Psalm 118—Artwork

Learn more about Christ in the Psalms weekly artwork and see previous pieces here.

Person: Danielle Damrell

Hello! I’m Danielle Damrell, a local artist and creative motivator based out of Aurora, Colorado. Creating has always played a key role in guiding me through processing both trauma and pain as well as joy and freedom. God has recently been guiding me through a journey of discovering how I can share the messages and tools He has taught me over the past many years. I hold a B.A. degree from Colorado Christian University in Communication focused specifically in public speaking because I have felt a calling to use my voice to point others towards His freedom since I was young. In June I launched a podcast called Created Worthy where I provide a platform for women to share their stories. Together we discover the threads of creative processing that already exist in all of our lives. This is an exciting part of this journey God has ordained. He has used it to merge my passion and business of creating with my calling of connecting and sharing testimonies of God’s grace, forgiveness, and redemption. There is NOTHING God cannot redeem, and I pray that my life serves as evidence of this truth.

Piece: Mixed Media

Psalm 118 is a beautiful Psalm that reminds me of the comfort and peace that God alone can provide. When I began to process Psalm 118 to create this piece, I just felt like the image that came to mind was that of darkness closing in around us, specifically as believers. This world is constantly filled with messages and distractions that may look tempting and beautiful but only lead to places of destruction.

All the nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord, I cut them off!They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me.The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.” (vv10–11; 13–14)

My plan for this piece was actually to paint a much more detailed scene but I felt the Lord saying: “STOP—My message for my people is simple. This is my world, but darkness lives within it. I am at the center, however, and when you choose me, you experience protection that no darkness can infiltrate. As long as I am the King of your heart, you will be strong enough to withstand everything you go through in this life. Do you understand that it’s my steadfast love that endures FOREVER? I am with you. FOREVER.”

The gold around the edges of the piece represent His presence that is everywhere; this is HIS world.

The blue “blobs” represent the darkness and pain that each one of experience throughout life. Sometimes is gets really hard and hits extremely close to our hearts. Sometimes it looks dynamic, light, and beautiful, but it’s those temptations that take us the furthest from our center—King Jesus. The gold chain heart represents our hearts when we choose Jesus. The gold crown in the middle represents Jesus, our stability, strength, and our song.

This is a mixed media piece made up of acrylic paint, metal chain, clay, and gold leafing. The process of creating this piece was an incredible blessing to my life. I painted this on Mother’s Day, a day that is typically very painful for me. I set the scene to do some intentional creative processing on this day—My incredible husband and daughter gave me the house to my self and I channeled all the darkness and pain in my heart into each brush stroke. Slowly but surely the pain turned to joy and the darkness turned to light. I sat with my Bible open to Psalm 118 and turned worship music on as loud as possible. My singing became louder and louder as I began to experience the freedom found in seeking Jesus while simultaneously creating space for my trauma to surface and release. This painting represents so much more than I could ever put into words, but the message of His steadfast love enduring forever became more clear than ever before. I “give thanks to the Lord, for HE IS GOOD; for his STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!” (v29)