Your Story Matters

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Your story matters—every bit of it. Not just the polished highlight reels we share on social media, but the beautiful parts, the broken moments, the victories, and even the chapters we'd rather erase. God intentionally crafted you as His masterpiece, designed with purpose and a unique story He delights in.

When David wrote "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" in Psalm 139, he wasn't simply acknowledging basic human design. He was expressing awe at how intimately and intricately God created each of us. The same Creator who spoke galaxies into existence took time to weave you together with all your nuances, gifts, passions, and quirks. You are not random or accidental—you are handcrafted by the Lord with divine intention.

Many artists believe their struggles disqualify them from creating meaningful work or sharing their journey. Yet those very experiences that tried to break you often become your most powerful creative fuel. God uses all things—not just the pretty parts—to weave together a testimony of His redemptive power. When you begin sharing your authentic story through your art, something remarkable happens: the fears that once paralyzed you start giving way to freedom. Your creative expression becomes more than self-expression; it turns into a stepping stone others can walk on toward their own healing.

Ready to discover how your complete story can transform your artistic journey? Join our Foundations course where we'll help you excavate the deeper parts of your heart with the Holy Spirit, find healing in those places, and discover God's vision for your creative future. Remember: you were created to thrive.
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Episode Transcript

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, friend, welcome backto the podcast.

(00:24):
So glad that you're here withme.
Listen, I want to jump intosomething today that, honestly,
I think all of us need to bereminded of from time to time,
and it's the fact that yourstory matters.
And I'm not just talking aboutthe polished highlight reels
that we all share on socialmedia or on Instagram or
whatever.
I'm not talking about just theshiny parts, the good parts that

(00:45):
you're proud of and the partsthat make you look great.
I'm talking about every bit,every part of your story, the
beautiful parts, the brokenness,the victories, the defeats,
even the parts that you wishthat you could erase.
Listen, it all matters to God,and I believe it matters, as you
grow, the impact and influencethat God has for you as an

(01:07):
artist in the marketplace,whether that's as a hobby,
whether that's as a ministry,whether it's just for doing
things that help you grow in theLord creatively, it matters.
I want to jump into thisscripture, which you probably
have heard before Psalm 139, 14.
And David is saying this, and Ilove it, and you've probably
again you've heard this, but itsays I praise you because I'm

(01:30):
fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful, Iknow that full well.
Listen, just pause for a moment, wherever you are, first of all
, and just let that soak intoyour heart.
Right, you're not a mistake,you're not an afterthought,
you're not something that God,just you know, thought up in

(01:50):
just a second and didn't reallygive a lot of thought to.
You are fearfully andwonderfully made, and that's not
only David's words.
I believe that's God'sdeclaration over your life that
you know.
When David was writing aboutthis, I believe he was writing
under the inspiration of theHoly Spirit and he wasn't just
talking about biology or justthe basics of human design.

(02:12):
Right, he was probably in thepresence of the Lord in this
moment, probably in awe of howgood God is, how big God is, how
powerful God is, all the thingsthat he had done previously in
his life and doing now in hislife, all the, all the things
that he had done previously inhis life and doing now in his
life, all the hopes and dreamsthat he had, and he was probably
standing there thinking abouthow intentionally and

(02:32):
intricately and intimately thatGod created him and, of course,
by extension, all of us as well.
It just goes back to the factthat, wherever you are in your
life, whatever you're goingthrough whether it's a great
season or a challenging season,a season where you're feeling
like, where you're feeling seen,or a season, maybe, where
you're feeling really unseen youare not random.

(02:55):
You are not an accident.
You're handcrafted by the Lordas a masterpiece, designed with
purpose, designed with hisintention and designed with a
story that not only God delightsin, but also that God wants to
use, not only to bringredemption and glory and

(03:16):
incredible healing andfulfillment in your life, but to
use that in the lives of othersas well.
I mean, it really is.
If you go kind of down therabbit hole with this, it really
is kind of crazy to think thatthe God, who spoke the galaxies
into existence, who createdearth, who created all of the
plants and flowers and microbesand proteins and all the

(03:39):
different things that we have onthis earth, took the time to
weave, you and I together, everypart of us that makes up who we
are.
I mean, that, to me, is justmind-boggling.
I'm just trying to go from artpiece to art piece, right, I'm
trying to.
You know, when I write a newbook or whatever, I'm just
thinking, oh my gosh, I hope Ican get everything in here that

(04:01):
I want to include and I justthink, wow, god is managing all
of that ad infinitum, not onlyin my generation and your
generation, but throughout alleternity.
All the nuances and the giftsand the personalities and the
passions and the quirks and theunique design, all of that stuff
, the good parts of our journey,the difficult parts of our

(04:22):
journey, it's all known by him,it's all embraced by him in the
fullness of who he is, and hewants to use all of that for his
glory and also to bring youinto maturity, because how many
of you know that some parts ofour story we'd rather forget,
right?
We don't want to go throughthose things, we don't want to

(04:44):
even share those thingssometimes.
But God, his promise, is thathe's using all things together
for our good.
Why?
Because he loves us and he'scalled us according to His
purpose.
Listen, I can think of so manytimes in my life situations I've
been in, even seasons I've beenin in life that I would rather

(05:06):
life situations I've been in,even seasons I've been in life
that I would rather not sharewith others.
I'd rather not have that comeout.
There's things that I've donethat you know in my life that
I'm ashamed of patterns of sinand habits that I got into, that
I wasn't proud of way that I'verelated to other people,
selfish times in my life, I meansome things I just want to
forget, right?
I'm sure all of us have that.

(05:27):
But you know, the beautifulthing about the Lord is that he
doesn't just tolerate thoseparts of our journey.
He fully, completely redeemsthem.
He uses them for His glory.
Just like I mentioned a minuteago, romans 8, 28,.
It says what God is working allthings together for our good,
because he loves us and becausehe's called us according to his

(05:49):
purposes.
Not just the pretty parts, notjust the parts that we're proud
of, not just the parts that wewant to put on Instagram or
Facebook.
He uses all things.
And so, listen, listen, it'snot just your successes that
matter to the Lord, it's notjust the times when you're
celebrating and you feel likeyou got it right.
That matter to the Lord.

(06:10):
Your struggle matters, yourhealing journey matters, the
difficulties that you'relearning to walk through and
learning to mature in theymatter.
Your failures matter, yourvictories matter, it all matters
why?
Because all of that togethernot again, not just the good
parts all of your story togethertell the story of God's grace

(06:33):
and goodness in your life.
Listen, I don't know if you arelike me, but maybe you've been
believing a lie in your life,that believe that your story
disqualifies you in some way orthat you couldn't share that.
I mean, if anybody knew that,of course they would reject you.
Maybe you think you've messedup too much, or you're too late,
or you're too broken, or you'retoo this or that.

(06:55):
Listen, nothing could befurther from the truth.
God doesn't waste anything, notone single moment.
And even the things and I haveto look back at my own life when
I say this even the things thattried to break us, tried to
destroy us right, those are thethings that I think God uses
most in us sometimes to bringlife and light and healing to

(07:19):
others.
Many of you have been followingme for a long time.
Maybe you've read my books, orespecially Unlocking the Heart
of the Artist, where I kind ofjump into a lot of the struggle
that I had early on in my lifeafter having a very difficult
relationship with my dad andhaving some significant deaths
in my family.
And then the enemy set me upwith just major trauma in my

(07:43):
life when I experienced sexualabuse from a same-sex family
member that went on for traumain my life.
When I experienced sexual abusefrom a same-sex family member
that went on for years in mylife.
I was trying to struggle withthat and balance that with a
love for God, a call to ministry, a desire to, to want to follow
him and everything but being inthat you know, sort of abusive
relationship and then becomingaddicted to pornography as a

(08:03):
part of that and then learningto live this secret double life
in everything that I was doingfor many, many years, even into
my early years in ministry.
Listen, I can promise you thatis not part of my story that I
ever wanted to come out, that Iever wanted to tell anybody
about.
But do you know, as God broughthealing in that area and he

(08:26):
taught me how to walk invulnerability and transparency
with others, do you know thatwhen he allowed me to begin to
share my heart freely with himand to receive healing and
wholeness and the love of God inmy life in a way that was so
deep and so profound that itjust it touched every part of my

(08:48):
being.
Do you know when that began tohappen?
All of a sudden, guess what?
Guess what began to be removed?
Embarrassment and fear.
You know why?
Because I realized I didn'thave anything to hide.
See, when you're trying to hidesomething, the lie is that if
anybody knew the real me, they'dreject me, they'd push me away,
they'd say I was disqualified.

(09:09):
Blah, blah, blah.
You know all the stuff, butwhen you realize that you're
fully loved and fully accepted,you can be fully healed and
transformed in the presence ofGod.
And God wants to use all ofthat stuff for his glory, not
only in your healing process,but now to use that in the
healing and restoration ofothers.
Wow, these that not that wecelebrate sin, but, but in

(09:32):
difficulty in our life.
But these things become thesebeautiful building blocks of our
life that when we come incontact with others and they
hear our story and they see thestory of our life, they go wow,
wow, I didn't know that's whatGod was really like.
I didn't know that Jesus reallyloved me that much.

(09:54):
Listen, there's something reallyreally powerful that happens
when you get the freedom to beable to share your story in that
way.
I love what it says inRevelation 12, 11, that says we
overcome by what the blood ofthe lamb and the word of our
testimony See.
When you share your testimony,when you share the story of your

(10:16):
life, of your art, what God'sdoing inside of you in any area
of your life, you're not justrecounting the past, right.
You're not just kind of goingover and here's my story again.
No, you're declaringintentionally the goodness of
God in your life, not just toyourself, to remind yourself,
which is, again super importantbut you're letting other people

(10:37):
know that what redemption isreal, healing is possible, hope
is alive in Jesus, even thoughyou can't see it or feel it
right now.
And I can promise you, havinghad the great privilege of
sharing my story of brokennessand redemption, not just of what
I just shared, but of so manythings in my life.
Listen, that might be the verything that somebody needs to

(10:59):
hear in order to believe thatGod can move in their life too.
And how much more powerful whenthat story gets communicated in
beautiful and untypical waysthrough our art, whether it's a
song or a dramatic presentation,or whether it's a painting or a

(11:19):
vessel or whatever it is, godcan move even more powerfully
through those times, right?
Because often those thingsbypass our cognitive mind and go
right to the heart and right tothe emotion.
Now, listen, I'm not sayingthat in every place and every
day you got to be jumping in thedeep end and sharing with
everybody all the depths of yourstory.

(11:41):
But I'm definitely saying that,as an artist, if you are not
allowing who you are and whatGod has done in and through your
life, if you're not allowingthat out, to come out through
your art, you are missing a hugeopportunity for God to move in
your life through signs andwonders.
Listen, many times we're waitingfor God to do these.

(12:03):
You know incredible exploits inand through our life and you
know he can do it and he does it, and I'm expecting the same
thing.
But listen, I just see over andover and over and over again,
the kingdom is much more simplethan we want to make it.
It's much more simple.
And the simplicity of sharingyour story in a moment where you

(12:24):
know God is opening the door,releasing a piece of artwork in
faith.
It represents who God is, whathe's doing in your life, the
essence of a moment when yourelease those things by faith,
when you open up your mouth infaith, when you embrace another
and ask a poignant question infaith and allow God to start to
move.
In a moment guess what?

(12:45):
That's?
When the kingdom gets releasedin power.
And so, my friend, I just wantto encourage you today start
owning your story, startthanking the Lord for all that
he's brought you through, andnot only that.
Be open to sharing those piecesof your journey as the Spirit

(13:05):
leads, because, again, you never, ever, ever know how God's
going to use you at a gallery,at a show, at Starbucks, at
Walmart, at church, wherever itis to begin to spark freedom and
faith and healing in somebodyelse's life.
Listen, friend, that is why Godhas endowed us with gifts and

(13:27):
graces and passions to do whatwe do in the context of our
lives as artists.
It's not only that we can walkin fulfillment and abundance in
our life, but so we can be aconduit of that same healing to
others.
Jesus, I pray right now thatyou would just so well up inside
of us, god, and let us knowyour overwhelming love for us,

(13:49):
god, let us see ourselvesthrough your eyes and how you
see us, even how you saw us whenyou designed this, lord, just
like that song I wrote not longago Lord, help me, see me as you
see me, lord, help me see thedepths of who you say I am, even
in the brokenness, even in thedifficulties I've been through,

(14:11):
that, lord, you would use thesedifficult moments in our journey
as healing stones, stones of afoundation that are being built
in our life, even a steppingstone that others can walk on.
I just see that right now, inthe spirit that God wants to use
.
This is great.
God wants to use thedifficulties in your life not

(14:34):
only as stones of remembrance inyour life, but as stepping
stones for others to walk onthat are going to bring them
into the fullness of healing andfullness of the kingdom that
God has for them in their life.
Thank you, jesus.
We just thank you for that,lord in Jesus name.
Amen.
Listen, my friend, I love you,I love you, I love you, I'm.

(14:54):
We just thank you for that,lord in Jesus name.
Amen.
Listen, my friend, I love you,I love you, I love you.
I'm so glad that you're herewith me every week on the
Thriving Christian Artistpodcast.
Listen, if you are sensing rightnow, man, I'd love to, I'd love
to do this, but, gosh, there'sso much fear and trembling about
this and I'm just not sureabout sharing some of the things

(15:19):
in my past, or even that Idon't even want to uncover parts
of my story.
That's a really greatopportunity for you to jump into
the Foundations course, and whywould I say that?
Well, in the Foundations course, what we do is help you to go
on a journey with the HolySpirit through your creative
process and through God's Wordand in community, to begin to
excavate the deep parts of yourheart with the Lord, allow him
to heal those places, renew yourmind and give you vision and
hope and a roadway, if you will,a pathway for the future and

(15:44):
all the things that he has foryou.
Listen, if you want to jumpinto that, and I hope you will.
All the information is righthere in this podcast episode and
listen.
God's got such incrediblethings for you, my friend, but
it starts.
It starts with your willingnessto be vulnerable.
Be willing to open up yourheart to the Lord, allow him to

(16:04):
heal those places and allow himto bring freedom and boldness
inside of you so that he can usethe things that the enemy tried
to use to destroy you toactually be the things that
bring life to you and life toothers.
I love you, my friend.
Thanks for being with me.
Until next time.
Remember you were created tothrive.
Bye, hey.

(16:24):
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
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.

(16:46):
Until next time.
Remember you were created tothrive.
Bye-bye.