Data Points: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Today’s image is by Katy Betz. She was gracious enough to give me permission to share it with you all today! I also wanted to share that if you like her work (I do!) you can see more of her art at http://Katy Betz.com

Hi everyone! I am excited to introduce another Draw Near to Me endeavor called “Data Points”. I wanted to feature those stories that are hard to integrate into our overall faith journeys, but are still important. As a scientist, I like collecting data points. You often hear people dismiss that there is data for God, but what if that is not true? What if the evidence and all these data points are out there, they are just presented in a different way? I believe the data is in all those small stories about how God moves and shows up in a way that reminds us of his presence. Data points is about compiling and sharing those experiences. With that, here is one of those stories from my life. It involves the wonderful artist, Katy Betz, who I am also honored to call a friend.

A few years ago, I went on a small women’s retreat organized by a friend.  It was a time to get away from the distractions of the world and connect with God.  It was there that I first met my friend Katy, who lived in a different city.  She was wildly creative but not self-absorbed, kind, fun, athletic, up for adventure, and a godly woman that has a curiosity about the world and God’s creation that translates in what she does.  She can generate images that range from realistic or whimsical, but either way they will capture your eye.  She shared a picture of something she painted, shown above, and it immediately stood out to me.  There was something in that piece that piqued my interest as to what that character was experiencing.    

Several months later, Katy came to visit our mutual good friend that had organized the women’s retreat.  On Saturday, a few of us got together at my friend’s house to spend time catching up with Katy.  Gathered around the dining room table, we began to talk about the more imaginative things that were on our hearts to do.  Several of us wanted to write a piece of work, whether a play or a book, that would stir people’s thoughts and hearts in some way.  As we began talking about the logistics of how we best engaged with writing, Katy spoke about how she was more of a visual thinker.  For example, she knew there was a greater story behind the image of that girl playing the harp that she painted.  She was inspired by images.  It made a lot of sense to me because Katy’s creativity flows so freely through the visual stories that she brings to life with each image that she captures in her drawings, illustrations, and paintings.  Instead of having a vision board of the story line filled with post-its containing written words, sentences, and themes, we suggested that perhaps a vision board filled with pictures of things that inspired her would be how the story would come together.  I believe this idea resonated with her.  It was a moment where you really had this appreciation of how God has built each of us uniquely to express our gifts in different ways. 

The next day, the girls were all going to go to brunch after the 11AM church service finished to spend some last moments with Katy before she left town.  I was disappointed that I would not be able to join them, but I had a meeting for a short-term mission trip to Uganda that I was co-leading and it was held at the same time as brunch.  In the morning, Jeff and I went to the earlier 9AM service and came home.  It was a typical day until God stepped into my morning with a prompt.    

I was shuffling through some things in my drawer after I got home from church and saw this gift that Matthew, Jeff’s nephew, had given me for Christmas.  It was a portable printer that you can connect to your phone to instantly print off images.  Matthew gives the most thoughtful gifts.  Even though it was months after Christmas, I will be honest and admit that it was still in the original packaging.  I wanted to save it for something special (don’t ask me why…it’s kind of dumb not to have used it!) and planned on using it for the first time when I went on a mission trip again.  It had been set aside in my mind for that purpose and so after the holidays I tucked it away in that drawer and did not think about it for months and months. 

That morning, when I caught a glimpse of the printer for the first time in a long time, I thought, “Yes, that’s right.  I am going to make sure to pack this for when I go to Uganda so I can take pictures of the kids and give them photos of themselves.” That was my plan at least, but God had something different in mind.

Suddenly, God told me, “Give Katy your portable printer.”  It was not an audible voice, but when the Holy Spirit nudges you, sometimes it is very clear.  I thought, “Huh? But God, I haven’t even used it yet.  I was going to take pictures of the kids in Africa with it.”  I mean, that seemed like a non-selfish thing to do.  Again, the same prompt, “Give Katy the printer”.  I thought, “Really God? This was a gift that Matthew gave to me.  Are you sure?  I would feel bad that I gave it away to someone else.  What if he finds out?  I don’t want him to think I am not grateful.”  Then, guess what?  God was like, “Gosh Silvia, great point. I didn’t think of that. You are so smart. I was being silly.” Ha! Obviously that did NOT happen. God had not changed His mind. 

For the third time, the Holy Spirit nudged me, “Give Katy your printer so she can print pictures for her vision board.”   I thought, “Are you sure God? I am pretty sure this was expensive and she is going to think I am very strange to give this to her.  Besides, she probably has a printer and I am going to look like a creep for no reason because it would seem excessive.” 

Here is the thing, no matter what my thoughts were about how it was going to be best used, God’s plan was different than mine.  I had the option to either do it my way, or God’s way.  So, I told him, “Okay God, I trust You.  You know I am going to look weird, but I’ll do it.” 

I texted the girls and asked them to please wait after the service because I was going to be at the church anyway for the Africa meeting and I wanted to say bye to Katy in person before she left.  I placed the printer in a gift bag and headed off to church.  When I saw her, I told her that God had put it on my heart to give her something.  That it was something I already had, but had not yet used, and God told me to give it to her.  I did the whole preamble because I did not want her to think I was some psycho that went on Amazon, got same day delivery on Saturday for a portable printer, and then, Tada! Here is an expensive gift to make it oh so awkward for no reason.  Besides, what I told her was all true.  This was God’s idea.  I was just the messenger.

I did not anticipate what happened next.  When she saw the printer, Katy began to get choked up and tears were coming to her eyes.  She looked at me and then proceeded to tell me her side of the story.  It turned out that her printer was broken and she did not have a way to print off the pictures to begin her vision board.  She had lifted up this concern in prayer to God the night before, and now, out of nowhere, a printer had emerged the next day.  God had answered her prayer in such a real and tangible way.  It was that impactful moment where we both realized that God hears our prayers, He cares about us even in the small things, and He has a plan of provision even when we cannot imagine how it would come to fruition. 

I began to get teary eyed and felt overwhelmed that God had used me to accomplish something to pour into someone else.  That He had shown me that His plan was better than mine.  I realized that if I had clung to my limited understanding of the situation, my pride of not wanting to seem odd, and my anxiety of giving away something that I felt I should have kept because it was a gift, I would have missed out on being a part of God’s true intent for that gift.  I would have missed out on witnessing how God was moving in such a tangible way.  I would not have this story, this piece of evidence, of God’s goodness and presence.  The gift was not just for Katy, it was also for me.  A story in my life to remind me that God is no figment of my imagination.  He is real, ever present, ever knowing, and ever loving. 

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As an extra bonus, I wanted to share what God put on my heart about Katy’s painting this morning as I was writing this. I share that below: