Afflicted But Not Crushed

original is 24″×24″
mixed-media (oil & fabric on canvas)
© 2000 Rachel Pearsey

original is sold

We are like trees that are shaped and formed by the environment and  the different circumstances over the courses of their lives.  And in this gesture they lift their twisted and marred branches in praise.  We are not forsaken.  God has allowed us to be struck down and rise again by His power, not destroyed and yet still bearing scars, so that we will be uniquely shaped and formed - enabled to praise Him in ways that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.

″But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing greatness of the power belongs to God and not to us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.″   II Corinthians 4:7-11