It all comes down to faith, doesn’t it? I wasn’t sure what God would have me write about, paint about that day, but I had faith He would show me. As I sat down that morning to read the last chapter of the book of Samuel, I soon realized faith was the very thing God wanted to speak through me.

David’s census (2 Samuel 24) shows us that David’s faith in numbers as opposed to faith in God was a great sin. David’s choice to take count of the number of fighting soldiers showed his prideful self-reliance as opposed to humble faith in God.

It’s easy for writers, artists, social media influencers, and the like to get caught up in numbers—comments, views, book sales, likes, follows. The truth is, though, if we are not far more concerned with staying in the will of God than we are with numbers, then something is seriously wrong. It may very well be God’s will for you to help just one or two people. Maybe it’s only you who has the ability to help them. I believe we are all assigned to specific people. When we focus on numbers, we lose sight of God’s will and God’s glory making it about our own glory.

I chose to paint that day, and I chose to have faith that it was for a purpose, that what I created that day would help, move, or even just inspire someone.

As I dipped my fingers into the paint and dabbed them onto the paper, I remembered my previous finger paintings and was reminded of how silly they looked in the beginning. We have to trust the process as artists, as believers. In order to create something really beautiful, we need to have just a little bit of faith.