The Wootens

This blog originally started as a way to showcase my artwork for potential clients/consumers of my work; somehting to put on business cards so people could see a larger variety of my work. You see, at the time this blog was created, I was on a completley different road.

I guess I'll start with describing where I thought I was headed. I just recently graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in studio arts. I spent most of the last four years painting and drawing. It was great. As graduation approached, and like all college students facing a new chapter in life, I began asking myself what exactly I was going to do with my education, not to mention all the family and friends asking me what I was going to do. My husband Brad also just recently graduated with a Masters degree and has accepted a job in NC (we will be moving in less than two weeks). I began to think a lot about what I should spend my time doing in NC. It is exciting to think about being in a new place with so many opportunities. As I began to seek what God would want me to do, He began to do something unexpected in me. Until a few months ago, I thought I would invest my life in art of some sort. I do love creating, writing and talking about and looking at art. I get so much pleasure from those things. But the thing is, that the joy stops with me. I've never seen anyone get as much joy from my work as I get from creating it. I guess one way to describe it is that I'm not fully convinced that anything I do in the art world will ever do as much good in the world as other things can. God began to show me how Jesus was filled with compassion for the social outcasts in the Bible. The sick, poor, tax collectors, widows, ect. were all good friends of Jesus. I am just another one of the sinners that Jesus has befriended, rescued and has given new life. This led me to thinking a lot about social responsibility. I truly believe that what I do and say can make a difference. We live in a hurting and broken world. But it's impossible to make a difference in the world when we leave it at that. The truth is that we don't have to live with pain and brokeness. By Christs' death and resurrection, there is hope, freedom and forgiveness. Because I have experienced God's love in these ways, I see it as my responsiblity as a follower of Christ to let others know that such freedom, hope and forgivenss exists. I've come to the conclusion that it is better to invest my life in seeing God spread his love than to spend this prescious time doing something that only brings me joy. This isn't to say that people who spend their time in the art world don't make a difference, but in order for that to happen, the individual must be fully convinced that they will make a difference. And for me, I am not fully convinced that I would. This is a huge change in thought for me, because ever since I put my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord of my life, I've thought that I could invest in others lives through art. And surely this is still true. I guess God has changed my heart and given me new passions. It's true that we invest ourselves in what we are most passionate about.

So, by the grace of God and His gentle guidence, I view this new chapter in our life as a call from God to serve him by loving those around us in the way that God has shown his love to us. This is all very vague, I know. It's hard to say what exactly our lives in NC will look like, but I do know that God has called Brad to the workforce and I to volunteering my time as much as possible. I will be giving my time to local pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, soup kitchens, youth ministry in the Church that we will attend (which we will look for when we move) and where ever else the Lord leads me. Needless to say, Brad and I are so excited to have guidence from our God and fully expect to see Him do great things!

This blog will now be our way to keep in touch to our dear friends and family that we will be leaving behind in Iowa. You will be missed and have blessed our lives in so many ways.