911

I had a good friend of mine request that I make this piece for him earlier last year.  It was a great experience for me to create, because I took the time to read each of the passages written on the page as well.

While we live in a culture so focused on having control, we are not called to carry our burdens.  In fact, God tells us to "cast" our cares on him, for he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).  That word "cast" does not present a picture of quietly approaching the Lord's throne, and gently laying our burdens at his feet.  If we do that, we might feel like we need to explain to him why it is a burden, and maybe give a little bit of context because maybe he needs a little insight as to how to deal with said burden.  Then the more we explain the burden to him, the more we feel like maybe this is something we need to keep for ourselves to deal with on our own, because we don't want to bother Jesus with our problems, and we want to make sure they are dealt with in the right way, and the list goes on.  We end up leaving God's throne clinging tighter to the burden than when we started, and feeling no relief.

The picture I see for "cast" is to literally go up to God, chuck my burden as hard as I can at him, then turn and run in the opposite direction in case my burden is attached to a boomerang.  The best part is God is an excellent catch, and he will always take our burdens for us if we let him.  We are to cast our cares to God because he CARES for us!  And he also says

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me[following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls.For My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.” ~Matthew 11:28-30

I find that the most peace and joy I feel come from spending time with my Abba.  What better way to spend time with him than to genuinely reflect on his word!  He tells us to ask, seek, and knock, for it will be given to us, we will find, and the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-11).  Above is a nice place to start with specific topics.

Another piece that I really like about this drawing is the background.  I have always been captivated by the stars, and how vast and huge they are, and how we worship a God that breathes out stars and knows each one by name.  It's very humbling, and also a beautiful position to be in to reflect on how big our God is compared to our tiny problems.  It's all about perspective, and however easy it can be to get caught up in the negativity of this world, it feels so much better when we learn to cast our cares to the God of the universe who has conquered it all. :)