Plan Peace, Have Joy

On January 23, 2021, Catchall Creatives officially started! I had been thinking about a creative outlet for a long time, in terms of outreaching to a larger spectrum of people, and now I've created a way to do that! I've always enjoyed exploring new types of art, being creative, giving my art to loved ones, and conveying my emotions/thoughts on some kind of canvas.

I love seeing the joy that art can bring to people and it makes me so happy to have the chance to spread joy to more people!

A little about me - my name is Emma Jane, I've been exploring and learning about art ever since I was very young. I love animals, Jesus, and spreading joy! I know that sounds super cookie cutter lol BUT it is what it is!

I'm just going to jump in and give you some background for my "why" - for years I used to turn to art to get my mind off things. It wasn't always with positive intentions that I wanted to create art, and it actually got to the point where I would avoid art. For some time I was dealing with a negative headspace, so I would normally turn to art to avoid that negativity. During that time, "art" meant there was negative energy that I was trying to get rid of, therefore, in an attempt to avoid dealing with it, it also led me to avoiding the one thing where I could fully express myself. It was a whole "outta sight, outta mind" type of thing. I started associating art with with negative emotions, and that's when I felt at my most lost.

After years of prayer, self care, and learning to love myself, the positive role that art used to play in my life started to creep in again. When that "lost" feeling went away, God also opened a new door as well and led me to the love of my life!! After I learned to really love myself, He brought me someone that would see me as God sees me. Now he is my number one supporter in everything I do. Makes me cry happy tears just thinking about it!

Things definitely were looking up and God had answered my many prayers. My story is like many others', and I don't claim for my trials to be any different than someone else's. Everyone has stuff that they are dealing with. However, no one knows my relationship with God as intimately as I do, and no one knows the way I grew closer to God through all of it. Only God knows where I started, and where I'm at now. That is the uniqueness in all of it.

During this time of nurturing my relationship with God, I stumbled upon a Bible verse that has stuck with me ever since, and it has been my daily motivation for how I treat myself, others, and how I handle situations life throws my way.

Proverbs 12:20 - "Deceit is in the hearts of those who plot evil, but those who plan peace, have joy." I focus more on the second part of this verse - "those who plan peace, have joy". Sounds simple, but there are so many times where I caught myself not planning peace. I wasn't having positive self talk, so how in the world would I be able to plan peace if I couldn't even do it in my own head?? Do you think I said "plan peace" enough times? haha

The word "JOY" has been my word/theme/goal/whatever-you-wanna-call-it ever since I read that verse years ago. I have found that so many things can stem from joy. Some versions of the Proverbs 12:20 verse say "promote peace" rather than "plan". My "why" for Catchall Creatives is to use it as a channel to promote peace to others and to spread joy.

Fast forward to January this year when Catchall Creatives launched - it happened in an unexpected way to be honest. It just kind of started. It felt like God saying, "Just do it already!". So here we are :) I'm slowly putting this all together to see how God opens my eyes, heart and mind to hopefully inspire others in a unique way.

Some things that I've learned on this journey so far:

1) Everything happens in God's timing.

2) Trust and pray for reassurance in God's plan.

3) Pray and plan for peace constantly.