Well, That's a Creative Solution

Happy holidays!

We’re over halfway through our miniseries about the unexpected ways in which God can move. As we march onward with this theme, I hope you continue to learn and share with those around you. I know I’ve been learning a lot through the content, and that’s just one of the things I love about being a part of Lantova. We’re not just sharing things that we think sound life-changing; we’ve lived this stuff out and know it’s worth it.

Anyway, let’s dive into this week’s pillar: creativity.

What Do You Picture When You Hear the Word "Creativity"?

Creativity can seem like a very vague or strictly “artistic” concept. The image that pops into the average person's head when they think of “artistic” folks is an eccentric and mustached man carefully and masterfully crafting the Mona Lisa. Creativity, according to the common person, is reserved only for the Leonardos and Van Goghs, not for your everyday Joes.

I didn’t mean to make that rhyme, but hey, that worked.

I think of creativity in the sense that you are bringing something into existence or thinking outside of the box.

Whether you are artistic or not, we all are creative in some capacity.

Some of us think creatively.

Some of us lead creatively.

Some of us plan creatively...you get the idea.

You know who else is creative? God is. By golly, He is extremely creative, and He’s creative in a couple ways.

Firstly, He exercised His own creativity to breathe life into life itself. That is such a wondrous example of God’s own innovation and quite literally bringing something into existence.

Secondly, God is creative in the way He answers prayers and teaches us. He often does this in VERY unique and ironic ways ways, and this is something I’ve experienced firsthand.

Behind the Curtain: A Personal Backstory

From the ages of eleven to seventeen, I had the unique opportunity to star as a main character on a church’s YouTube series. This series was centered around a team of people who helped kids learn more about God in a way that best suited them. Essentially, this style of show was a mix of classic Disney Channel and Jesus, and my times on this set were some of the most foundational periods in my walk with God.

When I hit late high school, I experienced a variety of frustrations and deep hurt that left me scrambling for a fraction of something stable. I had nothing to hold onto...nothing to keep me standing. I felt lifeless, but I had one thing keeping me going: I made a commitment to share the grace of God with kids all over the world through this show, and I wasn’t about to stop now.

After many tearful prayers to the Lord to just fix everything, I had given up on life making sense and just did what I could to make it through each day; however, I poured my entire being into creating those episodes for the kids because I knew they would be changed for the better.

What’s so strange (and downright hilarious in hindsight) is that I was the one who was truly being changed all that time.

As one of the main characters on this show, there were a lot of episodes where my character taught the audience about very specific lessons based on biblical truths.

Here’s the irony of this whole thing: my on-screen character kept teaching about the incredibly specific things that were actively punching me in the gut off screen.

If you have acted before, you know that you develop a sort of relationship with your characters, and I really did love portraying my character! During this time period, however, the contrast between my "real life" and my character's "screen life" was so severe that it led to this constant and very painful reminder that my character knew how to deal with the things I was going through. The real me did not.

A Few Months Later...

After a few months, I was fed up. I didn’t want God to beat around the bush or tease me with this life vs. screen dynamic. I was hurt, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I wanted to be healed completely, and I felt ridiculous that I couldn’t just move on with my life. I felt that God was just humoring himself with my pain by letting me teach kids about lessons I hadn’t even learned yet. One night, I was tossing these thoughts back and forth in my brain as I highlighted my lines in my next script. While I was sitting on my bed and alternating between my blue, yellow, and orange markers, I suddenly had a vibrant realization: these lessons are for me, not just the third graders.

In all those scripts, all those ironic lessons, all of that heartache, God was showing me exactly what I needed, and He was preparing my heart to be healed. He wasn’t ignoring my prayers or throwing my pain in my face. He was showing me exactly what I needed, and He was considerate enough to make it simple enough so I could understand it in the clearest way possible (through third-grader church material!). Talk about the Lord getting creative in addressing the hard things.

After I had my epiphany, I set down my highlighter, reread the script again, put it aside, and said a small prayer. I honestly don’t remember what I prayed, but I know that prayer shifted the tone around that period of my life. No, I was not immediately restored or okay, but my attitude changed. It was still very painful learning those lessons, but I knew God was there. I knew He heard me. I knew He loved me. That was and still is something I know I can cling to no matter what.

What Does All That Mean for You?

I don’t know what you’ve been through or what you’ll continue to go through, but I do know that God is with you every step of the way. He’s not teasing you by hiding things from you, but I also know that He won’t just give you a cheat sheet. He wants you to grow and become stronger alongside Him and that comes through trusting Him and keeping your eyes open.

God answers prayers and meets our needs in the most unexpected (dare I say, creative?) ways that turn out to be the best ways for us to learn. If I didn’t wrestle with God through the videos I was creating, I don’t know if I ever would have permanently retained those lessons, but I’m glad He provided a way for me to latch onto those memories to remind me that He is there. God’s creativity surpasses all our understanding, but he's always exercising his creativity to bring our good into existence.