I was born February 22, 1952 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
My father was the owner of a gas station and my mother was, well, a
mom, a soprano, a Sunday school teacher, a hairdresser, and an artist.
I can remember a scrapbook she had made with these beautifully drawn
portraits of women showing various hairstyles. As I recall, they were
very well done and I wondered why she hadn't done more with her art.
I have an older sister and a younger
brother. My brother is a dwarf. For those who aren't sure what that
is, it's someone with a hydrocephalic head and short arms and legs.
His being a dwarf had quite an impact on my life. Here I was with
a normal healthy body, made good grades easily at school, and had
artistic and musical talents. Then there was my brother who couldn't
walk down the street without people pointing and whispering. I thought, "I could
have been born like him!" This made me not only appreciate how
God had made me, but also gave me a strong desire to do something
meaningful with my life.
I was raised a Baptist and can
honestly say I believed in God and Jesus all my life. But it wasn't
until I went to a church-sponsored camp that I had a personal experience
with Jesus. I don't know what was wrong with me as I am sure I must
have heard it before—how that Jesus can come into your heart and
change your life—but it was there, at the age of 12, that I finally "met
the Man!"
An Irish preacher lead the daily
devotional meetings and at one of them, I was riveted to every word
he spoke. I can't remember what it was, but it must have been my "time" because
by the time he finished and asked if anyone wanted to come forward
and pray to receive Jesus, I just had to go!
I found out that you can never be too
bad for Jesus. That He loves us just the way we are. Everyone has messed
up and done wrong but Jesus still loves us. He loves us so much, in
fact, that He died for our sins and offers us the free gift of eternal
life in return for simply asking Him into your heart. So, that's what
I did! I mean, why not? Eternal life for free? You can't beat that!
Of course, that wasn't my main motivation. I just threw that in for
you! :–) I must say that I received Jesus that day because I was irresistibly
compelled to do so. From that day onward, my life began to
change.
I was happier than before and wanted to tell all my friends
at school about Jesus and what had happened to me. Well, I didn't get
a whole lot of response, but having Jesus changed my perspective on
life. I now had proof that He was real. Not only that, but I began
to have the conviction to give my life to Him in return for all He'd
done for me. After all, everything I had was because of Him. All my
artistic skills were His gifts of love to me and I was determined to
use them for His glory.
And that's what happened! As I shared on my Zeb page,
I started doing freelance artwork for a nationally published magazine
at the age of 15 and from there, have gone on to produce a multitude
of other material. My most recent endeavors have been in the field of animation which has been greatly rewarding--seeing my cartoons come to life. So who knows what will come next? Only God knows!
