This painting was a stretch. I have been doing abstract and being whimsical. And now, I didn’t want to squander the opportunity to send a message. It is such a monumental thing to have Esco Alley Art to add some color and bring more art to Escondido.

On the lower left of my piece, I wrote a biblical reference to Ephesians 6, v 10-18. It refers to spiritual armor.

[ Eph. 6 10-18: 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.]

This painting is my interpretation of a vision a friend had of me and of these verses. It shows me walking with confidence in God holding my sword of the Spirit.

Then around me the rest of my armor: the helmet of Salvation; Faith around my hand; across my chest Righteousness which is part of the spiritual armor to guard our heart; then the belt of Truth at my waistline; finally, Peace at the bottom of my shoe.

I am walking with my armor through Escondido calling to everyone to rise and unite.

I believe we are in a spiritual battle. It is so prevalent and obvious what is happening. The world wants to take God out of everything. I am here to say not today. Not with me.

Everywhere and here in Escondido, we are called to put on our spiritual armor, to bear arms, to guard our heart, and to be all that we are called to be to fulfill the plans and purpose that God has set before us for such a time as now. We are called to rise up for each other, not against each other and let love be our battle cry. I want us to unite on our common principles, on our common ground. To overcome the divides: masks or no masks, vaccine or no vaccine, Trump or Biden. These are military tactics, to divide and conquer. You may have heard in China they are burning bibles and they want to close churches and silence worship.

We have become the common enemy amongst ourselves. They want neighbor to report neighbor. It is just so dark; when we are supposed to be borrowing milk, sugar and eggs from each other. These are tyrannical forces. It causes confusion, which is the opposite of hope and despair, but Jesus came to give us light in abundance. He gives us exceedingly and abundantly all that we have asked or hoped for.

The world is covered in fear. The enemy wants to keep us in fear where we are easily coaxed and manipulated. But God said I do not give you the spirit of fear but the power of love and sound mind and that is what I want to walk in.

On the bottom right corner, I wrote a biblical reference to Mathew 4:4. Friends of mine had a son Joey who died in Joshua Tree. He used to have this on the back of his T-shirt. It says that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. That is the sword of the spirit. The word of God is our weapon which is why we must instill it in our hearts.

Jesus said that before he would return the world would be upside down and inside out. That is why we are seeing where there used to be a definitive line between right and wrong, we are now seeing a gray scale where anything goes. It’s a time to stand up because we know innately what is right and wrong. Those lines are being blurred and it is very dangerous especially for our children and our youth. We have to really take a stand against the powers that be because it is very sinister what is happening.

I usually wear my hair in a braid. But in the painting my hair is free. I titled my work, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Freedom. We have the power to shift the atmosphere with prayer, with worship. It changes things. What is not aligned with and not of God must fall away. When we walk with the Spirit there is freedom that surpasses all understanding.

In the vision, purple smoke came from behind me. The smoke represents attunement with God which is so encouraging to me. I believe it is prophetic. It is calling me forward. Everything in my life is administering to me at such a profound level in an intimate way. God finds a way to speak to us each, whether it is through a hummingbird or something that we love. He is doing that to tell us he is paying attention and that he loves us. Nothing escapes him.
We must be open and seek Him. It is an active thing. God says seek me and you will find me, knock and I will answer.

The time is now for all of us to seek Him and put on our spiritual armor.