When I first spoke to Kathie Luther, I was really energized by her story, her conviction and the way she described her ministry.  As I continued to follow her photos and get to know her in the year since, I’ve also developed a deep respect for her as a woman of insight and wisdom. Here’s the original post:

Kathie is a mixed-media artist up in northern Michigan, with a broad scope of skill that covers painting, sculpting, textiles and photography. If you visit her photostream on Flickr.com, you’ll see examples of the many artistic interests and skills that Kathie has honed in her years teaching art to children, teens and adults.

Kathie first discovered a love of art in her high school biology class, where assignments required her to draw specimens. This, combined with her love of nature, inspired her decision to study biology and art at Northern Michigan University. She soon chose art as her major area of study and eventually received a degree in art with emphasis in sculpting, casting and pottery.

After college and making time to become a wife and mom, Kathie found herself teaching art in a K-12 Christian school and later began holding classes for children and adults in her home. As with many gifted teachers, Kathie is also a perennial student and through the years picked up painting, photography and digital media.

Her painting always tended to be inspirational in nature, but began to take on a more prophetic tone about five years ago. At that time, her themes and imagery began to trend toward symbolism and eschatology (related to the end times). You see a lot of that in the images that we’ve been featuring on the site.

For the record, I grew up and studied theology in a non-charismatic tradition, so I know that some of you can’t help but raise an eyebrow when I use the word “prophetic,” but what we’re talking about, simply put, is the idea that God still speaks. It doesn’t seem like a big stretch, in our media driven culture, that He would chose to speak visually.

Kathie told me that she doesn’t have a formula for creating a painting. Sometimes she wakes up and paints the images from a dream. Other times, she will trace the shadows created by imperfections on the canvas until an image coalesces. She has even done some of her painting during worship while the musical people in the room were singing.

And that is the kind of thing we love to hear.

Kathie continues to paint and create works in other media and teaches summer classes in the art center adjacent to her home. She holds summer art shows where she talks to the patrons who visit about the reality of God’s love and the ways that He still speaks. She reminded me of a prayer that King David prayed long ago:

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long. - Psalm 25:4-5

Kathie still prays that prayer. After talking with her, I do too.

You can check out Kathie’s art on Flickr. She also has prints, postcards and some original paintings for sale at her eBay store.