How Do You React When God Tells You Hard Things (or Allows Difficult Things to Happen?)

[Lynx]

Thank you so much for the kind words. I greatly appreciate it, especially because I think that trying to bring a touch of humanity to our struggles in faith and relate that to others is part of what God made me to do.

I know all the passages about counting our sufferings as joy and how we should rejoice at any kind of pain we endure for the Lord, but I must confess that I'm not quite there. I greatly admire the people who are, but I can't hide anything from God, and He knows I'm not there yet, nor do I know if I will ever be in this life.

When I hear testimonies about miracles, I'm always glad for God's power and love -- but my heart has a hard time relating to those who have received miracles I see so many others not getting. I heard a sermon last year about someone's cancerous tumor miraculously disappearing and stunning all the doctors, which is wonderful -- but all the people I know with cancer this past year were met with either grotesque surgeries that sounded just as bad or almost worse than the illness itself -- or death. And the families who don't get a miracle are always the ones my heart wants to reach out to the most.

Hearing so much about how we are to rejoice and be glad in all that we suffer for God, as a kid and preteen, I had this image of Jesus happily skipping to the cross, singing and dancing with joy the whole way, because He would be so happy that God had asked Him to suffer and die for His purpose. But as I grew older and started to read the entire Bible for myself as a teen, the account of the crucifixion struck me much differently than the cliched, sanitized perspectives I'd been given as a child.

Jesus wasn't singing and dancing on His way to the cross. While He never failed to show signs of love, compassion, and forgiveness, Christian author Philip Yancey points out that Jesus reacted to His suffering in very much the same way we humans do -- with sorrow and anguish. Jesus wasn't telling God how joyful He was to be able to suffer and die at Gethsemane -- He was asking that it would be taken from Him, or that God would find another way.

And when God gave Him a very hard answer -- No -- He accepted it. But His suffering brought Him to the point of not singing songs of rejoicing or declaring how joyous it was, but rather, He cried out in an anguish we will never fully understand, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?"

Something that also amazes me more than anything else is that when Jesus finally arrived at Lazurus's grave, He didn't leap for joy. He didn't tell the people how they should be happy because Lazarus was in heaven, free from pain and sorrow, as I was told at the funeral for my loved one.

Rather, Jesus wept. He didn't just cry for his beloved friend -- He WEPT. I've read accounts claiming that Jesus was crying more over sin and our broken world than about Lazarus's death, but regardless, this was another example of Jesus reacting to pain and suffering in very much the same way we would. Not with gladness or joy, but with a broken heart.

And the astonishing thing is, Jesus not only knew heaven better than anyone and could certainly find joy in knowing his friend would eventually wind up there, but He also knew exactly what He was going to do -- reverse the very action of death right in front of the eyes of the people. He knew that in just a few minutes, He would bring Lazarus back to them. But yet, He didn't scold the people for not rejoicing or declaring that Lazarus was in better place -- rather, He wept.

When I can't rejoice over my suffering like I am told to do, for the good or for the bad, I tell God instead that I am thankful for a Savior who understands our anguish and responded with the same very real feelings we have, and more than we can ever know.

Talking about Lazarus, that's a matter of perspective. After all, Lazarus had to die twice! And the Pharisees were going around trying to find a way to kill him, because his very existence was bad for their reputation, as it was a living testimony of jesus' power. Lazarus didn't have it easy just because he was still alive.

Also, why did God allow them to kill Stephen, but save Peter? Why did God spring Peter from prison once, then later allow him to be crucified?

Did Jesus revive Lazarus for Lazarus' sake? Paul said, basically, "If it was just for my sake I would so be out of here! I'd be gone so fast I would leave scorch marks on the clouds. But for your sakes it's probably a good thing if I stick around for a while." Roughly paraphrased.

My concern is not what if God does not heal me. I would be concerned if God DID heal me from some terminal illness. My question would be, what does God want me to do? He must have a reason for keeping me around longer. What am I supposed to be doing before I can finally go home?

 

[Magenta]

This post definitely deserves that fabulous panel of yours, you're brilliant at picking
seriously relevant scriptures. Have you considered publishing a book of your work?
Lovely to see you friend, roamed the forum some and now have a good idea of what
helps float my spiritual boat. Not feeling disappointed/saddened by recent stuff like
i was, know you're no stranger to the like yourself. Blessings and hugs from me for now.

Edit: Oops and sorry, clicked on the wrong smiley, sorted it now.

Hello dear, thank you as always for your wonderfully wise and kind words, and my apologies for not responding to a similar post a few days back, now, as I have been somewhat adrift since around then, and not posting much recently before today (yesterday, now), except for making a feeble attempt to start getting more caught up in my Scripture Art thread, as I am well over a year behind in that regard, and actually, since most of my work until late last year used the offerings of others (as I am digital collaging), selling anything was not permitted, though I did discover recently also, that that is not the case with everyone whose public domain work I have used with their permission. That is to say, in some cases, I would be free to offer my designs for sale, but the truth of the matter is that I am not in any way looking to gain financially from them.

I have at times in the past shared my design process with others, especially when asked, but generally speaking, it seems most do not know what is involved, which in itself is fine, until someone comes along and accuses me of stealing, which has happened more than once, though it may have been the same person in two cases, as many return even after being banned, which is against the rules. I did wonder what they meant when they said that, though, because of all the sites where I have collected the individual bits which get worked into my designs, whether they be borders, frames, backgrounds, special effects, florals, butterflies, etc etc, and especially faces, they were more and more edited over time, and assembled/put together in such a way that each finished product was unique. So even if I began with a face that someone else drew, painted, or AI generated, etc, and then offered for use to anyone else who cared to employ such in their personal project, my alterations, additions, and edits more and more, and more often than not, made it unrecognizable from its start.

Which is even beside the point itself, because these images and faces and such were offered free for use, released to the public domain for anyone to use as they wanted. I do also collect the faces of people who are already in the public domain, such as actors and actresses, and also musicians, having used and altered their faces as well... for instance, Joni Mitchell and EmmyLou Harris, being a huge Joni fan. I like EmmyLou more for her generosity in helping others in the arts field, but I have also used the faces of random actors and actresses after seeing them in a show lOL. My process is pretty random and spontaneous that way. I used Grace Kelly's face recently, and she is unrecognizable. Haha of course many would not recognize her anyways, as she is from a different era.

Two years ago I did really see a large increase in AI generated offerings, which I did not care for in one sense, because they looked so phony, with their plastic looking skin, under-detailed eyes, botoxed lips, etc, and much of what I came across while searching out women's faces was fantasy based, and even x rated, but in another sense some were great, even if only for the reason of them being large files which I could "mine" for specific individual facial features, or even just the neck, shoulders, partial torso, or hair. Now, there are an incredible number of sites that offer up these free images for others to use as they desire, and counting them and the images offered up would be near impossible, and number in the millions and millions. Some of the sites that I used to use years ago have now come to require membership and registration and attribution etc, and I do not use such sites any more.

The main site I have used for some time now is Pixabay. They host over 400k creators who offer their high quality media (photos, illustrations, vector graphics, videos, music and sounds effects) to others, and they do not require attribution. A general search discloses that the pixabay total number of assets is over 5.1 million as of November, 2024. When I am just doing a general search for say a woman's face, if I keep coming across one person's work I like, I go through their profile and then just look at what they have to offer. Heh, sometimes that is thousands of images just from one person, like Jill Wellington, a portrait photographer in Michigan who has a lot of content I have saved, and also a user named Art Spark. If you check out this post in a thread that is now closed, and my accuser banned again (although it does not say banned under her name), you can see some of the process in editing done to a panel using images as my main ephemera from Art Spark. I have made a few posts detailing what I do over the years, and could even talk your ear off about the details required in the making of such, but generally speaking prefer not to, although you might not know it given the length this post has become since I started it LOL.

Large files are great because I design on a canvas which is 3600 pixels by 2400 pixels, at 300 pixels per inch, which means if I ever want to print them, I can go as large as 8x12 inches for a high quality print. Small files need to be stretched out and that can cause blurring or pixelization which is best avoided. My canvas starts out blank, and I then I start adding things after setting up the border configuration, often the figure first and then find a background that pairs well with it in terms of colour and tone. When I first started doing this, my sizing was kind of all over the place, and it was not until a member in bonny England wanted some hard copy files that I standardized to 8x12 @300 ppi.

Late in 2023 I stopped designing... except to hastily design a Christmas and then a new year's panel. I did not plan to take a Sabbatical, and yet I had been designing for pretty much six years by then, and was also looking to change something about what I was doing without knowing what exactly... I did tinker with older files after that, and started a few new ones in the summer of 2024, and then in December of last year I started using an AI generator myself. I tried a few that said they were free, but as soon as I tried doing anything, they wanted me to upgrade. So I settled on one that was connected to Pixabay, called Magic Studio, and starting December 3, I think it was, over the next week, generated and saved to my portable hard drive at least 5,000 new images, and possibly as many as 7k... many were faces fashioned after "famous" woman. I had to say "looks like" to avoid getting what AI automatically wanted to give me. I also generated thousands of florals and quite a few background images, outdoor settings in sunset flower fields type of things, and also indoor settings, most of which will largely get covered by the text of the Scripture verse, which is the purpose of the panel in the first place.

So now instead of using somebody else's AI generated images, I am using my own AI generated images, and then doing what I have been doing with the faces, which is replace them, most often with a real person's face, sometimes a whole new face and then again replace the eyes, and make other edits to the figure, because AI is apparently completely clueless as to what modest means in terms of women's clothing. So I do what I do with the female figure and pair it with a background I generated, which makes mixing and matching a little easier, and overall makes everything faster for me because I do not need to spend anywhere near as much time constructing the figure and blending in the background, although the faces still require a lot of work.

Here is Grace Kelly's face:

I blended it into this AI woman I generated (not Magic Studio):

And then blended the figure into this background I generated (Magic Studio):

Psalm 147:5, Isaiah 40:28b, Jeremiah 32:17b, Isaiah 55:9, Job 36:5 ~ Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit. Psalm 147:5 His understanding is beyond searching out. Isaiah 40:28b Nothing is too difficult for You! Jeremiah 32:17b For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 His understanding is beyond searching out. Isaiah 40:28b He is mighty in strength of understanding. Job 36:5

 

[zeroturbulence]

Hey Everyone,

Several years ago, I was praying one night, and believed God was telling me, "Changes are coming to your life." I was 99.9% sure it was Him because of the way the thought stayed on my mind.

I thought it meant that I was going to meet someone and get married.

Rather, later that year, someone I loved very much unexpectedly fell ill and died a few weeks later. I do believe, however, that even though this person never again woke up, they cold still hear, and so I spent all my spare time at the hospital trying not to waste God's grace in the chance to express how much I loved this person.

Their death indeed brought a ripple of changes, and as with any such situation, some were for the good, and others brought additional sorrows.

This past weekend, while I was chopping onions and trying not to let the sting burn my eyes, I believe God told me, "I am going to allow things in your life that are going to make you uncomfortable." Once again, I'm 99.9% sure it was Him, because of how the thought has lingered on my mind. I also believe He is telling me that whatever happens, it is because He wants me to grow through it.

Naturally, my first thought was, "Who is going to die this time?" But of course, God might have completely different things in mind.

I can admit to feeling a bit uneasy.

I know some would say it's because I have weak faith, or not enough faith, or that it's from the devil.

But I personally think this is something that everyone who accepts Jesus as their Savior also has to accept as a regular part of the Christian life. We're all told God has a wonderful plan for our life, and He indeed works out all things for the good of those who love Him. But I don't hear much said about when God tells us hard things, and that it's crucial to growing our personal relationship with Him.

After sharing all of this with my small group, a good friend mentioned Joseph's dreams in Egypt, and how God sometimes warns us of trouble so that we can prepare (saving throughout 7 years of plenty to get through 7 years of famine.)

During my Bible reading and discussion with friends, I've told God that I hope I'll learn the lessons He wants me to learn and won't fight Him like I have in the past. I try to look back at how other difficult things have turned out, the things I learned, and, despite the hardships, the good God worked out through them.

I remind myself constantly that He is in control and everything that happens is for His glory. But it's an imperfect walk, with many zigs and zags, because of course, I'm still human.

What about you?

* How do you react when God tells you hard things, or allows difficult things to happen? How often does God tell you a trial is coming vs. just letting it happen without warning?

* What is your immediate reaction? Prayer, praise, fear, anger, sharing with others, or closing up, etc? I believe God understands our entire range of motions and helps us through all of them, even (and sometimes especially) when they're not the best or most ideal.

* What have you learned from past times when God told you about tough things/allowed them to happen that helps you prepare for future hardships?

* What advice do you give to others who have heard difficult things from God and are going through them?


I'm looking forward to hearing how other Christians walk out their faith through the inevitable "growth spurts" God knows we need.

I wish I could reply to this but there's some stuff I can't talk about at this time. I'll just say that back in 2022 a few strange things happened that made me feel like God was warning me that something not good was coming.

 

[seoulsearch]

Also, why did God allow them to kill Stephen, but save Peter? Why did God spring Peter from prison once, then later allow him to be crucified?
My concern is not what if God does not heal me. I would be concerned if God DID heal me from some terminal illness. My question would be, what does God want me to do? He must have a reason for keeping me around longer. What am I supposed to be doing before I can finally go home?

Peter is someone I hope to have a long conversation with someday.

I can't imagine how he must have felt, being rescued from the depths of prison BY AN ANGEL, to the point where he himself didn't think it was real at first, but thought he was just having a vision.

Next thing you know, he's back with his fellow believers and carrying on his next stretch of the work God had assigned to him.

I often wonder what he was going through when he was imprisoned for the last and final time. I mean, if it would have been me, I KNOW I would have been holding out hope for some other last-minute miraculous rescue. Imagine the last night before Peter knew he was going to die in the worst way known to mankind at the time -- did he pray up until the last minute, even before being nailed on his own cross, that an angel would somehow appear and once again, lead him to freedom? Shoot, he'd seen the prison gates just effortless open in the presence of his first rescue -- he surely knew God could recue him from a cross.

But if tradition holds true and Peter told the soldiers he wasn't good enough to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord (resulting in them crucifying him upside down,) I would imagine Peter was at a point of faith to where he could accept any decision God had made regarding his fate with relative calm.

Still, I wonder.

I guess it's kind of like people who get DO receive an amazing miracle, but then the course once again just takes over, like someone who is miraculously healed, but the tumors return, or they die of something else. I can't imagine how they must feel pleading with God for another healing, since it happened so wondrously the first time.

Or the parents whose miracle child the doctors said they'd never have, who later dies in a car accident.

I don't mean to be The Singles Forum Downer.

It's just that I've been like this since I was a kid -- always thinking about things people firmly told me to stop thinking about because no one else wanted to talk about them -- and it makes me doubly thankful for the people here on CC who do.

 

[Noel25]

The most difficult thing I've ever gone through is losing my grandma. I was mistakenly believing that if I prayed hard enough, God would heal her. I prayed for months but she passed away fairly quickly from pancreatic cancer. It was so hard on me and my entire family. We are all very very close.

Anyways, I was angry for a long while. I didn't understand why God would let her die. Doesn't He say that if we come to him and ask in his name he will hear and answer our prayers? Well...it took a lot of studying and I figured out what God really means with those verses. He means he will do what he knows is best for the situation. Plus we all will eventually die anyways. So her time was up and I needed to accept that. It was a hard pill to swallow...but I'm honestly very grateful now! She died in 2018 and well...you know what happened two years later. I am so thankful to God now that my grandma didn't see the pandemic. It would've been so stressful for all of us! It would have been 100x worse if she would've died from that esp if we couldn't say goodbye and be with her.

The way she died...I just see so many blessings come from that situation. My brother and cousins and I grew closer. My understanding of God became clearer. And we all got to say goodbye. That's a huge blessing in itself! So many people lose loved ones in an instant without notice. I'm glad we got 5 months to prepare. We got to create memories and say what we needed to say to her.

So yeah...at first I acted like a grumpy teenager with God. I still believed in Him but I was mad! I had no right to be mad, but God was a loving father to me and he helped me see where my thinking was incorrect. I still struggle with some things, but my relationship to God really improved once I started to see the blessings that came from such a tragic event.

 

[ATSTD]

I'll usually manage the life God gave me in a way that is less painful, yet some pain still lingers.

 

[LifelongLearner]

Peter is someone I hope to have a long conversation with someday.

I can't imagine how he must have felt, being rescued from the depths of prison BY AN ANGEL, to the point where he himself didn't think it was real at first, but thought he was just having a vision.

Next thing you know, he's back with his fellow believers and carrying on his next stretch of the work God had assigned to him.

I often wonder what he was going through when he was imprisoned for the last and final time. I mean, if it would have been me, I KNOW I would have been holding out hope for some other last-minute miraculous rescue. Imagine the last night before Peter knew he was going to die in the worst way known to mankind at the time -- did he pray up until the last minute, even before being nailed on his own cross, that an angel would somehow appear and once again, lead him to freedom? Shoot, he'd seen the prison gates just effortless open in the presence of his first rescue -- he surely knew God could recue him from a cross.

But if tradition holds true and Peter told the soldiers he wasn't good enough to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord (resulting in them crucifying him upside down,) I would imagine Peter was at a point of faith to where he could accept any decision God had made regarding his fate with relative calm.

Still, I wonder.

I guess it's kind of like people who get DO receive an amazing miracle, but then the course once again just takes over, like someone who is miraculously healed, but the tumors return, or they die of something else. I can't imagine how they must feel pleading with God for another healing, since it happened so wondrously the first time.

Or the parents whose miracle child the doctors said they'd never have, who later dies in a car accident.

I don't mean to be The Singles Forum Downer.

It's just that I've been like this since I was a kid -- always thinking about things people firmly told me to stop thinking about because no one else wanted to talk about them -- and it makes me doubly thankful for the people here on CC who do.

Definitely a lot older than you Seoul, you might be a less usual type now but wouldn't have been when i was younger. Personally noticed how much education was being dumbed down, in my children's schools during the '90s.

Thankfully, i took just as much responsibility for their education as i wanted teachers to, public education had become about social conditioning instead of learning to me. Nor was it just children who were being *trained*.

 

[LifelongLearner]

The most difficult thing I've ever gone through is losing my grandma. I was mistakenly believing that if I prayed hard enough, God would heal her. I prayed for months but she passed away fairly quickly from pancreatic cancer. It was so hard on me and my entire family. We are all very very close.

Anyways, I was angry for a long while. I didn't understand why God would let her die. Doesn't He say that if we come to him and ask in his name he will hear and answer our prayers? Well...it took a lot of studying and I figured out what God really means with those verses. He means he will do what he knows is best for the situation. Plus we all will eventually die anyways. So her time was up and I needed to accept that. It was a hard pill to swallow...but I'm honestly very grateful now! She died in 2018 and well...you know what happened two years later. I am so thankful to God now that my grandma didn't see the pandemic. It would've been so stressful for all of us! It would have been 100x worse if she would've died from that esp if we couldn't say goodbye and be with her.

The way she died...I just see so many blessings come from that situation. My brother and cousins and I grew closer. My understanding of God became clearer. And we all got to say goodbye. That's a huge blessing in itself! So many people lose loved ones in an instant without notice. I'm glad we got 5 months to prepare. We got to create memories and say what we needed to say to her.

So yeah...at first I acted like a grumpy teenager with God. I still believed in Him but I was mad! I had no right to be mad, but God was a loving father to me and he helped me see where my thinking was incorrect. I still struggle with some things, but my relationship to God really improved once I started to see the blessings that came from such a tragic event.

That is a beautifully spiritual comment, which rings with the sort of understanding/acceptance a newish believer like me aspires to.

 

[LifelongLearner]

I'll usually manage the life God gave me in a way that is less painful, yet some pain still lingers.

Bless you friend but pain teaches us so much too. Personally find the best lessons learned for me, are ones which had a price i realised was worth paying later on.

 

[LifelongLearner]

Peter is someone I hope to have a long conversation with someday.

I can't imagine how he must have felt, being rescued from the depths of prison BY AN ANGEL, to the point where he himself didn't think it was real at first, but thought he was just having a vision.

Next thing you know, he's back with his fellow believers and carrying on his next stretch of the work God had assigned to him.

I often wonder what he was going through when he was imprisoned for the last and final time. I mean, if it would have been me, I KNOW I would have been holding out hope for some other last-minute miraculous rescue. Imagine the last night before Peter knew he was going to die in the worst way known to mankind at the time -- did he pray up until the last minute, even before being nailed on his own cross, that an angel would somehow appear and once again, lead him to freedom? Shoot, he'd seen the prison gates just effortless open in the presence of his first rescue -- he surely knew God could recue him from a cross.

But if tradition holds true and Peter told the soldiers he wasn't good enough to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord (resulting in them crucifying him upside down,) I would imagine Peter was at a point of faith to where he could accept any decision God had made regarding his fate with relative calm.

Still, I wonder.

I guess it's kind of like people who get DO receive an amazing miracle, but then the course once again just takes over, like someone who is miraculously healed, but the tumors return, or they die of something else. I can't imagine how they must feel pleading with God for another healing, since it happened so wondrously the first time.

Or the parents whose miracle child the doctors said they'd never have, who later dies in a car accident.

I don't mean to be The Singles Forum Downer.

It's just that I've been like this since I was a kid -- always thinking about things people firmly told me to stop thinking about because no one else wanted to talk about them -- and it makes me doubly thankful for the people here on CC who do.

Forgot to mention i think Peter rocks too, he was an upfront extrovert, not elevated village idiot. Peter 1 & 2 are as thoughtful and complex as John's musings.

 

[LifelongLearner]

Hello dear, thank you as always for your wonderfully wise and kind words, and my apologies for not responding to a similar post a few days back, now, as I have been somewhat adrift since around then, and not posting much recently before today (yesterday, now), except for making a feeble attempt to start getting more caught up in my Scripture Art thread, as I am well over a year behind in that regard, and actually, since most of my work until late last year used the offerings of others (as I am digital collaging), selling anything was not permitted, though I did discover recently also, that that is not the case with everyone whose public domain work I have used with their permission. That is to say, in some cases, I would be free to offer my designs for sale, but the truth of the matter is that I am not in any way looking to gain financially from them.

I have at times in the past shared my design process with others, especially when asked, but generally speaking, it seems most do not know what is involved, which in itself is fine, until someone comes along and accuses me of stealing, which has happened more than once, though it may have been the same person in two cases, as many return even after being banned, which is against the rules. I did wonder what they meant when they said that, though, because of all the sites where I have collected the individual bits which get worked into my designs, whether they be borders, frames, backgrounds, special effects, florals, butterflies, etc etc, and especially faces, they were more and more edited over time, and assembled/put together in such a way that each finished product was unique. So even if I began with a face that someone else drew, painted, or AI generated, etc, and then offered for use to anyone else who cared to employ such in their personal project, my alterations, additions, and edits more and more, and more often than not, made it unrecognizable from its start.

Which is even beside the point itself, because these images and faces and such were offered free for use, released to the public domain for anyone to use as they wanted. I do also collect the faces of people who are already in the public domain, such as actors and actresses, and also musicians, having used and altered their faces as well... for instance, Joni Mitchell and EmmyLou Harris, being a huge Joni fan. I like EmmyLou more for her generosity in helping others in the arts field, but I have also used the faces of random actors and actresses after seeing them in a show lOL. My process is pretty random and spontaneous that way. I used Grace Kelly's face recently, and she is unrecognizable. Haha of course many would not recognize her anyways, as she is from a different era.

Two years ago I did really see a large increase in AI generated offerings, which I did not care for in one sense, because they looked so phony, with their plastic looking skin, under-detailed eyes, botoxed lips, etc, and much of what I came across while searching out women's faces was fantasy based, and even x rated, but in another sense some were great, even if only for the reason of them being large files which I could "mine" for specific individual facial features, or even just the neck, shoulders, partial torso, or hair. Now, there are an incredible number of sites that offer up these free images for others to use as they desire, and counting them and the images offered up would be near impossible, and number in the millions and millions. Some of the sites that I used to use years ago have now come to require membership and registration and attribution etc, and I do not use such sites any more.

The main site I have used for some time now is Pixabay. They host over 400k creators who offer their high quality media (photos, illustrations, vector graphics, videos, music and sounds effects) to others, and they do not require attribution. A general search discloses that the pixabay total number of assets is over 5.1 million as of November, 2024. When I am just doing a general search for say a woman's face, if I keep coming across one person's work I like, I go through their profile and then just look at what they have to offer. Heh, sometimes that is thousands of images just from one person, like Jill Wellington, a portrait photographer in Michigan who has a lot of content I have saved, and also a user named Art Spark. If you check out this post in a thread that is now closed, and my accuser banned again (although it does not say banned under her name), you can see some of the process in editing done to a panel using images as my main ephemera from Art Spark. I have made a few posts detailing what I do over the years, and could even talk your ear off about the details required in the making of such, but generally speaking prefer not to, although you might not know it given the length this post has become since I started it LOL.

Large files are great because I design on a canvas which is 3600 pixels by 2400 pixels, at 300 pixels per inch, which means if I ever want to print them, I can go as large as 8x12 inches for a high quality print. Small files need to be stretched out and that can cause blurring or pixelization which is best avoided. My canvas starts out blank, and I then I start adding things after setting up the border configuration, often the figure first and then find a background that pairs well with it in terms of colour and tone. When I first started doing this, my sizing was kind of all over the place, and it was not until a member in bonny England wanted some hard copy files that I standardized to 8x12 @300 ppi.

Late in 2023 I stopped designing... except to hastily design a Christmas and then a new year's panel. I did not plan to take a Sabbatical, and yet I had been designing for pretty much six years by then, and was also looking to change something about what I was doing without knowing what exactly... I did tinker with older files after that, and started a few new ones in the summer of 2024, and then in December of last year I started using an AI generator myself. I tried a few that said they were free, but as soon as I tried doing anything, they wanted me to upgrade. So I settled on one that was connected to Pixabay, called Magic Studio, and starting December 3, I think it was, over the next week, generated and saved to my portable hard drive at least 5,000 new images, and possibly as many as 7k... many were faces fashioned after "famous" woman. I had to say "looks like" to avoid getting what AI automatically wanted to give me. I also generated thousands of florals and quite a few background images, outdoor settings in sunset flower fields type of things, and also indoor settings, most of which will largely get covered by the text of the Scripture verse, which is the purpose of the panel in the first place.

So now instead of using somebody else's AI generated images, I am using my own AI generated images, and then doing what I have been doing with the faces, which is replace them, most often with a real person's face, sometimes a whole new face and then again replace the eyes, and make other edits to the figure, because AI is apparently completely clueless as to what modest means in terms of women's clothing. So I do what I do with the female figure and pair it with a background I generated, which makes mixing and matching a little easier, and overall makes everything faster for me because I do not need to spend anywhere near as much time constructing the figure and blending in the background, although the faces still require a lot of work.

Here is Grace Kelly's face:

I blended it into this AI woman I generated (not Magic Studio):

And then blended the figure into this background I generated (Magic Studio):

Psalm 147:5, Isaiah 40:28b, Jeremiah 32:17b, Isaiah 55:9, Job 36:5 ~ Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit. Psalm 147:5 His understanding is beyond searching out. Isaiah 40:28b Nothing is too difficult for You! Jeremiah 32:17b For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 His understanding is beyond searching out. Isaiah 40:28b He is mighty in strength of understanding. Job 36:5

Will have to post my reply separately friend, it exceeds the 10k characters complete.

 

[LifelongLearner]

Will have to post my reply separately friend, it exceeds the 10k characters complete.

Love your comment sweetest friend, instructive and fascinating. Composing my reply as i'm reading through it, so it'll be somewhat choppy. Don't ever be sorry for not always replying, know you're targeted by the conformity fools too. Possible i've given enough verbal slaps to make them think twice but won't hold my breath! You're genuinely creative but it's beyond difficult to create something nobody else has now. Very likely many more are alive right now, than have lived throughout the whole of our history. Don't make the idiots happy by letting it get to you sweet friend, or you'll have me to deal with!

Know you're genuinely creative but it's your ability to choose an amazingly relevant scripture, which surprises me most. The understanding, analysis and thought which goes into so much of what you do, is what i really appreciate and love. Hope you wanted to give that detailed explanation, that it wasn't because the idiots made you feel it necessary. However, i found your outlining how you used that Grace Kelly photo really fascinating, doubt i'm the only one either.

Shine on truly precious friend, God's blessings and mega hugs from me for now.

 

[ATSTD]

Bless you friend but pain teaches us so much too. Personally find the best lessons learned for me, are ones which had a price i realised was worth paying later on.

I agree. God closed a door and opened up one that I am shocked about.

I created a single for my new Christian electronic music artist accounts and I am just amazed. I also have 6 song that I want to upload either this Sunday or next Friday...and a 28 track dubstep story, where the first track starts off with me hanging out with the popular kids in high school the first night and getting drunk for the first time, as well as smoking my first cigar, first time trying chewing tobacco, the police came because they thought we beat up my friend Michael in the yard cause he was just laying there for hours trying to throw up. The police found out everyone was drinking and when they asked me if I was drinking, I said "no" and I shook my head as if I was mad at my friends for drinking and the police believed me and let me stay the night, while everyone else parents had to come by, pick up their kids and punish them......and that is just track 1. The 26th track, I go to hell in a mental hospital and the last track, #28, my God father and God brother rescue me from the mental hospital and bring me to their place, so I can get healthy again and I thought that I was in heaven and that my God father was God himself.

This all happened between Spring 2004 - August 2010. 6 years of darkness.

Heaven didn't last long though. I ended up going back to college the next week I got out of the hospital, dropped a bunch of classes and finished my painting class, while also having a full time job as a dog handler at a massive dog motel warehouse. It was the perfect job to heal with but I ended up hanging out with old friends again, got wrapped up into smoking marijuana every day, eventually moving into a 9 bedroom house with all my high school friends, threw huge parties. it was nuts. This is all while having a mental disorder. I was drinking alcohol, smoking synthetic marijuana, smoking hookah, I think I snorted a line of coke once there, did ecstasy but it didn't effect me because I was on anti-depressants, and drank shroom tea a few times while I was there.

My ex girlfriend came back into my life while I was there. We got a bigger room together there. I lost my job, we moved into her parents house. She was a server at Olive Garden, I ended up becoming a host at a different Olive Garden closer by. We went to a party, this guy who I thought was my friend nearly killed me with a drug I smoked that he gave me. God opened my eyes and I saw that everyone I was surrounded by were demon possessed. I called out Jesus' name and my God family came to rescue me cause their youngest son was at that party with me.

It was nuts. Not sure why I'm even writing this right now. I just don't care what the world thinks of me anymore.

 

[LifelongLearner]

I agree. God closed a door and opened up one that I am shocked about.

I created a single for my new Christian electronic music artist accounts and I am just amazed. I also have 6 song that I want to upload either this Sunday or next Friday...and a 28 track dubstep story, where the first track starts off with me hanging out with the popular kids in high school the first night and getting drunk for the first time, as well as smoking my first cigar, first time trying chewing tobacco, the police came because they thought we beat up my friend Michael in the yard cause he was just laying there for hours trying to throw up. The police found out everyone was drinking and when they asked me if I was drinking, I said "no" and I shook my head as if I was mad at my friends for drinking and the police believed me and let me stay the night, while everyone else parents had to come by, pick up their kids and punish them......and that is just track 1. The 26th track, I go to hell in a mental hospital and the last track, #28, my God father and God brother rescue me from the mental hospital and bring me to their place, so I can get healthy again and I thought that I was in heaven and that my God father was God himself.

This all happened between Spring 2004 - August 2010. 6 years of darkness.

Heaven didn't last long though. I ended up going back to college the next week I got out of the hospital, dropped a bunch of classes and finished my painting class, while also having a full time job as a dog handler at a massive dog motel warehouse. It was the perfect job to heal with but I ended up hanging out with old friends again, got wrapped up into smoking marijuana every day, eventually moving into a 9 bedroom house with all my high school friends, threw huge parties. it was nuts. This is all while having a mental disorder. I was drinking alcohol, smoking synthetic marijuana, smoking hookah, I think I snorted a line of coke once there, did ecstasy but it didn't effect me because I was on anti-depressants, and drank shroom tea a few times while I was there.

My ex girlfriend came back into my life while I was there. We got a bigger room together there. I lost my job, we moved into her parents house. She was a server at Olive Garden, I ended up becoming a host at a different Olive Garden closer by. We went to a party, this guy who I thought was my friend nearly killed me with a drug I smoked that he gave me. God opened my eyes and I saw that everyone I was surrounded by were demon possessed. I called out Jesus' name and my God family came to rescue me cause their youngest son was at that party with me.

It was nuts. Not sure why I'm even writing this right now. I just don't care what the world thinks of me anymore.

Blessings and love for sharing your story sweetheart, i didn't experience the grief and pain like you have but we definitely have some similar experiences. My youngest son is stopping the weekend and will be waking up soon but i will have more to say soon, God's blessings and hugs from me for now.

 

[ATSTD]

Blessings and love for sharing your story sweetheart, i didn't experience the grief and pain like you have but we definitely have some similar experiences. My youngest son is stopping the weekend and will be waking up soon but i will have more to say soon, God's blessings and hugs from me for now.

Thank you LLL. There is way more too it but thought I'd share the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Noel25]

That is a beautifully spiritual comment, which rings with the sort of understanding/acceptance a newish believer like me aspires to.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate that! It's not steady just so you know. I have my bad days and moments of fear and distrust. It's a lifelong endeavor to learn to trust the Lord and his promises.

 

[LifelongLearner]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate that! It's not steady just so you know. I have my bad days and moments of fear and distrust. It's a lifelong endeavor to learn to trust the Lord and his promises.

I'm crying not cos i'm sad but that's such a beautiful, wise thing to say. Sadly, there are many people who i think of as the jobsworth type on these forums, you are one of those who can see the beauty and magic.
Think this thread could do with a helping hand from people who frequent seoul and snackersmom threads Noel:

Has anyone suffered from religious OCD? https://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/has-anyone-suffered-from-religious-ocd.218141/

 

[Magenta]

Love your comment sweetest friend, instructive and fascinating. Composing my reply as i'm reading through it, so it'll be somewhat choppy. Don't ever be sorry for not always replying, know you're targeted by the conformity fools too. Possible i've given enough verbal slaps to make them think twice but won't hold my breath! You're genuinely creative but it's beyond difficult to create something nobody else has now. Very likely many more are alive right now, than have lived throughout the whole of our history. Don't make the idiots happy by letting it get to you sweet friend, or you'll have me to deal with!

Know you're genuinely creative but it's your ability to choose an amazingly relevant scripture, which surprises me most. The understanding, analysis and thought which goes into so much of what you do, is what i really appreciate and love. Hope you wanted to give that detailed explanation, that it wasn't because the idiots made you feel it necessary. However, i found your outlining how you used that Grace Kelly photo really fascinating, doubt i'm the only one either.

Shine on truly precious friend, God's blessings and mega hugs from me for now.

Thank you so much as always for your wonderfully warm words of wisdom and encouragement. Yes, I did want to give a detailed explanation to you and it then does also act as a history of my endeavours, so when one comes along such as some do with their repeated false accusations, I am not speaking into a void as it were. This is one of the ways this whole conversation fits into this thread, actually. I only would prefer not to talk about it because these panels are not about me, but what the Scriptures say, and yet there still is the element of people wanting to know where these images come from, and what is involved in the making of them in terms of my contribution. Also adding here that I am so glad that you comprehend the import and meaning of the panel verses chosen to display together, as we know many here seem not to and argue endlessly against them.

One of the things that banned person said was that I had told her something I never had (she in fact had a long long list of lies, about me as well as others), and my post history clearly contradicts what she said. I really don't think they had any idea of what it is I am actually doing, or what is allowed with the images I collect, but that is still no reason for them to go on the way they do, and I seriously wonder what is wrong with some of these people. Anyways, because you liked Grace so much, I did start another panel yesterday (my first this month!!!) and used her face again. I tried with multiple other sets to change her eyes, but you might die laughing if I showed you some of them. Heh, that is the thing, though, as I never know how something is going to look until I try it!

Anyways, after experimenting with multiple other eyes from various faces, I simply went with popping her eyes a little bit by enlarging her own somewhat and overlaying that on her actual eyes. To me the eyes are very important, and are often the first thing I change on a face. With these AI generated faces it is amazing how much they can be improved by overlaying a real face onto the figure as a whole. I mean, I often very much like the original, but then comparing it over time with the edits I make and things I have added I can never say, oh yes, the original was better. And if the original is better my efforts are for naught, and that is no fun either LOL. I realized some time ago that there is really no reason for me not to be happy with the designs I create, because if I do not like something, it is up to me to make the changes required to improve them. There are no verse citations yet, but I will show you where this one is at so far:

Starting with that figure/face (likely a "looks like EmmyLou Harris")

Blending in this Grace Kelly face:

Mixing/matching and blending it with one of my floral AI generated backgrounds:

To arrive at this at this point (needing verse citations added):

I do hope you and yours are well...

 

[LifelongLearner]

Thank you LLL. There is way more too it but thought I'd share the tip of the iceberg.

This is my favourite forum friend, many real, caring posts where people can talk about what troubles them and find real Christian love and concern. There are a few threads here where people are genuinely interested and care, seoulsearch and snacker'smom post great threads for sure.

 

[LifelongLearner]

Thank you so much as always for your wonderfully warm words of wisdom and encouragement. Yes, I did want to give a detailed explanation to you and it then does also act as a history of my endeavours, so when one comes along such as some do with their repeated false accusations, I am not speaking into a void as it were. This is one of the ways this whole conversation fits into this thread, actually. I only would prefer not to talk about it because these panels are not about me, but what the Scriptures say, and yet there still is the element of people wanting to know where these images come from, and what is involved in the making of them in terms of my contribution. Also adding here that I am so glad that you comprehend the import and meaning of the panel verses chosen to display together, as we know many here seem not to and argue endlessly against them.

One of the things that banned person said was that I had told her something I never had (she in fact had a long long list of lies, about me as well as others), and my post history clearly contradicts what she said. I really don't think they had any idea of what it is I am actually doing, or what is allowed with the images I collect, but that is still no reason for them to go on the way they do, and I seriously wonder what is wrong with some of these people. Anyways, because you liked Grace so much, I did start another panel yesterday (my first this month!!!) and used her face again. I tried with multiple other sets to change her eyes, but you might die laughing if I showed you some of them. Heh, that is the thing, though, as I never know how something is going to look until I try it!

Anyways, after experimenting with multiple other eyes from various faces, I simply went with popping her eyes a little bit by enlarging her own somewhat and overlaying that on her actual eyes. To me the eyes are very important, and are often the first thing I change on a face. With these AI generated faces it is amazing how much they can be improved by overlaying a real face onto the figure as a whole. I mean, I often very much like the original, but then comparing it over time with the edits I make and things I have added I can never say, oh yes, the original was better. And if the original is better my efforts are for naught, and that is no fun either LOL. I realized some time ago that there is really no reason for me not to be happy with the designs I create, because if I do not like something, it is up to me to make the changes required to improve them. There are no verse citations yet, but I will show you where this one is at so far:

Starting with that figure/face (likely a "looks like EmmyLou Harris")

Blending in this Grace Kelly face:

Mixing/matching and blending it with one of my floral AI generated backgrounds:

To arrive at this at this point (needing verse citations added):

I do hope you and yours are well...

Hope all's good and hugs dear friend, wondering if you might like to post a thread, outlining/demonstrating your production of a panel occasionally? Seriously doubt i'm the only one who'd really enjoy such an activity session, similar thinking behind my hoping to get a film club going.

Know where you're coming from for sure dear friend, attracting a fair bit of malice/spite myself on one of my posts. Really love forums like this where people are in touch with their humanity too. Actually, i do prefer being a target to having that dark a mind or heart, hope you think similarly and don't let anyone grind you down, you're lovely.

Blessings and hugs for now Magenta, all that's good to you and your dear ones.