Sandi Hester

Happy Birthday Aidan!!! 

My 2 year old nephew is unusually smart (unlike his Aunt Sandi) – he remembers EVERTHING you tell him (again, unlike me – I forget my own address sometimes – you think I’m kidding – I’m not).  I’ve had this idea of doing a scripture picture book for him to help him fall in love with the Word of God at an early age.  I wanted to put together something that could help him start working on memorizing scripture.  Well, I finally got around to doing it for his birthday.  He is 2 years old today.  My prayer is that as he grows in wisdom and stature he will love the Word.  Aidan, seek Jesus with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength – there is nothing like Him on earth!  May He be your greatest joy!  I love you! 

I took pictures of the pages – they didn’t turn out too well – they are lop-sided and blurry, but it will give you an idea of the book.  On one side I’ve printed pages that look like they’re out of the bible and I’ve “highlighted” the verse that goes with the picture, so he can “find” the verse.  On the opposite side is a painting and the focus verse for him to start learning.   

For those of you parents that like this idea, you don’t have to be an artist to do something like this.  You could easily get magazines and cut out pictures and make your own picture scripture book.  If you’d like some more ideas on pictures and verses let me know, because I have a ton of them (if enough of you respond I’ll post them on the blog).   I just bought a scrap book and pasted the pictures and printed out verses in the book.  You can get as elaborate or as simple as you’d like.  It would be a fun project for older kids too!

The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.  Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea – the Lord on High is mighty.  Psalm 93:3-4

My friend Amy is a missionary in Africa and she recently had a picture of herself by the ocean with this scripture on her blog.  I LOVED the picture and scripture and immediately went to paint it. 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…”  Matthew 6:25

Do not fret – it leads only to evil.  Psalm 37:8

I’m putting this picture as the fourth in the Lady Series.  This was the first lady I painted.  I really like how she turned out, however she looks a little stressed.  Ladies, do you realize Jesus commands us not to worry?  It’s really a trust issue.  Do we really trust that the One who created the heavens and the earth – the One who knit us together in our mother’s womb – can really take care of our sick child, the bills, or the bad marriage?  Can we really trust Him with those things?  Does He really care about those things?  YES!

A while back, I memorized Psalm 37 and was surprised to learn that fretting (another word for worrying) leads to nothing good – in fact, it leads only to evil.  Hmmm, I think there’s some serious truth to that!

You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.  Psalm 86:5

This is the third painting in the Lady Series.  She no longer wears the condemnation or shame of her sin (which was symbolized in her red skirt).  She now stands in the mercy, grace, and forgiveness of her Savior – Jesus.

Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so He went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.  When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears.  Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.  Luke 7:36-38

Ever found yourself at His feet?  Ever had your sins known by all – as if you wore them for all to see?  This woman knew the depth of her sin, as did everyone else in town.  That night Jesus sat at a table surrounded by men who were powerful and influential, yet who were also stained deep with sin.  And yet there was only one that night at that dinner party who had their stains washed clean – an unwanted and uninvited dinner guest – a lady who dared tarnishing her already tainted reputation.  There’s something that happens to shameful sin when placed at His feet.  Some of us know what that feels like, and some of us know why that lady wept that night …at His feet. 

This is the second painting in the Lady Series.

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.  Isaiah 1:18 

This is one of the first ladies I painted from the Lady Series .  Her title, ‘Loose Woman’, is a play on words because she is painted in a loose style and her red skirt symbolizes her loose lifestyle.  There are many women in the bible with promiscuous histories that, after incountering Jesus, had grace-filled redeemed futures.  This series represents ladies who have sin stained backgrounds and have come face to face with the One who bears our shame and redeems what seems unredeemable.  He reclaims what has been stolen, He gives back what has been given away,  He makes clean what is dirty, He makes new what is used, He purifies what is tainted.  Jesus is His name – our great Redeemer! 

I have been working on a series of paintings that I’ll be posting over the next week or so.  They are a series of paintings that represent ladies from the bible and they may also represent you – I know several of the ladies represent me!  They are painted very loosely in style (that just means there’s not a lot of detail – it’s not an exact rendering of something – see the tree painting and the daffodil painting for examples of loose style paintings) and several of the ladies have skirts on in different colors.  The different color skirts were used to symbolize different things about the ladies (that part will make sense when you see the paintings and the scriptures and descriptions with the paintings).  I’m looking forward to sharing these with you.  Keep posted – they’re coming to a blog near you!

Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.  Matthew 9:37-38

I like to paint and Grady likes to creek fish, so sometimes we go together and do what we both enjoy.  This picture was a result of one of those times.  We went up to Bethpage (Grady is that where we were?) and Grady and Clay (one of Grady’s fishing friends) fished and I plopped down in someones field and painted this field and barn.  I really like how the painting turned out – I just wish I hadn’t written on it.  Oh well, I guess I’ll always remember where and why I was painting that scene.