Fruitfulness

By Hazel Holland

This was one of the first oil paintings I did many years ago at a time when there seemed to be very little fruitfulness in my life. I wanted to create something beautiful on canvas so that I could forget about the ugliness I felt inside of me... If only I could wipe away the sad memories and erase the bad decisions with one stroke of my oil brush...

Now as I look back at that time in my life when I was walking through a desert valley... I was not deserted or alone because God never abandons His children. He was in the valley with me. He supported me when I stumbled along in the desert. He wiped away my tears when the sorrows of life seemed impossible to bear. He carried me on His shoulders when I was too lost to even know I needed to be found.

But the most beautiful thing I learned about God is that when the Master Artist dips His divine oil brush in His blood to wipe away our mistakes, they do not remain covered up underneath another layer of paint. They are totally removed from the canvas of our life as if the error was never there in the first place. And in the place of our deepest brokenness He uses His oil brush to paint a beautiful picture of our fruitfulness that now comes from Him!