Nick and I are preparing to serve in Thailand. In July, as a part of this preparation, I sold my business, Jotterbook Flowers.

Even though I’d spent months longing for this day, I felt a deep sense of loss when it happened. I’d started this business in our spare room, with zero experience or certainty that it would work out.

In five years of running creative workshops and making giant flower sculptures, I learned just how much God loves His children, as He does the lilies of the field (Matthew 6:26-30). I saw Him provide for my needs time and time again.

With our son to look after and service in Thailand to prepare for, something had to give. I don’t have any experience to substantiate this, but selling the business felt like giving a child up for adoption! Me and the giant flower sculptures I loved making.

Feeling despondent, I went for a walk at the park, and asked God to help me hand over Jotterbook Flowers with joy instead of mourning.

“What if I lose all the friends I’ve made?” I cried out to Him. “Will I still be able to connect with people through art in Thailand?”

The next day, as I walked along the same track, something strange caught my eye. Two pieces of paper were balanced on the branches of a dead bush.

As I got closer, I realised I’d seen them before…

They were two watercolour paintings I’d done weeks ago.

I did a double take. My last memory of these paintings was wedging them tightly into the back of my sketchbook. How had they gotten here? How had they survived weeks of winter rains? Had someone found them, and thought them valuable enough to put on display?

As I reached out to collect them, my eyes filled with tears.

I didn’t even know I’d lost these paintings, but somehow, they’d found their way back to me. I felt like maybe God was reassuring me that, while selling the business is a loss, my love for art comes from Him, and He’ll always use it to help me connect with people.

I posted on our community Facebook group, wanting to find/thank whoever had done this. Someone commented to say that she’d found another one of my paintings on the same bush, which she’d taken home as it gave her a sense of peace.

To this day, I have no idea how my paintings got there. “I would totally believe if God Himself took them out of my sketchbook and brought them to the park,” I said to Nick. He replied, “Well, they do say the Holy Spirit is like the wind…” (John 3:8, Acts 2:1-2).

Praise God for comforting me in such an intimate and timely way. He is truly a caring Heavenly Father who delights in giving good gifts to His children (Matthew 7:10-12).

Please pray that we will continue to trust Him when we give up the things that mean the most to us, and that He will use our gifts and talents to reach people and make Jesus meetable in Thailand.