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Running on Godly Steam
by Yvonne Martinez Ward
"I would
encourage everyone to go full-steam ahead with God in the driver’s seat.
There's nothing better than living one's life with God in the lead. He
really knows how to bless us and give us the things that will delight
the heart."
After God answered a specific prayer I had to be a mom at the age of 38, I
turned my whole life around. I sold and gave away all my furniture. I quit my
professional job as a college professor and administrator after ten years when I
was only one year away from tenure. I walked out on all the ego-driven stuff of
life and decided to pare down everything in my life. I returned to my faith and
my God, and since then life has been a glorious adventure with the Lord leading.
Now I paint and share my art on the Web. I cantor, I write, I teach, and I
inspire others to discover and use their God-given talents.
I think we all need to simplify our lives and go after the things we have a
passion for. That’s where the joy is, where our heart lies. The other things run
on ego-steam, not soul-steam or Godly steam. Because I have followed my dreams,
I am that artist/painter I wanted to be . . . and with God leading thru His
Divine Providence, I am also a sacred artist. So my joy is in my mission and
purpose: to paint all the things in nature and around me which speak the name of
God (birds, trees, lakes, flowers) and images He inspires when I sit in front of
the Blessed Sacrament every first Friday. My God has placed me in places I never
imagined, given me three beautiful children, and a life that is joyful,
joy-filled, vibrant, and full of miracles, healings, and adventures.
I’ve learned that we need to do all things for His glory, not ours. When it’s
our glory, then we’re unhappy and miserable and unfocused. We don’t have a sense
of purpose because God is not in the equation. But when we turn all that around,
that’s when we have a sense of mission about our lives – a true sense of
purpose. My dad said that a man who has no courage or faith is aimless. But a
man with courage and faith can move mountains and make a dent in this world
through his goodness.
I always tell God in the stillness of my heart, "Speak, Lord, for I, Your
servant, am listening." And you know what? He always delivers. He always speaks
to me through His perceptible guiding hand. I feel it, I know it. I would
encourage everyone to go full-steam ahead with God in the driver’s seat. There's
nothing better than living one's life with God in the lead. He really knows how
to bless us and give us the things that will delight the heart.
More about Yvonne Martinez Ward:
In the summer of 2006, Ward created her
Young Artists Workshop program to
address the needs of children in the Bronx who have no exposure to the arts. She
wanted to share her art with 3rd and 4th graders in response to the many
children from her school who had asked her repeatedly to teach them how to
paint. As a private art teacher, she now brings her Young Artists Workshop
straight into the homes of the children she teaches. Her long-term goal is to
open up a small art school for children where they can learn studio-artmaking,
exhibit their artwork, and pursue art with greater concentration in an extensive
and diverse program of study in art.
Yvonne also has an art ministry. "I reproduce my artwork onto postcards and
circulate them pretty much around the world, as far as I can get them," she
says. "To date, over 7,500 of my
Sacred Art images
have been circulated globally."
© 2007 by Yvonne Martinez Ward
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