"Come Home My Dear Saint"

Copyrighted by Art4Him Studios (2014) - All rights reserved

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints." Psalms 116:15
After seeing a photo of a dear godly, elderly woman's hand being held by her niece and the story behind it, I had mentioned to the niece that it would make either a beautiful drawing or painting. A while later she approached me about doing a commission drawing of the mentioned photo. I prayed asking the Lord if He wanted me to do it and after praying felt He did indeed want to use me in this way, but as I gave my answer, I asked her if I could have "artistic license" with it. I told her I felt the Lord wanted me to draw His hand instead of her's, which she was fine with that.
As I prepared to start the drawing, I again had to go to my Heavenly Father. You see, I cringe when I think about doing hands. They can be just as complex as eyes are, but yet both hold a special key to the soul of a person. Through the eyes, you can see how a person is feeling; with the hands, you can see how they used their hands, what type of person they are or were.
I was intrigued by the hands in the photo before I had even heard the story. I could tell that these hands had a story to tell. There was a gentleness there, that only the Lord, Himself would know deeply, and more intimately.
As I started working on the drawing, I prayed! I prayed for the family I was doing it for, but I also prayed that the Lord would use me to make this drawing come to life. I wanted both hands to stand out, as if off the paper! Each day as I worked on the drawing, I would humbly ask the Lord to use this feeble hand of mine to bring Him glory. Of course, I already had a title picked out before I had even gotten very far with the drawing. I had decided on 'Welcome Home...Well Done' , because as I started working on it, I was picturing her in Heaven and Jesus saying that to her. I really liked the title and felt that it fit with what my friend had said about her.
The more I started work on the drawing, the more I realized the Lord had something totally different in mind. I had noticed that there was a lot of art work out there with similar titles, but I still felt that this title fit. I can be stubborn sometimes and I am so thankful that the Lord is so patient with me.
It wasn't until I started working on that sweet Saint's hand and concentrating on every little detail of it, that I started to realize what the Lord was laying on my heart. As I looked at the hand, I realized that I was drawing it as it was, here on Earth. In Heaven, her hand would not look like that. Then I wondered if I should change it to a younger hand, but then that would change the whole concept of what made my friend take the photo. I did mention, that I was stubborn, right?
That's when the Lord OPENED my eyes to what He saw all along. It's not Him welcoming her into Glory, but instead it's Him holding her hand at her beside as He is getting ready to escort her to Glory, Himself. That's when the title came to me, a title that could only come from the Lord.
After that, my mindset was different as I worked on it. I would tear up thinking about Jesus holding her hand. Maybe He had even sat by her bedside and said to her... "Well done, My good and faithful servant, now it is time to go home!" I do not know what was actually said and done at that very moment when she was ushered into Glory, but this is the picture the Lord, Himself, gave me.
As I finished the drawing, I then needed to think about the mat and frame. I again, brought this before my Lord and asked Him what He would want. Even in matting and framing there is symbolism tying in with this whole drawing.
If you look very closely at Jesus' hand, you will see the nail scar, but just above and to the right of the scar is a tiny cross drawn in the crease of the wrist, slanted towards the scar. As I thought about the scar and the cross, I was reminded about how He gave His life for each of us including this dear, elderly woman. I thought it would be fitting to have the mat be a deep red to represent His blood that was shed not only this dear woman, but for all of us. When we accept Christ as our personal Savior, Scripture reminds us that He washes our sins as white as snow...that's why I chose a white frame for the drawing. We will still sin, even after accepting Christ as our Savior, but because of His blood being shed for our sins, we are "framed" in His righteousness.
What about YOU? Have you accepted God's free gift of salvation? The sad thing is; is that sin came into this world, which all of us are born with. Romans 3:23 tells us that we all have sinned and we come short of God's glory and Romans 6:23 tells us that death is the wages for our sin. The beautiful thing is that God made a wonderful way for our sins to be forgiven. It cost Him a lot!!! It cost Him, His Son! He tells us in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  (ESV)
You see, God can not be in the presence of sin because He is HOLY. His Son came down in the flesh to take our punishment for us. He placed our disgusting sins upon His pure, HOLY body, so that we would come to Him and be forgiven. My friend and her aunt did just that. They placed their trust in the One who gave His life for all. They will be reunited someday just like I will with my loved ones who have placed their trust in Jesus, because at the age of nine, I too realized that I was a sinner needing a Savior and that's when I accepted Christ as my Savior.
If you have not done that, why wait? God's Word tells us that NOW is the time! Don't wait until it is too late. My prayer is that the work my Lord allows me to do, would point others to Him. Wouldn't you like to hear Him say someday...'Come Home My Dear Saint'? Wouldn't you like to be "framed" in His righteousness?

"Come Home My Dear Saint' copyrighted by Art4Him Studios (2014) - All rights reserved