Letting Christ Shine Through the Abide Collection

When I paint, I’ve learned that the hardest part isn’t getting the composition right or finding the perfect colour — it’s learning to step aside.

There’s a deep surrender that happens in art when you stop striving to prove or perfect and instead begin to let Christ work through you. That shift — from control to communion — changes everything. The brush feels lighter. The process becomes prayerful. The work stops being about what I can make and becomes about what He can reveal.

In my early years as an artist, I used to chase the outcome — to push, fix, and overwork. But lately, as I'm working on the Abide collection, I’ve realized the most meaningful moments in my creative process happen when I pause. When I wait. When I allow space for the Holy Spirit to move instead of filling every silence with my own ideas.

The more I sit in stillness, the more I see that letting go isn’t losing something — it’s gaining clarity. When I release control, Christ fills the space I once cluttered with striving. And that’s when the true beauty begins to show — not just in my art, but in my life.

Less of Me, More of Him

I often pray that my work would hold less of me and more of Christ. In a perfect world, there would be none of me — only Him reflected in every brushstroke.

That prayer doesn’t just apply to art. It’s the quiet desire of any heart that’s walked through pride, exhaustion, or self-reliance and come out wanting something simpler and purer — to live and create from a place of surrender.

Because when we stop pushing for our own way and start abiding in His, peace begins to take root. It’s not the kind of peace that comes from getting everything right, but the kind that comes from knowing Who holds it all together.

The Stillness That Changes Everything

Lately, two verses have stayed with me like gentle reminders in the noise of life:

“Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” — Jeremiah 29:13

I come back to these again and again — sometimes while I paint, sometimes in the quiet moments of motherhood, and sometimes just in the middle of an ordinary day when my thoughts are scattered and my spirit feels thin.

To be still isn’t to do nothing — it’s to rest in the knowing that God is enough. To seek Him isn’t to strive — it’s to draw near with the whole heart, trusting He will meet us there.

When I remember that, everything slows down. The pressure fades. And peace — that steady, sacred kind — finds its way back in.

Whatever you’re walking through right now, I hope these words remind you that you don’t need to chase the answers. You don’t need to have it all figured out. Just keep showing up, keep seeking, and keep making room for Him to shine through.

Because when we let Christ lead — in art, in work, in motherhood, in everything — He does far more with our lives than we ever could.

Thank you, as always, for being here and for sharing this journey with me.

Warmly in Him,

Martina