Draw Close to Grace: A Story of Creativity and Vocational Discovery
When something hard and something beautiful collided, that’s where grace found me.
I wrote a book. My initial response to that sentence is, “Wow! How did that happen?”
But really, the journey isn’t much to unpack and it parallels my vocational clarity into coaching. As this simple, lovely little book prepares to enter the world, I wanted to share a bit about the journey that brought me here, both as a coach and now, as an author.
A couple of years ago, I was coming out of a really hard place. Many of us were. I knew I wasn’t alone, but I also understood that the particulars for each person were unique and, often, isolating. I had recently left a position and place I loved, and the departure was much harder than I had anticipated. I’d begun the process of pursuing certification through the International Coaching Federation, a process that would take a year and a half. I found myself carrying a lot of vocational uncertainty and anxiety.
I realized that my work in the local church had given me opportunities to use creativity to engage in ministry. I only started to notice this because it had been a while since I had played around with basic creative materials. In other words, I was really missing hot glue guns, felt, and all of the fun supplies children’s ministers keep packed away in supply closets.
So, alongside my coaching courses, I picked up an old set of watercolor markers and started doodling. I began to post daily watercolor pieces. I don’t know why I did that, because these were so amateur and simple. But then something amazing happened - friends, and even people I didn’t know, started sharing their pieces. Hardship and beauty had come together, and grace was there.
A friend messaged me, asking if I knew of any seasonal prompts for artists or creatives. I looked around and couldn’t find anything I would recommend, so, I put one together. The groundwork was laid for what would eventually become Draw Close: A Creative Companion for Lent. In its first iteration, Sketchy Lent, I saw people sharing their hearts through their paintings, music, and writing. The community grew and we learned beautiful things about one another through our amateur pieces, as we connected to God and one another. The generosity of spirit was expansive and was grace upon grace.
Sketchy Lent was a surprise - a doorway into sharing myself in a way that brought people together, making the world more vibrant and beautiful.
Strangely enough, as this creative community unfolded, I began to find vocational clarity and confidence as a coach. Just as I had seen beauty and vulnerability in this community of artists, I saw in coaching the chance to walk alongside people as they discovered their own possibilities and inherent worth. Coaching, like creative practices, is expansive and invitational. When we show up in the world as our true selves, appreciating the beauty of the world and our place in it, others are invited into the dance that is life.
In creative practices and life, grace often finds us when challenge and beauty collide.
Draw Close: A Creative Companion for Lent will be released in December 2024. You can preorder it here.
Use code DC20 for 20% off.
