- Another Testament -

 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints recently took submissions to an art competition. The theme was "Remembering the Great Things of God."  

This piece was done in Charcoal on illustration board.

3: Nephi 16:4

4 And I command you that ye shall write these sayings after I am gone, that if it so be that my people at Jerusalem, they who have seen me and been with me in my ministry, do not ask the Father in my name, that they may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy Ghost, and also of the other tribes whom they know not of, that these sayings which ye shall write shall be kept and shall be manifested unto the Gentiles, that through the fulness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer. 

When I originally heard the theme for this year's artwork, I began to ponder many things. I struggled with narrowing down the subject matter: after all, everything we see stems from God's creations. I thought of the atonement, the temples, the creation, our families, and our lives. Then I thought of the scriptures, an image came directly to my mind. I have come to love those stories and testimonies that are born in those pages. I felt that I wanted to create a piece of artwork that captured a feeling of someone who is pondering the words of that sacred book. While I was setting up my model for photographs I turned the pages to 3 Nephi. I didn't stop on any particular chapter I just knew I wanted to portray 3 Nephi in the pages. After I had completed the piece I went looking for the perfect scripture to match exactly what I wanted to convey. Little did I realize, the Lord had his hand in the selection process and the words were right in front of me. 3 Nephi 16:4 the words I had written in the artwork days earlier suddenly became more meaningful. I knew this piece was meant to show why we have the scriptures, that we may be brought to the knowledge of him, our Redeemer.