The Prophetess
Oil on Wood
24”x36”
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN WAITING FOR IN THIS SEASON?
I imagine Anna on the threshold between long years of waiting and the sudden sunrise of fulfillment. Her life had stretched across prayer, fasting, and devotion, until at last, she held hope in her own wrinkled hands. In this painting, darkness gives way to light and color as she encounters the long-awaited Messiah. Paired with Simeon in the temple story, Anna is his prophetic counterpart, a woman whose faithfulness made her ready to recognize God in infant form. She embodied Joel’s prophecy that the Spirit would move among the daughters of God. Thank you to Ann for allowing me to capture not only your likeness, but also the gentleness and devotion that radiate from your love for Jesus.
Female Disciples
My life shifted
when I saw that tiny word—
mathētria.
It leapt from the page,
and into my soul,
tattooing my female skin
with what I had always known:
I was called to be
a living female disciple.
Disciples learn,
they follow,
they deacon,
they serve.
They are called:
they become
the Rabbi’s
living verbs.
Now I see them—
mathētriai.
Women of action
Women who learned
Women who followed
Women at the cross
Women at the tomb
Women at first light
of resurrection dawn
Women commissioned—
their voices entrusted
to bring Good News to the men.
Women everywhere,
bearing the image of God,
midwifing the risen Christ
into the world
— mathētriai.
For reflection:
What have you been waiting for in this season, and how might Anna’s faithfulness invite you to remain attentive to God in the waiting?
Anna recognized the Messiah when others might have simply seen an ordinary infant. What might God be placing in front of you that requires deeper spiritual attentiveness to recognize?
Where have years of waiting, prayer, or faithfulness formed something in you that could now become a gift to others, and what might it look like to speak hope from that place?