When I painted this, I wasn’t trying to capture just a forest. I wanted more than trees and streams on a canvas. I was reaching for that hush…the kind of stillness that feels charged, like heaven might lean close at any moment.
The inspiration came straight from the story of the Sacred Grove. A boy walked in burdened, tangled in doubt, but he prayed anyway. What happened wasn’t grand first…it was intimate. A whisper from Heaven. A warmth. A Father saying: “I see you. There’s more in you than you know. Trust that it will come in its time.”
That thought struck me. I wanted to paint a space that feels raw and open, where someone could lay down fear, listen, and maybe walk away lighter…more awake to who they really are.
And I don’t think those places are only in Palmyra or only in the past. We all have our groves…maybe not with trees, but with quiet. A corner of stillness where God meets us in our honesty, not our perfection.
This painting is my witness of that. That in the noise of life, there’s peace to be found. And in that peace, the courage to move forward with trust in what’s still unfolding.
