A Print for Bri

You may have seen my posts on Facebook several weeks ago when I found out my friend Brittany was in a paragliding accident. It happened while she was vacationing in South Africa with her two best friends, Lauren and Ashley. 

I've gotten to know Lauren and Brittany pretty well over the last two years through community group at our church. I was so happy when they came to our group because they were the first people I met that were my age. This was a huge answer to prayer after living in Seattle for about a year, and only  meeting people 7-10 years older than me. I have loved getting to know people at different stages of life then myself, but I missed having friends I felt like I related to. It has been so encouraging to witness their friendship and sisterhood... especially in the midst of this tragedy. Lauren has been so confident in Bri's recovery. It has been a huge testament of her faith in God the Almighty and has strengthened my faith as well.

Over the past year, I have experienced tremendous personal growth. While I have talked about this growth in retrospect, Brittany and Lauren are some of the few people that experienced it first hand, and spoke encouragement into my life all along the way. Brittany is the most well-spoken person I've ever met. A gift I do not possess, but very much admire in other people. She has the ability to form perfectly constructed sentences on the spot, and get her point across seamlessly to her listeners. (So jealous of this superpower! It takes me hours to get my point across, and decades to write a blog post.) I miss hearing her words of advice and her well-thought-out prayers.

Long story short: Brittany is still in South Africa recovering from her very serious injuries. She is healing dramatically, but still has a long road of recovery. One of the next big steps on that road is coming back home! And it is expensive.

I have been so eager to help Bri out. I have been keeping her in my prayers and shared her GoFundMe page, but I still felt like I could do more. Then, I had a brilliant-beyond-brilliant idea (bonus points if you get that reference). I created a scripture print just for Bri on my etsy shop. All proceeds from the print will be donated to her GoFundMe. Obviously, donating directly to her GoFundMe page is still the best way to contribute financially. My hope is that strangers who don't know Bri will come across this print and buy it just because they like the design or the verse, and it will serve as an additional avenue for Bri to benefit from. (OR do both!)

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:22-23

This verse was chosen with the help of her friend Lauren. Brittany has a tattoo on her arm based off of this verse, and it is very special to her. The illustration at the top is taken from our church ceiling and the shape of the text is the same as the opening to the apse. I have wanted to use our church ceiling in a print for a while (because I am a sucker for church/cathedral architecture), and I thought this was the perfect opportunity. It represents the community Bri has around her. And in a larger context, the important role community plays in our sanctification as we are "set free from sin and have become slaves of God". 

You can purchase and download the print here.

I have also had the opportunity to contribute my graphic design skills to an upcoming fundraiser event for Bri. We are hosting an event downtown Seattle complete with music, raffle, and silent auction on Bri's birthday.  We even get to live-stream singing happy birthday to her! Its going to be a party! It feels so good to be used. And even better, to be used to help someone I care about. Below is the logo I created for the event. 

I was reminded by sister-in-law (Hi Michelle!) how cool it is that I have had the time to work on this event. This time last year I was struggling with no success in job searching, feeling like such a failure, and being so lost. Because of my flexible schedule with MrsCaiterBug Shop, I was easily able to rearrange my work to allow time for this project. If I had a full-time job, I might not have been able to contribute. It is so affirming to experience how God has structured my life so I can use my gifts to benefit those around me. It has been so exciting to see God reveal glimpses of His purpose for my life. For His glory and our good.

That's all for now! I still need to get two more blog posts out this month to fulfill my goals :)