 life as a canvas and God is the master painter and artist behind it all. We're so glad you're joining us on this Friday. I am here with Anna and Anna. We are really excited about what we're going to hear today and about someone special their journey. Yes, we have a fabulous guest today. But whether you're an engineer or a stay-at-home mom, God teaches all of us to bring beauty out of our daily lives. When we focus our attention on the brush strokes of God in our lives, we see His beauty and our own belovedness more clearly. This is a quote from today's guest, Anne Nielsen. She joins us in a few minutes to share parts of her own story and how God truly can turn any mess into a masterpiece. She inspires each of us to a higher awareness of God's work in our hearts and our circumstances. Sid, it's wonderful that God brings beauty from the mess. I'm really excited to hear more about Anne's journey and her story, and I think these are the moments when we get to hear and get a glimpse into what somebody's walked through, what they've gone through. It gives us the hope, it gives us the encouragement to say, you know what, if they've been through that, I can go through that too. And I think everybody in our lives is so beautiful is that we can learn something from everyone. Yeah, absolutely. And I know from my own experience that it's really the hard places that I've walked through those messy places where when I surrender that to God that he truly does redeem it and bring beauty from it. And you know, one thing I think even in this season because I've heard so many people, Anne, like maybe you are walking through a really, really hard season where you feel like you're hard pressed or you're surrounded on all sides, but we just wanna encourage you today, no matter what you're walking through, no matter what you're going through, God is in the midst of your story. There's a song that I love. I remember reading when I was a young girl, was I a teenager? I think it's somewhere in Psalm 119, but it talks about before any day came to be, they were already written and ordained for me in your book. And so that's something that I've always held on to is no matter what it looks like, no matter how tough it is, God is writing the story. He's doing the chapters, he's orchestrating it, and it's all for his glory. Yeah, that's right. You are so beloved. Well, did you know that you have been formed by a master artist? You have so much beauty and potential in you and especially in the messy parts of your story. Well, Anne Nielsen celebrated artists of the acclaimed angel series oil painting, sees God's divine brush strokes on every part of her life story. In her new book, The Brushstrokes of Life and shares about her life and inspires us to a higher awareness of God's work in our hearts and our circumstances. So Anne, welcome to Hope Today. Oh, thank you, Anne and Sydney. It's so wonderful to be here with y'all this morning. And I loved your word surrender. That is something I have to do on a daily basis. Yeah, we are definitely gonna talk more about that surrender and where the parts of your life that you have surrendered to introduce you to our audience that has not met you yet. I wanna just start off by showing some of your paintings because you are a celebrated artist. This is your passion from childhood that you have been able to see come to fruition. So this first painting is Love Lavished on Us. Can you share about that? Well, and I've gotta tell y'all, when I paint in my studio and for the past 23 years, I paint to praise music. That is my time of worship. And so just allowing the Holy Spirit to move through me out onto that blank canvas. And I just love, I don't know what colors, paint and oils. I'm a very messy painter, but what colors come out and just evolve onto that canvas. And so a lot of times when I'm painting and praising, God will give me a word or a phrase or a title for that painting. And so, and that's a beautiful, bright painting with lots of color. And so yeah, lots of texture, lots of layers. And I just sometimes I'll step away and I'm like, wow, did I do that? And I'd like to say, I've been painting angels for so many years that there are no two fingerprints alike. There are no two snowflakes alike. I'd like to say there are no two angel wings alike. Yes. Yeah, it's so beautiful. This one is called Delight Yourself in the Lord. So that's the painting that we just saw, Delight Yourself in the Lord, tell us? And again, it's just bringing us into a place of worship. And I feel like this, and I was telling y'all before, this was a hobby, a passion, something that I wanted to do as a little girl. But several years ago, I knew it turned into a ministry just from the phone calls, the emails and how these ethereal beings have touched and minister to so many people. I do wanna say we do not worship the angels. We worship a God who created the angels. And angels are created for a specific purpose for us. And so God just gave me a gift of and a vision to paint these angels 23 years ago and I painted my first one, I sent it to my sister. She said, I think you found your voice. Yes, absolutely. And at the beginning of your book, you share about how you are an apprentice to God who is the original creative genius. And truly we all are apprentices to God. Can you talk a little bit about what is an apprentice and how have you seen God grow you? Oh gosh, well, I'm constantly learning. I mean, constantly learning, not only as an artist but as a follower of Jesus Christ. And early on in my childhood, I had an incredible experience. I think I was seven or eight with Jesus where I knew he was real. I knew he was real. I did not have the concept of a relationship but going through my teenage years, I wanted to be good, do good. And it wasn't until I really truly knew that we serve a living Lord Jesus and he just wants our hearts. And back to that word surrender, I would have to surrender every single day, my hopes, my dreams, my desires. And so you're constantly learning, reading the Bible, being in a Bible study, listening to worship music. And as a painter, as an artist, I'm constantly having to surrender, surrender my art to him. Early on when I painted my first little, before I even painted angels, I painted my first little still life of a pair. My daughter came home and from school and she said, mom, you need art lessons. And so I took her advice. I got art lessons and I started learning, the techniques and how to paint. And so here we are, but I'm still learning, still learning. Always, our entire lives are a journey of learning. Well, when you shared about that encounter that you had with Jesus, you were just a young girl. Your parents were very newly divorced and you were such a hurting little girl and you spoke about how Jesus really met you and held you and made you feel safe, but yet how out of your hurt, you were still hurting your younger sister a lot. But I loved how you talked about how forgiveness, repentance as you got older, how that really shifted your journey forward to be able to redeem that relationship. It was a rocky road being a product of a divorce family and a young girl and trying to find, search that. I was always searching for that identity, who was I? And as a little girl, I did, I had hopes, I had dreams. I wanted to be an artist in the third grade, I wrote a paper, what do you wanna be when you grow up? And I knew I wanted to be an artist. I also wanted to be a wife and a mom of a lot of kids. But going through those younger years, I was angry, I was searching and it was not very pretty. And again, having the people, the right people in my life, whether it's Christian counselors or people who love Jesus kind of pointed me back to his word, his truth, his promises for me. And I clung to his word and his promises and his truth. Yeah, you talked about how the God's plan for you may have been pushed down for a little bit through the journey, but how it ultimately brought back to life. And you experienced some naysayers or discouragers along the way to your dream of becoming an artist. Can you share a little bit about what happened, how you worked through that? Gosh, well, chapter three is entitled No. And I was not a great student. I made a D minus in 10th grade art. I wanna think that I was coloring outside of the lines and my teacher didn't like that. My parents, I wanted to go to a school like SCAD or Parsons School of Designs and they said no. And you're gonna be a starving artist or no, you can't do that. Maybe it was because my grades. I was not a great student, but it took a while for me to push through those those nose and kind of drown out the nose. And it was later in my 20s when I did an outward bound experience and I truly kind of found who I was. And I came off of that trip knowing what I wanted to do. Now, it was kind of a different path. I went back, got my elementary education degree and taught third grade for one year, but I also in that year started bringing back the desire to paint, to create. And I had a pottery line and then it took off from there. And it's just been just an incredible journey that if you asked me 30 years ago what I'd be here today, I would be no way, no way. Books and art and yeah, but God has such a bigger plan for us. And I just so grateful for his mercy and his grace and his relentless pursuit of my heart and my desires. Can you speak into that person's life right now? Somebody who has had this dream since childhood, but maybe feels like that dream has been derailed or discouraged, what would you say to that person today? I would say don't give up. I would say continue to surrender, to surrender your hopes, your dreams, your desires, to cling to God's promises and truth. And that may not happen tomorrow or the next day or the next day, but as we are faithful and surrender and trusting, he is so much more faithful in the promises that he will pour into your life. So don't give up. Don't listen to people that say no. Take a leap of faith. We will fail, but God is right there. He is right there. And I love that image of I am such a messy painter, such a messy painter. But he creates such a beautiful message out of our messes and out of our failures, if we can just surrender and trust him. Right. Yeah, you talk about the turning point. When the breakthrough happens and the mess becomes a message, it's nothing short of breathtaking. So tell us a little bit about that breakthrough where change happened and where God really has used you to bring a message of hope to others. Well, all I can, I mean, the thought that just came into my mind was, I was really, I wanted to be married so badly. And I finally, I mean, it was such a visual. I got down on my hands and knees. I surrendered. And two months later, my husband came into my life. And then 10 dates later, we got married and then, or we had 10 dates and he asked me to marry him. But I just, you know, I go back to that word surrender, surrender, surrender and allowing the Holy Spirit to come in and to heal those wounds and to pick us back up out of that pit to set our eyes on Jesus to take our hand. I mean, take our hand and walk us through life. I don't know if I answered that right, but that, that just vision came into my mind when you were, you know, mentioning that, the mess, because my life was a mess in my 20s. Yeah, and I'm glad that you noted that because you did share very openly in your story about being in and out of relationships in your 20s and then finding out that you were pregnant and choosing to have an abortion, share a little bit about that experience and how God walked you towards healing. Well, I, and I've got to share this too. I, it was, you know, back when I was a little girl, I wanted to be married. I wanted to have children. And yes, I made some choices that, you know, were not in line with God's plan for my life. And so I was devastated. And I was like, and then I would get back into, okay, I'm going to do it God's way. And I would, I was desperately trying to do it on my own. I was trying to find myself a husband. I was trying to, you know, make a career out of something. I had flunked out of college to, we talk about that in the book. But finally, through a lot of prayer and a lot of counseling and forgiving me, myself, I was able to walk in freedom. And I want to, I want to read this if we have time about freedom from guilt. This was a book that my mom wrote several years later, but guilt destroys the soul for it completely negates my covenant with my people. And it goes on. Doubt brings distrust, distrust brings anguish, anguish brings fear, fear brings separation, separation brings sin, sin brings guilt, and that guilt brings sickness to the mind, body and soul. Satan is the author of sin, guilt and death. I am the author of life, choose life. And so once I kind of got out of that cloud of guilt and shame, knowing that God forgave my sin as far as the east is from the west, it was like there was so much freedom for me. Right, freedom is the word, right? To be able to continue moving forward and you met your husband. Today you have four beautiful children. You had some struggles in there though with infertility and ultimately seeing that dream come true. So tell us a little bit about how God walked you through that and where you are today. Well, so my husband and I, again, we had 10 dates, two months later we were married. We weren't pregnant, we were married and then one month into our marriage we started our family. And so he looked at me and I got pregnant. And so we had our first daughter and then 18 months later we had our second daughter and then 16 months later we had our third daughter. And we wanted four children. And so we tried for that fourth and that's when I got pregnant and I had a miscarriage. And then I was like, wow. And then we got pregnant shortly thereafter and I had another miscarriage. And that was sometimes of, I mean, I was struggling. Did God only want me to have three children? But I knew that he would give me the desires of my heart. And so it was a time of really trying, I dug into his word. I had people praying over me. And it was a time of I go back to that word surrender. I had to surrender my heart, my hopes, my dreams. And three years after my third daughter, we had our son. And so it was a time of just walking in this wilderness but trusting him no matter what. Right. Yeah, God truly has brought so much beauty into each situation that you have walked through. And in the last couple of minutes that we have, just thinking about the person at home, that stay-at-home mom or that engineer that really longs to see that beauty come out of their everyday lives. Can you just speak into that heart right now about how to go after that beauty? Well, I wanna say everybody has something in their hands and it happens to be that I have a paintbrush but one of my favorite verses is, I think it's Acts 10 verse two where it talks about Cornelius. And all it says is he prayed regularly to a God. And tell you how or when or where. But my advice is to talk to God 24-7 when you're folding clothes, when you're driving purple, when you're in the courtroom, whatever you're doing. Have that relationship, have that dialogue, have that cries, give them your heart's desire, your woes, your fears, give it all to him and just trust him, watch and see what he will do. But it's not just a one and done five minutes in the morning or 20 minutes in the morning, it is 24 hours a day. Having that line of communication with our living Lord Jesus Christ who loves us. Truly is all about a relationship with a God who is passionately in love with us. So Anne, thank you so much. Your book again is the brushstrokes of life, absolutely beautifully written and your life is so beautiful. So thanks for being with us today. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Well, we're gonna take a quick break. But whenever we come back, Sydney has a word of scripture for you. Hey Sid, I love your cornerstone television t-shirt. Where'd you get it? I am so glad that you asked. You know, this is an exclusive offer for the month of June for you to receive this one-of-a-kind CTVN t-shirt. You can support and support your favorite Christian Telstra Network this summer when you go to barbecues, hanging out with family and having tons of fun. Oh man, that is so much fun. And speaking of cornerstone television, I love their programming, especially that Hope Today show. Yes, we love Hope Today and all of the programs. And you know, with your best gift, request your cornerstone Telstra Network t-shirt when you give this month. We have sizes from extra small to 6XL. It is 100% cotton, it is quality, and we want you to have this on you today. That's right, we have one for everyone and you get to represent the station you love with your own logo t-shirt. You'll enjoy this wearable reminder that Hope happens here. As together, we spread the love of Jesus every day. You know, we cannot do it without you. When you give, you help us to impact Pittsburgh and beyond reaching those of all nations and generations because we know people need to know the hope and the love of Jesus like never before. So why don't you give us a call at 888-665-4483 and request your very own Cornerstone TV t-shirt. That's right, you can also give online at ctvn.org slash donate. We would love to see you out in public somewhere wearing this t-shirt. Maybe we'll have ours on too. Thanks for supporting us. We're so glad that you're joining us on Hope Today and we just wrapped up our beautiful conversation Anna had with Ann. And you know, one thing as she was speaking and just sharing her story that really just stood out and as you were watching maybe it pricked and sat in your spirit too, is this whole idea of surrender, surrendering our will, surrendering all to Jesus. And maybe you are at a place in your life where you feel like you've had to be still or there's just things that have been coming up against you. But in this moment, we just wanna invite you and encourage you. That I love in the word that it says that when we cast our cares upon the Lord, He will give us rest. And Jesus in the midst of when we lay it all down at the feet of His altar where we say, God, I give myself to you. He is faithful to come into those places to fill those vacant holes and those vacuums that are deep inside our spirit and make something beautiful out of it. So we just wanna encourage you today no matter what you're walking through or what you're going through or you're seeing what's happening on the news and maybe you're concerned about your finances or you're concerned about what's gonna happen with your children or whatever that may be, whatever that film that blink for yourself. I know that there's a God that loves you more than you could even think or imagine that He is the great creator of the universe, that He is there watching and looking over you and writing your story and knowing that something great and something beautiful is gonna come out of your life. Yeah, as humans, I think one of our biggest struggles is wanting to control every aspect of our lives. And if we feel out of control of our own lives, then we tend to start trying to control other people, right? And that's where just so many different messes start to happen. But that word surrender truly is that awareness that coming to that point where, oh, control is such an illusion. Like just when I think that I have it all together, something happens, but you know what? When we don't have it all together, which we rarely do, let's be honest, God always has the details held in the palm of His hand. And the Bible talks about before the creation of the world, God had good works planned for you. In fact, that verse starts off that you are God's masterpiece created in Christ Jesus for those good works that were planned far and in advance. So for I know that you are rooted in love, you are created in love and you are put on this earth with love to go out and be that masterpiece that God made you to be. Said in my, like a decade ago, part of my life was that I was a painter and I taught painting classes and I was always so proud of my artwork. I wanted to show it off to people. Well, guess what? God wants to show you off. He wants to show your life off. So don't worry about how much of a mess that you made of it. God is the master of making messes into masterpieces. I'm so glad you brought up about painting because I do remember you said like you shared a while ago like you were into painting, you taught art classes. So I know today our conversation with Anne really was touching your heart because there's like artists are beautiful. I on the other hand, I'm not really good at art. I wasn't good at art class at all. Like I control like stick figures and that's about it. But I just really appreciate like your passion and your heart and tying it in with art and to the artistry that God has for us. What a beautiful tapestry that he creates within us. And that's what we just wanna encourage you with today. And you know, something that as you were speaking and sharing Anna that God even reminded me in my own quiet time with the Lord recently, I just, I love the book of Proverbs. There's so much wisdom that's in there. And speaking of wisdom, I was reading the scripture about, you know, the spirit of wisdom and how the spirit of wisdom was alongside the creator making the first masterpiece we see in creation and of the world and with light and plants and water and animals. And just even God was just speaking like that same spirit of wisdom that was alongside with God. Like they were all working together. Like, can you imagine in the beginning how much fun they were having? You know, just like, oh, making this and making that. And then they made man and woman. What an honor and a joy it is to know that we have a good father in heaven, the creator of the universe that said, let us make them in our image and in our likeness. We are created to glorify and to look like Yeshua, like Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. So no matter what it looks like, your mess, guess what, God is in the business of turning it into miracles. That's what he loves to do. So we just wanna encourage you today that you would surrender it all, all that you're walking through, all that you're going through and just trust in him because he is a good, good God, Anna. Yeah, the Bible says that God is able to do immeasurably more than all you could ask or imagine. So today, lean into your creator because he is ready to bring a message from your mess. We love you. Thanks for being with us. Have a good one.