This is a section from a future post, starting with this painting I once did:
This was my favorite picture I ever painted, the first one I painted.
And yet I was honored to give it away to a dear online friend from Australia, Juni Desiree (we met online in the comment section of a blog she used to have). It was the only way to say "thank you" for something amazing she did for me: dedicating to me a book she published of pictures she drew about her mental health journey.
Here's a YouTube video on it: The Art of Mental Health: Book Launch!!!! (at 5:04 you can see the "Dedication: For Heather" page"😊), and here's where you can buy it: The Art of Mental Health Ebook - Etsy Australia.
Ironically, she never knew how very much it meant to me that she did this for me. Because when she surprised me with a copy of the book and the dedication, I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was going through the hardest time of my life: the arrest and investigation of my mother for murder (at the same time we left our church of 20 years because of the Calvinism that took it over, which meant I had very little social support for that terrible time). I didn't want to tell her about my most terrible time when she was going through a most joyous time for her, publishing her book.
But Juni's super-kind deed of dedicating her book to me (and me learning how much I meant to her) brought some much-needed joy and light into my life at that very dark time.
Being an encouragement to her when she needed it most ended up helping her be an encouragement to me when I needed it most.😊
Her dedication reads:
"For Heather: You were the first person I told the things I was too afraid to say. You simply listened and never judged me. You gave me the courage to tell other people. And now I've written this book. It all started with you."
Incredibly touching, and so humbling!!! I can't tell you how honored I am!
And it's so beautiful how she opens her heart up so vulnerably with us in her book and her videos, sharing her mental health journey with us so honestly. I think we could all be inspired and encouraged by it!
I wish I had shared links to her book years ago to thank her and help her sell them, but I think I was afraid of looking like I was bragging or something. (Ironically, trying to be humble by not sharing it because it honors me is actually not being humble because I put thoughts of myself over helping her, over celebrating her beautiful heart and art, over highlighting her book so that people could find it and buy it. Hmm, ironic, huh?)
Anyway, now that I'm over myself, I'd like to honor her in this way by sharing her beautiful book... and the journals she makes.
Juni creates charming, artsy "junk journals" (for sale). Here's a video she did where she featured my painting above (I gave her permission to use that painting any way she wants to): Vintage Junk Journal: Friendship.
What an amazing honor! And it's so cool to see it in her video from all the way across the world and think "Hey, my painting! Cool!"
I really had no idea I touched her so deeply or helped her so much. It just goes to show that you never know how God might use you in someone's life. So reach out and offer whatever encouragement you can, even if it seems small to you. (And isn't her voice beautiful! One of the most beautiful I've ever heard.)
