As with many people, the pain and suffering that exists in God’s glorious creation tears at my heart. I struggle mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I fight despair, especially when it comes to children.

It was the summer of 1996. Along with caring deeply about the death of a dear man and gifted artist, the murder of a mother at our school, and the suicide of a young woman – TWA flight 800 crashed. All those lives lost of people I did not know, and three I did know – a courageous and beautiful woman with her two lovely young daughters. That summer there were many children and adolescents suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases such as leukemia. So much fear and pain for kids I did not know, and one I did know – my nephew Chris.

I searched through Scripture and I sought in prayer some way to deal with pain and suffering. It was Colossians 1:17 that led me out of despair. It was Colossians 1:17 that I prayed and prayed that summer as I manipulated torn and shredded pieces of color alone in my workshop. And I came not to understanding or even acceptance; it was and is a place of belief. In my life and in my art, fragments come together in shape and image because Christ is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Donna Shasteen

email: donna@shasteen.com

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