Historically when the Israelites wanted to remember great events of when God showed his faithfulness, they piled up stones as a memorial.  It would be used as a reference point to recall the event and communicate it to future generations.

Our own move from Auckland at the end of 2017 to Taranaki was a big event in our family.  God was with us through it all and I wanted to make my own memorial of Gods faithfulness.  There is a pile of symbolism in this work.  I think it would need its own little story book to unravel it all and explain what we went through to get to Taranaki.

The basics of the two panels are as follows: the left side panel is communicating tension and barriers that were going on before we moved, and the waiting for the opportunity to leave.  The right side panel is communicating the shift and the hope of broken barriers for the future.  The wording used in the painting is from the book of James 1:4 from a section of teaching titled in my NIV bible as ‘Trials and temptations’.  The other verse used in the painting is from the book of Isaiah 55:13 – though all of that chapter was something that really spoke to me over our time of waiting and moving.  The chapter is titled in my NIV bible as ‘Invitation to the Thirsty’.