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  Hi, my name is Melissa
Welcome to my studio!  

I am a believer in Jesus Christ a Bible teacher and an artist.
I've been married to my husband for 20 years!
Woohoo!
We have two great teenagers and a cat named Shalom.  
I love to sing, play the guitar & spend time in my garden.
My favorite place in our home is my studio. This is the place where my faith and art come together and nourish my soul deeply. I hope what you find here will do the same for you.   

Can I ask you a question?

    If all the pre-written Bible study guides, Sunday sermons small group studies, commentaries, podcasts and everything else we use to supplement our spiritual growth were removed; and all you had left was your Bible, would you be Okay?

Would your faith thrive?

Would your faith survive?

My Story

   We live in a time in history when there is so much available to Christians to support our journey as disciples. These are good. Bible studies, teachings, podcasts and books written about the Bible seem endless in supply of numbers and variety. It was easy for me to feel my faith was strong when I had so much to support it.

 

     But, when our family moved to an isolated village in West Africa to serve as missionaries, and all the supports were gone, I realized how small and weak my faith actually was. I didn’t thrive. In fact, my faith was struggling to survive. 

    I realized that I had been so dependent on the resources about faith and familiar with teachings of our faith, that I was nearly entirely disconnected from the Word of God and the voice of the Good Shepherd. My little faith began to drown. For months, my life and faith were flailing.

    Then, I remembered, I had my Bible. I believed it contained all the truth I needed. I remembered that I had the Holy Spirit, and Jesus promised He would teach me. I decided to take Him at His word. With my Bible, paper, pen and prayer I determined to dive into God’s Word and expect that the Spirit would guide and teach me. 

    That was the day I stopped flailing in my faith. I stopped drowning and I began to learn to dive! I was determined to dive into God’s Words and find the truth. I studied as though my life depended on it, because it did. 

    I asked God my questions and I studied and searched for the answers. I asked the Spirit to show me how to learn and listen. With all other voices quieted, including my own, I began to recognize and love the voice of my Good Shepherd. I learned how to let Him be my teacher. I learned how to become a disciple, not of other followers of Jesus, but of Jesus! I testify to you that the beauty, security and riches of being a disciple of Jesus are not worthy to be compared to anything one could gain by learning from anyone or anything else. 

    After months of drinking deeply of God’s Word, listening to the ways the Spirit was instructing me, and learning to capture all I was learning in writing, I was flourishing! My soul and spirit were thriving. It was then that God began to bring others into my life who needed to learn what I had learned. I had become, not just a Christian, but a disciple of Jesus. And it became the most natural response to begin training others to be disciples of Jesus. 

    I pursued life as a missionary because I wanted to tell people about God and His gospel. I tried and I failed until I learned how to be a true disciple. Then God turned me into a disciple-maker. I didn’t have to try anymore. Life and missions became an overflow of what God was doing inside me. He was teaching me and transforming me and so my life was being transformed. 

    Though we no longer live in a foreign country, I am more securely on His path and serving Him today than ever. It’s not about where you are or what you’re doing that determines a successful Christian life, it’s all about who you are. 

I am a disciple of Jesus.

     Once my faith was growing again and my heart was thriving, I began to remember my childhood dream of being an artist. With tiny steps of faith, I began pursuing this dream.  What I create is an overflow of my faith. My inspiration comes from my study of the Bible and the glimpses of God I see all around me. I love the colors that painting can capture and the detail and depth that charcoal can capture. God is the Creator. It is an honor to bear this part of His image in my life and work. It is a joy to co-create with my Good Shepherd. 

I am an artist.​​

Melissa

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
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