The following transcript is intended to aid in your study. However, while we try to go through the transcript, our transcripts are primarily computer-generated and often contain errors. Please forgive the transcripts’ imperfections.
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Segment 1
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The book of Deuteronomy. Now, this book contains Moses' final words to the children of Israel before they leave him and go into the promised land. Now, listen, we can totally read all of his advice verse by verse, or we can see it. So for this episode, we've decided to follow my guest's mantra of learning heaven through art.
And I can tell you this, after studying her art and reading these verses of scripture, I feel like I'm closer to heaven, and our goal is that you're closer to heaven too when we're done with this episode. Welcome to the Sunday on Monday Study Group, a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original brought to you by LDS Living, where we take the Come, Follow Me lesson for the week and we really dig into the scriptures together.
I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now, if you're new to our study group, please follow the link in our description, and it's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your Come, Follow Me study, just like my new time listening friend, London Timothy. And London, I think you're gonna love our guest today.
Okay. So that's the best thing about this podcast, is each week we're joined by one or two of my friends. It's always a little bit different. And so this week is so different, 'cause I already told you we're gonna use art, and we are so lucky, you guys, so lucky to have the artist Eva Koleva Timothy. Hello, Eva.
Tammy. Hi. Hello, hello. So happy to, to be here with you. Eva, tell everybody... Just tell us where you're from first. That's what we wanna know. Okay. So I grew up in Bulgaria. I grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria. And I'm married to Adam. My husband's Adam, so Adam and Eva. That's perfect. And how many children do you have?
Okay. So we have three children. We have Ian, who's married, um, to Leia. And then London, he has just gotten back from his mission. He's studying at SVU. And Ian is doing grad school here in MIT in Cambridge. And Sky is at BYU getting ready to go on a mission. So- ... she is really excited. Where is she going on her mission?
She just got her call. She's going to Minnesota, Minneapolis Mission. So. Oh. That is gonna be so fun. One of the best restaurants I've ever eaten at is in Minnesota. Oh, really? Yes. Oh, my goodness. And I bought their- Okay ... cookbook, and I make their food. That is so cool. You have to send me down. I'm excited. I will.
She would love that. Okay, so this is, this is, like, such a treat for me, and I cannot believe you agreed to be on this podcast. And when I said, "Let's do it this way. Let's just apply your artwork to all of the stories," you were all in, which I loved, and I sent you all my different ideas, 'cause her art...
Listen to me, everyone, you have to follow her on Instagram and Facebook. You already know her art. You have seen it. Her art has graced the covers of books and magazines. It's been included in many articles on the church's website. But any, like, what else... It, I mean, your, one of your pieces is the cover of one of Emily Bell Freeman's books, On Grace.
Like, it's, you're everywhere. It's so cool. How did you get started with art? Oh, I, I'd say God is everywhere, 'cause that's what we're doing. We're, we're showing Him to the world, and that's the most beautiful thing, and I love Emily. I'm just so honored that she would use my art. And, um, it's God's art. It's our story, and it's His glory, and I firmly believe that we all have gifts inside of us that God wants us to use so we can build up His kingdom.
And those are incredible opportunities to be part of this grand work by, by sharing our light through our gifts. And to answer your question, I, I grew up in Sofia. We were very poor. I didn't... We had no way of, um, I mean, thinking even beyond just the mundane, putting food on the table, right? So I grew up during communism, and it was very oppressive time and regime, and no First Amendment rights.
It wa- it was difficult. It was just a lot of darkness and a lot of oppression and no freedom available as an individual. And yet my dad, my dad was just the sweetest, and my mom. I'm the only child, so- With... They were my best friends, and he would always point to- Mm ... like a little shoot coming out of concrete, and he would say, "That's you.
Don't you ever give up." Like a little plant coming out of the concrete. Ah. He's like, "Keep just going and keep persevering," even though it was such difficult circumstances, and it just, I'll never forget that. He was an artist. It was an incredible... He was a taxi driver by day, but he painted by night. Wow.
Whenever he can have enough money to buy paints. But, um, just, just love his eye, that he just would always point out beauty. So I think that's how it all started, by just listening to him and pausing to see the sunset or the sunrise- Mm ... and, and find beauty wherever you can because it is, it surrounds us if we just open our eyes.
God's hand is there. It really is present. Such beautiful words. Um, are you self-taught or did you go to school to paint? Like, what is that like for an artist? So I, my story is quite different, um, than a typical, uh, oil painter that you would think, because I create photo paintings. So I actually use both.
Like, I start with photography. I graduated from University of Utah, um, in communications with emphasis in film and photography. So I studied photography and worked in the photography world for over 20 years- Mm ... doing black and white photography. This is so different to what I do right now, and in the museum world, and just amazing how God can transform and teach us new things.
Mm-hmm. And this is so amazing to me that, so I do photo paintings now, and I do color, and I'm continually learning. There's so much. I, I use a stylus, so my brush that I use has over 4,000 settings on my computer. So if you think about it, like can you imagine da Vinci thinking, "What? You can change color that many times?"
Like, you can do all these different colors, and you can, you can u- I mean, I, I know maybe five or six or seven settings of that. I have a lot- Wow ... long, a lot, a lot more to learn, but- What does photo painting mean? So I, I start with photography and then I paint. So- Oh, okay ... like, some artists would just, they still start with photography, but they don't literally use it.
Mm-hmm. They would try to copy the photograph into their painting, right? I actually use my... All of my art starts with photography, and I use the photography part of it, and then I paint on top of that, along with that. So I add all my shadows, all my colors, the sky, whatever else I feel. Oh, wow. Like, so it feels 3D.
It's very real- Mm-hmm ... because of the photography side. But then the painting is, is just the magical. It's kind of the best of both worlds. Like, you have- Yeah ... them together. So it's, it's real, and yet, um, painterly at the same time. So it's, it's, it's different. And I did teach my- I mean, God taught me. All glory to Him, always.
Um, so yeah, it's... I mean, my dad's been always my mentor, so he's always been, like, teaching me as well. So he is my number one teacher. Well, I love how you use the word magical, 'cause I would say that describes much of your art. It is just, it's breathtaking. It's beautiful. It's magical. The colors, the richness, everything about it.
I love, love, love your art. And, and what surprised me was when I asked you to be on, I thought, "I don't even know if she has art that would apply to these stories." And so I s- I kind of outlined the lesson and followed the Spirit, and then went to your website. And sure enough, you had so much art that applied to the stories in Deuteronomy, and this is gonna be such a fun discussion.
So everyone listening, if you wanna know more about Ava and you wanna see a picture of her and her family, you wanna make sure you read her bio. Go check that out. It's in our show notes at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. We will also have all of her art that we're gonna be talking about today, so go there so you can follow along with our discussion and see her art.
And then we'll have links to all of her places where you can go and f- and just maybe look at more of her art, 'cause she has incredible art on her main website that I recommend. 10 out of 10, such incredible art. So grab your scriptures, everyone, and something to mark them with, and let's dig into the Book of Deuteronomy.
Okay, Ava, so first things first, what did the Holy Ghost teach you as you were just preparing for this episode? Oh. Oh, my gosh. I, I love the Book of Deuteronomy. Why? Oh. Well, Jesus quoted it. Mm-hmm. Jesus knew it. I think when I... And it's probably one of the most quoted books in the New Testament, and I... It's just very tender to me.
It's one of those books that there's, there's His counsel, like, after all those years, you know? Yeah. It's very tender to my heart. I, I just really love- All of the words, 'cause I feel like they're for me. So I, I don't know. Mm-hmm. I just feel like I wanna tell this to my kids, and I wanna tell this to all the world.
So I don't know, I just... It's so tender, and it's such a beautiful book, and it, more than anything, it, it teaches me of God's love. Wow. Take us to a verse of scripture that you love. I know you love the whole book. Is there one that we could just read right now? Oh, my gosh. Well, you know, in- And by the way, I wish everyone could see her scriptures.
They are so beautiful. They're... Everything's colored and highlighted. I love your scriptures. Ah. Well, you're, you're too cute. I'm sure yours looks the same, ri- you know. I don't know. I love it. You're probably gonna go colored, like, perfectly, and every color means something. Mine are- Kind of a mess ... just marked up.
I, I think I would go into verse cha- chapter two, verse seven is probably one of my most favorite ones. I mean, I, I love, I love so much of this book. But verse seven, there's something about it that is, I feel so relatable to my life. It says, "For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all thy works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these 40 years the Lord thy God hath been with thee, and thou hast lacked nothing."
And I just, I think this speaks so much personally to my life, that walking through wilderness, we all have those moments, and sometimes life feels like that, and there, there are sometimes months and sometimes years walking through a wilderness till you reach an o- oasis. And yet I love this idea that the Lord's walking with you, and then you lack nothing.
And, and- Wow ... that's so beautiful to me. Oh, it's so beautiful to me. Eva, you were so inspired to share that verse, because our last segment last week, all we focused on was the word wilderness and the number 40. And everything we talked about, and I can't think of a better way to then introduce this week's episode, like, here's what Moses has to say to these people, and that is a perfect verse right there.
Wow, that's beautiful. Thank you so much. And I love that I have it marked down in my scriptures with your name next to it. I will forever remember you when I read that. That is so cool. Okay, so in the next segment, then, we're gonna dive into this special episode using Eva's artwork to tell the story. So each segment we're gonna highlight a specific piece of her artwork, and then she is gonna share with us her inspiration and experience as she painted this, and why she chose it to do it this way, like all the things an artist would say, and how we're gonna relate them to us and to studying the scriptures in the Book of Deuteronomy.
And so we'll start with her first artwork about a mountain in the next segment.
Segment 2
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For this segment, we're gonna look at two verses of scripture. That's how we're gonna start off. Let's go to Exodus chapter 3, 'cause here are two things we wanna point out about Moses. So Exodus chapter 3, one of the things that we wanna know is verses one through 10. Specifically in verse one, where it tells us that he led the, Moses led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
Now, Horeb in, is another name for Sinai, so that's the mountain. So Moses begins his entire experience on a mountain, Mount Sinai, and now we're going to go 40 years later. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 34, and in chapter 34 we're going to look at verses one through four. And Eva, will you please just read verse one?
"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan." Okay. The really cool thing for me is to think that Moses began and ended his ministry on a mountain, and what an important role that a mountain would play in the life of Moses.
How many times he would go up to the top of a mountain and back down Mount Sinai to commune with the Lord. It was such an integral part of his experience of being a prophet, and he spent his whole life preparing the children of Israel to enter this promised land. And so the book of Deuteronomy, as we said, contains his final instructions, his reminders, his exhortations, his pleadings, all of that with the Israelites.
And he not only spent time as a prophet dealing in the wilderness survival and conquering enemies and building a nation, but I feel like Moses' main goal was to help the people learn to love God and obey Him and remain loyal to Him. That was the miracle of epic proportions. Of all the miracles that Moses performed, that would be the biggest one.
Would the children of Israel turn their hearts to the Lord? And then it had me thinking, I feel like that is the epic miracle that is trying to happen with all of us. Are we willing to turn our hearts to the Lord? So that made me think about these miracles and mountains, and when I saw your artwork, Mountain Moving, it just hit my heart because I thought Moses began and ended on a mountain, but the symbolism of the miracle of moving mountains Almost moving a mountain may have been easier than getting the children of Israel to love the Lord.
And so tell us about this piece of artwork. You've titled it Mountain Moving, and it is so beautiful. It's a picture of a woman standing on a stone holding a mountain above her head, and it's lit up. It's so pretty, and it seems like there's mountains in the background, and then... This is what I'm seeing, so I'm just describing it, and now Eva hit it.
Tell us everything about this painting. Oh, my gosh. Well, I love, I love so much that you're talking about, like, Moses going up on the mountain, and I, I love that there's effort involved in doing so. And I, I even remember President Nelson, he would speak about that it does take effort. It- the Lord loves effort, and there's, there- because of that choice to climb up that mountain, there's consequences and there's a result, and you can actually, because of the effort, you can feel God and, and talk to Him, and He do- anyway, I just think that there's so much symbolism about mountains.
So I really wanted to create something where we have this visual reminder that God can do that. Only He can. And we can, with His help, in our lives, do the same if we allow Him to. And I think I was trying to portray I, I was facing a big mountain in my own life, and, and then I had another mountain that was facing me.
So I was just like, "This is crazy." Like, I mean, I, I, I... It was just one after the other and I, I kept feeling like, "How is this ever gonna work out?" Like, how do you do this? And I remember that the scriptures that we're told that, you know, even a, a, a faith of a mustard seed. Even if you have this little faith, God can still work with you.
And so it was a good reminder to me that I just need to keep persevering and keep knocking on His door and keep asking Him, keep doing my part, right? Mm-hmm. A- and trusting the unseen and the unknown what He can do, 'cause I can't see it with my own eyes, but He knows how, and trust His timing that that mountain can start moving as long as I'll, I, I trust Him and I allow Him to do that in my life.
So this image was created to remind us that He is the only one that can work through us and move those mountains in our lives, and the idea to allow Him, just to surrender, lay it all at His feet and say- I trust you can do this because without you, it's never gonna happen. And even, like, my coming to America was a huge mountain in my life, and I...
at all odds, it, it seemed like it would never happen. We were not members of the Communist Party. You could not leave the country. We had no money, no connections. Um, it, it seemed like this mountain of this dream of me wanting to come to America would never happen. Like, it, it's impossible, right? And with my earthly eyes, I was just like, "How is it gonna work?"
And then God's like, "You do your part. You study English. You, you do what you can do, and let me do the rest," right? Then, then of course, angels helped the wall fall in East Germany, and the consequence of that, the, the, there was more freedom, the border was opened. And, uh, God can do His part if we trust Him.
And so I wanted, I wanted that reminder in my life to, to really be turning to Him. When I look at the mountain, I'm like, how? How? How could it- Yeah ... possibly just work, you know? And, and just a reminder for me to rely on Him, on His promises. And they, He keeps them. I mean, that's the beautiful thing about God.
He doesn't just say one thing and does another. Mm-hmm. But He actually is a God of promises and covenants, and I just am so grateful that that's the God I, we all have faith in and believe in. And so just trusting that those mountains can start moving, can start shifting as we do our part, as we do our sacrifice.
Because it- Mm-hmm ... requires us to sacrifice- Yeah ... for His work to, to, to work. Well, down by her foot, her right foot, are those, like, little flowers or dandelions growing out of the stone? Mustard seed. This is a mustard seed plant. I, I- Oh, yay I had to find a mustard seed plant. You know how every bit of faith counts, and, uh, this idea I needed to remind myself that it starts, it can start so little.
And it can grow, and it can actually become something grand. So that was- That gives me chills ... you have good eye, Tammy, to see that. Wow. Yeah. Is that why her dress is mustard yellow color? Yes. Oh, that's neat. Wow. Okay, we need to travel together. We can- We can I mean, I'm a bit of an artist. No, give me a break.
No. I'm just- This is so good. Yes ... I said to, I said to Eva when we started, "I'm the layman. I'm just gonna say what I see, and then I need you to describe it to me," so. Well, and what's she standing on? Is it a stone or what? Yeah, well, I just love the idea that Jesus is the rock, and I wanted- Oh ... to portray that, that if we are rooted in him, if we stand upon his doctrine and, and his teachings and his truth, that will give us so much more strength and, and hope to persevere when the tough times come.
That's awesome. Oh, I love this. That's just one piece of art, and I'm feeling the spirit already. This is so cool. Wow. Okay, so you did a great job. Yes, the faith. And I feel like with Moses and the children of Israel, there had to have been enough of them to have just a bit of faith, of the grain of the mustard seed, to finally get to enter the promised land.
And Moses had to have had that to continue to lead these complaining children of Israel and never give up on them. And now here he is, he's standing on this mountain, his work is done, and he doesn't even get to go into the promised land because of a mistake he made. I mean, God is a god of his word, for sure.
And here's Moses just saying how much he loves them, and then he dies at the end of Deuteronomy, and they go in. And we'll come back and talk about that later with another picture or piece of artwork. So he has indeed moved mountains. For 40 years, he got the children of Israel exactly where the Lord needed them to be.
And so in the next segment, we're gonna look at another piece of artwork, and we're gonna start reading some of the words that Moses had for the children of Israel. We'll do that next.
Segment 3
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Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 7. And Eva, will you please read verses 7 through 9? "The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God." "The faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations." Okay, so highlight the word mercy in verse nine. We love that because that's the word hesed in Hebrew. So right there, "He keepeth his covenant and hesed with them that love him and keep his commandments."
And I love how in verse six he says, "Thou art a holy people unto the Lord God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself." And that word special in Hebrew is peculiar. A special people above all the people that are upon the face of the earth, and he, it's because he loves them, not because they're more mighty or more in number, but because he absolutely loves them.
And when I went to some of your artwork, I saw this one called Born and Carried, and I just imagined him carrying out one by one these Israelites from Egypt into the promised land. So Ava, tell us about this piece of artwork, Born and Carried. One of my most favorite sections of Deuteronomy, if not the most favorite part, I mean, gosh, there's so many.
Like, your children, how you love them all, you know? So true. It's just so beautiful, and I love the Shema and the story which, a prayer that they would say, and the scripture's here right in front of us, that is so powerful and beautiful and goes very much so with this piece of art. And I just love how it was really, like, the pouring out of their hearts when they would recite it twice a day.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Right? I l- I want to be more like that. I need, I need to have this reminder in my life to keep repeating these beautiful words, um, and, and, and remembering the Lord. That, that's what was... 'Cause we forget him so easily. Lest thou forget. And I wanted this Shema to come alive in my own life. And when I was
Actually, this piece, I'm so glad Tammy chose this to go along with this part of Deuteronomy as we're pondering it, because it is not just listening, but also obeying because of love, right? 'Cause that, that was kind of the core of this, these verses that they would read morning and night, and Jesus would've done that too, and I...
It's just so endearing to me to think that he actually did that as well. And- Yeah ... uh, uh, there's just so, I mean, can I read it? Can I read some of them for- Yes, let's read this prayer. It's so beautiful. In, in Deuteronomy chapter 6, this is the prayer the Jews say two times a day, even to this day, morning and evening.
I would love for you to read these verses Okay. Um, so we would, I would just do from three to six? Yeah. I mean- Perfect ... there's so, so much. I mean, teach their children diligently, I love that, too. Maybe three to seven. Okay. So the, the, these words I feel like are so much also directed to us, and there's so much power.
And it says, in verse four, we'll start, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart." And so as you... This will go so much with the art as well, that we're gonna just be pondering right after.
And it says, "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." This actually reminds me a little bit of Alma 37:37. It gives me that, like- Yeah ... seek the Lord with you at all times.
But I, I just, I love this, like, calling us to remember Him because He first loved us. Yeah. And there's just so much beauty in that. In the good times, in the bad times, He is carrying us. He is walking with us. And I know Tammy and I actually talked about this piece at, earlier when- It's my favorite ... she was in my podcast.
Yeah, that was just so cute. And something Tammy noticed, how as we see in this depiction, the Savior is carrying this woman, how she has, she is letting Him carry her. She is, she's leaning on His shoulder. She's actually relaxed. Her feet are, are relaxed. Her, her one arm is, and her head's down. Her hair is, like, leaning completely 100% on Him.
Mm-hmm. And I, I wanted to portray that idea that this is the God we love, and He's the one that we can completely trust and, and rely on with our whole heart, with our whole mind, and soul, and body, and every possible, every fiber of our body, right? That we can- Give our whole to him, wholeheartedly, um, follow him.
Wholly follow the Lord, like Caleb. I just love that. We learn about Caleb in the first chapter of Deuteronomy. Mm-hmm. That's how he followed the Lord, and I, I wanna be like that. I so much more be like that. And the idea, actually, was taken from, there's a story of the footprints, you know, that- Mm-hmm ... it's quite famous, and it's that this one man was going through a hard time, and the Lord had told him, "Well, I will be with you."
And he said, "When I looked back, there's only one set of footprints in the snow, in the sand," or snow, depends where you are. Sure. Right? Sure. I love it. Right? And then- Footprints in the snow ... footprints in the snow, or, you know, sand. And it was this idea that the Lord turns and tells him, "That's when I carried you."
Mm. "You, you couldn't even walk on your own, and, and, and that I was present there in your life. I, I carried you." And it's this reminder how much our God cares for us. Completely, we are ... He's in a relentless pursuit of us. Are we in Him? Mm-hmm. Right? It's this idea that no matter what, His covenant is exactly that.
He promised He will keep His word, and I just n- want us to remind ourselves how essential it is to know that He not only walks with us, but in our hardest times, in the times that we can maybe feel His presence in a sense of, are you right by me, not only is He by us, but He's actually carrying us. Like, th- this visual reminder He will never let go because of hesed, right?
Mm. I love that you talked about that- Mm ... Tammy. The, the, that covenantal love, His mercy, will never let go of us. No matter how far we've gone- Mm-hmm ... no matter how far we've strayed from Him, no matter what we've done, His ultimate goal and purpose is to bring us back and to carry us home to Him. Well, and the thing I love about this piece of artwork that we've talked about is, for me, like, if anyone
Okay, one, a couple times in my life, someone's tried to carry me. It's a funny story. I've actually shared this story before, but I was in Puerto Rico. I was single, with some friends and some guys, and I thought it'd be so cool to be carried on the beach. Eva, you're gonna love this story. I said to one of the Puerto Rican men, I'm like, "You should
And it was at nighttime, and the, the ocean was crashing up on the shore. It was so perfect, and the moon was in the sky. And I said, "You should try and carry me on the sand." And he said Okay, it'll be hard, but I will try. I'm a bigger gal, and I remember that because the ... I'm looking at this picture, and I'm like, what if Jesus said that to me when I was like, "Will you carry me?"
And if He was like, "Well, it will be hard, but I'm gonna try." He doesn't. And the way you have painted this, any time someone's tried to carry me, I will like, my body gets stiff. I try to figure out how to distribute my weight so that it's not that heavy for the person to carry. My legs would be out flat, and I'd try to, like, put more of my body outside the body of the person carrying me so they don't have to carry all of me.
And in your picture, it's so beautiful because He's carrying all of her. Like, and she ... And it doesn't even look like she cares. She's not trying to distribute her weight. She is trusting that He's going to carry every ounce of her, and it's not heavy. There's no struggle in this picture. He is walking with ease, and she is exhausted.
Like, that's what I love how you painted. That, that's how it app- appears to me. She's just done. She is so tired, the way her feet dangle like that. And I, I just love how you did this because every one of us feels like this, and we wonder, can He ca- I mean, it says He'll carry me. It says in the scriptures He could, but will He?
And do I trust that He could carry me? It answers so many of my questions the way you beautifully painted this. And this is kind of neat, though. Tell us who your model is for this picture. Oh, this was a very wonderful experience. It's my cute Skye, our baby daughter. She was the youngest. And she was only 12 when we did this piece.
And it was ... At first, like, she wasn't really ... She was kind of all over the place. Her feet were up, you know, like you said, Tammy. Oh, yeah. And you ... it w- it was just kind of a wrestle, like, wait, how do I do that, you know? And, and, and then she ... I'm just like, "Skye, it's Jesus. Like, trust Him. Just relax. He has you.
Like, trust that you are in His hands, and- Yeah ... there, there's no better place to be than in His hands." And so eventually we took quite a few takes on this. And I, I ... It was just such a dear moment because she, she had shoes in the beginning. She had other clothes in the beginning. And literally, we, we just kept- thinking, okay, it wasn't quite right yet.
It w- Mm-hmm We took the shoes off. She had another mantle on her. We took it off, so she's just wearing a linen, a dress. It's just very simple, one simple linen dress that a cute friend of mine sewed for me. One piece. It's one piece- Wow ... linen dress. And, and then the barefoot, I think there's a lot of symbols.
Even Moses, he had to take his shoes off, right? Yep. In that desert when there were scorpions and ... Must have not been an easy thing to do. And, uh, with, and the burning bush, right? And he's like, "You're standing on holy ground." And- Yeah ... I just like this, like, y- just being real. Like, y- it's you. You're just
There's no pretense here. It's just, here, take my heart and seal it. Take my whole soul. You know? Love that. And the vulnerability of those bare feet, I really was so grateful that it worked out, that the Lord's like, "No, keep going. It's not looking good yet. Just keep going. Keep trying." And that felt right.
It felt right to have her feet bare. Bare feet with the idea of us being vulnerable and, and surrendering our whole to Him. Yeah. Which is so hard to do in the world we live in, that vulnerableness. So wow, beautiful. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay. Oh, that was so good. Okay, we have to do another piece of art.
All right, let's do this. In the next segment then, we're gonna apply a piece of your artwork to what Moses wants the people to do when they're in the promised land. We'll do that next.
Segment 4
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Here's what Moses tells the people that he wants them to remember to do and be when they're in the promised land. This is Deuteronomy chapter 15, bracket off verses 7 through 11. And this is so interesting because he says, "Now remember this." And I love this teaching so much. "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of the gates of the land which the Lord God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother.
But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need in what which he wanteth." And then he just goes on to say, "Take care of the poor. Help the poor. Help the needy. That is my instruction to you." Verse 10, "Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him.
Because that for this thing, the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand hereunto. For the poor shall never cease out of thy land. Therefore, I command thee saying, 'Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to the poor, and to the needy in thy land.'"
That's the instruction. Help the poor and the needy. Do not forget about them, because you're gonna ha- go to a land of abundance, and it's gonna be very easy to do. And so the piece of artwork that we chose for this is called As I Have Loved You. Eva, tell us about this and the connection to helping the poor and the needy and how you painted this.
I wanna know whose foot, I wanna know whose hands, all the things. Oh, you're too cute. Yes, I love, I love chapter 15. I love this whole idea of, of seventh year, you know, that all your debts will be forgiven. Ugh, right. And, oh, I love that, the, the Sabbath, the Jubilee, right? It's just, oh, how beautiful. And I love that because, you know, this remembrance that we are to help each other.
And what a better example to think of that than our Savior, 'cause he constantly did that. I mean, he constantly was helping someone. He was constantly out about doing good, right? And what, what a... I'm so grateful you chose this piece because it's the moment where Jesus is actually washing the feet of his apostles, and it is such a tender moment to even imagine that, like, him, the greatest rabbi, the, the Messiah, would get down on his knees to touch those dirty feet and to clean them.
Oh my gosh. It's such a tender moment. And I, I, I actually had this piece and I had put it in my kitchen for the longest time- Wow ... because it was a reminder for me to, to try to be nice. In my kitchen. Oh. Why? What's it like in your kitchen? Well, I just, just the idea that sometimes, you know, the kitchen's the happening place in our house.
I love to cook, so there's always something happening. But sometimes it's also hard, 'cause I like to cook on my own, like- Mm-hmm ... by myself. And sometimes I get out of hand. I'm like, "Wait," you know, and, and lose my voice or whatever. Like, it could- ... it could be crazy sometimes if I'm cooking two or three meals at the same time.
I just get, I just lose it. And so I had to put this piece to, to remind me- Oh, I love you ... to be- I love you even more ... to be calm. Oh, that's... I mean, this painting is so breathtaking, and now the fact that you put it in your kitchen makes me love you even more. That is so awesome. Be kind, to take care of the poor and the needy, your, your starving children.
I know, right? I mean, it's, it's just... And, and it's kind of amazing. When they eat good, they feel good. So it's important. It's really, really important that just, like, this idea of, of feeding them not only spiritual, but physically as well, and I, I- Mm-hmm ... love that. I think it's so important. But this idea, too, that Jesus, what He is teaching us- What we should be doing.
Basically, he, "As I have loved you, love one another," which is so beautiful. So Tammy, I love when you pointed out, when you just read verse 11, you said, "Open thine hand wide into thy brother." And I, I just underlined when you read that wide. And, and here we can actually see also Jesus's hand is wide open.
Mm-hmm. With the water, He's cleaning, uh, His foot. And this, this is actually my son and my husband. I, I had to incorporate my whole family. Yeah. This project started during COVID, so, um, no one could be at school and work and, and soccer practice. You know, we were all home. Wow. So I had all my family around, so I'm just so grateful.
So grateful for it. It's, it's a family work. And- How neat ... which, yeah, it was, is just so sweet to the timing of the Lord just couldn't have been better to have everyone home at that moment. And I just love the idea that Jesus is the living water, too, and He is using water, His, His water, you know, to cleanse us and to help us and to wash us.
And, uh, the idea of coming into Him and drinking of that living water, being washed by it, being sanctified by it. I mean, there's so much symbolism to think of baptism, of the sacrament renewal, of our covenants in the temple, washing and anointings, and the beauty of all the different ways that we can remember the Lord in our lives.
Mm-hmm. And, and the fact that He served everyone and He took care of everyone, and stands as a reminder and as a witness for us to strive to do likewise in our own lives, to diminish and the, the natural man in us, and to strive to do as He did, as He loved us, to love one another. And I know that was probably one of Moses' most, uh, often repeated admonitions, "Remember the Lord.
Do as He did." Like- Yes ... don't forget Him. So that, that was the idea here. And, uh, as you can see, I never show the faces in these pieces particularly because it's what He did, the moment of what He was actually doing. Mm-hmm. I, I really wanted to, to have us ponder the, these moments of Jesus in the scriptures that we read, Jehovah in the Old Testament, and have
and feel them as though we're ... He is with us, right? Because He is. And so this idea, if we can visually remember- Those moments that he ministered and helped, and we're reading about these stories in the scriptures, that we can feel him now, that our eyes can be open and we c- he can be right by us. He can carry us.
He can be with us. He can be that living water th- which we drink, and he can also wash our sins away with that water. J- there's so much symbolism there- Wow ... when we think about water. And, and what a great place, then, in your kitchen. So much water in there. What a great reminder. I might have to get this picture now and put it in my kitchen.
That is the greatest thing I've ever heard. I love it so much. And, well, and the beauty of this picture, too, and, and again, his hand is open wide, learning to take care of other, buddy, 'cause he's saying, like, "I'm telling you, I'm doing this. I want you to do this." It's a command for you to do it in Deuteronomy.
You don't get to skirt around it. Help each other out. That's the whole point and goal of this. So, thank you for sharing your views and, and how you did that painting, 'cause it is ... I mean, just the detail of the hands and the feet and the, the tendons. I mean, it's so incredible. Your gift is amazing, to be able to paint that.
So pretty. So then the next segment, what we'll do is something neat is what Moses's name means, and the dual imagery that exists with the meaning of his name and how it connects to Jesus Christ. We'll show you that coming up next.
Segment 5
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So for this segment, I'm just gonna have Eva tell us about this piece of artwork, and then we're gonna connect it to the Book of Deuteronomy. So Eva, you did this incredible painting called She Had Compassion on Him. Teach us where this comes from and what's going on in this painting. Okay, so I love the story of Moses.
I mean, who doesn't? It's just so amazing. There are just so many beautiful ways to see God's hand in his life, just like we can see His hand in our lives. And- Mm-hmm ... there's so much beauty in his life, a type of Christ, right? And little baby that we know at the time they, Pharaoh was telling everyone, all the midwives, to kill all the Israelite babies because there was just too many of them, and he was afraid of them becoming more numerous than his people, the Egyptians.
And so this is a moment in st- i- in the time of Jesus, too, the baby's, like, right, he had to flee. He had to go away from where y- he was, as well, to be saved. And I love the beginning. His very first days already, like, take you in into his life and story in such a dramatic way because the two darling midwives that actually, Puah and Shiphrah, that they would- Not follow what Pharaoh told them, which is like- Right?
How do you not do that? Like, it, at the cost of their lives. And they just stood for God. I mean, what an example. It's like, "This is not right. In the sight of our God, we could never do that. We cannot just take this baby and kill it." And so they, they s- let him live, and the story is just fascinating to me because God preserved his life.
Mm-hmm. And in the sa- and he gets put in the same Nile river that all the other babies were drowned in, and yet he survives. Yeah. And God watched over him and, and this, and protected him to the point that, like, Pharaoh's daughter has compassion on him out of ... I mean, that's what the scriptures te- teach us, right?
Out of all things, she actually feels like, "Oh, I, I have, I feel compassion. I, I just love this boy. We're not gonna kill him." She knows he's a Hebrew baby, and, and she takes care of him and, and raises him in the court. And just the miracle of that, that she draws him out of the water, and you, you were probably, you're actually gonna say his name, and so you, you're probably gonna- Go ahead.
Teach it. Yes, teach it. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, I, I love that his name is drawn out of the water, right? Because she ... That's, that's what she did. Yes. Yes. So his name Mo- ... We say Moses, but in Hebrew it's Moshe, and it means to draw out. That's literally what it means. Right. The, my baby that I drew out of the water.
So it's ... I love the fact that his name is a remembrance of, of God's mercy for the rest of his life because he was saved. She had compassion. She drew him out of the water. God protected him in that water. His life has a lot to do with water, and I love that we know, actually, in Moses, he's, he's been told that he's gonna be greater than many waters later in his life.
He probably was like, "What does that mean?" You know, he didn't know what's coming up, but that promise, we know that he will be parting the Red Sea and leading the children of Israel out of captivity, into freedom, and eventually the promised land. And it's just amazing to me that it all starts right here in this moment when he's drawn out of the water, and he's, she has compassion on him, and his life- Will have such incredible turns of events, just like our lives do.
Sometimes we, we think they go one way, and yet they're just, like, all over the place. Like, if we would write our own scripts, it would be- Oh ... a, a very, very boring kind of book. Very predictable, right? Yes. But I, I just love, I love His story and our stories, that y- there, it is not what we would naturally write for ourselves.
Nope. And yet, God knows. And we grow, and we learn, and we're stretched, and we're, um, tested and proven so that we can improve, and so that we can grow, and so that we can learn in all those circumstances to be closer to our God and, and not forget Him, especially in those difficult times. That, anyway, hopefully that's a little intro for the piece.
Oh, I think it's a great intro for the piece. One of the really cool things about this, okay, so Moses, Moshe means to draw out, and the very thing that was done to him, he will then do throughout his entire ministry. He will draw people out of the wilderness. He will draw people out of their sin and their oppression.
He'll draw them out of enslavement. That's, let's just start with that. He, I love how you brought that up, Ava, that he's a type of Christ. He is the thing, the em- the visual embodiment that people can see that's going to help them. So he draws them out of enslavement, and then they get in the wilderness and life's hard, so he's gonna consistently work with them to draw them out of their sinning, and their wicked ways, and their complaining and all the things.
And so you can see how the Savior and Moses just go hand-in-hand. There's so much beauty in this when we look at the Book of Deuteronomy with his words, 'cause he's about to literally have them drawn out of the wilderness and enter the Promised Land, and I think it's pretty cool how th- we have, like, these final three sermons from Moses that's being delivered to the Israelites.
It's his farewell address. I love how one scholar grouped them. He says chapters one through four is where Moses is recalling facts from 40 years in the wilderness, and he exhorts them to remember the covenant. So chapters one through four is, in big red letters I put, remember. And then in chapters five through 26, he sets forth important points of the law and reminds them, "Okay, listen.
Take care of each other. Take care of the poor. Let's love, love each other." Then in chapters 27 through 30, he renews the covenant with Israel. He's like, "Okay, you're about to go out. Let's remember this. Let's renew it. You're still children of the Lord. None of that changes." And then 31 through 34 is known as the appendix.
And we'll get to the appendix in the next segment. But what I love, there's a Psalm of Moses. So I want you to write somewhere on your page, on the front where it says the Book of Deuteronomy Put Psalm 90, and turn to Psalm 90. This is called A Prayer of Moses, The Man of God. And when you go there, it's really beautiful.
And in light of everything we've already talked about, it's kind of cool how it starts. Eva, will you please read- Yes ... verses one through three? Yes. Okay. "The Lord has been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or over thou has formed the earth of the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, 'Return, ye children of men.'" Read verse four, too. Oh, and verse five. Sorry, verse five is so good. Yes, yes. Okay. "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up."
Wow. It's such a good psalm. Like, you just keep reading all of this and all of the things that Moses is saying in this Psalm of Moses. And I love this in verse 15, "Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." And so there's just so much beauty right here where he's saying, "Okay, we did it. We're done. Be with the children of Israel. Follow them into the land, into the promised land.
I've done all that I can do. As a type of Christ, I have drawn them out. I have helped them as well as I can." And then he stands. And in the next segment we're gonna show you where he stands and how Eva has portrayed this in art.
Segment 6
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We are gonna go to Deuteronomy, chapter 34, and then I'm turning the time over to Eva, because she painted these verses, which people have read. I would never have thought to paint this. This is what makes an artist an artist. I've read it, and I'm like, "Well, there it is. Okay, the Lord shows the land to Moses."
But you saw it so differently. So go. Teach us why you called this The Lord Showed Him All. And, and that's from these scriptures. Go for it Okay, so I love that you chose this piece, Tammy. I'm so, so glad we can talk about it. It's probably one of the most tender chapters in the whole book of Deuteronomy. I- in general, like, th- there's so much tenderness here, and there's so much, in a sense, us wanting Moses to go to the Promised Land after he slaved and he did so much.
And yet, I love how obedient he is to God, to the very last breath that he took on the Earth. And because of love, he loved his Lord so very much. He, his ... I mean, he did everything with Him and for Him, and his whole life was a sacrifice, and working so hard with the children of Israel, telling them what God wants them to do.
And I just think this is a moment that I, I could not not wanna have visually as a reminder, because I love the tender love that God shows him, that He actually brings him up there. And in, in verse ... This is just so beautiful. In verse two, um, it sa- ... Actually, verse four, it says, "And the Lord said unto him," so Deuteronomy 34:4, "And the Lord said unto him, 'This is the land which I swear unto Abraham, and to Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed.
I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shall not go over thither.' So Moses," verse five, "the servant of the Lord died there on the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord." And so, I- just to think he is seeing the same land that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were promised. Mm-hmm. And, and Abraham actually had seen as well in his vision that God gave him.
So he's seeing the same land. And, and to think, this is why this just gets me every time, and to think that, that he has seen ... We know from the Pearl of Great Price he has seen our days, too. He has seen those, those latter days, that he- Mm-hmm ... has seen that even though his people will be scattered, and they will forget their God, their God will never forget them.
And He will relentlessly be in that pursuit of him, to quote Elder Kieran. And, and He will gather them in those latter days, and he is seeing that. He is seeing Jesus coming on the Earth, the greatest light- That he will bring and draw people to him so that God's work can be accomplished. So his covenant with his people will be for eternities, that same covenant, the Abrahamic covenant of Isaac, Jacob, and, and him, like, the, the one that was through Moses and continued through all the people and prophets on the earth, and we have that today, this day and age.
This is why I just ... I think it was incredibly magnanimous of our God to, to do this kind of act- Mm-hmm ... to actually show him all of that land, to see it all, to see the latter days, to see that his work will not be stopped by the darkness, but it will endure, and his people will be gathered forever through that Abrahamic covenant.
And I love President Nelson taught us that we're a child of, of God, child of the covenant, and disciple of Christ. That's our identity. Mm-hmm. This is who we truly are, and we go way back, you know? This is, is amazing, just the connection through eternities and for eternities, um, with our God and Him keeping our promises.
So I wanted, I just literally wanted that, that moment that we're never forgotten, that God's work and purpose will be accomplished on this earth. We know who wins at the end. Yeah. And we get to live in these latter days as part of His grand work. Well, here's what speaks to you as an artist and for the Spirit that spoke to you, because when you read verse one, like I said, you read it, and you just read it.
"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord shewed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan." That's how I read it. But when Eva reads it, the Spirit struck her, "And the Lord shewed him all." Like, you didn't even finish the sentence.
That's what inspired this, "And the Lord shewed him all," and he sees the promised land. And this picture, here he is standing on the top of the mountain, and he looks old to me, a little bit hunched over maybe, holding a staff. The most beautiful sunset. He's looking out into this ... It seems like a sunset.
Maybe it's a sunrise. Is it a sunrise he's looking out into? A- as you wish. It could be anything. Oh, okay. I mean, it- I'm thinking it's a sunset, like it's the end of his days. He's finished his life. He gets to see it in this beautiful haze. But then I'm struck by what he's wearing. Tell me why is he wearing a blue tunic with a red sash?
Well, you know, the, the colors of the priesthood, blue was one of them. And so, like, blue and gold actually were two, two of the main colors of the priesthood. And I, I just lo- I wanted him to be dressed in the blue color of the priesthood- Mm-hmm ... signifying that authority that he had while on the Earth as God's prophet.
And we know, of course, he was translated. He had to come for a greater mission to appear in the Restoration, so his days of work for the Lord weren't over. And so I love, I love that he didn't just- Oh, I like that ... disappear like Aaron, but his mission continues, right? I mean, the Israelites saw Aaron going up the mountain.
They're like, "Okay, there goes Moses, too." But no, there was so much more. He had to, he had to bring the keys of the gathering. This is what he's been doing his whole life, and then he comes back again. And that's, those are the keys that he brings- Yes ... of the gathering of Israel, and who better than him could do that?
And I just, I, I love the, the color also, and I, I like to think ... I love how you said the sunset of his life, but also it could be the sunrise of- Yes ... latter days, of, of, of the resurrection, of Jesus coming. Oh. The red color, too, could be like his sash of, of the Savior coming on the earth, and it's a new, new era beginning as that birth of Jesus comes to the earth.
So both are symbols so much of, of God's love and creation, the sunrise, sunset. I like to ... In fact, I ... Every time I look at a sunset or a sunrise, I always think of Jesus. I cannot- Mm-hmm. Me, too ... I cannot not. It's, it's, it's His creation, and it's so, so beautiful. W- on Easter morning we actually go and watch the sunrise.
It's one of our family traditions. We get up and we always- Wow ... watch the sunrise to remember Him. But, um, yeah, I love the idea of the color blue, the priesthood, the power of the priesthood. Wow. I think that's awesome. Well, and f- for me, I love the red sash because it reminds me of the artist Carl Bloch.
One of the things I love about Carl Bloch's paintings is what I read was he uses red as a symbol of Jesus Christ and the atonement of Jesus Christ. So sometimes when you see a little child, the little child has just a little bit of red, 'cause he needs the atonement just a little bit. But sometimes you'll see grown men covered in red who need his help more.
And for me, when I see this imagery, and then when you tell me the pre- the, the color blue is the priesthood, and that that sash around him, it's tied, it's secured by the atonement of Jesus Christ, like, that I love. That all of the rights and privileges and powers and everything we're given in this world because of God's priesthood power, because of the priesthood power of Jesus Christ, and then to have that sash tie it all together is just perfect.
Oh, Eva, you nailed it. Is that sunrise real when you took the picture? Yes. Or did you j- Yes. That was a sunrise? Yes. Oh. I, I literally always have my phone or my camera and I, I take cl- I love clouds, and I love sunsets and sunrises, so I always take them, so I have lots to choose from after. Whoa, it's so pretty.
Yes, yes. Love it. Okay. Well, that's it. We're done. How much do I love, though, I have to tell you this, when I looked you up on, on your website, one of the things I love you said is, "Learning heaven through art." Like, that's kind of your tagline. You said that, too. You said that. I, I said it 'cause I read it when I was like, "That's brilliant."
So my last question for you is tell me, how have you learned about heaven through art, or how have you come closer to heaven through art? Oh, my goodness. It has been one of the most transformative experiences in my life. And I, when I first actually started this work, I Had no idea what I'm doing, and I, again, I was working as a fine art photographer for 20 years in the black and white, um, world of photography and secular world.
And then I- we had a book published, and I went to my mission president, and he actually said, "Well, Eva, this is great. This is wonderful, but you need to create something for the Lord. You need to create something for the church." And seven years passed, and these seven years I'm, like, hiding behind my desk when the Parable of the Talents comes up, 'cause I'm like, "I'm not doing what my mission president told me to," 'cause I don't know how.
How do you create religious art? I mean, how do you, how do you do that? Yeah. Like, I've never done this. I've never worked with color, um, in that sense. And I... It was, it was really kind of a difficult time for me, a difficult mountain. This was a big mountain for me that I had no idea how to go around that.
And, um, I, I just love how the Lord works, though. And so little by little, he just kept- things kept coming up and inspiration kept coming and, and then COVID happened. And so I started really digging deep into the scriptures and, and just starting teaching myself things and talking to my dad and, and studying.
I love the Pre-Raphaelites. This is, like, one of my favorite historic era of the artists, and I love the idea of movement in their artwork, and so they've been a, a big inspiration for me. And I, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I want so bad to do this creation for Jesus, and I want to have my own little voice added into this symphony of people testifying of Him."
And it was just so incredible because I felt, again, strong inspiration not to show His face. And again- Mm ... the scriptures came to life to me in a sense I've never read them before like that, and it was a very intimate relationship with, with God. Like, and- Mm-hmm ... and His Word just spoke to me, and He would open my eyes.
Like, I would... I mean, I showed you a earlier piece that I did. It was only inspired by, you know, she turned, as she turned to Him. I'm like- Yes ... "Ooh, I need something. I need a, a reminder to turn to Jesus," right? Like when Mary hears His voice at the tomb. So anyway, I, the, the short version of my story is this idea that God can work through us.
He can, He can open our eyes. As long as we're willing, He can show us things that we thought, "Boy, I never thought that was possible," that that could work, you know? Mm-hmm. And He, He can carve out, like as Michelangelo would say, he always would look at a piece of marble as like, "Oh, I just had to free the person inside of it," you know?
That's what Jesus does. Like, he can free us, and, and we can come out in our true light through him, and we can testify of him. And I feel like working in, in, in that sense, I'm completely relying on him. Because as creators in our lives, we co-create with him. Mm-hmm. And that's so beautiful. It's not us, it's all about him.
It's his glory, and it's him using us in a little, as a little pencil, Mother Teresa would say, in his hands- Yeah ... to do his work, you know? A tiny, I'm a tiny, tiny, tiny, teeny little pencil. And it's just amazing. He, he can help us even when we feel inadequate, even when we feel like we don't know what we're doing, he can manifest himself to us through his words that are in the scriptures, through friends, through general conference talks.
And, and our lives can be changed forever. So it's a very transform- And I, and I feel his spirit. I feel him guiding me as I am creating. And that I can... Any creator, d- you don't have to necessarily be creating religious art to feel him. Right. Any creative process, like raising a family is one of those, you need God.
You need him. Yes. Cooking is one of those. That's a gift. You can, you can create something out of nothing, right? You are using your creative gifts to, to bless someone else. 'Cause that's- Yeah ... ultimately why we're doing this. Yes. You're blessing me with all of your podcasts. Y- every time I turn on, Tammy, I'm like, "I want more."
I'm, I'm like- ... addicted to your, to your It's so fun ... all your wisdoms. Oh. And, and I just love it. I love you. I think it's so amazing, like your gift of- Wow ... teaching and sharing is... We all have our own gifts, and it's- Yes ... so beautiful 'Cause I love you and your ability to paint. Your artwork is breathtaking.
And I'm struck when you said seven years went by before you started doing something. The number seven's significant in scripture, and I will s- I'm tell, sharing this with you because it took me seven years to write my first book, and it was a long, arduous process. Wow. But I love what the number seven in scripture symbolizes.
It symbolizes completeness, perfection, divine fulfillment. And I think you are a perfect example of that. Divine fulfillment. You did what God sent you here to do with the gifts that he gave you, and every one of us has that. And so I think it's just... And I think that might be the message, too, of Deuteronomy, is take what God has given you and now go bless the world.
Go into the promised land and start spreading the good news. And so use, use everything I've taught you for the last 40 years, 'cause we need to build up God's kingdom. So Eva, thank you. This was such a fun discussion. Wow. We're done. That went by fast. Thank you so much- Oh ... for having me, Tammy. Oh. Love you so much.
Have a beautiful day. Oh my goodness, I'd love to know what you learned. Okay, first of all, I just want you to go look at her art, and then come back and share with me what was your favorite piece of artwork and why. Like, go to her account, look at it, and then comment on the post that relates to this specific lesson about her art.
You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to our show notes for this episode at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. And go there, because it's where we're gonna have links to all of her artwork, as well as a transcript of this whole discussion, so check it out. The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original, brought to you by LDS Living.
It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall, and today our absolutely fabulous study group participant was Eva Koleva Timothy. And you can find more information about my friend at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger, and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom.
Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week, and please remember that God will carry you because you are his favorite.