Figuring Things Out

Acrylics on canvas panel  11"x14"

 Figuring things out

This is the portrait of my niece. A typical teenager experimenting with the length of her hair. A bouncy hair 
of ringlet curls with dark auburn highlights from her maternal grandma, I thought it would make a great portrait, especially as a profile. It seems more spectacular. 

As voice of Generation Z, emojis were added to best illustrate some of her personality.

Consider the life of a teenager. It wasn’t easy for me, therefore I couldn’t imagine being a teen today. Especially a Christian teen. I can’t imagine being  an active church member, balance a social life and also active in school.

She’s an extraordinary person. I appreciated her grandmother for taking her to church since she was three years old. I couldn’t imagine her life any other way. Once more, I can’t imagine what it’s like as a Christian teenager, people expect you to be perfect.

The only thing perfect is God! 

I appreciate her accomplishments and I appreciate her flaws too.

I told her a long time ago that she was going to take this world by storm and she has and she will continue to. With God in her life, in her heart, and a strong faith based personality, I believe with all my heart, she will be okay no matter what life throws at her!

The following is from her college essay:

American evangelist Billy Graham once said, “The Christian life is not a constant high. I

have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, ‘O God, forgive me,’ or ‘Help me.’” I was taught from an early age by my grandmother that in life you might be the odd one out but God will always provide a way for you to be great. She started taking me to Sunday school at the age of three and put the seed of faith in me to make sure my relationship with God would grow. As I grew up, everything my Grandmother sowed into me began to blossom. I saw what she saw in me in my peers, except they had no immediate role model to help cultivate their gifts, so I became what they needed. I often wonder who I would be if it was not for the relationship built with my God-fearing grandmother, a relationship that came out of the ashes of a family that was not meant to be. Being an only child of a single parent that labors constantly to make ends meet became the threshold to many opportunities that I still experience  today.

In church I became who everyone wanted to be like, even the adults admired the spirit of

God within me. Being the little girl that could recite the books of the Bible in order, sang on the choir, praise danced, ushered people into the house of God and articulated herself well for her age; I was always in the hotspot. People watched my every move and it later became yet another setback. I could no longer just be a kid, but instead the perfect kid so I would not embarrass my

family and give the people jealous of me something to talk about. I felt there was no room for error and found it awfully hard to be exactly who everyone wanted me to be. My peers began to treat me differently. They no longer wanted to hang out with me because I matured rather rapidly. Although I was like the adult to them, many of the adults did not see me that way nor did they respect my efforts to increase the kingdom of God.  My faith deepened during my time of distress. I knew God would provide me instruction to get through it. That is when I realized it does not matter what other people thought of what I was doing, I was sent here on assignment to bring people closer to God and guide them along the path.

I worked harder, and took younger kids in the church under my wing. They learned their

talents and how to use them to minister to others. The same God people saw in me, I began to see in everyone whose heart I touched. In 2013, my mother got married and the following year God blessed my family with another child. I knew when he was born, I had to take care of him. Not just his physical needs but also putting him on the right path. It is not easy being an older sibling along with  having no choice but to take care of your  sibling while both of your parents are now working hard to make sure not one but both of their children have decent lives.

 I have come to the realization that God will allow you to experience some things that are

not always great. Then he will make an example of you to make the best of every situation. Had I not been an only child to a single parent, I doubt that faith would be as strong. I also would not be the role model that I am today if my grandmother did not plant the seed in me to be able to give my talents back to God.