The Thriving Christian Artist
The Thriving Christian Artist
Your Story Matters
Your story matters—every bit of it. Not just the polished highlight reels we share on social media, but the beautiful parts, the broken moments, the victories, and even the chapters we'd rather erase. God intentionally crafted you as His masterpiece, designed with purpose and a unique story He delights in.
When David wrote "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" in Psalm 139, he wasn't simply acknowledging basic human design. He was expressing awe at how intimately and intricately God created each of us. The same Creator who spoke galaxies into existence took time to weave you together with all your nuances, gifts, passions, and quirks. You are not random or accidental—you are handcrafted by the Lord with divine intention.
Many artists believe their struggles disqualify them from creating meaningful work or sharing their journey. Yet those very experiences that tried to break you often become your most powerful creative fuel. God uses all things—not just the pretty parts—to weave together a testimony of His redemptive power. When you begin sharing your authentic story through your art, something remarkable happens: the fears that once paralyzed you start giving way to freedom. Your creative expression becomes more than self-expression; it turns into a stepping stone others can walk on toward their own healing.
Ready to discover how your complete story can transform your artistic journey? Join our Foundations course where we'll help you excavate the deeper parts of your heart with the Holy Spirit, find healing in those places, and discover God's vision for your creative future. Remember: you were created to thrive.
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Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the podcast, where we hope you connect with God to bust through the roadblocks that have held you back for years, create the work you love and really live the life you know. God created you to live as an artist in His kingdom. I'm Matt Tama, your host. Let's get started. Well, hey, friend, welcome back to the podcast. So glad that you're here with me. Listen, I want to jump into something today that, honestly, I think all of us need to be reminded of from time to time, and it's the fact that your story matters. And I'm not just talking about the polished highlight reels that we all share on social media or on Instagram or whatever. I'm not talking about just the shiny parts, the good parts that you're proud of and the parts that make you look great. I'm talking about every bit, every part of your story, the beautiful parts, the brokenness, the victories, the defeats, even the parts that you wish that you could erase. Listen, it all matters to God, and I believe it matters, as you grow, the impact and influence that God has for you as an artist in the marketplace, whether that's as a hobby, whether that's as a ministry, whether it's just for doing things that help you grow in the Lord creatively, it matters. I want to jump into this scripture, which you probably have heard before Psalm 139, 14. And David is saying this, and I love it, and you've probably again you've heard this, but it says I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Listen, just pause for a moment, wherever you are, first of all, and just let that soak into your heart. Right, you're not a mistake, you're not an afterthought, you're not something that God, just you know, thought up in just a second and didn't really give a lot of thought to. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that's not only David's words. I believe that's God's declaration over your life that you know.
Speaker 1:When David was writing about this, I believe he was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and he wasn't just talking about biology or just the basics of human design. Right, he was probably in the presence of the Lord in this moment, probably in awe of how good God is, how big God is, how powerful God is, all the things that he had done previously in his life and doing now in his life, all the, all the things that he had done previously in his life and doing now in his life, all the hopes and dreams that he had, and he was probably standing there thinking about how intentionally and intricately and intimately that God created him and, of course, by extension, all of us as well. It just goes back to the fact that, wherever you are in your life, whatever you're going through whether it's a great season or a challenging season, a season where you're feeling like, where you're feeling seen, or a season, maybe, where you're feeling really unseen you are not random. You are not an accident. You're handcrafted by the Lord as a masterpiece, designed with purpose, designed with his intention and designed with a story that not only God delights in, but also that God wants to use, not only to bring redemption and glory and incredible healing and fulfillment in your life, but to use that in the lives of others as well. I mean, it really is.
Speaker 1:If you go kind of down the rabbit hole with this, it really is kind of crazy to think that the God, who spoke the galaxies into existence, who created earth, who created all of the plants and flowers and microbes and proteins and all the different things that we have on this earth, took the time to weave, you and I together, every part of us that makes up who we are. I mean, that, to me, is just mind-boggling. I'm just trying to go from art piece to art piece, right, I'm trying to. You know, when I write a new book or whatever, I'm just thinking, oh my gosh, I hope I can get everything in here that I want to include and I just think, wow, god is managing all of that ad infinitum, not only in my generation and your generation, but throughout all eternity.
Speaker 1:All the nuances and the gifts and the personalities and the passions and the quirks and the unique design, all of that stuff, the good parts of our journey, the difficult parts of our journey, it's all known by him, it's all embraced by him in the fullness of who he is, and he wants to use all of that for his glory and also to bring you into maturity, because how many of you know that some parts of our story we'd rather forget, right? We don't want to go through those things, we don't want to even share those things sometimes. But God, his promise, is that he's using all things together for our good. Why? Because he loves us and he's called us according to His purpose. Listen, I can think of so many times in my life situations I've been in, even seasons I've been in in life that I would rather life situations I've been in, even seasons I've been in life that I would rather not share with others. I'd rather not have that come out. There's things that I've done that you know in my life that I'm ashamed of patterns of sin and habits that I got into, that I wasn't proud of way that I've related to other people, selfish times in my life, I mean some things I just want to forget, right? I'm sure all of us have that.
Speaker 1:But you know, the beautiful thing about the Lord is that he doesn't just tolerate those parts of our journey. He fully, completely redeems them. He uses them for His glory. Just like I mentioned a minute ago, romans 8, 28,. It says what God is working all things together for our good, because he loves us and because he's called us according to his purposes. Not just the pretty parts, not just the parts that we're proud of, not just the parts that we want to put on Instagram or Facebook. He uses all things. And so, listen, listen, it's not just your successes that matter to the Lord, it's not just the times when you're celebrating and you feel like you got it right. That matter to the Lord. Your struggle matters, your healing journey matters, the difficulties that you're learning to walk through and learning to mature in they matter. Your failures matter, your victories matter, it all matters why? Because all of that together not again, not just the good parts all of your story together tell the story of God's grace and goodness in your life.
Speaker 1:Listen, I don't know if you are like me, but maybe you've been believing a lie in your life, that believe that your story disqualifies you in some way or that you couldn't share that. I mean, if anybody knew that, of course they would reject you. Maybe you think you've messed up too much, or you're too late, or you're too broken, or you're too this or that. Listen, nothing could be further from the truth. God doesn't waste anything, not one single moment. And even the things and I have to look back at my own life when I say this even the things that tried to break us, tried to destroy us right, those are the things that I think God uses most in us sometimes to bring life and light and healing to others.
Speaker 1:Many of you have been following me for a long time. Maybe you've read my books, or especially Unlocking the Heart of the Artist, where I kind of jump into a lot of the struggle that I had early on in my life after having a very difficult relationship with my dad and having some significant deaths in my family. And then the enemy set me up with just major trauma in my life when I experienced sexual abuse from a same-sex family member that went on for trauma in my life. When I experienced sexual abuse from a same-sex family member that went on for years in my life. I was trying to struggle with that and balance that with a love for God, a call to ministry, a desire to, to want to follow him and everything but being in that you know, sort of abusive relationship and then becoming addicted to pornography as a part of that and then learning to live this secret double life in everything that I was doing for many, many years, even into my early years in ministry. Listen, I can promise you that is not part of my story that I ever wanted to come out, that I ever wanted to tell anybody about. But do you know, as God brought healing in that area and he taught me how to walk in vulnerability and transparency with others, do you know that when he allowed me to begin to share my heart freely with him and to receive healing and wholeness and the love of God in my life in a way that was so deep and so profound that it just it touched every part of my being.
Speaker 1:Do you know when that began to happen? All of a sudden, guess what? Guess what began to be removed? Embarrassment and fear. You know why? Because I realized I didn't have anything to hide.
Speaker 1:See, when you're trying to hide something, the lie is that if anybody knew the real me, they'd reject me, they'd push me away, they'd say I was disqualified. Blah, blah, blah. You know all the stuff, but when you realize that you're fully loved and fully accepted, you can be fully healed and transformed in the presence of God. And God wants to use all of that stuff for his glory, not only in your healing process, but now to use that in the healing and restoration of others. Wow, these that not that we celebrate sin, but, but in difficulty in our life. But these things become these beautiful building blocks of our life that when we come in contact with others and they hear our story and they see the story of our life, they go wow, wow, I didn't know that's what God was really like. I didn't know that Jesus really loved me that much.
Speaker 1:Listen, there's something really really powerful that happens when you get the freedom to be able to share your story in that way. I love what it says in Revelation 12, 11, that says we overcome by what the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony See. When you share your testimony, when you share the story of your life, of your art, what God's doing inside of you in any area of your life, you're not just recounting the past, right. You're not just kind of going over and here's my story again. No, you're declaring intentionally the goodness of God in your life, not just to yourself, to remind yourself, which is, again super important but you're letting other people know that what redemption is real, healing is possible, hope is alive in Jesus, even though you can't see it or feel it right now. And I can promise you, having had the great privilege of sharing my story of brokenness and redemption, not just of what I just shared, but of so many things in my life.
Speaker 1:Listen, that might be the very thing that somebody needs to hear in order to believe that God can move in their life too. And how much more powerful when that story gets communicated in beautiful and untypical ways through our art, whether it's a song or a dramatic presentation, or whether it's a painting or a vessel or whatever it is, god can move even more powerfully through those times, right? Because often those things bypass our cognitive mind and go right to the heart and right to the emotion. Now, listen, I'm not saying that in every place and every day you got to be jumping in the deep end and sharing with everybody all the depths of your story. But I'm definitely saying that, as an artist, if you are not allowing who you are and what God has done in and through your life, if you're not allowing that out, to come out through your art, you are missing a huge opportunity for God to move in your life through signs and wonders.
Speaker 1:Listen, many times we're waiting for God to do these. You know incredible exploits in and through our life and you know he can do it and he does it, and I'm expecting the same thing. But listen, I just see over and over and over and over again, the kingdom is much more simple than we want to make it. It's much more simple. And the simplicity of sharing your story in a moment where you know God is opening the door, releasing a piece of artwork in faith. It represents who God is, what he's doing in your life, the essence of a moment when you release those things by faith, when you open up your mouth in faith, when you embrace another and ask a poignant question in faith and allow God to start to move. In a moment guess what? That's? When the kingdom gets released in power. And so, my friend, I just want to encourage you today start owning your story, start thanking the Lord for all that he's brought you through, and not only that. Be open to sharing those pieces of your journey as the Spirit leads, because, again, you never, ever, ever know how God's going to use you at a gallery, at a show, at Starbucks, at Walmart, at church, wherever it is to begin to spark freedom and faith and healing in somebody else's life.
Speaker 1:Listen, friend, that is why God has endowed us with gifts and graces and passions to do what we do in the context of our lives as artists. It's not only that we can walk in fulfillment and abundance in our life, but so we can be a conduit of that same healing to others. Jesus, I pray right now that you would just so well up inside of us, god, and let us know your overwhelming love for us, god, let us see ourselves through your eyes and how you see us, even how you saw us when you designed this, lord, just like that song I wrote not long ago Lord, help me, see me as you see me, lord, help me see the depths of who you say I am, even in the brokenness, even in the difficulties I've been through, that, lord, you would use these difficult moments in our journey as healing stones, stones of a foundation that are being built in our life, even a stepping stone that others can walk on. I just see that right now, in the spirit that God wants to use. This is great. God wants to use the difficulties in your life not only as stones of remembrance in your life, but as stepping stones for others to walk on that are going to bring them into the fullness of healing and fullness of the kingdom that God has for them in their life. Thank you, jesus. We just thank you for that, lord in Jesus name. Amen. Listen, my friend, I love you, I love you, I love you, I'm. We just thank you for that, lord in Jesus name. Amen. Listen, my friend, I love you, I love you, I love you. I'm so glad that you're here with me every week on the Thriving Christian Artist podcast.
Speaker 1:Listen, if you are sensing right now, man, I'd love to, I'd love to do this, but, gosh, there's so much fear and trembling about this and I'm just not sure about sharing some of the things in my past, or even that I don't even want to uncover parts of my story. That's a really great opportunity for you to jump into the Foundations course, and why would I say that? Well, in the Foundations course, what we do is help you to go on a journey with the Holy Spirit through your creative process and through God's Word and in community, to begin to excavate the deep parts of your heart with the Lord, allow him to heal those places, renew your mind and give you vision and hope and a roadway, if you will, a pathway for the future and all the things that he has for you. Listen, if you want to jump into that, and I hope you will. All the information is right here in this podcast episode and listen. God's got such incredible things for you, my friend, but it starts. It starts with your willingness to be vulnerable. Be willing to open up your heart to the Lord, allow him to heal those places and allow him to bring freedom and boldness inside of you so that he can use the things that the enemy tried to use to destroy you to actually be the things that bring life to you and life to others.
Speaker 1:I love you, my friend. Thanks for being with me. Until next time. Remember you were created to thrive. Bye, hey. Thanks so much for spending a few minutes with me today on the podcast Listen. I hope it's been a huge encouragement to you on your journey as an artist. Hey, also, before you leave, make sure to hit the subscribe button so you don't miss any of the other episodes of the Thriving Christian Artist podcast, and also be sure to connect with me on Facebook, instagram or at my website, which is matttommymentoringcom. Until next time. Remember you were created to thrive. Bye-bye.