Lord, Is That You?
(a vignette-testimony by contributing writer and folk artist, Sharon Watson Hardy)
Piled on the floor in a darkened room lay a broken down woman filled with tears of years gone wrong. That woman was me. Gone was my spirit to go on; gone was my desire to keep dealing with a life of troubles that seemed to never change. There had been no easy roads for me. But that day, I demanded answers for I had been taught that the Lord never put on your plate more than you could handle.
Didn't he know that I could take no more? That I was a good person? That no matter what, I had kept my faith? Had he not heard me begging him to tell me what I had done wrong to deserve a life like mine? To please forgive me? I was so broken down that I demanded harshly of God, "Tell me now why I am here!"
No sooner did those words come out of my mouth than a sense of peace come over me as a warm voice said, "Get up and go downstairs." I obeyed. On my way, I spotted a block of wood and picked it up. For some reason I remembered that I had an Exacto knife. "Get it," the voice commanded. I obeyed. I took the knife and went to work carving on that block of wood. That night I carved my first art piece: the bust of a man. At first, I wondered, "How did I do that?" I did not immediately realize that God was showing me that he had indeed blessed me with his love. By inspiring me to carve that piece of wood, God had answered my demand to know, at that very moment, why I was here. He showed me that along with all the other shoes I had to fill that I was also an artist, and I am here to create art through sculpting wood.
Life hasn't gotten much easier, but I am able to smile now when I look back on my life. All the times when I thought I'd heard someone whispering to me or seen someone out of the corner of my eye, it was God stopping by to remind me that he loved me. Today, when I see that person or hear that voice, I say, "Lord, is that you?" Blessed are my hands that create art from wood: they are gifts from God.
