Welcome to my website! I am Peggy Lee Mead, the artist and designer of the stencils and many of the paintings offered here. I created this collection as a resource for those of you who would like your homes and churches to visually reflect the beauty of God’s presence and His precious promises given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Upon considering the visual arts in a spiritual context, it is interesting to note that when God told His people to hide His words in their hearts and “write them on the posts and gates of their homes,” He understood that their faith would be greatly assisted by the visual reminder of His presence and faithfulness on their behalf. (See Deuteronomy 6:9 & 11:20).
Continuing on through the Scriptures, we can see many other instances where the visual arts were employed by God to teach people about Himself and to remind them of His love. Many of our symbols today come from these ancient sources.
My greatest joy as an artist began when one of my clients asked me to paint angels on all the ceilings of her beautiful mansion. Working on the high scaffolding painting angels and clouds day after day, I felt enraptured with the presence of God. It was the most wonderful experience I’d ever had as a painter. Soon thereafter I was blessed by another client who asked me to paint musical instruments with leaves and Scriptures wrapped around them on the walls of her large dining room. Her vision turned out to be truly lovely!
More requests came in from people who had seen my clients’ homes and wanted to grace their own with artwork that would encourage their faith. I always looked forward to these, for the joy I felt in the presence of God as I created artwork that glorified Him was indescribable!
I’d been a faux painter for a number of years, replicating the look of old European walls, modern slate surfaces, shimmering gold, platinum, and marble surfaces, along with many others. I once painted an entire bathroom to look like an old Italian patio, replete with limestone walls and potted plants. I painted pop art in bedrooms for teenagers, fairytale scenes in children’s nurseries, café au lait scenes in kitchens, and I replicated movie posters in home theaters.
But never when painting these things did I feel anything like joy until I added something to them that glorified God’s love and faithfulness. Soon I longed to share my God-given ability with others, to help them bring something of the beauty of God and His Word into their own homes. I wanted to reach out to the world, but was immediately overcome with a fear of failure.
This type of fear was nothing new to me. I had been plagued with it all my life. I would like to share a little of my past with you here, for in it you will see more than a glimpse of the love and faithfulness of the God for Whom I paint:
My lifelong dream from childhood was to be involved in some career that would allow me to create, be it drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics or interior design. I studied art in high school and college, graduating cum laude with a B.A. in Fine Arts from California State University at Long Beach.
This should have been an opening for a career, but I had talent without confidence, and skill without a healthy self-image. In fact, my lack of confidence proved to be such a deep emotional roadblock that when I graduated, my work did not follow my heart. I settled for a job rather than a dream.
My lack of confidence was nothing new. I grew up with deep feelings of inferiority. I can remember at the age of four wanting to die and having thoughts of suicide. These thoughts tormented me most of my life. My early experiences all reinforced the message that I was inferior and a disappointment.
Such a distorted image of my worth and abilities made all my decisions distorted as well. Probably the most devastating and debilitating choices I made, however, were in settling for personal relationships that were destructive. I found myself desired, but never loved. The love offered to me was conditional, based on my performance. I endured a 20-year marriage of verbal, emotional, and physical abuse because I was too afraid to fight and didn’t have the confidence to make it alone.
In my despair God reached me. In His time and way all things changed. He put His very own life within me, and then began a process of transforming me by the renewing of my mind, a process that continues to this day. He also taught me that I was valuable to Him and precious in His sight. His LOVE for me was unconditional. My new life is truly a gift from God.
“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (I John 4:9).
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2).
“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23).
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).
St. Augustine of old said, “You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee.” This is one of my favorite quotations, because it perfectly describes my life. My heart has finally found rest in the God who made me and loves me!
Today, I am living free from abuse, and am filled with confidence! But it’s the confidence that comes from knowing that God loves me, and that I am valuable in His sight . . . a confidence that is not predicated on my performance, but rather on the FAITHFULNESS of God.
And because He told me in Philippians 4:13 that I could do all things through Christ Who strengthens me, I went forward to create the stencils and many of the paintings you see on this website, fulfilling my desire to share God’s creativity with others.
My dream now is for Faithful-lee yours to be an instrument that will inspire and assist the creative ability resident in all of us. I am convinced that God designed every person with the ability to create, for we were made in His Image, and He is a creative God! And I believe the process of creating builds self-confidence. It may expressed through music, painting, sculpting, cooking, gardening, woodworking, or a myriad of other ways. The channel is varied, the need is essential.
My story is really about how God delivered me from a meaningless life, an abusive marriage and deep despair, and then through His love and acceptance, gave me the confidence and strength to follow the desires of my heart. Without the life, love, and hope God has given me, I’m sure I wouldn’t be here today.
But I am! Because of God’s great love expressed to me through Jesus Christ, I am still here, and I am filled with joy and peace, instead of suffering and sorrow! And as you can see from my stencils and paintings, God has opened a way for me to share my talent, so that all of you may beautify the walls, posts, and gates of your lives with art that reminds you of His everlasting love and faithfulness.
It can truly be said that Faithful-lee yours is a demonstration of God’s amazing grace!
Thank you for visiting my website.
