Insider Members,
I was stumped…
At first I wanted to share updates about this past week like I’ve done this, I did this, I’m working on this, here’s a Bible I finished I didn’t get show you until now… the list went on.
Something about that wasn’t sitting well with me.
So I sat for a while staring at my screen with practically a blank newsletter.
And sitting staring at the screen was getting me frustrated cause I felt like I was wasting time.
Why couldn’t I just share about all the things I did?
I reflected deeper and realized a lot of the “I did this” - “I finished that” stuff stemmed from me wanting to try and prove I “did things” and that I’m making progress on my work, cause I felt like I’ve had some set backs this week.
But reflecting even deeper I realized I was trying to prove my worth, and that I might have been trying to appear like I was keeping it all together “professionally” as I made progress on my art/ business work.
It was a good moment of being reminded that my worth is not rooted in the works I do, rather my worth is rooted in Christ.
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7 ESV
What has truly mattered most to me over this past week was not the work I’ve gotten done…
…it was getting to spend time with my friends (long distance friends)
Whether that time was spent through texts, voice messages, emails, video calls, and/ or phone calls, all of that time spent getting to be in touch with them and hear what’s happening in their lives has meant so much to me.
So today’s newsletter is gonna be different.
I wanna share about some of the incredible people in my life and a lil bit about what they have been up to/ do, that I believe would be pretty meaningful for y’all to hear about and maybe inspire you in some way.
I wouldn’t be where I am without God and I don’t think I would have grown into the person I am today without the relationships of family, friends, and people He has connected me with.
My sweet friend Savvy from Hawai’i is such a blessing in my life. I haven’t met someone else who shows/ has so much love for everyone like how she does. She radiates with love and her heart is so big for the Lord. She lives and walks in faith in way that is so inspiring to me. We connected on Instagram a couple years ago and it’s hard for me to picture my life without her.
Savvy recently started a brand new blog that I subscribed to.
She is gifted in poetry/ writing and it truly has been so sweet getting to read what she shares.
It’s encouraging, reflecting, heart touching and I think you would enjoy reading what she shares as well.
Here’s a lil bit of her blog bio:
Just a girl who loves Jesus, coffee, quiet moments, and putting words to the things I carry in my heart. Here I share poetry, reflections, and little pieces of everyday life; writing between the lines of seasons past and present.
My dear friend Leah from California is more than a friend to me. I don’t think I can even put into words how much she means to me. She’s the kind of gal that can push me through a four hour leg day at the gym and celebrate our accomplishments with 6 rolls of sushi (3 for each of us 😂) and then top it off with gelato for dessert and continue chatting past midnight with each other 🤣. We were roommates for a couple months in a different state before God’s plans took us in other directions in life, but our friendship has only continued to deepen and grow over the years.
For some of you who have been an Insider Members for a while, you might recall I went to California back in February to help Leah finish filming for some art films she was creating. (Leah is an artist too)
These short films have been years in the making and I’m excited to share with you that Leah finished editing them and are now posted on her YouTube channel!
The videos on her YouTube channel that I‘m referring about are “How to Make a Painting”, “Redacted Part 1” & “Redacted Part 2”
My adored friend Rachel from Colorado is a lovely woman who I connected with on Instagram and to be honest I like don’t even remember how we became friends 😆 I feel like one day we were following each other and replying to each other’s stories and then before we knew it we were FaceTime calling each other, having painting chat sessions, and being puzzled with the fact that we haven’t met in person yet 🤣 We both are like… how did we even get to this point?! It feels like we’ve known each other for a while even though we really haven’t, but gosh I’m blessed by her friendship and I can hardly wait for the day we finally get to meet in person!
Rachel is an artist and creates beautiful art inspired by God’s creation and her relationship with Him.
She recently released an undated planner that was intentionally designed to help you bring God into your daily life through simple, practical steps. From monthly and weekly overviews to prayer and devotional trackers, with the beauty of Christ centered thoughtfulness!
I ordered one of these planners from Rachel and I’m eagerly looking forward to start using it once it arrives to me sometime next week 💖
I think if any one of you likes to write things down with pen on paper, be intentional with plans, special dates, prayer requests, and spend that devoted time with the Lord, seeking Him daily, then I truly think you’d love one of these planners.
I bet it will be so cool to look back in the planner to see how God has answered prayers in your life and just have a beautiful reflection of your walk with the Lord with all that you document inside of it.
My nature & travel loving friend Katie from Florida is that gal that has always been down for my wild adventurous ideas. I mean I literally sent her a DM on Instagram asking if she would like to travel with me to Hawaii (and we had never met in person before I asked her that) and for some wild reason I have no idea why, but she said yes and we booked it and had so much fun that we booked more trips together 😆
Some of y’all probably know we went to Costa Rica together last month and we already have another trip booked to the beautiful ….oops I can’t share the location yet 🤭
Before and after our trip to Costa Rica, Katie has been working on creating the most adorable hippo artworks I have ever seen!
I commissioned her to paint me a mango hippo and coconut hippo.
Katie is currently working on creating an art collection of Pygmy Hippos that will be released on Sept 4th which is National Wildlife Day but also fun fact..Sept 4th is also Katie’s birthday! 🥳
So if you don’t want to miss out on her adorable collection of hippo art then I encourage you to consider joining her email newsletter as well that way you will be one of the first to receive the link when her collection goes live!
You better watch out and mark your calendar cause you betcha I’m gonna be clicking on the link to collect some hippo art too when she releases it 😜
My beloved friend Harper with a huge heart Jesus, has touched my life in more ways than I can list in this email. She is a full-time missionary. I am in awe by the way she says yes to Lord where He calls her to go. Not many people are willing to live this kind of a lifestyle with the type of sacrifices that are needed to fully live out this kind of calling.
We connected on Instagram and I had the honor to meet her in person in August of last year, before she moved out of the country to serve in Africa and Asia.
We had the opportunity to choreograph a dance together and share the dance in worship with others a week before she left the country.
Honestly it’s one of the sweetest memories I’ve made in my life so far.
I wish my words could fully express what it was like to experience praising the Lord’s name with dance along side a sister in Christ I practically just met and share this type of worship with the people who came for this night of worship. The atmosphere really did shift and I had never experienced something like that before. Hearts were opened including mine which is probably one of the many reasons why it touched me so much.
Harper uses her gifts in dance and art to share the gospel with children and people.
It’s absolutely beautiful how God is using her to reach people in all walks of life wherever He leads her.
Her obedience to Him is really encouraging and inspiring to me.
I’m counting down the days when I get to meet up with her again later this year when she finally comes back to America ❤️
I recently learned she does all the fundraising herself. As a full time missionary she does rely on the financial gifts of others to support the work she does and trying to fundraise while doing the many other things she is doing in the field is a lot to handle.
I know what it’s like to where multiple hats doing art fulltime. It’s not easy doing things on your own and all you want to do is keep using the gifts God has blessed you with and share those gifts. Having a community of people who support your work, love you, and want to see you thrive doing what God has called you to do is a HUGE blessing.
All of you here are a blessing to me. Whether you’ve prayed for me, shared my art with someone, or collected anything I’ve created. It has all made a difference in helping me to keep saying yes to where God is leading me.
I want to see Harper thrive in her calling, which is why part of my art sales are donated to her. I also commissioned her to create me an artwork and gave her full artistic freedom to create whatever the Holy Spirit led her to. Here is what she created.
It’s the Hebrew word Hithallek that means “a walk and journey with God that grows intimacy with Him” and the timing of when she complete this really resonated to me especially that specific Hebrew word.
If you would like an artwork created for you by Harper let me know and I can get you in touch with her. She will be coming back to the USA later this year and I could potentially get the art from her when I see her and then package and ship it to you.
Anyways if you’d like to know more about her ministry and support her journey here is her page.
Another thing that has been really sweet is getting spend time with my momma and do photoshoots with the baby dolls she paints/ creates. Yes that baby in the picture is not a really baby. It’s a silicone doll my momma made. She is an absolutely incredible artist. And her dolls have been collected by people all across the world. One of her latest dolls which was a baby gorilla is currently on its way to its new home in Germany.
This week really has been a great one and what has made it great is getting to spend the time with the friends and family I love.
These people have helped changed my life for the better and there are a handful more family members and friends that have brought so much joy, love, support, care, and encouragement into my life but I want to respect their privacy about them.
Thank you for all the love and support!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
God bless,
❤️🔥Bri
