Different aspects of our lives sometimes clash with each other. Many people drop their passions because their passions can’t sustain them. Some compromise their faith because they can’t see how God’s plan works in their lives. It takes serious reflection to see what’s going on with the different aspects of your life and how you can make peace with all of them.
In this episode, Matt Tommey shares his journey into changing from a striving artist to a thriving artist. Matt shares with us what we must do to live in harmony with our faith and passion. He discusses how we can find our identities by listening to God. Finally, Matt encourages us to keep saying yes to God’s plan.
Listen to the full episode and learn how to bring your faith, passion, and profession together and live in harmony.
3 Reasons to Listen:
- Gain valuable insights from how Matt was able to live in harmony with the different aspects of his life.
- Discover how building a deep relationship with God can make your professional life successful.
- Understand how your relationship with God helps you to be more creative with your art.
Resources
About Matt
Matt Tommey is an artist, artist mentor, author of five books, and a prolific speaker. Since 2009, Matt has wanted to give glory to God by raising an army of artists with deep-rooted faith and a connection to God.
His personal goal is to help artists around the world understand and acknowledge their purpose. He is currently leading a thrive artist mentoring program called Created to Thrive. He helps artists thrive spiritually, creatively, and financially through his programs. These online resources will equip a thriving Christian artist to live the abundant life Jesus promised.
If you’d like to reach out to Matt, you can visit his website and learn more about his passion for helping artists. You can also check out Matt Tommey Mentoring and Thriving Christian Artist Podcast.
Episode Highlights
[06:19] Lessons and Challenges Matt Tommey Experienced in His Hometown
- Growing up in a religious family, Matt learned the importance of faith and family in his life.
- However, even though his life seemed perfect on the surface, he experienced inner turmoil.
- It took him years before he understood his purpose and the Lord’s plan for him.
[08:28] Racial Issues and Inequalities
- Growing up in Middle Georgia in the 70s and 80s, many racial inequalities were present.
- In one of his quiet times, the Lord asked Matt about his position regarding race.
- Matt realized that many negative things are “baked” into his consciousness by the culture he grew up in.
- Matt says that removing these things from our minds is a process of looking at them through the lens of God.
- Ask yourself if your beliefs fit within the Kingdom of God.
[15:12] The Meaning Behind “Thriving Christian Artists”
- Before, Matt was just an artist who knew Jesus but had no context for it.
- As Matt went through his healing journey, he found a way to put Jesus in his personal life.
- Having a deeper relationship with the Lord also changed Matt’s finances, business, and how he presents himself to the world.
- Matt concluded that a way to bring glory back to God is to help his fellow artists have an abundant life through art.
[17:44] The Journey of Finding Your Identity
- The people who don't know the foundations of their identity are easily broken down.
- Moreso, if you don’t know who you are, you’ll never know your assignment in God’s design.
- Your identity comes from God’s word.
- Matt shares that you need to lean into experiencing the divine and embrace the Lord’s truth.
[18:25] “And I think embracing that and embracing a healthy identity in the Lord, that my identity doesn't come from what I do, or even my experience, or what others say about me. But it comes from God's word.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[19:58] How Matt Changed from Striving to Thriving
- Matt felt a call to ministry, and that’s why he became pastor for a few years right after he finished college.
- He left his religious denomination. Together with his wife, he formed a company on web and graphic design.
- However, the economy took a plunge, and it affected their business.
- Matt eventually found his assignment by trusting God’s word.
- Matt used his experience to write books and form mentoring programs to help people learn how to step into what God is calling them to be.
[26:28] How to Lessen the Pain and Shorten Your Journey
- Matt realized that he could receive everything he needs and wants in his art, relationships, and business through faith.
- Matt says that the only thing we need to do is ask ourselves if what we do aligns with what God has prepared for us.
- You need to pursue God's design in your life actively.
- You’ll receive a provision when you have successfully acknowledged your assignment.
[31:19] Matt on Redefining Success
- In his youth, Matt had a false sense of humility about how he served the Lord.
- Now Matt embraces the idea that we are co-laboring with God.
- Our role is to acknowledge our assignment given by God.
- We need to learn how to listen to the Lord’s voice with clarity so that we can continue to do what He wants us to do.
[33:27] “I think that the key for all of us as we walk with the Lord is learning to hear his voice with clarity so that we continue to stay in agreement and keep step with what he's wanting to do in and through our life.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[37:03] On the Friction Between Ministry and Business
- Matt believes that his calling is to serve his ministry and the marketplace.
- Matt’s goal is to equip the church leaders to become better and help them fulfill God’s calling in their life.
- He feels that the marketplace and the church can heave a healthy symbiotic relationship that recognizes both sides’ needs.
- We need to do what we’re designed to do authentically, be it in the church or the marketplace.
[40:49] Matt’s Online Community
- People from over sixty countries are listening to Matt’s podcast.
- Matt is amazed that many people with different cultural and denominational differences enjoy what God has intended for him to do.
- Matt has been able to build intense relationships with the people in his online community.
[43:58] Making Disciples
- Matt believes that what he’s doing is redefining what mentoring and being a disciple looks like.
- They help people walk through business, art, spiritual, and life transformation.
- Mat believes that there can be a relationship between religion and business if ministry leaders can see the importance of bringing business aspects into their ministry.
- Listen to the full episode to see what God has allowed Matt to do in the marketplace.
[47:10] What Is an Artist?
- For Matt, the essence of an artist is to see and agree on what we see in our imagination.
- An artist makes that imagination something tangible.
- Matt believes that God called us to be artists—to see, hear, sense, and feel God through all the things we experience every day.
[48:04] “Creativity is not ancillary to the kingdom, but it's the mode of how the kingdom of God actually works.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[49:53] Receiving God’s Provisions
- God designed your provision, opportunities, and relationships to flow to and through you.
- These are all in line with your assignment.
- When you come into agreement with your assignment, all the provisions will flow.
- God gives the ideas, opportunities, and seeds of inspiration to bring your art into reality.
[51:49] “God is the originator of the strategies so that we can do the things that we need to do in this realm to survive and thrive.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[52:48] Saying Yes to God’s Plan
- All the good things that happened to Matt in the past years are all because he keeps saying yes to the Lord's plan for him.
- God gives us the vision in our lives.
- Learn to keep saying yes.
- Keep walking with the people you trust who can confirm that what you’re doing is according to God’s word.
[54:42] “I think vision is always something that God gives us to fuel our hearts. You know, without vision, people perish.” - Click Here to Tweet This
[58:36] Matt’s Message to Struggling Artists
- Start learning how to be grateful for the talent that God gave you.
- Stop judging and disqualifying yourself because it builds a wall that keeps God’s grace from flowing in.
- Expect the good things that God has in store for you.
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To growing and becoming all we are created to be,
Tim
