This painting is rustic since it is the first one painted after my experience and it does not begin to show the true beauty of Mary.
I have always been religious but did not take faith seriously until I was told by a doctor in 1985 that I had one week to live. The reality took me to my knees praying for insight and help. The result was Jesus and His Mother, Mary, appearing in front of me. Mary told me that She wanted me to paint Her with Jesus on the cross on the front of Her and name the painting Our Lady of the Cross. She also told me that Her Son is saddened by some of the religious turning away from devotion to Her Son and finding more importance in worldly desires. She asked for the religious to turn back to Her Son and increase their devotion and dedication.
After the experience, I felt wonderful and completely changed, and I was given a youthful appearance. After I painted Mary's request, I began attending mass daily telling people of my wonderful experience of my ability to paint and my improvement in my health. When I returned to the doctor, I was told that I was fine and that my tumor was almost completely gone.
Since I have been blessed with the gift and insight of painting, I have expanded my gift into painting religious paintings, reproductions of the masters, portraits, and wildlife/nature paintings. A large number of my paintings have been donated to the Church, since my gift is from God. I also returned to college in 1990 to finish a Bachelors of Business Administration degree, and I became a teacher.
Then, in 2002, I was diagnosed with Sarcoid and was told that I would not leave the hospital. Again, I was in pain and praying, after a biopsy procedure. Suddenly, I was no longer in the hospital bed and I was standing in front of Jesus. I believed that my time on Earth was over. He told me that it was not my time and that He wanted me to deliver a message.
He said, “Tell everyone that all of you are My children and I love you very much. Tell everyone that all of you are going to have problems in life, and I want My children to come to me with the problems so that I can help, because I love all of you so very much. There are going to be very difficult times in the future, but I am here, so when problems happen, come to Me so that I can help all of you, because you are My children and I love you very much.”
I left Jesus and was returned back to the hospital room, and when the doctors returned, they remarked over my sudden improvement. Treatments followed for a couple of years and now I am cured of the disease. I have other ailments, but I shall continue to use my gift of painting and I am continuously deepening my relationship with Jesus and His Mother through contemplation and prayer, and I am patiently waiting until Jesus calls me home.
Email: hardin0102@yahoo.com
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Our Lady of the Cross
