A gentleman from a church service that I was painting live in approached me after painting one evening and asked if I would do a personal piece for him.  After hearing a little bit of his story, the two of us orchestrated a visit to his house in Benton, KY accompanied by one of my close friends.  His house ministered to me.  There was such a peace and a rest over that place.  After the end of marriage and the growing up of his kids, his only personal company is the Lord and the two talk a lot.  After a busy morning at church the three of us each took a piece of furniture and promptly fell asleep the peace was so evident in that room with the sun shining in through the windows.  This man had a business on the corner in Benton and a major corporation wanted to purchase it from him for a stated large sum amount.  He recently had closed down his business on this location six months prior was trusting in the Lord for provision and was being led by him on how he spend his days.  The gentleman was heavily involved with ministry in his local A.A. when a while back one of the young men he was closely intertwined with died in a drunk driving accident.  This so jarred the man who hired me to paint that he had pulled back from ministry and wasn’t doing any at that point.  My friend and I prayed healing over him and spoke truth into his value and how the Lord saw the situation releasing him to forgive himself.

He gave me permission to paint whatever came to mind.  I saw the painting above in my mind.  The week I was due to paint it, I ended up watching a grandmother with dementia in Springfield, MO.  For an outting with her at the beginning of the week the two of us took a field trip to a butterfly museum in Branson, MO.  One of the main butterflies there was the one I had seen in my mind for this painting and I began and finished this painting while in Missouri with grandma Wilma in my care.

I returned to this man’s house to present to him his painting.  On that same journey my same friend and I took a field trip with him to the property of his business land that was still pending its sale after three years.  I explained to him that the season he was in had him held tightly but it wasn’t to his harm but to his benefit.  There was soon coming his time and day for release to walk in the things he’d been waiting and hoping for.  No longer would he feel bound or grounded but it was time for him to take flight.  Within three weeks after this juncture the sale of his property went through and he received his awaited funds of hundreds of thousands of dollars.  He is still an encouraging friend to this day.