in the studio :: clucking chickens, hungry cats, and extravagant love

Welcome to In The Studio, a place to show off your studio and meet some great artists! With turkey day right around the corner, it seemed only fitting to share a story from my Uganda trip involving feathered friends. Last Friday I shared about Olivia. This week I’ve shared about Topistar and Jane. Storytelling is my of my favorite studios, so I’m loving the chance to exercise this outlet!

Recently God has been speaking to me about love. I love The Message version of 1 Corinthians 13:13…

“But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.”

Love extravagantly.

A couple of weeks ago, in an unfinished house in Jinja with clucking chickens and a hungry cat weaving in and out of my legs, I witnessed it…extravagant love. In the middle of Mabel telling us her beautiful story of God speaking to her that she was going to be Mama to many children, Joshua walked in. Mabel’s smile conveyed her surprise mixed with sheer delight that her boy was home from boarding school. He proudly brought her his paper that he received at school. It was a beautiful moment of real life right before my eyes, an imperfect setting with a perfect, extravagant love.

Mabel went on to tell us about how important it is to spend one-on-one time with each child, to help them through their grief and give them a chance to process and be heard. There’s 20 people in Mabel’s family. Twenty people.

It’s extravagant love, friends.

It’s God’s love.

And you know the two words this mighty woman of God kept saying in her unfinished house with clucking chickens, hungry cats, and 20 people to cook, clean, and care for?

God’s faithfulness.

That’s her story. Her story is about the faithfulness of God, and it translates into this beautiful tale of extravagant love that is real. That’s the bottom line, isn’t it? Trust, hope, and love, but the best of the three is love.

Now it’s your turn! Remember your “studio” can be anywhere. Let’s celebrate each other’s creativity by linking up and visiting as many as the other studios as you can. Check out the about post for more info and don’t forget to grab the In The Studio button!

Because next Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, I will not have the In The Studio link up, so I’ll see you in two weeks. Have a great week and an awesome Thanksgiving!