Following Your heART
By Tonya Lynette Stout,
Kingdom Heart Design founder
“Can your heart be followed?”
Isn’t it funny how we hear the words, “follow your heart” all of our lives? Have you ever really thought about that? We follow a heart that beats fast, falls in love, skips, beats faster, slows down, stops, builds walls, hardens to stone, pumps, goes numb, bruises, breaks and shatters…yet, we are supposed to follow it?
Amazing things happen when you draw near to “the Heart” that breathed the first rhythm into your own. “The Heart” that gave yours a beat before you were formed in your mama’s womb?! What if during a brutal, yet beautiful (“brutiful”) dark time in your life, your circumstances pull you closer to “His heart” and you begin to know Him like you’ve never known Him before? He begins to give you the desires of your heart. You begin to follow your heart that is now beating in perfect tandem with “The One” you share it with…the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit beat with yours. As one.
This is exactly how my “side hustle” business, Kingdom HeART Design, began.
Yep, I know it sounds cliché, but touché.
Here it goes.
Kingdom HeART Design was a God idea. A one thousand percent, dropped down from JC, downloaded, flashed before my eyes, fell smack dab in the middle of my brain, good golly Miss Molly God-idea that I couldn’t have conjured up on my own.
At the end of last year, I wanted to get some gifts for a couple of my girlfriends. What in the world do you get for people who have everything they want or need? I wanted the gift to be special so, I did what any work-from-home marketing executive, songwriting, wife and mom of three does…I got out the paint brushes, grabbed my paint, and created a gift from my heART.
While I was painting, my oldest daughter said, “Mom, people would buy those.” I flippantly responded with a smile and said, “Really, you think so?” I began making more for friends and family, and people began asking if they were for sale.
I thought, Gosh, I wish I could think of a unique way, something smaller scale to paint on, besides the proverbial small canvas. Something more unique.
A couple of weeks later, “the Light” bulb turned on.
I began painting my art on His canvas…the cover of The Bible. Psalm 119:11, ”His Word is hidden in my heart,” is the Scripture that resonated with me.
Kingdom heART hand-painted bibles accompanied with blessing beads for home décor was born.
I came up with the business name…ehmmm..He came up with the business name, the logo, a tagline, an Instagram account, an e-visual marketing piece. The rest is history, I mean…His Story.
With each Bible I paint, I crank up some praise and worship music, paint layers upon layers of paint with prayer and purpose. I pray over the Bibles, the homes they’ll end up in, the #GodandMyGirlfriends stories I’ll hear and see posted, the stores where they will be sold and the people who purchase them for their home décor.
I pray that The Word that is hidden in my heART comes alive and changes the atmosphere of their businesses and homes. The process feels like a form of worship to me, like it’s all His idea and I have this cool business partnership with heaven.
I’d love for you to follow my heART in hopes that it will lead you to His.
Kingdom heART Designs are sold in boutique design stores in the Nashville area.
About Tonya Lynette Stout
Tonya Lynette Stout is a Nashville singer-songwriter and Indiana native. Her creation of Kingdom Heart Designs was a God-inspired idea that has now come to life as a product featured in area boutique stores. She has a passion for leading the hearts of people to the heart of God.
Follow Tonya:
Instagram: Kingdom_Heart_Design
Inquiries: kingdomheartbytonya@gmail.com