Thus opens the Bible. God’s first recorded activity is to create ex nihilo; Elohim, the Trinity God, expresses Himself in creating from nothing. The next verse describes the Holy Spirit hovering, brooding over the face of the waters, then verse three opens with God’s exclamation of “Let there be light!”  As I contemplate these verses, which were written upon my heart as a small child, my response of gratitude is to create art, because that’s what my Heavenly Father does. As an artist I feel like I am an apprentice to the redemptive, creative process that is woven through all of scripture. Every Bible story, every  part of God’s creation  that bears His fingerprint is what I yearn to paint. However, art is so much more than simply recording an image, or illustrating a story. Art happens when I yield to the work of the Holy Spirit in me, and  by His grace the mystery of creation transforms my heart, and each painting becomes a prayer, an echo of the Still Small Voice.