At at a recent Loving Southend in Prayer zoom call one of the group had an aerial picture of Southend with lights all over the borough, particularly from Sir David’s constituency area. She felt these lights were the prayers and grief of the people rising up to heaven, reminiscent of the incense and prayers of the saints in Rev 8. She had a strong sense that God received, understood and identified with this pain because he had seen his Son die violently too. As she was sharing someone else had a picture of the borough map being enveloped by a huge heart depicting God’s love and compassion. They asked if anyone could produce a graphic expressing the image, including the words of Sir David’s family calling on people to put aside hatred and work for togetherness. The thought that Helen Yousaf could be commissioned to paint it was raised, with the possibility of presenting the final picture to the Council as a gift from Love Southend. A phone call later the same evening and Helen was on board and is coming to Southend on Monday 25.10.21 to start on the artwork! Helen will be painting between 9:30am and 4pm in Leigh Road Baptist Church’s community space next to ‘The Phabulous Café 189 Leigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea, SS9 1JE. You are welcome to drop in, stay for as long as you like, pray quietly or just watch Helen paint.
Please pray for Helen that the Holy Spirit will breathe on her creative skills and produce a piece of artwork that will speak powerfully of God’s heart of love for our city.