BE A CREATOR, NOT JUST A CONSUMER

The title is a phrase that the Lord spoke to me recently. I had been scrolling social media and heard in my spirit, "Be a creator...not just a consumer". I knew the Holy Spirit was speaking. Right then and there, I stopped scrolling and just sat with that phrase and began an inner dialogue with myself. Would I rather be a creator or a consumer? A creator. Wait...I already am one. I am made in the image of God. He is a creator. Therefore, I am a creator, and you are too!

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. - Genesis 1:27 NKJV”

Some people may be thinking, "I'm not that creative. I'm not artistic or talented to the arts, music, etc." While I don't know each person reading this personally and their gifts or talents, I do believe that even though you may not feel like you are creative, you in fact are. I was that person not too long ago saying that I wasn't creative. My older sister was really talented in art and my younger sister could pick up any instrument and learn it and can sing so beautifully. I had friends who would come up with the most creative ideas in school and execute them so well. I constantly compared myself to them so in light of that, to me, I wasn't creative because I couldn't do what they did. I didn't value the unique creativity that God had given me.

If you are a mom, you created life and a family. If you have a job, you create every day on your job when you come up with solutions to problems. Every day we are all creating our life with our words as well. Just like God spoke the world into existence, we speak our lives into existence. Now, it may not happen immediately like it did when God spoke, but what we consistently speak every day, within weeks, months, years, will eventually come to pass. Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks so what you believe, you usually speak. Reflect back on your life the past few years. Are you living the life you have created with your words? Now that's not the only factor, but it is a big part. I know that in this season, the Lord has been highlighting again to me the power in our words and to choose to speak life instead of complaining. That no matter what the circumstances say, we can choose to partner with God and speak what He says about us and our destinies.

Creativity is a Like a Muscle

When I began to learn that creativity is in all of us and is like a muscle needing to be exercised to grow stronger, it shifted the way I viewed what being creative meant. Instead of just daydreaming about ideas that I had and inventions that would be great if only I were creative, I started taking steps towards actually creating them and bringing them to life. Ha just having the ideas in and of itself should have been a clue to myself that I had creativity on the inside of me.

I came across a series on creativity a few months ago that really gave language to the process I have been going through this past 2 years. This guy talked about how if you wanted to grow in being creative, choose to do something creative every day. It could be something as simple as writing a short poem or drawing a picture or writing down a new idea each day no matter how stupid they may seem. It's like priming the pump. It gets the flow going. Once you stay consistent with this, you will begin to see each time you set aside to create, more and more ideas will come. More creativity will flow. It's like the more you use your ability to create, the more the ability to create will come. It can be as simple as choosing to set aside 10 minutes a day to create something. Watch what will begin to happen after 30, 60, 90 days.

"Every believer has received grace gifts, so use them to serve one another as faithful stewards of the many-colored tapestry of God’s grace."1 Peter 4:10 TPT

If you are one who already has a steady flow of creativity, I challenge you to endeavor to create more than you consume. Use your unique gifting that God gave you to bless others. The world needs what you have to offer and the more you use your gifting, the more it will grow (Matthew 25:14-30). Just like the more you practice something, the better you'll get in that skill.

So back to the process that I've been in the past 2 years...

I started getting restless with life and where I was at. Have you ever felt like you have so much potential inside of you but didn't know how to tap into it? You knew that God had great plans for you, and you saw others living their dreams, but you kept getting stuck feeling like you didn't have much to offer. I was there. When I began to follow Holy Spirit and step out into pursuing some of the ideas I had, even though it was scary, I felt as if I was coming alive. The right people, relationships, opportunities started to present themselves in my life. Things began to line up. It all started one night when this idea came to me that didn't exist to my knowledge.

A friend of mine during that time was believing God for a promise of twins in the future. I believe it's important to keep the vision in front of us when we're believing for something that God puts on our hearts. He gives us the desires of our hearts when they are in line with His will. I got this impression from the Lord, ever so fleeting it seemed at the moment; I wrote it down. I thought how cool it would be if I could create a gift box of baby items that represent twins and then write her a word of encouragement with scriptures for her and her husband to stand on. My love languages are words of affirmation and gifts. Especially when blessing others. It was as if the Heaven's parted in that moment. It was around 2AM (sidenote: I'm a night owl. I am the most creative from 12-3AM) and I just got this mental picture of how it would all come together. The next day, I second-guess whether that was real or not and just put it aside. All excitement was gone b/c well...I stayed up too late and was so exhausted the next day lol. However, when God gives you an idea or a spark of creativity happens, it usually won't go away. So, for the next month, that gift box idea kept coming up, so I ended up just going to buy things at the store and put the gift basket together. I was so nervous because I didn't know how they would receive it. We weren't really that close, and I didn't know if that would weird them out. I didn't know they were currently trying to get pregnant at that time either. And the thoughts of what if I missed it and didn't hear God right. What if they don't get pregnant with twins and I got their hopes up for nothing, etc. I mean all these thoughts that manifest from fear attack us the most when we are stepping out into something new, creating something new, doing what God put on our hearts to do. I chose to face my fear and drop the gift basket off at their house on their porch. I realized after I got home, I forgot to put my name on the card haha. Oh well. I genuinely just wanted to bless them. I didn't care for the credit. They did end up getting pregnant a month later and went on to have a little girl. When I found out, of course the enemy tried to make me feel bad that they didn't have the twins and that I missed it, but you know what? God confirmed in my heart that I did the right thing because I obeyed Him in giving them the gift basket.

The Beginning of Creative Glory Gift Box

So fast forward 6 months later...the idea of gift boxes grew and grew. I would write down the ideas when they came and then the name Creative Glory Gift Box came to me from an encounter with the Lord in my prayer time. Anthony began to buy things for me to launch the business and I started learning to make t-shirts, tumblers, bags, etc. I had just joined Shiloh Global at that time and learned that I had a prophetic gifting and grew in my gift to be able to prophesy God's heart over people and what He would show me. The more I practiced, the stronger the gifting grew. Combine the gifting with my love for giving gifts and encouraging others, Creative Glory Gift Box was officially launched on November 11, 2022. God then began to combine my love for music into the business. I learned guitar and picked piano back up and started writing prophetic songs for people. Songs and melodies would come to me as I prayed for people and played music. With each gift box I create, I am stretched to grow even more in my creativity and figure out new ways to create what the Lord shows me in the spirit.

Now as far as the prophetic side, we do prophesy in part and see in part (1 Corinthians 13:9), so I don't ever get the whole picture for someone and I'm still growing in being able to discern the interpretation of what the Lord shows me. And the voice of the enemy tries to tell me that I didn't hear right. But if I never step out in faith, I will never grow in my faith and creativity and overcome. I can't be afraid of failure. If I miss it, then I go back to the Lord and I learn from it.

The only way for us to grow in creativity is to practice and step out and just do. It may look messy, imperfect, and not like we'd hope at first. However, don't despise the small beginnings. Everyone starts somewhere. I'm here to encourage you to start today. Create something today. Be a creator not just a consumer. You will be amazed at the fruit that will come from consistently intentionally creating if even just for a few minutes a day. A part of you will come alive that you didn't know existed and you'll look back a year from now and see just how far you've come!

I would love for you to share in the comments what you have created, and we can all encourage one another!!