*Lehi and the Liahona*

Last day of the paintings posts! I hope that these have been fun to look at and read I sure enjoyed sharing them! The grand finale is simple. The liahona was a guide for Lehi and his family as they were wandering in the wilderness outside of Jerusalem. It would only give them clear direction if they were obeying God's commandments.

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So here's the thing, I can't find at this very second where the first reference to this "compass" is. I know that it is in the beginning of 1 Nephi. Whoever finds me the reference first wins a prize! Search and comment away my friends!

*Christ Teaching Mary and Martha*

Favorite rebuking in the scriptures time!

Are you familiar with the story of Mary and Martha? They were sisters (you may remember their brother Lazarus...) and their whole family seems to have been pretty close with Jesus. One evening while Christ was teaching at their home Martha was preparing food, or perhaps cleaning, making preparations so that everyone would be comfortable. I think she was probably the ultimate biblical homemaker. I can imagine her frustration that her sister Mary was not helping but instead sitting there with the Savior listening to Him teach.

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 He said to her, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (found in Luke)

It's important to take care of a nice house and prepare food for those staying at the house, but Christ taught an important lesson to Martha that she should follow the example of her sister and put the things of the Lord first.

Sometimes I'm such a Martha. I read a great blog post the other day by Anne and I was really inspired by her sacrifice of fun design-idea blogs so she could put her focus more on her family.

The Anniversary of My Birth

I love then and now comparisons so I thought I'd throw some birthday footage your way! Yes, October is the best month out of the entire year because it's my birthday month and Halloween too! So here's a treat, a shot from my 5th birthday party! I'm the little blonde one :)

And my birthday as properly celebrated at a member's home this past week with AMAZING pumpkin cheesecake! It was seriously the best birthday I could have ever asked for!

And it was finished by opening a package from home! My mom has made it a tradition to theme the birthday packages she sends me based off of whatever I'm obessesing over at the moment. The only thing I'm really obsessed with right now is the Gospel and also...Menchies Frozen Yogurt (probably going to get a post all to itself) so I just said...hmm..bees! Here's what wonderfully amazing things my mom put together for me!

Isn't she the greatest? Such a fun day and I felt so loved by everyone I met. I think I want to always treat people like it's their birthday. Blink-182 may claim that "nobody likes you when you're 23" but I have different plans for this year!!

*Lilies and Paint Splotches*

I had a picture of Mary Magdalene scheduled for today. And I wrote out a whole long description of what the word hope means to me. And then I felt super preachy. And I deleted it. I'm replacing it with something much more personal that I really do love! My absolute favorite artist of all time is Claude Monet.

Close up his paintings are just sloppy brush strokes,

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but when looked at from a distance I'm almost afraid that the water might pour off of the canvas and into the room.

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Here's my mini application to life. When I look close up at small daily parts of life it may seem like everything is just little messy brush strokes. Once I take a second to back up and look at the whole thing with an eternal perspective my tiny brush strokes have added up to make a majestic wonderful work of art!

So, today may feel like just a brush stroke, but its a dab of paint that has to be put onto my giant life masterpiece!

In other news, here are the cupcakes that Elders Lund, Dallof, and Davis made for me for my birthday that inspired me to change the painting of the day!

*My Peace I Give Unto You*

This painting is so unique. I just adore it! In fact it was on the cover of my daily planner for 6 weeks. The title comes from the scripture John 14:27 . I find so much peace in studying the scriptures. In fact, when our alarm goes off at 9 AM to finish up our hour of personal study time and begin companionship study I just want to keep going!

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Just enjoy the simplicity of this work and take some extra time today to find lasting peace in the scriptures.

General Conference

Has everyone already written about General Conference? I may be a few days late to the blog world for writing my thought and sharing some of my notes, but I guess it's good that I'm getting to it at all. I'm really a blogger with the best intentions but not much follow through. Luckily this art post series is going well and still regular! Here's a peep into my study journal so you can see what it looks like in the brain of Sister McCall:

Pretty scary stuff huh?? Do you want to know what was the most exciting to me? Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles gave a talk that was the same theme as my blog! In other words, what you're reading right now is pretty much divinely inspired ;) His talk is titled Perfect Love Casteth Out Fear and you better believe that's a link right to it! Elder Perry asked us to "be bold in our declaration of Jesus Christ".  Sometimes I wonder when I'm blogging if I'm being too bold or straightforward. I wonder if maybe no one will want to read what I have written because it is so gospel centered. This talk encouraged me to to keep it up! I have a blog for personal fun ridiculous things that I will be writing on after my mission and I can do absolutely whatever I want on it.

Right now my purpose is to be BOLD!

I encourage anyone who may read this to be bold in your faith! Proclaim it! Teach others about what you believe! I would love it if more people would just come up to me and tell me about their faith!



And as a treat to you for reading through this post here's another crazy page out of the journal!

*Lord, Save Me*

The first time I saw this painting was 4 months ago when I was at the MTC (Missionary Training Center).  Three weeks before that I had gone to a singles conference in Medford, OR where we went to the temple, had a few workshops to choose from, a service project, and of course dinner and a dance!

One of the classes that I chose was about scripture study and really understanding the doctrine behind the stories in the scriptures. A passage that we focused on during the class was that of Peter walking on water to Christ. Click HERE to read the passage of scripture depicted in this painting.

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 What I find most fascinating is that we are usually quick to judge Peter and think that this story is about him losing his faith. I think I was in that same boat (har har. lame pun NOT intended) until I went to that workshop in Oregon. The instructor asked us to reread verses 31 and 32. Um, how did they get back into the boat? That part of the story is left out! I believe that Peter, after looking up at the Savior and recognizing the need for his direct focus on Him, walked arm and arm back to the ship with Christ.

Think on that a while!

*First Blossom*

I had to start the week of art off with this painting for a few reasons. One is that it is my FAVORITE that I'll be sharing and well, today is my birthday! So of course the best things must be shown!

I was so excited to find out that this painting, First Blossom by Annie Henrie was displayed at BYU as a piece in the artist's BFA portfolio. On the website about the gallery display shared her short description of her work.



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"This painting is about new life, and the process of regeneration, and how on spiritual, physical, and emotional planes we experience death and rebirth. This painting focuses on the wonder of that rebirth, and the miracle it is to be able to begin again."

I saw different significance in this painting. When I look at this I see myself with two of my sisters. I am the one on the left, S is in the middle, and R is on the right. I feel at peace looking at this painting and perhaps the blossom that we are gazing upon is symbolic of the joy found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Something about this image just makes me smile! I can't help myself!

*Art Series Time!*

I've been rifling through a pile of Ensign magazines from hmmm...about 1991-1994 and amid the great articles from the General Authorities of the church and inspiring stories written by members (and awfully funny poems) I have found some artwork that I just love!
So here is what you have to look forward to for the upcoming week:

One painting a day that I find inspirational, uplifting, or otherwise spiritually wonderful as pertaining to the 13th Article of Faith,

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I sure hope you're excited because I've just been bursting at the seams to share some of these!!!

Who Is That at the Door??

Have you ever looked through the peephole and seen some smiling faces like this?

How did you respond?