#iam_beloved
I Have To See The Painting: Meet The Sims
“I have to see this painting!” Corina Sims was browsing her social media feed when she came across Belóved Gallery’s account and started reading guests’ experiences with the famous Prince of Peace painting. As a busy mother of four, scheduling a time to visit was harder than she thought. “But everyday that passed, I thought about it more and more. It’s like the painting was calling me.”
Finally, Corina and her husband, Ben, loaded up the family car with Claire, age 12, Julia, age 10, Chloe, age 7, and Judah, age 3, and drove a little over an hour to visit the gallery.
“The blue marble, the wooden door, the lighting, the poetry, the curtain on the Prince of Peace Sanctuary… Everything was so beautiful from the moment we walked in. It helped me know I was about to experience something really wonderful,” Corina shared.
Corina had shown her family a YouTube video about Akiane’s story before they even arrived. The anticipation was about far more than seeing Akiane’s paintings, however. The family lost Ben’s father, Bob, and his brother, Ryan, within nine months of each other. They were close-knit, with Ryan, his wife, Lisa, and their three children living just down the street from Ben and Corina. Bob was a quick drive across town.
“It helps to know we are eternal, and our souls are more important than anything else,” Ben reflected. “In Akiane’s paintings, there are a lot of spiritual elements that encouraged us. With the Prince of Peace, I kept looking at the contrast between the light part of Jesus’s face and the dark part…really honing in on each side. I was almost more drawn to the dark side of his face. And I felt peace. I thought, ‘everything’s ok, everything is going to be fine.’”
All of the children were intrigued. They stood for a long while, taking the work in. Later, they shared with their parents their thoughts on the experience.
“How could a young girl paint something this good?’ I think she is a very talented girl who has a strong relationship with God. God is the only one who could help a young girl paint something like that.” – Claire, age 12
“I kept thinking, ‘how would an 8 year old paint that big of a painting?’ When I looked at it, I knew that Jesus was with me.” – Chloe, age 7
For Corina, seeing the painting had a slightly different impact. “I found myself being fascinated with Akiane herself. It’s like the story of Peter in the New Testament, where he is walking and people think ‘if I can just get in Peter’s shadow, I’ll be healed.’ For me, I thought ‘if I could just get near Akiane, maybe I could be like her.’ But the truth is, we worship the Creator, not the creation. And God created everyone to be special.
Sometimes I want to ask ‘do I matter?’ Looking into the eyes of the Prince of Peace painting was like God saying, ‘This is evidence that you matter, Corina.’ So instead of asking that question, it’s changing my mindset to look at the evidence that I do matter. There is no better thought than thinking of how God thought of me when He created me.”
Later that night, after the kids were tucked in bed, Ben and Corina were still reminiscing about their trip to Belóved Gallery. Ben shared, “I kept picturing what we had seen that morning and kept focusing on it until I fell asleep. It brought me so much comfort. It’s like what Psalm 139 says – even in that really hard painful place, you know God’s there. It doesn’t remove the pain, but there’s comfort. There’s a joy at His presence. Pain and loss are part of our life, and we are all going to experience it, but we don’t have to be afraid of it. That’s God’s promise.”
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