Created with purpose—

indeed we are.

Every person, every animal,

every flower and star.

.

Created on purpose

by a God who is love.

Created to glorify

our God above.

.

Thank God for these flowers;

they remind me I’m known.

They remind me I’ll never

have to live my life alone.

.

These flowers are a blessing;

these flowers are a dream.

These flowers are even more

than what they may seem.

.

These flowers are beautiful,

but they’re so much more.

These flowers are something

I’ll forever adore.

.

See these flowers taught me more

than any teacher ever dared.

They taught me my gifts

are meant to be shared.

.

They inspired me to let go

and face all my fears.

They even brought out of me

much needed tears.

.

So thank You, Lord,

for these flowers You made.

Thank You for answering

these prayers I’ve prayed.

.

These flowers were a gift from God, created with purpose. I received the gift as I paid a visit for the first time to one of my now favorite little gardens, a wildflower garden, filled with gorgeous blooms of pink, purple, peach, and lavender. I felt inspired that day to share these flowers with someone, not knowing that the simple act of kindness would go on to inspire a full blown ministry blog, two children’s books, and my very first piece of artwork to be sold. These flowers were a gift from God, given to me to be shared with others.

God shows His love for us in many ways, and if we receive that love as we should, it will begin to inspire us. We begin to find ourselves wanting to share love with others—because He loved us first.

The night before I went to the garden, God gave me a dream. A seemingly random, yet oddly specific dream. I dreamt that I made a visit to my childhood home, and I met the people that lived there. As I saw all the little flowers around me, I remembered the dream, and I knew what God wanted me to do with the bouquet I picked. I like to think these flowers were exactly what she needed that day—the woman whose presence now occupied the walls I grew up inside of. The woman who gardens in the same back yard I spent countless summer days in, jumping on my trampoline and playing chase with my dog, Bones.

A few months after this experience, God gave me another dream. I was walking down the street in a familiar neighborhood with a bouquet of beautiful flowers in my hand. I looked down at the bouquet, and I thought to myself how beautiful these flowers were and how I longed to keep them forever. The thing about flowers though is this—we can’t hold on to them forever because they will soon wilt and die. Our gifts, just like these beautiful flowers, are meant to be shared with others; this is how we preserve their life. This is how we preserve our gifts, by sharing them. Even when it’s scary, even when we are afraid of what someone else will think, afraid of being judged, afraid of letting go, afraid of failing, or afraid of our gifts not being appreciated—we push through that fear, and we share with the world what God has given us. This is what it means to be alive, and this idea, this dream, this revelation is what inspired my blog.

When God told me to start the blog through this dream, I immediately rationalized my way out of it. “I’ll run out of things to write about.” “No one will care what I have to say.” “Who am I to preach about anything, anyway?” All of these words I came to recognize as the enemy’s voice persuading me to hold on to my gifts in the false hope of preserving them. “Just keep writing in your journals. That’s the safest thing.”

I felt God speaking to me once again as 2024 came to a close. It was time to set finger painting aside for a bit and get into “big girl art” again. That was a bit intimidating, but I felt like God had been trying to push me in that direction. “You need to have more faith in yourself.” I felt Him say. “I gave you these flowers, these gifts because I have faith in you. Now you just need to have faith in yourself.” Thus, I decided in 2025 I was going to pick back up where I left off, accepting the inevitable emotional consequences of my work not turning out perfect. Accepting that I was going to have to make mistakes in order to get better, but I would get better.

These doubts I had about my artwork began to sound all too familiar. They were the very same doubts I had about my blog when God told me to start it, the same doubts I had when I told myself publishing a book was too complicated, the same doubts I had when I told myself nursing school was too hard, and I wasn’t smart enough, the same doubts I cast right down into the pits of Hell where they belong.

I’ve always been hesitant to call myself an artist. The gamut of emotions I feel when I can’t make something look the way I envision or worse, create something I love only to destroy it by over-perfecting—it’s almost too much to bare. In fact, it’s kept me from sticking with art long enough to get really good at it. My mom kept insisting I sell my art. “You need to have more faith in yourself.” She said. My mom has always believed in me, and I thank God for her faith in my abilities. Sometimes God reiterates His faith in us by placing people in our lives to have faith in us as well.

Even when I would get it right, creating something that met my standards, I would have a hard time with the idea of giving it away or even selling it. I put so much of my heart into my art, I feel as if it’s my child in a way. But as I pondered the idea of selling my art, I began to remember these beautiful flowers. I began to realize I don’t need to keep my art to myself any more than a mother should keep her child to herself. We must have faith in our children so they can live out their purpose. I, as an artist, must have faith in my work to live out its purpose. We create to share with the world, to make it a better place, but that can’t happen if we choose to hide it away.

There’s not a single part of me that wishes I had kept these flowers to myself that day or even today as they live on in this piece of art. It is the act of sharing them that brings me such joy and fulfillment.

When a coworker asked me to write a poem to give to her daughter a few weeks ago, I realized something. I have something unique that people want, something special that no one else can replicate—I have gifts that God gave to me, gifts to be shared with others, used for His glory. We all have unique gifts; we all were created with a purpose.

So these days, I choose to have faith in what I create, and I can’t deny that it has absolutely everything to do with the faith others have had in me; it has everything to do with God’s love—the priceless gift that never tarnishes, fades, withers, or dies. When I’m met with fear and doubt, I’ll remember these flowers; I’ll remember, like these flowers, I too was created with purpose.

I’m excited to share that my artwork will now be for sale in my Etsy Shoppe and EBay Store, starting off with this first piece, “Created With Purpose”. More to come soon.

kamillestreasures.etsy.com

eBay.com/usr/kamillegrace16