Alicia Ashdown

Overcome
Mixed media: Shadow box, acrylic paint, illustration board, decorative paper,
and pen
16″ x 20″
Email: aliciala77@aol.com

Artist Statement

Our lives are filled with utter despair and suffering in the absence of Christ.  We all need Him! Once we know Him as our Savior everything else pales in comparison; even the most unbearable suffering.  With Christ as the Lord of our lives, any earthly pain we may have He can completely overcome and replace with joy.  We have been called to live our lives with joy and confidence in Him.

Even though, at times, suffering and despair can be an overwhelming part of our life; in this piece it is small and insignificant.  The joy that is Christ is surrounding and taking over the pain in this piece.  The colors not only represent joy, they also represent the “heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them”.  The dividing lines for the doodles are all words that are in the song, “What Joy”.  The sun background is representative of The Son and includes the text of Psalm 146.

If you have never heard the song, “What Joy (Psalm 146)” by Sarah Emerson, please take a few minutes to listen to it and let His joy overwhelm you!

Audio/video on YouTube

Lyrics

What Joy (Psalm 146), written by Sarah Emerson

You made the heavens and the earth
the sea and all that is in them
Your promises remain

You give justice to the weak
You care for the widow and orphan
Forever Lord, You reign

What joy, what joy for those whose hope
is in the name of the Lord
What peace, what peace
for those whose confidence is Him alone

Scripture

Psalm 146, New International Version (NIV)

¹ Praise the LORD.^[a]
Praise the LORD, my soul.
² I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³ Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
⁵ Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.
⁶ He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
⁷ He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
⁸ the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.
⁹ The LORD watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
¹⁰ The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the LORD.