Words on the Wall : Prologue

A while back, my husband was feeling a little bit discouraged about the reactions he was getting from people (even close friends, which was more discouraging) with regards to him sharing his faith in Jesus.  Since March, we've had a revival in our home, in our faith, and Josh decided that he needed to actively pursue sharing the gospel and helping others recognize the blessing and salvation that can come through Christ.  Because he was feeling so beaten down, I snuck into my studio one night, and painted some encouraging scripture on the biggest piece of paper I had, and stuck it up on the wall next to his side of the bed.  The next night, during our evening reading, we happened to read his new favourite verse, so I snuck off again, painted that one, and stuck it upon the wall again.  Currently these are just haphazardly taped up in our bedroom, torn spiral bound edges and all.  Even though I loved how bright and colourful they were (yay acrylic inks!), and the fact that I find myself staring at them often (because I'm so stoked on a particular letter shape or curve *nerd alert*), they just weren't really doing it for me aesthetically.  So I talked to Josh and my sister a bit (thanks Skype!) about the idea of painting a big chalkboard on the wall instead.  That way the verses can change easily, and we can leave them up to study for a week, and then move on to something new.  We can also use the board to leave messages, take notes or jot down ideas, and save paper.

Originally I was just going to paint right on the wall, but I swayed away from that idea after thinking about how much primer would eventually be needed to cover it.  So I settled on buying a large hunk of mahogany under-floor something or other, and hanging a thin piece of wood instead.  Josh and I have been collecting some nice pieces of drift wood down at the beach recently for different projects, and we have the perfect pieces to cut in half (that was an adventure to cut) and use those pieces as a frame for the board.  I settled on using store bought chalkboard paint, instead of making my own with paint and grout, since I was only using a small amount.  Don't forget to treat your board with a coating of chalking after your paint dries.  I'm so looking forward to practicing my lettering, encouraging my husband, reading the Bible, and dwelling on God's word through this project.  I'm looking forward to it so much that I've decided to share it with you too!  Each Sunday, I invite you to read the verse along with Josh and I, with each chapter of Words on the Wall.