…this happens a lot. One that really impacted me was a woman who saw my stretched canvas print of The Lion I had created. This lion was a painting that was birthed from a vision the Lord gave me during a time of worship. A woman saw this canvas print and walked up to it and was starring at it. I started talking to her. She told me that she had her beloved cat Aslan had just died and he was her world. She said the eyes of my lion were his eyes and she couldn’t stop looking at them. She said…”You have no idea what this means to me” She was beside herself and was in awe. I told her how this painting came to be created. It was then I realized she was not a believer but she wanted a print of the lion. She did purchase a print. She hugged me and said with tears in her eyes…”you have no idea how much this means to me.” I didn’t but God did! God knew her and knew what she needed. She needed to see her cat’s eyes…she needed to see His eyes! Now she sees Him every day!

    Reply
  3. Tracy McGrath Avatar
    Tracy McGrath

    Last winter I was asked to paint a backdrop for a play “The Living Lord’s Supper” I had never painted anything that large. Three panels 6’x8′. I took on the project believing what the Lord told me in our time together. “Stand before the canvas and I’ll do the rest.”

    He guided me through each step so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the size of it. I experienced supernatural peace and assurance every time I entered my studio. It was finished in time for Easter services. I can still look at the photos and know that He was in everything. I learned how to surrender to Him on a whole new level in my art and in my life as well.

    Reply
  4. mari Avatar
    mari

    I’m not a painter, I paint just not on canvas or even with a paintbrush. I went to a weekend thing in Nashville in July and the speaker taught on Psalm 126 and do you know I was already doing two, not one, but two paintings based on Psalm 126 (weird, not so weird, right?). I told her I would send her one. I re-did hers because as I prayed and waited the Lord gave me a different vision for hers. I made it the colors of her upcoming book and added glitter because she loves glitter. I sent it to her two months later. She responded, “I just was talking to God about wheat fields this weekend and so for your painting to arrive just now really speaks to me about His kindness and His heart and how He is always with me.”

    His timing is always perfect and His vision always gives life. I’m always amazed.

    Love this post!

    Reply
  5. Matt Philleo Avatar
    Matt Philleo

    At the end of last year, I was having a hard time in my art business. This is what I do full time to provide for me and my wife and three children, so the pressure was on when I had a VERY slow October and November.

    Rent was due. And overdue.

    It was the day after Thanksgiving. My landlord called, and left a message, asking when he would get his rent money.

    I was discouraged and so I went up to my bedroom and prayed. I felt like my prayers were just bouncing off the ceiling.

    My wife tried to encourage me: “Matt, you know we’ve been through this before, and God has always provided for us.”

    I said, “I know. I know. But what do we do? We have to pay rent!”

    Well, the next day, I had an art show at my community art studio. Truthfully, I felt terrible. My attitude was at the bottom of the floor, and I couldn’t rescue it.

    But I had art show, so I had to put a smile on my face and try to sell some art. As I got out of my van and walked toward the building, I said, “God, you’re a big God, so I’m going to pray a big prayer. I pray I would sell “Smoldering Wick” today at the show.”

    “Smoldering Wick” was my biggest, best, and most expensive painting I had ever done up to that point–a “30 x 40” acrylic on canvas–an illustration of Isaiah 42. It was something I poured my heart and soul into, inspired by a time when I was at my lowest point, in despair over my sin, and questioning even my own salvation. And the verse: “a bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out” lifted me up. God’s joy had poured on me like a tidal wave. God would not abandon me!

    Well, THIS was the painting I had in the show. I had just finished it a few days prior. We had a small business Saturday sales event–and I had my art at 25% off.

    Only a few people trickled in for the show. Four hours in and no sales, not even a print. That’s OK, I wasn’t really expecting it anyway.

    I can hear you say, “O ye of little faith…”

    True, but this is where I was. Around 1PM, two older gentlemen walked over to my painting and asked about it. I shared the message of encouragement and how Jesus Christ, as the suffering servant, knows what it’s like to feel our pain, and He can help us in our time of need.

    They didn’t seem to resonate with the message too much, but they liked the compassion shown in the painting and the vibrant lighting.

    And then one man said to the other: “So, you want to get it?”

    My ears perked up. What did he just say?

    “Yeah. Did you pay off the card?”

    “Where should we put it–above the grand?”

    I knew enough to keep my mouth shut and let them hash it out. Then they asked me: “Do you take cards?”

    “Yes,” I replied enthusiastically. “I can run it through my cellphone right now.”

    “We’ll take it.”

    A few moments later, “CARD APPROVED”

    “Congratulations, guys,” I said, shaking their hands. “You are now the owner of this painting!”

    We had money for rent–and then some.

    After the men left, I looked up and said, “Lord, what did you do? I asked that I would be able to sell this painting and you answered my prayer…thank You, Lord!

    Did I have incredible faith? No. But I serve an incredible God who answers prayers, even with faith the size of a mustard seed.

    Reply
  6. Tish Avatar
    Tish

    I am involved in a small exhibition – my entry and acceptance was Holy Spirit. I had a painting based on Song of Songs where the Beloved is leaning on her Lover coming out of the wilderness. At the show, a lady came through and was glued to the painting. (Holy Spirit glue). She is on the Board of Directors for the venue of the show. I got to introduce her to the Song of Songs. She does attend Church. I also hung the painting for her in her home. She saw the kindness and protection of the Lover in the piece. and it was the first piece of original art she had ever bought. Thank you, Lord..

    Reply
  7. Kathleen L. Maher Avatar
    Kathleen L. Maher

    What an encouraging post! I loved reading it and all the comments.

    My God encounter through my art was painting a pet portrait for this lady who, when payment was due, said she couldn’t afford it and was very apologetic. To be honest, I was a little frustrated at first. I told her I’d wait a couple weeks and see if things changed and hold the piece for her. After a couple weeks she still could not come up with the money. I was tempted to put it in my art show the following week, but the Lord gave me a different attitude and a different strategy.

    I asked her, if I cut the price in half, could you afford that and would you be willing to promote my page? She said would you do that for me? I said yes for you I will do that. So she faithfully promoted my page for a week and I delivered her German Shepherd portrait. She opened up to me About how she was living with a friend and had to sell her car. She commissioned the artwork for her friend as a Christmas gift. I asked would you allow me to pray with you? She said would you? and she grabbed my hands and we prayed the Lord would open up opportunity and provide quickly.

    Just yesterday she posted on FB that she had an interview! I believe God gives us these opportunities to connect with people through our art because art softens peoples hearts and makes them more receptive.

    Reply
  8. Annette Avatar
    Annette

    My aunt came for a visit and chose a few of my paintings that she really liked. She has one hanging in her living room where most people can see once they enter her house. Well, one of her cousins would come by and visit with her and sit and stare at the painting. After several visits he told my aunt that he needed to buy the painting. My aunt asked why and he said, “I feel so much peace and I need it so desperately, what is it about this picture?” My aunt was ready to share Jesus with her cousin! She called my mom and was so excited. The painting opened a door for sharing the love and peace in Jesus!

    Reply
  9. Judy Momenzadeh Avatar
    Judy Momenzadeh

    Thank you for the post Matt. I haven’t included God in my work but will from now on!

    Reply
  10. Edie Richardson Avatar
    Edie Richardson

    It happened pretty regularly, people would tell me my singing sounded like the voice of an angel or my singinging transported them into the very throne room of heaven. Since I never really had any training other than school choir when I was in a parochial elementary school I knew it was the Lord’s work each time I sang. I loved singing.

    Reply
  11. Sharon Rapp Avatar
    Sharon Rapp

    Yes I have had the same thing happen. I met a gentleman in a waiting room of a car dealership and spent a lot of time talking together. In the conversation he share with me that he was scheduled for a series of medical tests very soon and that his family had had a history of stomach cancer. After a while, I decided to look at a watercolor book of an artist I admired. The gentleman asked what I was reading and was I an artist? When I answered yes, he wanted to know if I had any pictures of my work with me. I did have few on my iPad and I found them and handed it to him to look at. He looked through the group, handed it back to me and then asked if he could see them again. After a few minutes, he told me that he saw Jesus in one of the paintings. It was a shock to me because the painting was of a stream and rocks in a forest. Not what I considered a “spiritual theme.” He explained exactly what he saw and even passed it to another customer in the room and asked if she could see it. Neither myself or the other lady saw what he saw. I was quite aware that The Lord was doing something special and supernatural for this man and assured him that I would be praying for him. The whole incident amazed and confused me. I had not “prayed” over that painting or any others I had done. But I had been asking the Lord to use my work for His purpose and to bless others. And I had struggled with most of the Christian art I had seen. It all seemed weird and strange.
    When the work on our car was finished and as we were walking to our vehicle, I heard the Lord say ” You do the painting. I’ll show them Jesus.”

    Reply
  12. Robyn Bomhof Avatar
    Robyn Bomhof

    There have been many God encounters in my career as an artist. But the most dramatic was at original art exhibit – competition. I was walking through the exhibit and a man was standing in front of one of my large abstract signature pieces. He was standing there a long time so I kind of stood behind him to the left watching him respond. He then said “whoever painted this must’ve gone crazy“. As it turned around I said that would be me. He spent the next half hour describing his lifelong battle with mental illness. Jesus set him free. We both had an encounter. And it was very humbling.

    Reply
  13. Phyllis Johnson Avatar
    Phyllis Johnson

    I was at a writer’s retreat, immersing myself in the Bible to finish my book, Twelve is for More than Doughnuts, poetry and essays based on the Bible. I’d spent the weekend reading verse after verse to find the ones that inspired me most. The last day of the retreat, before breakfast, God gave a vision of the words, “Bridge Lady.” I told my retreat roommate about what I’d seen. The next day, my newspaper editor sent me to write a story about a local woman with llamas. It just so happens that she grew up in a historic house by a bridge, with a painting of the old bridge and an old lifesaving ring hanging in her sunroom. There was a mural in her hall of the old ferry and paintings of the current house and the way it looked years ago when a general owned it. The story became much more than one about llamas. It served as a bridge to the realization that our lifeline is found in reading His word no matter what our endeavors are. If He revealed this to me, how much would He reveal if I dove into the verses like this daily? It was prophetic insight I will never forget.

    Reply
  14. Carol Lindsay Avatar
    Carol Lindsay

    I loved reading all the posts and this is so much like our God. My background is not in art but am considered a beginner in making hand made cards.

    A friend of mine was seriously ill and I was able to visit her in ICU. At this time I purchased a card and included a note. The Lord impressed me to draw a circle and put the cross in the middle. I wrote the comment, to remember to keep Jesus in the center. She was outside of our denomination and didn’t know how she would receive it, but felt it came from the Lord. Little did I know what an impact that made on her at that time, but she explained and thanked me later after she made a full recovery.

    Reply
  15. Mersea Ruane-Smith Avatar
    Mersea Ruane-Smith

    This has nothing to do with my art but with my crocheting prayer afghans. I only make a prayer afghan if the Lord puts a person on my heart and I pray while making it. One time I made one for a man who had a benign brain tumor and sent it to him. Later I found out one night his brother got really ill and they ended up in the ER. He kept getting worse and worse and they didn’t know what was wrong. The man I made the afghan for went home, got the afghan, went back to the ER, they laid it over him and prayed. After a while the pain began to subside and then went away so they sent him home. He did go to a Dr about it and found out he had something wrong but the Dr didn’t know why he was able to leave the hospital and be up and around.

    Another time a young girl from church asked if I would make an afghan for her friends little girl – she had just been diagnosed with cancer. I made it, gave it to her, and went on my way. I don’t remember how much time went by but one day I got a phone call from the father of the girl who asked me to make the afghan and he was crying. He said they just found out that the girl’s tests showed she was cancer free.

    You just don’t know what will happen when you are obedient to God!

    Reply
    1. Mersea Avatar
      Mersea

      Just checked and the little girl is still in remission is what ‘they’ said. God is good!

      Reply
  16. Denny Avatar
    Denny

    I paint pet portraits in pastel, among other things, and a friend ordered a portrait of her father’s dog that had passed away earlier in the year. I finished the portrait and told her to let me know how he liked it as it was for his birthday. She said it would be a few weeks because he lived about 700 miles away so she would give it to him when her brother went to visit.

    A couple of months passed by and she called me up and I asked her how her father liked the painting.

    “He called me”, she replied.

    “Good, did he mention his gift?”, I asked.

    “He called me”, she said again.

    “Okay, yes, but how did he like the painting?”, I urgently inquired.

    “You don’t understand, we haven’t spoken in 10 years. He called me”, she said through tears.

    That was really all I needed to know. Yes, God is so good, and to think he used my art for His purpose. Wow, just wow!

    Her parents ended up moving to within 30 miles of her a few years later.

    Thanks Matt for all you do and for getting me all water-eyed! Merry Christmas everyone!

    Reply
  17. Linda Croom Smith Avatar
    Linda Croom Smith

    The first week of November, I invited an elderly friend to lunch. When I arrived at her house to pick her up, she was wearing a sweater with bright red cardinals on it, so I told her that I had started painting a pair of cardinals a few days earlier. She said, “Oh, cardinals are my favorite!” After lunch, I showed her a photo of the in-progress painting. When she saw it, she started crying, and said, “My son!” I waited for her to regain her composure, then asked her to tell me about her son. Then she poured out the story of the death of her 3-day-old baby boy many decades ago, and of her great sorrow because she had never even gotten to hold him after giving birth. She had not been a believer in Christ at the time, but in her deep grief, she had cried to God asking for assurance that her baby was in heaven. Almost immediately, a bright red cardinal showed up in her yard, and she received it as an answer to her prayer. Throughout the years whenever she experienced a feeling of sorrow and loss about her son, inevitably cardinals would show up and she would be comforted. She said, “Linda, the reason I’m wearing this sweater today is because I’ve been missing my baby boy, and and once again God has comforted me — with your cardinals!!” A week later, I was blessed to deliver a full size print of my cardinal painting to her. That I got to be a participant in what God did for this precious woman was an amazing, joyous experience!

    Reply
  18. Adelle Avatar
    Adelle

    I just left a

    Reply
  19. Kent Dickerson Avatar
    Kent Dickerson

    Matt, I’m hoping you can help me get to this kind of experience. I have been praying to be filled with the Spirit like Bezalel for eight months. I discovered your podcast halfway through this time and found it a great help. I’m very grateful for it. I have had difficulty finding financial success in recent years. But I identified a couple of lies in my identity after hearing Dr. Mayo and replace them with truths I continue to press in to.
    This past week seemed the perfect time to finish a project which I have not been able to complete in 14 years (it takes extreme precision and care but I have a couple of decades of experience working on watches). I desire to enter the project in an art show within the next few weeks. My wife was out of country for 8 days and I could totally focus on this task. I began with prayer and praise, then set to work. Working out a plan of attack seemed to go well but then I lost a tiny component, spent hours looking for it, finally gave up and found alternative components to accomplish the task. But I was convinced it would contain more striving without the Spirit’s input. So I pressed in more in prayer and praise for days — with all my heart, which often included tears. The week ended without confirmation from the Spirit and a couple of minor health issues, including an eye infection. I started antibiotics yesterday and continue to pray for the Spirit’s filling.
    Meanwhile, the spiritual lessons God has brought for me to share in these eight months have been phenomenal, though I have little financial support for the ministry. One of those lessons was learning deliverance prayer. Every day, I kick the enemy out my house in specific ways by the power of Jesus.
    Matt, what more can I do? I pray you can help me, Kent.

    Reply
    1. Matt Avatar
      Matt

      Hey Kent, renewing your mind or the truth of gods word is a great place to start… In fact it’s where I encourage everyone to start inside of our mentoring program. But it’s only one part. It’s foundational but not everything.
      M
      The Bible says that in order to “build a house” you have to have three things – knowledge, wisdom and understanding. I’ve found over the years you can try to develop all of that yourself, taking years and years, or you can connect with someone who’s already doing the things that you want to do and learn from them at an accelerated pace. That’s why we created our artist mentoring program: to simplify and speed up the process of transformation.

      Since 2016 have helped countless thousands of artists move from struggling to thriving in the things that God has called them. I’d love to help you as well.

      If you click on the “artist Mentoring“ tab at the top of this website you can read all about the program and become a member. Once you’re inside, you’ll find a clear, simple roadmap you can follow at your own pace to do the things that are on your heart. I look forward to meeting you!

      Reply
      1. Kent Dickerson Avatar
        Kent Dickerson

        Matt, thanks for your willingness to mentor me. Unfortunately, there’s no way I can afford it right now. So I purchased your How to Connect with God to Create and Sell Your Art Bundle.

        Reply

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Author

Matt Tommey is an artist, author and mentor who is passionate about empowering artists to thrive spiritually, artistically and in business.