I am sure you have seen these words before. And maybe you just saw them as words and not as an actual truth because it wasn’t broken down in a way that reached you. Maybe you just saw them simply as a quote.
We tend to do that with a lot of words that come our way, but since I am a lover of words, I tend to look just a tad bit deeper into words.
On the surface these words to the right can leave you asking or saying “how is that possible” or “ummm, I can’t see how” or “I don’t feel equipped, so I need something more”.
It took me a bit to truly grasp it all. Actually, that happened today when the words were going to be used for a simple quote/post on social media, I felt a little tug and a little inspiration to truly dig into the quote.
The words did their job as an inspirational quote and offered encouragement throughout the years. Absolutely, but for a long time, I didn’t seek the truth behind the words to see if there was even any truth. What did it even mean?
I will have to dissect it through my words. I feel it in my heart and even more so considering quite a bit of time has passed since I first put those words in a frame in my office (then part of my dining room in our apartment). When I walk out of my office now, I see those words and they remind me of something.
They reminded me that I have everything I need inside me to succeed. So should there ever come a time when I became discouraged, or if I fell into the trap of comparison, these words were truth.
I must say that I never considered being a writer or an artist when I was younger. I have always liked photography for the most part, but didn’t know how to capture what I was seeing in a way that captivated others until later in life.
Sure, I liked art and was good at it in art class, but nothing grabbed me and had me thinking I was an artist or would even become an artist. I did like creating all sorts of things, but the term or idea of me being artist was never in my vocabulary or mind.
When I used to write papers in school, I was the procrastinator. I would procrastinate to the absolute last minute and had one of the hardest times starting the paper. Oh, it was such a daunting task!! My mind would spin for hours with me just sitting there trying to figure out what the heck I was supposed to start with!
But, once I got something down, I could pour out the assignment. I wasn’t the best, but I got it done.
Let me show you how it was all within me all along and I didn’t even realize it.
For the artist in me, I always loved color. I didn’t even own much black clothing. Maybe a pair of black pants, one black skirt and one black shirt. Everything else was colorful. Like a rainbow when you opened the door to my closet. I wanted to have color all around me.
Florals were no exception. I know they are in right now, but I have been wearing florals since grade school and that, my friends, will never change!
We only had one store growing up, that sold a few craft supplies and that was Wal-Mart. Imagine how much things I could have collected and created, if there was a JoAnn’s Or a Micheal’s craft store in town. I would have been in trouble and probably never would have done any school work!
But when we made that trip to Wal-Mart, you best believe I always asked for the tulip fabric paints and I would create to my heart’s content! I created so many t-shirts with colorful designs or whatever I could think of, all over them. And I absolutely loved them.
I am also so very grateful that none of it ever came off in my mom’s washing machine!! That may have made me never want to touch anything creative again. I had a country mama and she was feisty!!
Well, to be honest, it probably would have went through one ear and came out the next! I was a bit strong willed then. Who am I kidding?
I am still strong willed!
As for writing, I had this thing going with a few girlfriends in high school where we wrote letters A LOT. We would write and then pass the letters to each other in halls. We wrote to each other so much, I had a bin that was filled with letters by the time I graduated.
Oh, one other thing I would ask for was books! I would read and read and read until my eyeballs turned into words. I would finish a book in a day or so and was ready for the next one. Getting the next one wasn’t an instant thing because we didn’t have money to just constantly buy books, but I did build up quite a collection over time.
Fast forward to the past few years and present day, when picking cards for my husband or those close to me, I usually opt for blank inside cards because I always believed my words would touch them more than someone else’s.
It was also another way to get feelings out especially after a disagreement!
In 2014, I went back to school for graphic design, chasing something that wasn’t quite me, but I surely thought it was. It was something that I was good at, and definitely helps me in my business, just don’t believe now that it was the over all plan.
During that time, for the creative side, I had to take a painting/color class, drawing class, design class another english class, and photography class. They were all basically learn on your own classes, with little instruction because they were half online and half in a classroom. But that is when everything that was already within me started to really come to life.
I started to see who I truly was. My English professor wanted me to take her next English class and I wish I would have recorded her words because they were full of so much encouragement. I didn’t need to take that class, but I almost wanted to take it just because! Because I actually LOVED English!
My art is part of who I am. The colors, the flowers, the words, the details, the truth, the light.
My writing is part of who I am. The stories, the observations, the words, the heart, the truth, the encouragement.
My photography is part of who I am. The stories, the color, the memories, the vision, the truth, the light, the hope.
I had it all on the inside of me already. As years passed, more was developed inside of me. I didn’t need to go find the next thing or compare myself to someone else.
It was all there. The very person that I was created to be, was all there. All along on the inside of me. Every challenge I had gone through and experienced added up to bring out everything within. It all added up to complete the pieces to the puzzle.
Philippians 4:19 says “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
So no, the final picture, the final product. The part where it all comes full circle and to fruition will not be revealed at once.
But YES, in every step of your life, those words “you have everything you need (inside you) to succeed” are true.
And they become even more true as time progresses forward.
Much Love,
Crystal Keefer
Charleston Artist | Writer | Photographer 