What would life be without color and variety. Fall would be really boring without all the vivid colors to offset the drabness of the season. And what would be the charm of spring and summer without the riot of color that turns Alaska into a breathtaking showpiece that people flock to see? Even so within in the the Body of Christ God has put a wide variety of "color" that makes life interesting. This week we’d like you to meet another one of the colors that make up our W/A family.
MEET: JESSICA RAYMOND
Jessica is one of our emerging artists in the MCA family. She was born in Fortuna, California in June of 1989. Her love for art began early “from fingerpainting on…”, and God is developing and using her giftings in several different avenues. Jessica has done a lot or writing and sketching, and some of her work is included in the Arts book, Nothing Borrowed, Nothing Blue, that we recently published. She began journaling when she was around 8 years old, and now has her own blog with several of the vignettes that she wrote on it. One of her favorite writers is C.S. Lewis, and she has spent many an hour reading his works. Initially Jessica got involved in the arts at MCA when she was asked to be a part of Nothing Borrowed, and has continued to provide the ministry with artwork and poetry. “It’s something that just happens,” she says about creating artwork, “very rarely is it something that I plan to do.”
Along with her ministry in the area of arts Jessica also has been involved in missions work pretty much her whole life. Her parents were missionaries in Japan when she was young, and since then Jessica participated in a YWAM school in Australia and a YWAM outreach to Thailand. In addition music plays a part in Jessica’s life. God has given her several songs, and she plays the keyboard and sings for several services at the Pioneer Home.
Jessica is an adventurer who enjoys trying new things, meeting new people, going new places. Currently Jessica is employed at the Crisis Pregnancy Center. In the future she has a desire to be in some type or job or ministry that includes helping and counseling girls and working with them to help them overcome life’s hard places. Of her art she says “I feel like my participation in the arts has made ministry soo much easier in almost every area. When I’m overseas and I’m having a language problem, I can, even in a classroom setting, grab a pen or marker and get to work on being understood. The gospel as told by a squeaky marker and a white board loses none of it’s potency. When I start feeling like my existence is insignificant I can think of a school in Thailand with a 7 foot tall mural of an elephant that serves as a reminder to a leper colony that they are loved and not forgotten by the world they live in. It’s not about me feeling significant or "special" it’s about the Father being glorified and when I remember that I’ve got a role in that and I remember the joy in fulfilling my purpose I am that much more motivated to continue on to bigger and better things.” C.S. Lewis sums it up best for her: “It was when I was happiest that I longed most…The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing…to find the place where all the beauty came from." When I create something whether it be a painting, a drawing, or an essay and someone sees beauty in it I want something in their heart to desire the Original Source of it’s beauty. The Bible says that Nature speaks of the glory of God so much so that "men are without excuse". And I refuse to be outdone by a tree or a rock!!
Leave a Reply