{"id":19422,"date":"2026-03-11T07:38:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T07:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/a-lawyer-finds-stress-relief-in-art\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:07:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:07:51","slug":"a-lawyer-finds-stress-relief-in-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/parenting\/children\/a-lawyer-finds-stress-relief-in-art\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lawyer Finds Stress Relief in Art\u2014and Surprising Success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I liked structure, things going according to plan\u2014my plans. But lately there had been so much upheaval that I hardly recognized my life, or myself, anymore. I was <a href=\"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/post\/after-a-30-year-marriage-how-do-you\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">going through a divorce<\/a>. My dad had a terminal illness. I couldn\u2019t focus on my job as a labor and employment lawyer, and hard work was something I prided myself on. (Even in law school I\u2019d worked a side job as a cheerleader in the NBA and NFL.) I put on a smile for my daughters\u2014Gabby, four, and Gigi, two\u2014but I cried in the shower. I woke up in the middle of the night, every night, my mind racing. I didn\u2019t know it was possible to feel this miserable.<\/p>\n<p>When I refused to take sleeping pills\u2014I didn\u2019t want to be out of it if my girls needed me\u2014my doctor ordered me to take a leave of absence from my job. Part of me was relieved to have a break. Another part of me was freaking out. What was I going to do without having a schedule to stick to? How would I fill the hours Gabby and Gigi were at day care?<\/p>\n<p>What I ended up doing was going for walks on the beach. Something I\u2019d been too busy to do before, even though we lived in a townhouse just a few blocks away. As I strolled along the water\u2019s edge, gazing at the cool blue expanse of sky and sea, the chaos inside me seemed to subside. And in the quiet, I talked to God, asking him to help me <a href=\"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/post\/finding-peace-and-calm-at-a-pig-sanctuary\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">find peace<\/a> and joy again.<\/p>\n<p>One morning i took off my shoes and plopped down on the beach. I wiggled my toes in the sand and breathed in the salty air. <em>You should paint.<\/em> I laughed out loud. It seemed like such a clich\u00e9\u2014get divorced, take up painting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLord, you have got to be kidding,\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m a lawyer, not an artist!\u201d I wasn\u2019t the free-spirited, artistic type at all. Doodling in my notebooks during law school lectures\u2014that was about the extent of my artistic abilities. I put my shoes back on and went home, shaking my head at the absurdity of the idea.<\/p>\n<p>Yet it wouldn\u2019t go away. <em>You should paint.<\/em> The thought popped into my head when I was running errands. When I was on the phone with my family back east. When I walked on the beach. When I read to the girls at bedtime.<\/p>\n<p><em>Fine,<\/em> I decided one day, <em>I\u2019ll go to an arts and crafts store.<\/em> I drove to Michaels. I grabbed a shopping cart and headed to the art supplies section. There was an entire aisle just for paint. Acrylic, tempera, gouache, oil, watercolor\u2026I had no idea there were so many kinds of paint, let alone what they were used for. What the heck was I doing? There was no way <a href=\"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/post\/passion-to-paint\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">painting<\/a> fit into my life plan. I should just lay this silly idea to rest.<\/p>\n<p>I turned my empty cart around. I was four steps from the door when a young man in a red Michaels shirt said, \u201cDo you need help with something, ma\u2019am?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to say no and get out of there. Instead I blurted, \u201cI would like to paint, but I don\u2019t know what to buy.\u201d I was so embarrassed, I couldn\u2019t look him in the eye.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo problem,\u201d the young man said. \u201cMy dad\u2019s an artist. I can show you everything you need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s exactly what he did. He picked out a set of acrylic paints, explaining that I could use them to paint on anything\u2014paper, cards, canvas. He recommended brushes. A palette, for mixing colors. Canvases in different sizes. An easel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHave fun!\u201d he said, after ringing up my purchases. \u201cI expect you to show me a painting the next time you come in here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I smiled weakly. <em>Not likely,<\/em> I thought. That night, after Gabby and Gigi went to sleep, I set up the easel in the dining room and took out the paints, the palette and a brush. I put a canvas on the easel and stared at the blank white surface. What should I paint? I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Suddenly I could imagine it. The blueness of the sky blending into the deeper, darker shades of the sea. The incredible nearness of God I felt there. I squeezed some blue paint onto the palette, dipped my brush and touched it to the canvas, not sure what I was doing but knowing somehow that I needed to do it.<\/p>\n<p>I kept painting the next few weeks. When I woke in the night and couldn\u2019t go back to sleep, I went to the dining room and painted. When I wanted to cry, I painted. It was healing. I could forget all my troubles and immerse myself in the beauty and colors of God\u2019s world. I used my phone to take pictures of my paintings, so I could carry that feeling of peace with me.<\/p>\n<p>I ran out of canvases and returned to Michaels to get some more. When I did, the young man who\u2019d helped me before recognized me. \u201cYou\u2019re back!\u201d he said. \u201cCan I take a look at some of your paintings?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I showed him the photos on my phone. He studied them, not saying a word. I hoped my humiliation didn\u2019t show on my face. Then he looked up and said, \u201cWow, are you sure you haven\u2019t taken any classes?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maybe painting hadn\u2019t been such a crazy idea after all. My leave ended, and I went back to work. Life still had its challenges\u2014my father\u2019s death, the finalization of my divorce, a schedule that got even busier as the girls took up dance and karate\u2014but I wasn\u2019t overwhelmed by them anymore. I felt strong enough to cope, as long as I was painting.<\/p>\n<p>My paintings grew in number\u2014the walls leading to the second level of my townhouse were covered\u2014and in size. One took up almost an entire wall on its own. It depicted people of different ethnicities, all walking into the water to be baptized, painted as if I\u2019d been standing on a beach watching them, like the beach where God had broken through to me. I filled the bottom half of the canvas with dots, thousands of them to show the variegated hues of the ocean. I titled that painting <em>Take Me to the Water<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Gabby and Gigi would get up in the morning and run to see what I\u2019d created. \u201cWe want to paint, Mommy!\u201d Gabby said one day. \u201cWe want to do what you do.\u201d I bought them easels and we painted together. Then we started drawing together. Pictures of everyone in our family, pictures of the girls doing their favorite things\u2014ballet, karate, making cupcakes, building sandcastles.<\/p>\n<p>The dining room turned into an art studio; we would sit on the sofa and eat our dinner off TV tray tables. Two years after I first picked up a paintbrush, there was no more free wall space left in our townhouse. What was I going to do with all of my artwork? I couldn\u2019t figure out a plan that made sense.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, I got so frustrated that I threw my arms up and said, \u201cLord, I surrender! Whatever you want me to do, I\u2019ll do it.\u201d I went to a caf\u00e9 one day to <a href=\"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/post\/2-ways-to-make-art-with-others\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">brainstorm with another artist<\/a>, but she didn\u2019t show up. On my way back to my car, I passed an art gallery.<\/p>\n<p><em>Go ask.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Immediately questions crowded my mind. <em>Just walk in there as an unknown artist? Really? Do you think they\u2019re going to take you seriously?<\/em> Then I caught myself. Hadn\u2019t I promised to listen to the Lord, to trust him to lead me?<\/p>\n<p>I opened the gallery door and went inside. \u201cCan I help you?\u201d a man asked. \u201cI\u2019m a painter,\u201d I said, introducing myself. \u201cWho should I talk to about showing some of my work?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou asked the right person,\u201d the man said. \u201cI\u2019m one of the owners of this gallery. Do you have any of your paintings with you?\u201d I showed him the pictures on my phone. The next thing I knew, I was walking out of the gallery with a solo exhibit scheduled. Then another idea came to me. Or I should say, was given to me. <em>Do a children\u2019s book.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Again, my first response was <em>Really?<\/em> Maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m a lawyer and trained to question everything. I didn\u2019t realize that I already had the answers. What did I know about children\u2019s books? The girls and I were frequent visitors at the library. I knew there weren\u2019t many books on the shelves that featured children who looked like they did. And I knew my daughters would love to read a book about kids living lives just like their own. What would my book be about? That\u2019s when God reminded me that I had plenty of <a href=\"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/post\/inspiration-in-a-book\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">inspiration for a book<\/a>: those sketches the girls and I came up with at our dining room table.<\/p>\n<p>My latest work is <em>Meet Gabby and Gigi<\/em>, a children\u2019s book about two sisters who live by the ocean. It\u2019s filled with illustrations of the girls doing so many of the activities they love\u2014 including cheerleading with pom-poms and painting at their easels. I hope you can feel their joy on every page.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the joy I live my life with. I\u2019ve discovered that I thrive on things going according to plan\u2014a plan that\u2019s sometimes surprising and always bigger and brighter than anything I could have imagined on my own.<\/p>\n<p>Living through a divorce and her father&#8217;s illness, Phnesha Marchette took a walk on the beach and asked God for peace. The answer she got  made her laugh. It also changed her life.<\/p>\n<p><em>Did you enjoy this story? Subscribe to <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bit.ly\/guidepostssub\"><strong>Guideposts<\/strong><\/a> <em>magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"1\" cellspacing=\"1\">\n<caption>\n<h2>A Voice Told Her to Take Up Painting, and She Heeded the Call<\/h2>\n<\/caption>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I liked structure, things going according to plan\u2014my plans. But lately there had been so much upheaval that I hardly recognized my life, or myself, anymore. I was going through a divorce. My dad had a terminal illness. I couldn\u2019t focus on my job as a labor and employment lawyer, and hard work was something [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":28384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[184,341],"tags":[25,51,197],"ppma_author":[1481],"class_list":["post-19422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children","category-living-longer-living-better","tag-family","tag-inspirational-stories","tag-motivational-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Lawyer Finds Stress Relief in Art\u2014and Surprising Success - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Lawyer Finds Stress Relief in Art\u2014and Surprising Success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I liked structure, things going according to plan\u2014my plans. 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