The Lion Of The Tribe Of Judah

I ran away that day. My white dress was stained with blood. I had been smiling all afternoon so they wouldn't worry. But then I broke and I hid in the woods, and wept.

Daylight faded as I cried. I knew I couldn't hide forever, but I was afraid of turning back, afraid of what might still be there. Crawling to my knees, I looked at the treetops for comfort. Then I was up and wandering through the dark. I traveled for ages in the night, sorting my thoughts and hopes and shattered dreams; and I wondered what it would take to make me free.

 I collapsed against a wooden post at the top of a hill. Exhausted, I leaned my head against it to rest. The night glowed with fire from the last of the sunset. And I cried in my sleep. I had hoped to find the strength to go on on the top of this hill. But still I felt forgotten, yet over-worried about.

 And I placed my heart in the hand that was reaching down to me. I felt the flames glowing around me. The wood post was burning. I leaped back, waving a flame out of the hem of my dress. And the cross burned without me.

I cried as the cross burned, it hurt my heart and I didn't know why. As my face fell to the ground, the earth began to shake. And a creature watched me from the other side of the cross. He was silent except for the roar I heard in his heart. And I loved Him, even though I had fallen apart.

He watched me in the silence, and the darkness, and the crackling of the flames as I watched the cross and my heart burn away. He only nodded as if He knew this was all yet to come. He had ordained it, He had prepared it, He had opened the way. And as I cried, my hair in the mud, He touched me with His soul. I felt my heart laying wide open before him, all the hurt, all the pain, the fear, the misjudgments. He saw me, He saw everything, and I was not ashamed. He knew me and this knowing, it healed me.

I painted this August 2012. The above story was based off of the vision I had for this painting.