January 7, 2025 • 14 mins
Ever found yourself struggling with the balance between creative passion and practical pursuits? Join me, Matt Tommey, as we embark on a journey of artistic transformation, inspired by my recent adventure in Asheville, North Carolina. This episode is a heartfelt invitation to Christian artists everywhere, offering strategies to harness your creativity and align it with your God-given purpose. Let’s tackle the hurdles of self-doubt, fear, and perfectionism together, while setting clear visions and priorities that truly matter for your art business.
As we wrap up, I want to express my deep gratitude for your continued support and engagement. It’s a powerful reminder of the community we’re building—a space where you can flourish creatively and spiritually. Stay connected with me on social media and subscribe to the Thriving Christian Artist podcast for ongoing inspiration and encouragement. Remember, you were created to thrive, and this supportive community is here to ensure you do just that, releasing the Kingdom of God through your unique artistic gifts.
Enroll in the Foundations Course at http://thrive.matttommeymentoring.com/foundations
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the
podcast, where we hope youconnect with God to bust through
the roadblocks that have heldyou back for years, create the
work you love and really livethe life you know.
God created you to live as anartist in His kingdom.
I'm Matt Tama, your host.
Let's get started.
Well, hey there, my friend,it's Matt.
(00:23):
Welcome to the podcast.
Super glad you're here andwelcome to a brand new year.
Can you believe it?
I heard somebody the other daysay I'm going to thrive in 2025.
I'm like, yes, that's whatwe're going to do.
I hope this year that you arelooking forward to thriving in
everything that God has for youand I've already started having
a great year.
I know it's just January the 7thand we're just getting started,
(00:45):
but actually Tanya and I justgot back from I guess what four
days in Asheville, northCarolina.
We drove back 14 hours, if youcan believe, to see some friends
, but mostly to deliver somework.
I'm in a couple of galleriesthere and try to go back a
couple of times a year to takework that is selling wonderfully
, and try to go back a couple oftimes a year to take work that
(01:07):
is selling wonderfully, which isgreat and get to visit and eat
at some of our favoriterestaurants and just see the
mountains and all that.
It was really a joy.
I've had such a blast this lastyear creating In fact, I spent
most of the fall creating about40, 45 pieces that are getting
ready to go out to differentgalleries and a solo show that I
got coming up, and so I've justhad a blast.
(01:28):
I hope you're having a blast inthe studio with what you're
doing.
But it was one of those thingsI was excited about and I posted
on Facebook and everybody waslike oh, it's beautiful.
I mean, you know, soencouraging as an artist.
And somebody asked me on there,which you know I get from time
to time they're like oh my gosh,you know, how are you doing all
(01:49):
that you do?
I can't.
You know you're not only makingart, you're traveling to take
it to galleries and you're doingthis and you got courses in the
mentoring program and dah, dah,dah, dah dah and a family and
you know your gardening that youlove to do, like Matt.
How are you, you know, doingall of this?
And listen, I I realized thatcan be a big, big question for a
(02:09):
lot of artists, cause when youlook at your life you may be
like dang, I'm just, I'm justhappy to like get into the
studio from time to time, muchless be actually feeling like I
can grow a, you know, successfulart business and and get out
there and that sort of thing.
And I think I felt like that fora lot of years when my art
really was not on my prioritylist as something that I felt
(02:31):
like God had put in my life, notonly for me as a blessing, but
also as the vehicle of blessingand income in my life to be able
to bless others.
And I've learned over the yearsthat it's not really about
having more time necessarily,which is what everybody always
wants, but it's really about howyou use the time that you have.
(02:54):
And I think when you canunderstand as an artist that
this thing that God's given youas a creative gift is not just
for your own enjoyment althoughit is it's not just, you know,
something fun that you do on theside, that really doesn't
matter, it's not.
It's actually the way that he'sgiven you to uniquely release
(03:14):
the kingdom of God in andthrough your life, and when you
can approach it like that andstart to reconfigure your heart
and your mind to understand thatthat really is who you are and
what you do.
Everything changes and for me,that began to equal me taking
really seriously the process ofplanning out my days, planning
(03:38):
out my life, setting a coursewith the Lord and starting to
take daily actions based on someclear priorities and the vision
that God's given me, in orderto be able to move forward into
the things that God's given me.
One of the things I think thatkeeps artists overwhelmed and
struggling and even paralyzedthe most is simply the fact that
(04:00):
they don't have a clear vision.
They don't know that.
They know that.
They know this is what God'scalled me to.
If they do, or at least if theyeven feel an inkling toward
that, then they're not takingthe next step, which is actually
setting clear priorities andactually taking daily action to
move their life toward that endgoal that the Lord is showing
(04:22):
them.
You know, for me, stayingfocused and productive doesn't
have to mean that you're likesuperhuman.
You know that you're like thebest of the best, the most
productive person, whatever.
It just means that you'velearned how to remove the
distractions in your life andcommit to what truly matters,
and for a lot of people.
(04:42):
For most people, especiallyartists, who, as we all know,
we're, all you know, wired to bemore feeling and sensing
oriented that process ofcommitting to what really
matters, saying yes to the rightthings and no to the wrong
things, can really really be adifficult process, and the
reason I think it is again theway we're wired.
(05:05):
Of course, the enemy comes andwants to take advantage of those
things in our life, but he usesthese areas that we all
struggle with, like feelingfearful and having self-doubt
and dealing with perfectionismand all this kind of stuff.
We have all this stuff that wethink we should do.
All this pressure, pressure,pressure.
(05:26):
But because of the fear and theself-doubt and the
perfectionism and maybe limitingbelief or just unhealthy
beliefs about what's possible,what God has for you, maybe a
distorted view of actually howmuch time you have, what your
priorities should be, theenemy's using all of that stuff
in this big old soup, if youwill, this customized to you, to
(05:47):
try to keep you in the place ofinaction and overwhelmed with
the dream of being an artist,but never really seeing that
dream come true.
You know what God's word saysabout that.
It says hope deferred makes theheart sick.
Hope deferred makes the heartsick.
(06:07):
In other words, if you keep onliving with a hope after a dream
, after a hope after a dream,but it never comes to fruition,
you never see real, measurableprocess and progress in your
life.
That will destroy youinternally.
And so it's so important for allof us, as we're thinking about
(06:27):
this new year, to not just bethinking about our art skills
and marketing strategies andthat sort of thing.
That's, of course, important.
There are, of course, marketingstrategies and that sort of
thing.
That's, of course, important.
There are, of course, big, bigparts, integral parts of being
an artist, but none of that, Ipromise you, as somebody who has
mentored thousands of artists,who has walked a journey of over
30 years of being in theprofessional creative realm
(07:05):
myself, those things are extra.
They get built on top of thefoundation of what's going on
inside of your heart and mindyou, rather than the things
you've been through in your lifeor the things that you're just
hearing from others think areimportant, or the things that
you know may be based onwoundedness or trauma or fears
that have always given you thecontext for your life.
(07:27):
You know, for me, thatdifference when I made the
switch of not just trying to doit myself, not just trying to
learn more marketing strategies,just be a better artist.
Just hope my art sales wouldget better.
But I actually learned how toget rid of all that old, nasty,
garbage-filled thinking that hadfilled my mind for years and I
(07:49):
actually started coming in toalignment with who God called me
to be, actually started layinga foundation of his word and of
prophetic revelation, as theBible says.
You know, to get clear on whatit is that God had called me to
do.
When I did that, man, all themarketing and business stuff and
art stuff I promise youactually got a whole lot easier,
(08:10):
because I wasn't trying to dothat in a vacuum by myself, but
I was doing that in cooperationwith the Lord and my friend
listen, anybody can teach youhow to be a better painter,
anybody can teach you the latestmarketing things or whatever,
and we do a lot of that insideof our artist mentoring program.
(08:31):
But here's the deal Very, very,very few of anybody is talking
about how to lay the foundationin your life as an artist and a
believer, so that you know thatall of the things that you're
building in your life are basedon who you are in Christ, are
based on letting the Lord healthose broken and wounded and
(08:56):
skewed places of your heart andmind and bring that into
alignment with what he has foryou, and so that's why we
started the foundations course.
In fact, many of you may havehave taken our experience course
, uh, over the years.
This is sort of version two, ifyou will.
Uh, bigger, better, longer.
It's nine weeks instead of sixweeks.
(09:17):
It's actually got all brand newart projects and updated
journaling prompts.
All the teachings are brand new.
It's an opportunity for me totake sort of the latest,
greatest transformationalteaching that I feel like the
Lord has given me over the years, to really speak to the issues
in the lives of artists andreally address these challenges
(09:39):
that are at our core and reallyhelp you work through those so
that you can build a strong,sustainable foundation for your
art and life.
So listen, if you are somebodythat's saying, you know what
I've been trying to do all theother stuff I've been trying to
do all the stuff in the natural.
I've been trying to do all thisstuff on my own and kind of.
(10:01):
My art life's over here and mybusiness life is over here and
my spiritual life is over here.
My business life is over hereand my spiritual life is over
here, and never the three shallmeet.
Listen, if that feels like youwhich that was me for a lot of
years and it's a lot of artistswho mean well, who love Jesus,
but just have never seen apathway like this Listen, I want
to invite you to be a part ofthe Foundations course.
(10:23):
We're actually starting onJanuary the 14th, uh, which is
just a few days away.
Registration ends on January13th and, uh, you can jump in
right now using the link that'sright there in the show notes of
this podcast.
We've got tons of artistsalready in the Facebook group
from all over the world who areare just like you.
(10:44):
They're tired of being stuckand overwhelmed.
They're looking for a clear,step-by-step framework to help
you get clear on who God'scalled you to be, what he's
called you to do, start aligningyour priorities with his vision
for your life so that you canstop feeling overwhelmed.
They're ready to and I hope youare too just to uncover and
(11:05):
replace those I don't know likeroadblocks, inner roadblocks
inside of you they're holdingyou back from what God's got for
you and start empowering youwith truth from his word to let
you be who God has created youto be, and also give you a lot
of really practical, actionabletools to manage your time.
Focus on what matters, buildconsistent momentum and start
(11:29):
rewiring your heart and mind toone that aligns with the truth
of God's word and all he has foryou this year.
Listen, my friend, if 2024 wasnot all that you hoped it would
be, or if it was pretty good,but you really believe that
God's just got a whole lot morefor you and you don't want
anything holding you back fromthat.
You want to build this yearwith him, not just for him.
(11:52):
You want to be led by him, notjust do things that you think
will please him by yourself.
I want to encourage you jointhe Foundations course.
Like I said, you can click thelink right here that's in the
show notes and join us.
It's a nine week course.
It's self-paced.
Within those nine weeks you getlifetime access to the course
(12:13):
If you don't finish.
We got live Q and A's allthroughout the time.
You got the private Facebookgroup art projects all
throughout our time together.
It's going to be a wonderful,wonderful time and way to start
this year off right and getreally clear about who you are
and what God's called you to do,get rid of those roadblocks and
start feeling the freedom andthe fulfillment that God
(12:34):
designed for you as an artist.
Listen, my friend, 2025 can bethe year that you can thrive,
and I believe that theFoundations course is probably
the best way that you can dothat.
Join us inside and I lookforward to seeing you there, and
I look forward to seeing youevery week, uh, here on the
podcast as well.
I've got lots and lots of greattopics, uh, this year to to be
(12:56):
helping you and sharing with you, and I look forward to hearing
you, uh your feedback on thatand and just encouraging you
every week right here as well.
All right, love you, friend.
I hope we see you insidefoundations and until next time,
remember you were created tothrive.
Bye, hey.
Thanks so much for spending afew minutes with me today on the
podcast.
Listen, I hope it's been a hugeencouragement to you on your
(13:19):
journey as an artist.
Hey, also, before you leave,make sure to hit the subscribe
button so you don't miss any ofthe other episodes of the
Thriving Christian Artistpodcast, and also be sure to
connect with me on Facebook,instagram or at my website,
which is matttommymentoringcom.
Until next time, remember youwere created to thrive.
(13:39):
Bye-bye, thank you.
Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the
podcast, where we hope youconnect with God to bust through
the roadblocks that have heldyou back for years, create the
work you love and really livethe life you know.
God created you to live as anartist in His kingdom.
I'm Matt Tama, your host.
Let's get started.
Well, hey there, my friend,it's Matt.
(00:23):
Welcome to the podcast.
Super glad you're here andwelcome to a brand new year.
Can you believe it?
I heard somebody the other daysay I'm going to thrive in 2025.
I'm like, yes, that's whatwe're going to do.
I hope this year that you arelooking forward to thriving in
everything that God has for youand I've already started having
a great year.
I know it's just January the 7thand we're just getting started,
(00:45):
but actually Tanya and I justgot back from I guess what four
days in Asheville, northCarolina.
We drove back 14 hours, if youcan believe, to see some friends
, but mostly to deliver somework.
I'm in a couple of galleriesthere and try to go back a
couple of times a year to takework that is selling wonderfully
, and try to go back a couple oftimes a year to take work that
(01:07):
is selling wonderfully, which isgreat and get to visit and eat
at some of our favoriterestaurants and just see the
mountains and all that.
It was really a joy.
I've had such a blast this lastyear creating In fact, I spent
most of the fall creating about40, 45 pieces that are getting
ready to go out to differentgalleries and a solo show that I
got coming up, and so I've justhad a blast.
(01:28):
I hope you're having a blast inthe studio with what you're
doing.
But it was one of those thingsI was excited about and I posted
on Facebook and everybody waslike oh, it's beautiful.
I mean, you know, soencouraging as an artist.
And somebody asked me on there,which you know I get from time
to time they're like oh my gosh,you know, how are you doing all
(01:49):
that you do?
I can't.
You know you're not only makingart, you're traveling to take
it to galleries and you're doingthis and you got courses in the
mentoring program and dah, dah,dah, dah dah and a family and
you know your gardening that youlove to do, like Matt.
How are you, you know, doingall of this?
And listen, I I realized thatcan be a big, big question for a
(02:09):
lot of artists, cause when youlook at your life you may be
like dang, I'm just, I'm justhappy to like get into the
studio from time to time, muchless be actually feeling like I
can grow a, you know, successfulart business and and get out
there and that sort of thing.
And I think I felt like that fora lot of years when my art
really was not on my prioritylist as something that I felt
(02:31):
like God had put in my life, notonly for me as a blessing, but
also as the vehicle of blessingand income in my life to be able
to bless others.
And I've learned over the yearsthat it's not really about
having more time necessarily,which is what everybody always
wants, but it's really about howyou use the time that you have.
(02:54):
And I think when you canunderstand as an artist that
this thing that God's given youas a creative gift is not just
for your own enjoyment althoughit is it's not just, you know,
something fun that you do on theside, that really doesn't
matter, it's not.
It's actually the way that he'sgiven you to uniquely release
(03:14):
the kingdom of God in andthrough your life, and when you
can approach it like that andstart to reconfigure your heart
and your mind to understand thatthat really is who you are and
what you do.
Everything changes and for me,that began to equal me taking
really seriously the process ofplanning out my days, planning
(03:38):
out my life, setting a coursewith the Lord and starting to
take daily actions based on someclear priorities and the vision
that God's given me, in orderto be able to move forward into
the things that God's given me.
One of the things I think thatkeeps artists overwhelmed and
struggling and even paralyzedthe most is simply the fact that
(04:00):
they don't have a clear vision.
They don't know that.
They know that.
They know this is what God'scalled me to.
If they do, or at least if theyeven feel an inkling toward
that, then they're not takingthe next step, which is actually
setting clear priorities andactually taking daily action to
move their life toward that endgoal that the Lord is showing
(04:22):
them.
You know, for me, stayingfocused and productive doesn't
have to mean that you're likesuperhuman.
You know that you're like thebest of the best, the most
productive person, whatever.
It just means that you'velearned how to remove the
distractions in your life andcommit to what truly matters,
and for a lot of people.
(04:42):
For most people, especiallyartists, who, as we all know,
we're, all you know, wired to bemore feeling and sensing
oriented that process ofcommitting to what really
matters, saying yes to the rightthings and no to the wrong
things, can really really be adifficult process, and the
reason I think it is again theway we're wired.
(05:05):
Of course, the enemy comes andwants to take advantage of those
things in our life, but he usesthese areas that we all
struggle with, like feelingfearful and having self-doubt
and dealing with perfectionismand all this kind of stuff.
We have all this stuff that wethink we should do.
All this pressure, pressure,pressure.
(05:26):
But because of the fear and theself-doubt and the
perfectionism and maybe limitingbelief or just unhealthy
beliefs about what's possible,what God has for you, maybe a
distorted view of actually howmuch time you have, what your
priorities should be, theenemy's using all of that stuff
in this big old soup, if youwill, this customized to you, to
(05:47):
try to keep you in the place ofinaction and overwhelmed with
the dream of being an artist,but never really seeing that
dream come true.
You know what God's word saysabout that.
It says hope deferred makes theheart sick.
Hope deferred makes the heartsick.
(06:07):
In other words, if you keep onliving with a hope after a dream
, after a hope after a dream,but it never comes to fruition,
you never see real, measurableprocess and progress in your
life.
That will destroy youinternally.
And so it's so important for allof us, as we're thinking about
(06:27):
this new year, to not just bethinking about our art skills
and marketing strategies andthat sort of thing.
That's, of course, important.
There are, of course, marketingstrategies and that sort of
thing.
That's, of course, important.
There are, of course, big, bigparts, integral parts of being
an artist, but none of that, Ipromise you, as somebody who has
mentored thousands of artists,who has walked a journey of over
30 years of being in theprofessional creative realm
(07:05):
myself, those things are extra.
They get built on top of thefoundation of what's going on
inside of your heart and mindyou, rather than the things
you've been through in your lifeor the things that you're just
hearing from others think areimportant, or the things that
you know may be based onwoundedness or trauma or fears
that have always given you thecontext for your life.
(07:27):
You know, for me, thatdifference when I made the
switch of not just trying to doit myself, not just trying to
learn more marketing strategies,just be a better artist.
Just hope my art sales wouldget better.
But I actually learned how toget rid of all that old, nasty,
garbage-filled thinking that hadfilled my mind for years and I
(07:49):
actually started coming in toalignment with who God called me
to be, actually started layinga foundation of his word and of
prophetic revelation, as theBible says.
You know, to get clear on whatit is that God had called me to
do.
When I did that, man, all themarketing and business stuff and
art stuff I promise youactually got a whole lot easier,
(08:10):
because I wasn't trying to dothat in a vacuum by myself, but
I was doing that in cooperationwith the Lord and my friend
listen, anybody can teach youhow to be a better painter,
anybody can teach you the latestmarketing things or whatever,
and we do a lot of that insideof our artist mentoring program.
(08:31):
But here's the deal Very, very,very few of anybody is talking
about how to lay the foundationin your life as an artist and a
believer, so that you know thatall of the things that you're
building in your life are basedon who you are in Christ, are
based on letting the Lord healthose broken and wounded and
(08:56):
skewed places of your heart andmind and bring that into
alignment with what he has foryou, and so that's why we
started the foundations course.
In fact, many of you may havehave taken our experience course
, uh, over the years.
This is sort of version two, ifyou will.
Uh, bigger, better, longer.
It's nine weeks instead of sixweeks.
(09:17):
It's actually got all brand newart projects and updated
journaling prompts.
All the teachings are brand new.
It's an opportunity for me totake sort of the latest,
greatest transformationalteaching that I feel like the
Lord has given me over the years, to really speak to the issues
in the lives of artists andreally address these challenges
(09:39):
that are at our core and reallyhelp you work through those so
that you can build a strong,sustainable foundation for your
art and life.
So listen, if you are somebodythat's saying, you know what
I've been trying to do all theother stuff I've been trying to
do all the stuff in the natural.
I've been trying to do all thisstuff on my own and kind of.
(10:01):
My art life's over here and mybusiness life is over here and
my spiritual life is over here.
My business life is over hereand my spiritual life is over
here, and never the three shallmeet.
Listen, if that feels like youwhich that was me for a lot of
years and it's a lot of artistswho mean well, who love Jesus,
but just have never seen apathway like this Listen, I want
to invite you to be a part ofthe Foundations course.
(10:23):
We're actually starting onJanuary the 14th, uh, which is
just a few days away.
Registration ends on January13th and, uh, you can jump in
right now using the link that'sright there in the show notes of
this podcast.
We've got tons of artistsalready in the Facebook group
from all over the world who areare just like you.
(10:44):
They're tired of being stuckand overwhelmed.
They're looking for a clear,step-by-step framework to help
you get clear on who God'scalled you to be, what he's
called you to do, start aligningyour priorities with his vision
for your life so that you canstop feeling overwhelmed.
They're ready to and I hope youare too just to uncover and
(11:05):
replace those I don't know likeroadblocks, inner roadblocks
inside of you they're holdingyou back from what God's got for
you and start empowering youwith truth from his word to let
you be who God has created youto be, and also give you a lot
of really practical, actionabletools to manage your time.
Focus on what matters, buildconsistent momentum and start
(11:29):
rewiring your heart and mind toone that aligns with the truth
of God's word and all he has foryou this year.
Listen, my friend, if 2024 wasnot all that you hoped it would
be, or if it was pretty good,but you really believe that
God's just got a whole lot morefor you and you don't want
anything holding you back fromthat.
You want to build this yearwith him, not just for him.
(11:52):
You want to be led by him, notjust do things that you think
will please him by yourself.
I want to encourage you jointhe Foundations course.
Like I said, you can click thelink right here that's in the
show notes and join us.
It's a nine week course.
It's self-paced.
Within those nine weeks you getlifetime access to the course
(12:13):
If you don't finish.
We got live Q and A's allthroughout the time.
You got the private Facebookgroup art projects all
throughout our time together.
It's going to be a wonderful,wonderful time and way to start
this year off right and getreally clear about who you are
and what God's called you to do,get rid of those roadblocks and
start feeling the freedom andthe fulfillment that God
(12:34):
designed for you as an artist.
Listen, my friend, 2025 can bethe year that you can thrive,
and I believe that theFoundations course is probably
the best way that you can dothat.
Join us inside and I lookforward to seeing you there, and
I look forward to seeing youevery week, uh, here on the
podcast as well.
I've got lots and lots of greattopics, uh, this year to to be
(12:56):
helping you and sharing with you, and I look forward to hearing
you, uh your feedback on thatand and just encouraging you
every week right here as well.
All right, love you, friend.
I hope we see you insidefoundations and until next time,
remember you were created tothrive.
Bye, hey.
Thanks so much for spending afew minutes with me today on the
podcast.
Listen, I hope it's been a hugeencouragement to you on your
(13:19):
journey as an artist.
Hey, also, before you leave,make sure to hit the subscribe
button so you don't miss any ofthe other episodes of the
Thriving Christian Artistpodcast, and also be sure to
connect with me on Facebook,instagram or at my website,
which is matttommymentoringcom.
Until next time, remember youwere created to thrive.
(13:39):
Bye-bye, thank you.
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