We provide all supplies needed for this course.
Nikki’s Story
In 2024, I found myself on my knees asking God what I was supposed to do with my life. I have a history of saying yes to things that aren’t really mine to do, and I was ready to just be fully me.
As I was praying, I heard three simple words in my soul: be an artist.
But what does that mean? Be an artist? Here is what I have landed on.
Being an artist is about making art, yes, but it’s also about seeing.
It’s about slowing down, paying attention, taking a breath, and noticing the world around me.
It’s about using our gifts, talents and passions to love and serve while adding beauty to the world in our own creative way.
For me it’s about delighting in the little things, then capturing them through sketches, acrylics, watercolor puddles or even stringing together thoughtful words that might encourage others.
I love being an artist.
Why? Because beauty matters. It brings peace and joy to our souls and reminds us that there is good in the world and that we are loved by something larger than ourselves.
It’s October 2025 now and we are just weeks away from opening the doors to our new studio.
I think back to last year when I sat on the floor asking God about my life path. I was just so desperate to hear something. I was struggling with what to do and how to move forward, and I needed clear direction.
The past few years, not only for myself but for my family, and partners in this venture, it has been anything but easy. We have all been seeking our inner peace. We all had a lot of healing to do and a lot of traumas to get past, and as that finally began to happen, we began asking the question, what now?!
Now that we have found some form of inner peace in each other and our purpose on the homestead, the answer to our questions of WHO AM I, we just needed to know what to do next.
God was so gracious to answer us gently as he ended jobs, carried us to this perfect piece of Nirvana, and brought us all together the way he did, suddenly, poetically, in a way we never could have pieced together purposefully on our own.
He gave us our path to healing and to purpose.
For me it was … Be an artist.
It wasn’t really shocking, this Be An Artist directive. After all, I love creating and decorating and painting and making. I’ve always loved these things. I have even built past businesses around doing and sharing and teaching my favorite creative endeavors.
But that’s not what He said. He didn’t say, DO art. He said BE an artist. As much as I love doing art, teaching art, and admiring art, I have never truly identified as an artist. Artistic, sure. Creative, yes. But in a million years I would never introduce myself as Nikki, the artist. And I think that was the problem.
Deep, deep down in the truest part of me, I am an artist. I always have been. But instead of living confidently in that, I’ve tried to be other things and pushed the artist part way down. Being an artist felt silly, unimportant, less-than. What really mattered, especially in this career that I chose, was consistency, growth and strategy.
And all of that – while super important for Nikki the nurse – became who I was trying to be and the work I was trying to do and, honestly, it just wasn’t working. I worked really hard to be good at it, but it was starting to burn me out. I became cynical, tired, uninspired, and done.
That’s the thing: when you are not being who you are made to be, it drains the life right out of you. Which lead me to that morning in kneeling on my floor asking for God to please, please, please help me figure this thing out.
Be an artist, He said.
It was so clear and concise, and I had no desire to ignore or dismiss it. I just wanted to obey. So, I pulled out my watercolors and started a new painting.
This is where I’d love to say that my heart was instantly at peace because FINALLY, I was living into my true identity!
But instead, this is what happened:
I was almost finished with the flower bouquet I was painting and stopped for a second to cross to the house from my little studio. What for, I can’t remember but what I do remember is thinking to myself as I climbed the stairs, that painting is terrible. I’m not an artist. I don’t even know what I’m doing.
How quickly I had forgotten what God said of me! A few minutes later when I came back downstairs, Jeff was looking at the painting and showered me with compliments. This painting is amazing! How did you do that?!
The contrast was not lost on me.
I could choose to be hard on myself, to compare, set unrealistic expectations and give up OR I could live into the identity God gave me, listen to positive voices from people who love and care about me and just keep trying. This whole ‘renewing your mind’ thing is real, my friends. What voice would I listen to? The one telling me I was terrible? Or the one saying, “this is who you are, now be it.”
I worked a little more on the flower painting and when I shared it, the response was so kind. It helped boost my confidence. I did a couple more paintings over the next few weeks, but it was a busy month, and you know how that goes.
So, at the end of the month when this idea popped into my head about painting each day, it felt like the right next step. It would mean I was walking in obedience to be an artist. It would mean I would be practicing art every day and surely would improve. It would mean I could build up more confidence to create illustrations for the students I would teach someday. It would challenge me to look beyond the camera for capturing beauty in the every day and going an extra step to paint it.
And so, the daily art began.
It feels like sustenance for my soul that is coming from the Lord. It’s an act of worship, this living into my true identity thing. It’s an act of trust and obedience and while it’s vulnerable and risky, it feels like the very best and most joyful thing I can do.
So here we are standing inside the new studio.
And here’s my encouragement for you:
Trust in who God made you uniquely to be. Then be it.
If you are not quite sure who you are, oh, friend, this is the greatest work you can do. Ask Him, pay attention to your dreams and little girl aspirations, look for what makes you excited, motivated, energized. You will find her. You really will.
I look forward to being a friend on your journey.
Link to calendar
XO
Nikki McGahee
Art by Nikki