The idea for this series started from seeing my friend Chaney's oil pastel sketch on her Instagram. It was a beautiful little landscape, but the thing I noticed most about it was how to painted the sky between the trees. You could see the pop of blue just peaking through the green trees, and it was just lovely.
Chaney Cherry's Oil Pastel Landscape
I just recently got married and moved to Starkville, Mississippi. The view from the back porch is a lot different than it was a my parent's home. It is just a backyard with grass and fence. Just above the fence, you can see the green trees on the other side.
Chaney's sketch made me appreciate the space between the trees and the sky, and I started to paint just that! The phrase "the space between" just kept playing over in my mind, and I thought maybe this could be name of this new series. I still wasn't completely sold on it. Usually, when I start a new series, I feel like God just gives me this epiphany about the series and how it relates to my life. This series I just wasn't getting it. I just wasn't getting a lot of things.
View from my backyard
Being married has been such a transition. Honestly this first month of marriage, moving, looking a job, moving away from my family and friends, and more has just kind of been hard. Don't get me wrong, I love Zach and I'm so happy we are finally married, but just all these changes at once has been an adjustment! I really have just been handling everything bad.
Anyways, last Sunday Zach and I went to church, and honestly I really didn't want to go. I just wanted to get in there and get out, which is horrible. But also its just how I felt. Probably because I had just been harvesting so many bad emotions. They started playing the worship songs, and about the 3rd song in, I heard it.
They were playing the song, "Another in The Fire" by Hillsong, and the song's literal lyrics to the song had the phrase "the space between."
The first time is heard it, I knew. I knew that this was my answer.
The lyrics were:
And when I look at the space between Where I used to be and this reckoning
These lyrics just hit me. I'm in the space between. I know who I am now, but I still sometimes go back to my old ways, the old me.
The song went on:
And should I fall in the space between What remains of me and this reckoning Either way I won't bow to the things of this world
I have fallen in the space between. I know where I need to go, what is right and wrong, what is going to make me truly fulfilled, and yet I still get caught up in all the wrong things.
Finally:
I can hear the roar in the heavens As the space between wears thin
And I know I will never be alone
This last part is just a reminder. God doesn't want there to be anything space between He and I, and no matter where life takes me and what changes come, I have a constant that I can always depend on. I will never be alone.
Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Sometimes it just takes the smallest things to get us back on track. Had I not scene Chaney's painting, I would have never appreciated my new backyard. Had I not painted those pretty green trees in the back yard, I would have had the phrase, "the space between," pop in my head. Had I not gone to church that Sunday and heard that song, I would have never put all this together. Had I not put all this together, I would probably still be stuck in the space between, and instead I am trying to wear it thin! God is good, and He is real and alive and present in our lives! I'm so thankful for His grace!
New painting from "The Space Between"
I'm also so thankful for my husband, who is so understanding and supportive even when he has no idea why I'm upset or being mean to him. Haha! Seriously though, I'm working on it!
Anyways!! I'm so excited to continue working on this series, "The Space Between," but I'm even more excited to see how God continues to work on me!
Thanks for reading!
Shelby Leigh Kizer