96: Can Art Help You Spend Time With God? Guest: Kelly Brinkman

When life feels like a glob of mess, sometimes all it takes is a stroke of creativity to clear the mind.  It's my pleasure to introduce you to Kelly Brinkman, the imaginative force behind "Art for the Soul," in a conversation that reveals how art can be a profound conduit for spiritual renewal. As you listen, you'll be transfixed by the way Kelly compares the malleability of clay in an artist's hands to our own transformation under divine guidance. We weave through the pages of her book, sharing personal moments of struggle and the creative forms of prayer that have deepened our connection with Christ. From painting prayers to understanding the cleansing power of water in art and spirituality, we uncover uplifting practices that promise to rejuvenate your faith and clear your mind.

Kelly and I discuss the parallels between centering clay on a potter's wheel and centering one's life on Jesus, emphasizing the importance of intentionality in both pursuits.

Kelly is  offering a special downloadable gift to enhance your Bible study in a creative and engaging way. Join us for this inspiring journey, and discover the transformative potential of art in your spiritual life.

Resources Mentioned on the Episode and suggested reading & social media handles:

• KellyBrinkmann.com/book
• KellyBrinkmann.com/newsletter -  Get Your Freebie
• KellyBrinkmann.com
• The Me Project Academy Newsletter 

Calls to Action:

·        Sign up for The Me Project Academy Newsletter for resources on decluttering your mind in order to grow in Christ, academy news and new releases of the podcast. 

·        Website: www.hangingoutwithjesuspodcast.com

Thanks for listening. I pray this episode was a blessing to you. Leave a comment or rate this episode . Then pass it on. Share this link: https://lyvitabrooks.com/

Transcript

Lyvita: 0:03

Welcome to Hanging Out with Jesus Podcast, the podcast that helps you spend time with God to declutter your mind. This is episode 96. Does it feel like your walk with Christ has become mundane? But on Friday anymore. My guests and I have a few examples just for you to use to refresh your walk with Christ. Hi, saints, I'm Lovita, an author whose mission is to help you declutter the noises of heartbreak, anxiety and fear by giving you a plan that will build you up to go and do what God has called you to do. Joining me in this discussion is Kelly Brinkmann. I asked her to join us because she wrote a book called Art for the Soul and I'm telling you, saints, I read it from cover to cover and I practice it, especially during that very intense time during my divorce. It helped me to relax and to get some crazy thoughts out of my head. Well, saints, I'm praying, we're praying, that this episode awaits your senses to intentionally doing new things to refresh your relationship with Christ and spruce a few things up. So let's get started.

Kelly: 1:44

Lyvita, thanks so much for having me on. You have such joy in your voice.

Lyvita: 1:51

Oh, praise God, I'm glad you are here, because this book has truly been an inspiration to me, and when it's been an inspiration to me, I try my best to share that with the listeners. So, kelly, let's dive in, because I really want the Saints to get a taste of what you've written and I want you to know that the concepts and the things that we're sharing, you can also use them when you're thinking about music or dancing, or writing or painting or drawing. We're just going to share one form of art, in which Kelly will share in a minute what that is. But we don't want you to limit yourself. We want you to break free from doing the mundane, the regular stuff that you do, the things that are beginning to feel, oh hum, there's no excitement. Well, this episode, we're going to help you put some excitement back into that joy you had, because we've been through a lot in these last couple of years.

Lyvita: 3:11

So it's time to dust away those cobwebs and come outside to be refreshed and have a new outlook online. So, kelly, can you share a little bit about yourself so we will know what type of artist, you are Sure, thank you.

Kelly: 3:32

I'm an artist, an author and speaker and I work primarily with clay. I think it's because that red Missouri clay where I live just outside of St Louis when I can get my hands deep into that, it connects with so many spiritual lessons that it's transformed my faith. Clay making process illustrates our faith life and as you read the book, I was really just so touched when you reached out to say that you had read it personally and I'm so glad that you were encouraged. One of the things I love sharing about it is how we can be remade in Christ, and you often speak to those who are brokenhearted and when we're captive by our own anxieties and prisoners of fear or poor in spirit. Well, clay illustrates how we can be changed through Christ.

Kelly: 4:32

One of the stories I love to share with audiences that really spurred me to write it down in the book was how we're reclaimed, meaning you can take all of our brokenness, our mistakes, our failures, our uh-ohs, and really turn those over to God. What that looks like in the clay studio is taking all those dried out pieces, our own tried out efforts, and putting them in a bucket. You know what they're transformed by and that's water, water alone. And you and I both know reading through God's word, water is so often symbolized by the Holy Spirit. So when we take those tried out, dried out pieces of our own lives and turn them over to God and go God, I mean the whole thing's a mess. I pray that you just start again right. Then it gives him permission to begin to work in our lives so that he can use that to make us new.

Lyvita: 5:29

That is so true, and this book allows you to do that because it opens your mind to things that you weren't paying attention to before and if I remember, I think it was around page 52. I have so many things in here. Just, you know, some people don't like it when you fold down the pages. I had pages folded down, I had things written on it, but you were talking about different ways that we can pray, and it doesn't have to be like a written prayer. We can draw our prayer Right. I mean, that thing was like what you know. It kind of like opened my eyes to being creative and just realizing no-transcript Our God, he's right here with us, he's right here. So rather, we speak it out loud or put it in some kind of drawing or whatever we just, he hears you, he hears your heart, he knows what you're going, he's gone through it with you and I just thought that this because you had in the book was called Creative Connection Activities, like the things that you just shared. You know, in the chapter you give us time to reflect, but also you give us something to do, and I just want you to know that when you're going through, there are some books that just talk to you, but they don't give you that opportunity to really connect with what you're learning. And this is why I so enjoyed this book.

Lyvita: 7:37

And I guess, I guess, kelly, sometimes you just have to go through some things and the Lord says listen, stop, just stop for a second, just stop. I need you to stop, I need you to make some connections. Yeah, and that's what this book and it's also a part of the title is called Growing your Face Through Creativity. So you have written some really creative ways of refreshing our relationship with Christ and, like I said, there was one that I was. Oh, that's what it was on page 95. And you know we'll come to 95, that's page 95. Yeah, we're talking about sketch, draw, write out your prayers, consider using a journal or notebook. That's right, that's right, right. And can you elaborate on another one that maybe you really, really enjoyed writing?

Kelly: 8:40

Sure. So I think that I really tried to speak to the way that we learned and the book is meant to be read like coffee with a friend and it talks about let's just talk where the rubber meets the road and what is it like to actually absorb the words that we're reading in God's word and, furthermore, like you were alluding, to apply them to our own lives. So, at the end of every chapter of reflection and response and there are two, three questions that just allow you that moment to pause and think and then every one of the 24 chapters has a creative connection activity. Now, for those of you who are not super artistic, don't worry, we're not going to be painting them on a Lisa, but it gives you a hands on thing to do and I have a private link just for readers. They can go on and actually get some printables and walk through, walk through some hands on the road.

Kelly: 9:38

So I like to sketch out a verse and I do it again and again until I have a nice sketch. Those kind of end up as bookmarks and that's one way that I process what the Lord is doing and spend time and memorize his word. And they also think that you know our prayers don't have to be written down in some you know notebook every day or only done during church. But we have a family prayer board at our house and it is a simple chalkboard. It's hung at the height of our kids because I want them to know this too. And they go, and if things happen during the day and they know they need to pray for someone or over something, they go, add it to the board and we just fold that into our daily and nightly dinner together. And so we're not talking about changing your life entirely, in the way you live, but it's taking small practices and folding those in to what you already do.

Lyvita: 10:41

Saints. We will be back to this episode, but I wanted to share that. This month I wanted to provide solutions to spruce up your life, to spruce up your walk with Christ, and next month we will work on self talk, trying to get the clutter out of your mind. If you want to stay up to date on new releases of this podcast, freebies, my author's journey and other creative ways to spend time with God and others, then sign up for our email community. It's free. It comes out twice a month. It's on the website of hanging out with Jesus podcastcom, or you can click on the link below in the show notes. Now back to the episode.

Lyvita: 11:37

Kelly, there's something else I like about this book. You include the words your current season of life, and I like that Because this book allows you to look at life differently, at different seasons. We truly go through different seasons in life. You know, from a beginning Christian to a season Christian to a Christian. Who who's had heartbreak, somebody has passed. When we go through traumatic situations in our lives, we're entering. Once we've gone through it, we're entering into a new season, and this book kind of helps you stay on track refocus.

Kelly: 12:33

I think for those sometimes that are struggling to spend time with the Lord. We've all been there. I'm high-fiving you right now, but to really unpack and say, okay, why am I struggling to spend time with the Lord, even 15, 20 minutes to start your day or be a bookend at the end of your day, is to really unpack that and say, do I feel like it doesn't matter? Or do I feel unheard or overlooked, or think that the Lord would never listen to me? Or feel like I don't have the time. We have to start there and say why aren't we spending time with the Lord to be refreshed? And then take that to the Lord and go Lord, I'm sorry, I don't feel this or that. Help me to get past this and to establish some new rhythms and, like I was saying, fold in one practice.

Kelly: 13:27

You know, I get to walk alongside several women and I'm mentoring one right now who she's training for a long race, like a half marathon or marathon race, and she has carved out time in her schedule to do that, yet she's currently struggling to spend time with the Lord. So we kind of switch lanes and go over there and I say, hey, sweet girl, you're scheduling time to run, you have to kind of schedule some time to spend with the Lord. So, as we're talking about being refreshed, it is an intentional choice to do that. So, saints, listen.

Lyvita: 14:04

Kelly is also a speaker at events and book clubs. So here, my book lovers you need to call her we're only touching the surface of how much the resources and the connections and the reflections, how much they can change your life. Let me put it to you this way when you get anxious and you remember one of the activities that Kelly has written in the book and you do it, I'm telling you it relaxes you and how you can just be in God's presence. It is time that we start also thinking about doing more reading as we're coming out, because saints have been through some things and they're starting to write. And I told you at one time back in I think it was 2022, god, we went through that pandemic, but God brought us out with some great stories, great things to share. It's time to go and do what God called them to do. I just want to thank you for this. I was reading your bio and it says something about you. Actually bring a pottery wheel to your speaking events.

Kelly: 15:30

Oh yes, ma'am, new Jersey to Nashville, to Northern Iowa I do share that and set up a studio. One of the things I do share is sitting at the pottery wheel, getting that ball of clay centered. Boy, that's so much like our spiritual lives. Without clay being centered on a wheel, you're just going to make a piece that's wobbly and wobbly and it will never be quite right. But when we take time and get centered on the wheel, center that clay on the wheel, in the same way we center our hearts on Jesus and yield our lives to him and say, lord, mold me, make me. We see that in the scripture. If we are centered and our life is rooted and established and we have a firm foundation in knowing who we are in Jesus, then anything we make from there, any work he does through us, will be beautiful, it will be level, it will be even, it will have even sides.

Kelly: 16:32

And as another word picture to leave with your listeners is if we feel like we've gotten off center at some point. Did you know that when clay is centered on the wheel and if it becomes off center because we've moved too quickly as a potter or something, it is centered again by the single soft touch of a trained potter. So those times when you feel like Lord, I think I've lost it all. And if you've already asked Jesus into your heart, you are not far off. Center girl, it is a gentle guiding from the Lord to get you back on center and that starts with a prayer that just starts with Lord. I've been trying to do this on my own. I pray you get my two hands back on that wheel and centered exactly where you want me to live, and may I take each step in you.

Lyvita: 17:22

Now you have given me another picture and understanding about pottery.

Kelly: 17:28

Yeah, that is so cool Faithful. We read in his word that he molds us and he makes us. And behold, he's given us something new in Revelation. Well, to really understand that is where we want to live. We want to understand it so we can apply it, so that we're transformed in our daily lives.

Lyvita: 17:50

Oh, that's a blessing, kelly. So, kelly, where can our listeners connect with you and learn more about you, and how and what can you purchase a book?

Kelly: 18:02

Sure, thank you. I try to serve people online at kellybrinkmancom. If you go backslashbook, you can find a link to my local bookstore, the place that I love. You can also find a link to Amazon if that better suits you. But I don't want you to walk away without a gift and I love the gift of gifts. So if you go to kellybrinkmancom backslash newsletter you can download an instant gift five ways to creatively study the Bible. And that's for your listeners who say you know what. I'm going to do something hands on. I'm going to connect these faith lessons to my heart and see that they are lived out in my hands and daily living.

Lyvita: 18:45

Since I have put that link in the show notes and I'm going to check it out as well.

Kelly: 18:51

Thank you, and I do share live events, but I have links to some recorded messages that my team have put together. So if your church isn't having a live event and you want to have a couple of girlfriends over and make an event, you can watch the video and I have some downloads that go with it, so it's like an event in a box. It's an instant event If you want to be encouraged and hear some of the stories from the book in a spoken message with some visuals to go along with it.

Lyvita: 19:22

Oh, that Now that is a beautiful thing. I'm glad you mentioned that. That's good. That's good. I'm going to check that out too. So, Kelly, do you have any last words for the for the saints?

Kelly: 19:38

Would you allow me, would you allow me to pray over you and your listeners? Love it, just love it. Oh, good Lord, we come to you as our redeemer, our remaker, our very salvation, and you've reminded us that you are our spring, our hope, our summer and our joy. You're with us in the autumn as our provider, and you're in our winters as our very comfort. Like clay on the potter's wheel, you center our soul, you mold us and shape us in your image. So, lord, continue to set your hand on us, set us on steady ground rooted in the truth of your word, and continue to guide us and pull us up in your son's precious name. Amen.

Lyvita: 20:26

Amen, amen, amen, amen. Thank you, kelly. I just want to listen. Thank you for joining us and, saint, check out the link down below the one that says kellybrickmancom newsletter and check out her website, because I'm telling you once you read the book, this is worth your time and effort. So, saint, I just want to thank you for tuning in Now. Remember, if you haven't done so, get your free twice a month newsletter to keep up with the new releases of the podcast and also the Meep Project.

Kelly: 21:09

I love that. By the way, I'm a subscriber. Thank you for encouraging us.

Lyvita: 21:13

Thank you, kelly, and also the Meep Project Academy activity that we discussed earlier, all focus on helping you declutter your mind, make sense in your heart aches and improve your self-talk so you can go and do what God called you to do. All this and more can be found including my contact information on hanging out with Jesus Podcastscom and the show notes below. So until we meet again on the airways, intentionally and damn, hang out with Jesus, shalom.