This is a section from a future post, which shows this painting I once did:
This was my favorite one, the first one I ever painted like this.
And it graced my wall for a few years... until I gave 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. (This also happened to be shortly after 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... and shortly before all the covid chaos and lockdown. It was a terrible several months for me, knocking my legs right out from under me - and I haven't fully gotten back on my feet yet. Not sure if I ever will.)
I didn't want to tell her about my most terrible time, not when she was going through her most joyous time publishing her book. And so I never told her how very much it meant to me that she did this for me, how incredibly significant and special the timing was. 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.
And it's pretty cool that me being an encouragement to her when she really needed it led to her being an encouragement to me when I really needed it.😊
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 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 art and heart, over highlighting her book so that people could find it and buy it. 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 also creates charming, artsy "junk journals" (for sale). Here's a video she did where she featured my painting above in one of her journals: 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. (I figured she was just that sweet of a person, always that complimentary to everyone.) 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 you don't even have to know how to fix it or what to say. Sometimes all you need to do is just listen and be there for them. (And isn't her voice beautiful! One of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard.)]
[Click here for a post that talks a little more about the way I painted my pictures. I really should start doing that again.]
