ATW - Time with Kellyn Bastos-Trapp

Summary

In this conversation, Melissa Lapin interviews her friend Kellen about her ministry and the impact of creativity in her community. Kellen shares how her journey with God started when she was 12 or 13 years old and how she found healing and growth through art and music. She talks about the rebranding of her ministry to include her husband and their mission to bring art and music to their community. Kellen also discusses her experiences with Bible art journaling and the prophetic nature of art. She shares a powerful story of using art and music for physical healing during a supernatural school event. Kellyn shares a powerful testimony of how her art was used by God to bring physical healing to a woman with constant pain in her leg. Melissa emphasizes the connection between emotional healing and physical healing, highlighting the impact of our mental state on our bodies. They discuss the importance of creativity in healing and how it is a reflection of our identity as creations of God. They encourage listeners to engage in creative activities as a way to connect with God and experience healing.

Takeaways

• Creativity can bring joy and healing to individuals and communities.
• Art and music can be used as tools for worship, healing, and spiritual growth.
• Bible art journaling can provide a creative and intimate way to engage with scripture.
• The prophetic nature of art allows for personal interpretation and connection with God.
• Art and music have the potential to facilitate physical healing and restoration. Art can be a powerful tool for physical and emotional healing.
• Our mental state and emotions have a significant impact on our physical well-being.
• Creativity is a reflection of our identity as creations of God.
• Engaging in creative activities can help us connect with God and experience healing.

Transcript

0:10

Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of After the Well and today I get to talk with my friend, Kellen. And she's really cool. We met a couple years ago, I guess through Matt Tommy through, creating, what is it? Thriving Christian artists created a thrive, whichever group we were in. And now it was called at that time. but she's an artist friend of mine and she is making an impact in the art world. She. does some lives of her own. does some just group meetings in her community around creativity and music. And she loves God and Jesus and just wants to see the joy that creativity brings people. And I wanted to have her on and we'll just talk about how that started. So welcome, Kellen. I know we've been trying to do this for like, what, six, seven months now and Yeah, I know almost about a year since we talked about it. just life happens and sicknesses and holidays and unexpected travels and things and but here we are, deckummit. Doing the thing. So introduce yourself a little bit. Tell us about your ministry and you know, it's kind of what you do in your community. We'll go from sounds good. yeah, and yeah, I really don't know how honestly, I don't know how we met if it was for Matt Tommy or not. But I've met so many people through the whole Matt Tommy committee. pretty sure it was Matt Tommy, whether I, we might have met in Asheville at the, the 2019, I think we met at the retreat. Yeah. Yeah. know. But yeah, and it was interesting too, because we have so much in common, like, you know, between you and your husband and my husband and stuff. And that's kind of how we like blended and connected with school, because that's what God does, right? He just divinely connects people. So yeah, so my name is Kellyn Trapp, or Kellyn Bastos Trapp is my legal name. And my ministry is Trapp Ministries. Actually going through a rebranding right now, it's not just me solo as Kellyn Trapp, but it is now Trapp Ministries. And the reason for that is because now my husband is a part of my ministry as well now, which is so cool. So we're kind of going through that whole rebranding process this year. But what's kind of amazing about the whole thing is that my husband is a musician. And I kind of just slowly started kind of just bringing him along with me to some of events and I'll talk a little bit about that and, and it just, it was just the coolest thing ever is to bring music in with art, you know, because I feel like when you blend any kind of creativity, it's just, it just shines. And so I was like, you know what? I think you need to come with me all the time. But yeah. And so now he is a part of the ministry, which is amazing. What we do is we bring art and music to our community. Whether it is in the marketplace, you know, out in the world or whether it's in the church and, you know, with women's groups and church groups and youth groups. We also, as far as the community, we also bring music and art to the senior community as well, which I love. And so it's kind of like a whole blend of, you know, a lot of different kinds of situations in the community. And I just absolutely love And we do it because it brings joy, as you know, Melissa, know, or Chilokwari Missy. I mean, I use it quite okay. So, and it's just, it does, it brings joy and healing. And that is the reason why we do what we do is because we know that it is healing and we know that it will also make such an impact in someone, you know? So that's kind of, yeah, that's what we've been doing. you do retreats too, didn't you just have a retreat or were you a part of a retreat? Okay. is actually my fourth annual Women's Creative Week. Yes. Yeah. dang it, I didn't get to come. Cause I think, I don't know if I was in Florida or something was already on the calendar. So let me know way ahead of time for next year and I'll. Okay. Yeah. So that's exciting. So let's back up to the day you were born. No, I'm just kidding. We won't go that far. So tell us a little bit about. your like faith journey because you know this podcast and what I do in the ministry and everything is based on the woman at the well and her moment was when she knew that Jesus saw her. You know she's like obviously you're a prophet let's talk about these real things. So what is your story with that? Did you grow up with faith? Did you just have when was your aha well moment of Okay Jesus, you love me right where I am. Let's do this thing. So my journey with, I'll just say that my journey with God started when I was about 12 or 13 years old. That's when I kind of did what everybody does, went and got baptized. And we were part of the Southern Baptist Church at the time when I was growing My brother was getting baptized and like, okay, I want to get baptized too. But I never really had a relationship with Jesus. I never really knew Jesus, you know, I mean, yeah, you kind of go through the motions, you know, of just going to church on Sundays like everybody else does, you know, that kind of thing. But. The neat thing about it is that I always felt like I was missing something. Like I was always looking. And as I got older and went through the whole Mary thing, having kids and stuff like that, divorce, so on and so forth, I always felt like I was missing something. Like I wanted more. And so I always, I kept looking for the right church to attend, know, went to so many different ones and different religions and different, you know, just different denominations and stuff. And, and it just never really felt right yet. And so when I met my husband, cause this is my second marriage. And so, that was 11 years I had always asked the Lord, you know, bring me someone that loves Jesus more than I do, that knows who Jesus is. And that was my husband. He is just such a Jesus lover. I mean, he knew the Bible in and out. And it was just so nice to be able to just really pick his brain and start really, really learning scripture and learning about Jesus. And then all of a sudden, the Lord, back in 2018, the Lord introduced me to a young lady that lives actually in, it's either Pennsylvania or Virginia. And she kind of brought something to me that I had never heard of, and it was Bible art journaling. I live up here in New England, I'm in Connecticut, so I'm from Connecticut. And so that was never heard of up here. Bible art journey, like Bible art journey, what the heck's that? What is Bibles! Baptists don't mark in their Bibles. That's why you never heard of it. It's a sin to mark in your Bible. You can't highlight it. can't def -de what is it? Def -def -deface the scriptures. can't - deface the or even to even writing your Bibles, God forbid, you know? And so I'm like, what is that? It just sounded really intriguing to me because I journal a lot. I've always been one to like, you know, when you're younger, you do your diary and stuff like that. And so I always liked writing. And so I'm like, well, what is that? So when she introduced it to me, I just fell in love and I've never done any kind of art. I've always been very creative. And I've always enjoyed arts. I've always loved color and things that had to do with creativity, like music and dance and sewing, you know, because my mother was a seamstress. So I love doing stuff like that as well, but never really art as a painter kind of art, you know. So that was just really intriguing to me. It really drew me into scripture because it gave me the ability to really spend time and hone in on the scriptures while creating, while bordering or just coloring or, you know, a little bit of sketching and even like just coloring words, you know, and it was just so like relaxing and it just really helped me to just find that intimate space with Jesus. And again, and that started with me back in 2018. And that's when I really started to, that's when my relationship with Jesus started. Very cool. So do you still do that? it a practice that you do still? What? Okay, we have to cut that part out because you're not doing it. I'm just kidding. No, that's not true. I do, but in a different way. So Bible art journaling to me now is painting on canvases, or it is doing some watercolor sketching, you know, along with journaling, because I still journal, I still am writing, you know, and now writing has grown even, has expanded from just the Bible. Right, so now you, which I was gonna hit on too, have you hit your 100 days of art and, cause on your sub stack, your blog, have you, cause you said you were gonna do like a hundred days, have you done of living with God. I have hit it. Not in the blog, but I hit it a long time ago. But yes, I definitely did hit the 100 days, but as far as the blog is concerned, I'm still like at 90 right now. Yeah, so. Yeah. That's fun. I like that. So what are what are some of the things that God has talked to you about some of your time? Okay. Be as vulnerable as you want and a transparent as you want. know that. Like what are some of the like hard things that you've processed through? in your, your, cause I'm a big journaler. Like I love journaling. I love the creative journaling. I just got into doodling your emotions, which anybody knows that lady Maritza Para is her name. Doodling your emotions and making stick people and it takes no art ability. No creative. mean, like it's a stick figure people. But just putting it on paper, I personally know and love and encourage what it does, just the outcome. So let's talk if you can and want to about some of the things that just came up through that. Because we all have different ways that Jesus is gonna connect with us. For the woman at the well, it was, hey, let me just sit with you for a minute. And that's what she needed, right? And so... Yeah, just what are a couple things that you learned? there was, there was, and there still is, even till this day, there are so many things that come up for me as the woman at the well, you know, so many nuggets and things that the Lord is teaching me and building on my character, you know, just, I mean, it's every single day. Every time that I am sitting with him creatively, whether it's journaling or painting or sketching, he's teaching me something. And When I when my journey started back in 2018, a lot of it had to do with my character. A lot of it also had to do with and it had to do with my character and helping me to heal from a lot of. Trauma that I went through in my past, you know. And specifically, I would say probably trauma with men, trauma, you know, because whether it was physical or emotional abuse, you know, in past relationships. It was also trauma of, you know, going through a divorce and the trauma of having to deal with all of that as well. Also losing my mother at a young age, you know, because I was 20 years old when my mom passed away. She was 42. And so all of those things are the things that he was helping me to get past in healing my heart so that I could grow spiritually, so that I could also grow in my relationship with him and also the Word. so when I look back and I kind of reflect on some of the things that I used to go through and then I see who Kellyn is today, like now I say to myself, the old done this or would have reacted this way. And now I see, feel like I know I'm a new person today because of some of those things that came up when I was sitting creatively with the Word and with God, so with Jesus. But yeah, does that kind of answer your question? Yeah, yeah, that's great. Because, I mean, we're all, like I said, we're all on a journey. God is gonna show up. However, I mean, not everybody's an artist, not everybody's an athlete. We all have our, some people meet Jesus while they're rolling out biscuits. And that's fine. As long as we're meeting Jesus, it doesn't matter how. But yeah, so I don't know, there a particular story that you could share with us to elaborate on Yes, so, and this is probably before, this was before I met my husband. I mean, to say that when I actually, like you're talking about meeting Jesus, I would say that when I really met Jesus was, it was a little before I met my husband. And it was during a, again, it was a part of a trauma that I was going through in my life. My son actually at age 16 was diagnosed with T -cell leukemia. okay. So that was like three and a half years of just a mess in my life. Yeah, hell. was just me having to leave my job, because I was a single parent raising my son. My daughter had already moved on. She moved on on her own because she was already 18. But my son, was him and I. And so I was working a full time job, doing everything on my own. All of a sudden he gets sick and I'm like, okay. So it was like everything had to get dropped, go to the hospital, that's it. I was stuck there for whole month, you know, with him. Severe treatments for a whole month. And the entire time, you know, my son was my hero because he was the one that kept saying, I know I'm gonna be okay. You know, I'm not worried about it. And so I had stay as strong as I could in front of him so that he could continue having that positive, you know, reaction to everything that was happening in his life. And so every time I went home, I would break down. That's when, you know, when I would get a break and my sister would take over or a friend would take over, I would just go home and just break down. And there was a time I remember specifically, I was sitting on my bed and then in those moments where I'm just breaking down and I'm I just completely surrendered. I'm like, I can't do this on my own. And that was when I could just feel God's presence. I knew that was from that moment on, that's when I really started searching and I wanted to know Jesus and I wanted that relationship, you know, and that's when I truly. Yeah, I would say, you know, that that's when I really truly gave my life to Jesus. And because of it, my son is healed. My son is miraculously healed. went through some time. He went through some moments also during his treatments where he stopped taking treatments and he should have relapsed and he didn't. And that's all because of Jesus. And, you know, and I just, yeah. Like, you know, it just, it makes me want to get emotional about it, you know, because I know, I know that without a doubt, I know that that was Jesus, you know, and even in that moment I knew. Yeah. What were some of the things that he told you, Jesus, in those moments? What were some of the comforting things, you know, that just helped your faith? Because a lot of times people, you know, they just, they say they surrender and they just whatever. like, what was it that you were surrendering to? Was it just a piece? Was it actual? conversations that you would have that where you would just know that it was God telling you things. That's a good question. So I wouldn't say that I heard anything because it wasn't until later on in life that I really started honing in on my spiritual, the spiritual side of who I am, you know, with Jesus. So I would definitely say that it was just a sense of peace, you know, that I felt. It was a sense of peace and... Almost like, you know, when you just take a deep breath and it's like, okay, you know, I just, I know he's got this, you know, type of a feeling. It was just that, kind of emotion that I felt. and I knew, and that because of that sense of peace, like it was easier for me to go through, you know, the rest of whatever we had to go through and face, you from that moment Right. So if your son, you guys, do you guys talk about like, because for a 16 year old justice go, I know I'm going to be okay. Was, was God involved in that for him too? Like did, did he have any kind of encounter that really strengthened him or he just knew. You know what? I've never asked him. So it's interesting that you're bringing this up because now I want to ask him. I've never really truly asked him. My son is now 29 years old. yeah. And so I've never really asked him, but he does not have a relationship with God. He does not really have a relationship with Jesus. doesn't, you know, he's not saved yet. But I think for him, was just, I honestly can't even say what it was. It's just that something, it was literally when we were in the emergency room and the oncologist came and said, this is what you have, you have T cell leukemia. That was the first word out of his mouth. Blew me away. So I'm not sure what it was with him, but yeah. It's definitely a question that I want to ask Yeah, that would be interesting for, know, just like, this was your attitude during this. You said you were going to be fine. How did you know that? You know, was, was there a voice in your, in, inside that just told you? Yeah, that would, that would be interesting. I mean, I know that it had to have been God that gave him that peace, just that conscience, knowing, Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it was and he just didn't know how to acknowledge it at that time and still maybe doesn't know how to acknowledge that the good stuff is God, you know, and the the gut feelings and intuitions are all, you know, just kingdom. So and a lot of people don't just pre -believers just kind of float through life, not realizing. How? how much God actually is active in their life. just, mean, a lot of Christians for that matter don't know how to acknowledge all the God stuff, you know? just it is something that I've been kind of really just these last couple of days, my husband and I have been talking about that because I feel like even for me personally, I feel like I'm missing all that I can really hone in on, you know, in regards to the kingdom and in regards to the supernatural and the spiritual realm of things, you know, as opposed to the natural realm of stuff, you know, And yeah, I mean, yeah, and I want it and I, you know, I'm yearning for it. And I, it's sad when I hear of so many believers that have no clue, have no idea of even what it is to just know that, that Jesus lives in you and that Holy Spirit lives in you and you know it's just it is Well, it's to me, it's even more sad that there are denominations that teach that it's wrong. You know, that they don't acknowledge Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit isn't a thing and you know, miracles died with the apostles and you know, that stuff doesn't happen anymore. This is, you know, the cessationists and I'm like, you get up and have breath in your lungs every day. That's a miracle. You know, how can we say that God isn't alive and why would I want to, mean like, he might as well be a statue in my front yard if no miracles or anything's gonna happen, you know? I mean, if everything stopped 2 ,000 years ago with the disciples, then what's the point? To me, that says that it's just another dead religion and we worship idols. I just. I don't understand it. But yeah, there there's so much more to the spiritual and the supernatural and sadly over the years, it's just been represented wrong, you know, and people take prophecy and use it to keep people in bondage and, you know, all this God's telling me you did this and that my God didn't tell you that, you know, but it's in the name of God and it's prophetic You know, all the things God's telling me right now, you need to sell your home and move to Africa. No, he's not. You know, I would though. lived in Africa and I'd love to go back. But, know, that's not the plan right now. So, so what let's let's get out there for a little bit. What is it about? What do OK, what do you think you're missing out And what is the attraction for you? What do you want to see happen in your life? Yeah, yeah, like what's not happening that you want to I mean, have you seen things in other people's lives and that you would like to see manifest in your life? Okay. Okay. And I know you and I have had conversations about the prophetic, you know, before. Yeah. So, and that was around during the time that I was still learning and, and, and just wanting, like, God was just like really bringing it to me. Like, he was just putting me around people that were very prophetic and seeing how it can also be, you know, how my art was prophetic. I'm like, it is. yeah. So art is so prophetic because you can make one piece of art and 150 people look at it and 150 people are going to get a different thing. God is going to speak to them differently through it. And I love that. That's to me, that's the beauty of art, the beauty of creativity. And it doesn't even have to be like a painting. I mean, it can be jewelry. It can be sculpture. can be garden the creativity that goes into creating the paths in a garden that brings just this peace and calm you know the creativity of dance or even even like numbers the peace that people can get when all the numbers add up and their bank account is good you know it's all prophetic because it's all God what are you saying right What are you what are you saying? What do you want to say? And then I am sorry, I totally hijacked your thought. Go ahead. no, you're, that's fine. You know, but you're, it's true. Everything you're saying is so, that is what I'm so passionate about and what I want for people to see and to hear and to feel up here in Connecticut. That is my journey up here. And that's what I'm pioneering up here because not too many people know what it means to, you know, to use creativity for praise and worship and to heal. And so what I want to see manifesting more for me personally is using my art to heal someone physically. Because I've seen it once. my God, it was the most amazing thing. So last year I went to, gosh, what's the name of the group? It'll come to me in a I went down to Pennsylvania to the supernatural school that's down there by gosh, can't. Granny Clark's school. Well, I was invited with my mentor, Teresa Dedman, to be a part of the team, my husband and I, to be a part of her team, you know, to go down there and she was gonna be going. Wait a minute. That's maybe that's where we met. Were we in Teresa's Cause I was a small group leader for Teresa. For her. I was. Okay. Yeah. Cause I didn't, I mean, it's been a couple of years since I've been in it. So it must've been Matt Tommy, but yes, I'm yeah. I love Teresa and what she's doing for the creative community. Yeah. Okay. that was where I mean, just so much was imparted. mean, mean, impartations, you know, that come from her just like, it's like nothing, you know. And, and so it was the second day in, and she was going to be talking to the students about physical healing and creativity with physical healing and how we can use. know, creativity for physical healing. And so she asked for my husband and I to participate together. And she asked him to sing a song prophetically and for me to do a prophetic piece of art. So I prayed about it. God gave me an onion bowl. So I'm like, okay, like, not sure why, but I'm just gonna sketch out an onion bowl. But I sketched an onion bowl. And my husband had no idea what he was going to be doing, but he was like, I'm just going to go with it. You know, whatever comes, comes. And so she invites a couple of people to come up to the front, them. She wanted anyone that had like issues with legs, maybe in an imbalance in their hips, whatever, you know, that kind of thing. So a couple of people came up, there was a young lady there that had been in a really bad car accident, her hips. were thrown off because of it, know, and because of surgeries and things like that. So she was like probably about a couple of inches off, you know, as far as like her growth and her legs. And so, so then she's like, okay, so Bob starts singing. So my husband, so he starts singing as he's singing, I take the piece of art, she's looking at the piece of art the same time that he's singing. you know, and I have my hands on her. And within like seconds, I could see a movement in her leg. And so sure enough, she walked, she got up, she's like, well, what about, what about my ankles? She had, because of metal that they had put in her leg, she felt pain. was constant pain all the time. So we just did it again. I put, you know, I actually laid the piece of art on her ankle. My husband started singing. And she, and again, within like seconds, she started moving around. She's like, wait, I gotta move around. I gotta move around. She was moving around and she felt no more pain. There was no pain. I mean, I was like blown away from like, wow, Jesus, that you just used us as vessels with creativity to heal, you know, physically. it was just a connection point. Yeah, that's awesome. That's so cool. to see more of that. I want to see more of that because I've seen emotional healing through my art. I want to see it physically as well. That's really, I really want to see it physically. Yeah. Well, in that too, though, which I'm sure you know, like science proves over and over 100 times that our emotions and our mental state absolutely 100 % affects our physical body. You know, and so having I mean, yeah, I know you want to go after the physical healing, but the emotional healing is what's going to make the physical healing. happen, you know, because depression, bring an anxiety and all the things bring all kinds of sickness to our body. I mean, there's test after test after test, studies and researches and things that are done, where, you know, two people that have the same diagnosis, one gets a placebo, the other gets a medication. But because their mentality is I'm healed, they get healed. Joy, the joy factor playing positive music with people, laughter, there are studies all about laughter and just changing our psyche heals our physical body. So you get a twofer with that. I love prophetic art. actually carry around pieces, little cards and things that I bought the cars but then I write little prophetic words and stuff. don't know who they're for but I carry them around and you know they're gonna bless somebody. I don't know but I carry them and then if God highlights somebody to me I give it out. But like art, this creativity is my god it's just it's so healing. It's so healing. Mm -hmm. It really is. mean, we have, you know, we are created to be in His image, right? We are created to be like God, like our Father God, like Jesus, His Son, like Holy Spirit, all three, you know? And so, and He's the master creator. So of course, creativity is like healing. Of course. Everything, everything that we are surrounded by is creative. Everything. I'm just like in awe still every single day I'm in awe and wonder of his creations of just life that I mean, just this morning the Lord was speaking to me through a bumblebee. You know, which I've already sketched. So it's like it's a bumblebee, but this ants. mean even an ant. I mean he speaks through everything. What was he saying about the Bumblebee? Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. So, well, aerodynamically and scientifically, a bumblebee is not meant to fly. And so there was a lesson there where he was kind of like showing me how, you know what, nobody really told or somebody forgot to tell the bumblebee that he can't fly, right? But if God said so, he can fly. And The impossible is never impossible because with God everything is possible. yeah, yeah. And I just thought of like, going all the way back to Adam and Eve, God's like, who told you that? Who told you that? You know, and, and like, so many times, we, sometimes we believe things, negative, we believe negative things that aren't even said to us. We hear them about somebody else. You know, I mean, so many, we allow so many things to affect us. that keep us from just being I mean, because the bumblebee is obviously doing what it was created to do. our world would think about this too, our world would not exist if it wasn't for the bumblebee pollinating stuff. You know what saying? So I mean, like the most awkward thing that physically should not be able to do what it's doing is doing Mm And it creates whole ecosystems and continues life as that awkward thing. You know, that's so, that's pretty cool. What about the ants? What, what has he told you about the ants? I like stories. Well, with the ants, mean, the coolest thing about an ant is, first of all, they're so tiny. And I'm talking about like just a little tiny little ant, right? Not like your army ant size or anything like that. know, I was, I was sitting, I love to just sit out on my deck and just spend time with the Lord out there quietly. And that's also where the birds come. I mean, everything's out there. And these ants, had, I happened to have some honey in my water, in the water. And all of a sudden there were ants on the table. I'm like, where the heck these ants come from? Like after, I don't know, maybe about 15, 20 minutes or whatever. All of a sudden there's tons of ants around and they were going towards my water. And then I realized, my gosh, there's honey in my water. And these ants, who knows where they came from? But it was just amazing to me how a little teeny tiny creation, right, with their little antennas, you know, can sense that there's sugar water somewhere. And it just, you they could be miles away and all of a sudden they just sense it. That is just, to me, was just the, it was just seeing how his creation, you know, again, like we were just talking about, know, everything with him is possible. Everything with him, there's a reason for it, you know, tension, yeah. Yeah, and so, and these little tiny little ends were created for a purpose as well, you know. It's just amazing. It's cool too, because again, the ant doing and being what it was created to do and be knew instinctively where that sugar water was, knew that it was good. It didn't go toward it because it was bad, right? And there's so much in us, like circling back around to when you said earlier, you knew there was something missing. Mm You know, and I think constantly we are being pulled toward God, whether it's create creatively or, know, however it is because Our core of who we are created in the image of God, whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we're a believer or pre -believer, I don't use the terms Christian and non-Christian because we were all chosen before the beginning of time. Jesus died for all of us, period. Every creation on the planet, every human ever in existence. A lot of them just don't know it yet, you know, so they're just pre -believers. But we all have this thing in us that feels incomplete until we meet Jesus. You know, and that's that's kind of what I get out of the story that Anne is like, it doesn't matter what like, it's like when they weren't there 15 minutes ago, and now they're here. And yeah, it's because the water's here. They know because honey is natural. And natural they are naturally drawn to a natural substance just like we are naturally drawn to kingdom things we're drawn to the creativity we're drawn to the prophetic we're drawn to miracles which are the perfection that we should be existing in right so that's cool why I'm drawn also to want to have more of it. Yeah, yeah, because it's available. is our inheritance to be all things to all men. You know, the prophet, preacher, teacher, pastor, evangelist, all of that, not just one thing. That is not complete. That is not the life abundant that Jesus talked about, right? And so being drawn to that is completely natural, completely kingdom, because part of you isn't being satisfied and fulfilled. It's not manifest yet. So that's really cool. And I'll hit you up after we get done because I got something for you in the lines of that of the prophetic thing. So, this is good. So as we wind down a little bit, kind of bring it in for a landing, what would be some encouragement? in the creative area that you'd want to leave with people. Like when you do your retreats and people who might be super intimidated, because you and I both know people are like, I'm not an artist. Nobody asked. Okay, listeners, we're not asking you to be artists. There's a difference between artists for a living, professional paid and just being creative. You know, and a lot of times I think just being creative person sitting and doodling way better than some of the art that I've seen costing way too much money. But that's my opinion, know, and art, art is in the eye of the beholder. If you want a banana duct tape to a wall for $250 million, you go right ahead and buy that banana, you know? does not have to be in a gallery for you to be called an artist. Exactly. Exactly. So what what would be some encouragement? Like, like how connecting and, you know, maybe if someone hears your story and was like, What does that look like? How do I do that? Talk about maybe a little bit of the Bible journaling or the doodling, just creative journaling is what I call it. So when I've taught classes on creative journaling, where I use magazine pictures and just all kinds of stuff. So go. Yeah. to collage. I love that. You know, what I always tell people is, first of all, there is no right or wrong to art. There's no right or wrong to creativity. No right or wrong. You know, if someone draws a stick figure, it is the best stick figure ever. Yeah, amen. You know, if you go to, if you all of a sudden are sitting down with the Lord and you are scratching the paper, you know, with a pen and spending time in his word, that's creativity. You know, there is no right or wrong to it. It does not have to look perfect. It is an intimate time with your heart and his heart. And just taking a few minutes a day, whether it's five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 or more. And I will tell you, once you start, you're going to want to spend hours. Yeah, yeah, you do. It's hard. like creatively, just you're going to want to spend more time with the Lord in that way creatively. Because I know time just gets away with me when I'm just sitting with him and creating, whether it's writing, because that's creative. That's also being creative, just writing. could write a poem. Poems don't have to rhyme. Right. Even if you just write a few words or even if you just write A scripture down, you know, that's still writing, that is being creative. Creativity can be so many different things. If you'd like to spend time in your garden in the mornings, that's being creative. Don't spend time in the garden. Take your shoes off. You know, put your feet on the ground. Feel the dirt. We're all connected to Earth because of God. We're all connected to Earth. And that is like, that is another aha moment that I had. That was like, you know, it's just, it's just interesting to me. It's just all, we are all interconnected. Universe, the earth, the dirt that you, that you walk on, the grass, the trees, we are all interconnected. We are all interconnected with the Lord. And so yeah, if that's your passion is gardening, then just go and spend some time gardening and creative in your garden and speak to the Lord while you're there and just listen. You know, and you know that to me that would be the biggest advice that I would give anyone because it's not about just painting. It's not about you know, art in the sense like this, you know, like my paintings. It's not about that and trust me. I've never painted my entire life. You know that was that was a gift that God gave me and he can give that to anyone. And he can give. You know, could also doodle like, like Melissa was just sharing, know, just spending time just doodling, you know, coloring, you know, just taking, taking a coloring book and coloring. There are times where I would prefer not to use my brain. And I take an actual watercolor, watercolor book that I have. That's like a coloring book, but it's watercolor. And I'll just spend time doing that because it's already got a sketch on it. And I just, you know, spend time just doing that because it's a mindless thing or lodging is a mindless thing where you just take all different kinds of collage papers, pictures and, know, like different kind of a femur of materials and things like that and just put it on a paper, just glue it on the paper. That's creativity. There's just so many different ways to be creative And the Lord is building, He is building an army of creatives. He truly is. He is building an army of creatives. Yeah, very much so. And I love that over the last what decade or so is the creativity that's coming alive within the faith community. Because for millennia probably, know, just like forever, thank you, Baptist, you know, we don't dance, we don't sing, we don't clap our hands. Art is of the devil, you know, We wonder why we have the movies we have and what's happening in Hollywood. It's because the kingdom stepped out and where there's no light, there's dark. So anyone out there listening who has heard that, you know, that we can't do these things, you know, I just give you permission to be as creative as you want to be because creativity comes from father Mm -hmm. The end. Creativity does not come from Hollywood. Creativity does not come from the devil. He didn't... The devil's an imposter. Nothing was created that God did not create. The enemy can only pervert. And we can have a whole other episode on that. I give you permission to dance all the dances, sing all the songs, write all the poetry. Go make a movie. If you want to be in Hollywood, go make a movie. If you want to act, dance, sing, create, however you want to create. If you want to make sculptures with, I don't know, sporks, go do that. And I pray that you just connect with God in that and talk to him in the process. And that's the big thing. I think that's one of the things that Kel and I are trying to get a... across is creativity is a conversation. Creativity is a dance creativity creates unity because you're constant constantly in this dialogue. And almost a lot of times though for me too it's like an unspoken like when you talked about doing something mindless like I love like the neurodivergent art so anybody wants to do that look it up YouTube it neurodivergent I think it's neurodivergent art. and can get the things where you just draw circles and you just fill or whatever and you fill in stuff just looking up and it's of my bed. You can just have a little notebook, you know, on side of the bed. before we got on the podcast. Cause I'm like, you know what I need? I need to just recenter and get all the thoughts out of my head. And so I just doodled and I made some circles and I just started filling it in and you know, and then mindless, just getting outside of the thoughts of the world, I guess, you know, any, any thoughts, I'm not saying I was having negative thoughts. was just, okay, you know what? I want to recenter, but in that sitting, mindlessly just doing I find myself at peace. I become more peaceful. I do become more centered. The intention is in making space for God to show up. And I think that's the whole key to it. Don't go into the creativity trying to create things, to make things, to produce things. Just go in. like, what are we doing today? Okay. God, what color should I use? pick up whatever color first color comes to you, whether it's your favorite color or not, you know, but that I will say that is the hardest thing about being an artist. You're like, you want that color to be right. And if anybody sees this, it's got, it's got to look good, you know? And That's, mean that unfortunately that spirit of perfectionism that we have. well, but also I think being an artist I just want to create pretty things, you know, and so I Have I have an ugly journal exactly has to see it. You guys, no one has to see it. Whatever you are doing in your time with the Lord, it's between you and him. Yeah. And that's what I was going to say. It's like, have an ugly journal that nobody sees. I won't show it to anybody. Like, it's not, yeah, I don't know. It's just something that it's just an outlet for me. There's no performance. There's no, I'm not producing a piece of artwork. That's not what this is about. What we're talking about is, like I said, just sitting down with a blank piece of paper and a pencil. and making space for whatever happens. If you wanted to do it that way, walk out into your garden and just sit. Maybe that's all God wants you to do. Let's just sit and watch the ants. Yeah, exactly. know? So this... going in here healing in here. You know, that's the worst. yeah, yeah, just just be making space and being available for however God wants to show up. You know, Jesus showed up for Fatini by sitting by a well. He was non -threatening and he was very inviting and told her everything about herself and she became the first evangelist. You know, so who knows what happens and what could happen when we just take the time to sit and go, okay, I see you. Do you see me? You know, so well, this was fun. I enjoyed this. I think that's I think it's a place. Good place to land before take off on a whole nother a whole nother ride there. So do you have anything coming up that people should know about? Do you still meet your weekly meeting? You were doing that for a while, weren't you? Your gathering? Well, yeah, okay. So talk about that. You do go live. How often do you do well, I was doing what I used to call the morning cup of Jesus. Yeah. And, but God kind of led me into a different season. So now my husband and I together on Monday night, seven o 'clock PM, actually seven PM Eastern time, we go on and we do real talk. It's just real talk live on Facebook. It's on my YouTube channel as well. And we just, whatever comes, know, whatever Holy Spirit gives us is what we talk So that is something that do weekly on Mondays. And then I do have my fourth annual retreat that's coming up, my women's creative retreat that's coming up on October 5th this year. And that is just one full day, although we do have Friday night open as well. Some of the ladies are staying Friday night as well, but Saturday all day, know, it's just a full day of just spending time intimately with the Lord creatively. You know, we have a couple of different workshops, some guest artists that are gonna be there, that kind of thing. That's what I kind of have going on that's coming up. That's it. You were... I thought you guys were meeting regularly, not like... Or maybe I was just seeing pictures from church? Are y 'all doing like a churchy kind of gathering? We meet regularly, well, I used to meet regularly actually on Zoom where we used to actually get together creatively on Zoom. That has also kind of changed this season as well where I'm only doing that once a month, which will start up again in September. So once a month and we just, just, anybody all over the world, you know, can join us, you know, we just spend together, spend some time together about an hour and a half together creatively. where everyone can just do whatever they want to do creatively. It's just time to fellowship and to just do something creatively with the Lord. Very cool, very cool. So anybody interested, we will have all the links to that in the show notes where you can connect with Kellen. And especially if you're up in her area, you can go hang out and just connect with her face to face because we need more face to face stuff. I'm so tired of the zooms and the screens. I want human, I want to feel the warmth of your body next to me. So, Well, you gotta let me know too when you have something going on, I would love to come down to do maybe some retreats with you down there. That'd be cool. Yeah. That's, that's what's, what I'm working on. because I, did a, online workshop and I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. And there wasn't the energy that I wanted and I, but I, love getting face to face. And so being here in Metro Atlanta, Atlanta is easy to get in and out of. It's usually fairly inexpensive for people to travel here. And I live in an area. where there are quite a few very, very nice Airbnbs and houses that we can stay at. I got a friend who has a gathering space on a lake, like a mile and a half from my house. so like right here in Metro Atlanta, you wouldn't know it. You drive down, you're like, where am going I didn't even know this place was here you know you drive through neighborhood neighborhood neighborhood and all of sudden it opens up into this big field and there's a big barn and her big house on a lake and yeah they have worship nights there once a month and she's got like I think she turned part of the loft into an Airbnb and it sleeps like three people which that's not enough to have a big retreat but the actual gathering space you know I could do 50 people easily so you might have to come down Let's do some art stuff and add some of that to the retreat. Yeah. Definitely. Even if we meet halfway between us, because traveling with all your art stuff can get expensive when you're paying for heavy suitcases. So maybe we'll meet somewhere like in Virginia or something and do a retreat there. I don't know. We'll see when you start talking creative. All the dreams start flowing. So all you listeners start, find a creative friend if you don't think you're creative and just start dreaming. So, all right, everybody. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed this, episode. I enjoyed hanging out with you, Kellen. Finally, after like, like we said, almost a year of trying to make this happen. it's good stuff. So anything that we talked about, you have questions about, hit us in the comment section of this show and we'll get back to you again like I said any way to connect with Kellen will be listed in the show notes her Instagram and substack link and for her blog and all that stuff yeah because we like connection so appreciate everybody listening and we'll listen to you next time That was fun.