In this post: Come with me and see how imagination saved my life. Learn how our God-given task as God's imagers is to use creativity to spread light, love, and truth. I share my favorite encouraging vids for the week at the end. Take my hand...
Some may have called us poor but I didn't know it. Mom and I lived in a rich magical world. Divorce and single motherhood were not easy on Mom or me. However, all that was forgotten at night. I'd snuggle up to her for a special story...a story no one else had heard before. It was about me and my adventures with a tiny Martian named Marvin. Marvin took rides in my backpack to school. He got lost in the fur of our dog. Mom has always been creative. She took inspiration from a small humanoid coconut figurine that we got from who knows where. I didn't need fancy toys. Mom made Barbie houses out of cardboard boxes. Picnics and trips to the beach became grand adventures into foreign lands. We were royalty...not poor.
[Pic of Me, Mom, and Teddy]
I'm so thankful God gave me a creative mother. I've talked before about my Dad's poetry (on an older blog) and my Mom's short stories. I may have also mentioned Mom and I having dance sessions to Jackson 5 records. Yes, I'm incredibly blessed. However, there were dark spots in my childhood (as usual for most in this fallen world). My parents divorced when I was seven and my father sold drugs until he recommitted his life to Christ when I was a teen.
Divorce meant the village helped raise me because my mom had to work a lot. Sadly, my dad wasn't very present in my younger years but when he was, I was around interesting characters that visited or lived at my Dad's Mom's house (Mema's). My Mema and Papa took care of me more than my Dad did back then. I like to call this part of my life...being raised by gypsies and pirates.
Many of Dad's friends were addicts themselves. The same man who taught me how to play chess also threw a knife at my Mema's foot. I can give you lists of interesting people who came aboard our family ship. My Mom worked hard and did her best. Her mom, my Granny, watched me often and lived with us or us with her several times. I spent a lot of time with my older relations. My Mom dated and sometimes that didn't go well. All of that to say, I very often found myself staying with various people or sitting on someone's couch bored and ignored. It just depended on who was watching me (or not really watching me) that day. So, being creative, I withdrew deep into my imagination.
(Me & Mom)
School was not easy for me either. Being an undiagnosed Aspie (until adulthood), I struggled with the social aspect of school and often found myself bullied or misunderstood. My teachers complained about my daydreaming, but drawing comics helped me with the sensory and social hellscape that was public school (for me). I often pretended that I was somewhere else. Maybe I was a detective on a case or I was really an adult going to work and I'd get paid. I talked to myself and muttered under my breath. Sometimes I just got lost in books. I didn't have the tools to deal with all of the circumstances out of my control, like school and my fractured family life.
I'm glad God gave me creativity and I'm glad my Mom taught me how to take small simple things and turn them into pure imagination. I believe God used imagination to reach out to me and draw me to HIM. I was drawn to another world...a world more present than my broken reality. I believe it was a call back to paradise. Isn't all imagination but lost memories of Eden? We were never there but somehow it is deep in every human soul. We long for it. We dream of the beauty and wonder of God's garden.
(Mom, Michael, and I years ago...)
I had yet to hear of Narnia or the Shire (those came later), but I can remember the book series I read when an evil person caused Mom and I to have to leave our house and hide away. I remember the book series I was reading when there was a custody battle and I went to live with my Dad (who had changed at that point). Books were friends. They were doors. I'm thankful for the authors who said "yes" to their calling and pushed through. As an author myself, I realize how hard it is to write. If the many authors of Nancy Drew and the American Girl series had not written, I would not have learned from the courageous girls in those books. The Left Behind Kids series reminded me that my teen crisis was small compared to the coming apocalypse. Thank you, Jerry Jenkins! Thank you, Tim LaHaye!
Books are just the tip of the iceberg. Music, plays, movies, and games...oh my! I'm sure you, like me, can think of a song that helped you in a dark time. My eldest and now-graduated son, Michael, wrote a song that has encouraged others struggling with relationships. I can't imagine a world without his music. Here's a link for you to enjoy.
Poetry, music, painting, etc...the arts are often a positive outlet for big emotions. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis processed their childhood pain and the pain of war through their books. King David wrote poetry in prayer while he was running for his life. There are songs that have helped me through dark times like bouts with suicidal ideations and even when I miscarried. On a positive note, music helped me during unmedicated labor with my youngest son. Visualizing my oldest son telling me he loves me, helped me deal with the pain of birthing Leeland. Pure imagination.
(me and Leeland in 2019)
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:17 NKJV
God gave us imagination and creativity not only to heal our souls but for us to heal others. When I became a mom, I learned how to use the gift, God and Mama gave me.
Nearly 13 years ago, I began to blog and talk about our homeschool adventures. I've been able to share magical adventures with my kids and now I see pure imagination in their lives. Michael produces music. Leeland tells and acts out stories. I'm sure Hannah Elizabeth is doing something creative in heaven.
(Michael and I in 2011)
Pure imagination helped me deal with losing my unborn daughter, Hannah. I can imagine her, fully formed and happy in Heaven. I painted her. It is a comfort for me and I hope it comforts you if you've lost a child.
So, imagination saved me from trauma drowning me...through childhood and as an adult. I could mention when my husband was sent off to war, my Dad's illness, the loss of several family members, my kid's struggles, and my own struggle with chronic illness...the books, music, and movies that got me through. I could also mention how God used blogging, writing books, and homeschooling my kids in creative ways, as a lifeline to pull me out of depression over and over again. But I digress. You see, the opposite of pure imagination is worry, fear, and evil thoughts...depression and suicide. I believe we creatives are prone to dark imaginings that can drag us into the pit. So it is extremely important to use our imagination for good...as a tool to spread light, love, and truth.
(Leeland and I getting ready for the Fairy Tale Ball)
Satan knows this. He knows how to twist God's good gifts. Evil imaginings are destroying the world. Brilliant people are using their gifts to harm others (WEF anyone?). Only Jesus can save us from the mess we're in. He uses HIS children to light up the darkness. We are God's imagers. We've always had the task of spreading God's Kingdom/paradise across this planet. It began in the garden. When that failed, it picked back up at the cross. One day it will continue in the New Heaven and Earth after Jesus returns. We won't be sitting on clouds watching choirs of angels. Our original job as the Lord's image bearers will be perfected. We will take God's good purposes throughout the lands and realms.
(Leeland & Where the Wild Things Are- many years ago)
You dear, image bearer, were created by God, to do great things. The God of the Bible, Yahweh, the God of Abraham and Isaac, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the greatest creator and artist there ever was or will be. HE has given us the honor of working with HIM. We were made for that purpose. You were made for that purpose. So, if you feel insignificant, remember God equips those HE calls. Use your gifts to shine God's light.
(Michael and Leeland years ago)
Don't let Satan keep you hidden. Don't listen to that liar. Come out from hiding. Take a leap of faith. Use that pure imagination for Jesus. The world needs you. Step out that door.
(Leeland a few years ago)
(Leeland & Michael a few years ago)
(Alum Hollow)
As for me, I'm still having adventures with my Mom and boys. They encourage me to use my imagination for good all the time. I could've been a statistic...another lost child. Praise Jesus, HE rescued me. I'm thankful for HIS gift. I pray God will use me to throw a lifeline to other drifting souls.
(Leeland, Mom, Me, and Michael- last Summer)
Thank you, Mama. I love you. You always found a way to make things bright, even when times were rough. I won't forget listening to God in the thunderstorms. You are a bright light for all of us. Never forget it.
How about you, dear reader? Has imagination helped you through hard times? Have you heard Eden calling? One day we will see paradise if we cling to Jesus, our lifeline. I pray you know HIM as your Lord and Savior. If you don't, all you have to do is:
ABC. A-admit to God you're a sinner and need a savior, B-believe in your Heart that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave to save you, and C-confess Jesus as your Lord.
"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9
In Jesus' Arms,
Amber Dover
PS: For your enjoyment... "Pure Imagination" sung by Timothee Chalamet
and some encouraging vids for writers/bloggers (creatives in general):