a living, breathing canvas
I don’t even know how to find words right now. I honestly don’t. I’ve left this blog abandoned because I simply don’t know how to say everything that needs to be said.
My beautiful friend Sara — known so affectionately online as Gitzen Girl — is dying. There is no easier way to say that. I wish there was…
Sara has been sick — very sick – for a very long time. And from the confines of her tiny condo in Iowa, where she’s lived completely homebound for 3 years, she has changed my life.
I can’t even begin to find words to explain THAT right now… so that will need to wait. But I’ve had the gift — the sheer treasure — of visiting with her twice. Of spending several weeks as her roommate. And that is a gift I will cherish always and always.
And now my beautiful Sara is in the final leg of her race. The finish line is in sight, and she is about to cross it. And even in dying — just as she did her whole life — she shows me Christ. She infuses me with courage and strength. And she teaches me how to love well and choose joy.
Choose joy.
It’s been her life mantra. It has defined who she is and how she lives. Despite her pain. Despite the challenges. Despite her limitations. Choose joy. She has shown me what that truly means.
She has lived well and chosen joy right up to the end…
And the mark she has left on my life? I want it visible to the world.
I am going to get “choose joy” as a tattoo on my left forearm. In Sara’s handwriting.
I want it as a visible, permanent reminder of who Sara is and how she lived. And how I want to live out the rest of my days.
Sara is known literally around the world for her beautiful painted canvases. They are works of art that reflect her steadfast faith and point our eyes Homeward.
And now her words, her art, will be painted on the canvas of ME. A living, breathing Gitzen Girl canvas…
Oh my heart…
I know many of you have been impacted by Sara, either in years of knowing her or even in just recently learning of her amazing story. Maybe you want to get inked as well.
Tam and I had my amazing friend Trevor at Cross & Crown put together some designs using Sara’s own handwriting. (So. Frickin. Amazing.) He also designed some more block-font options that aren’t as scripty… Maybe you’d like one of these as a permanent reminder to Choose Joy… Or maybe these will spark an idea in your mind of a unique design you want to run with.
I’d love to hear if you’re gonna get a Choose Joy tattoo. And when you do, take pictures and blog/tweet about it so we can all celebrate Sara’s life and legacy together.
We are also working on some other things we can do as a tribute to our Sara (like a custom line of jewelry), and I’ll share details as soon as they come together.
What an amazing community of people who Sara loved so well!
Today… as you go about your day… please pray for Sara. Pray for her family and all those who love her so dearly. And remember to…
Choose joy.
Choose Joy – Gitz’s Handwriting
Thanks for doing this Scooter… you are a blessing… praying for Gitz and her family… missing her in my heart but celebrating her home…sometimes words fail but the word “grateful” continues to resonate through my heart as I think of Sara…
praying for YOU too friend… know that. love you.
@CraigBelieves says:
Praying? I cant. stop. crying….but I also can’t. stop. praying. God bless you Alece – all the art is beautiful – i think I’ll wait for the jewelry……I don’t want any one of us to forget…
Alece – as you have walked through these last few days I have had you on my mind and heart, all of you, praying with you as you say “so long for now” to Sara. This has been painful for me in that I am seeing what my immediate future holds with my mom….painful yet at the same time so incredibly encouraging. “Choose Joy” is very much what my mom has been doing all through her own journey of life and even more so in these last few months as her body slowly succumbs to the devastating tumor growing in her. We too are seeing the finish line although it is a little further off for mom than it is for Sara but it is close, we can see it, and we are now simply cheering her on, urging her forward as she runs to her Jesus. It is truly an incredible place to be…surreal really…there is much joy in knowing that Home is where they are headed and so very soon! Joy, a little envy (I wanna go too!), sorrow knowing they will be missed…..peace knowing they won’t suffer any more.
I have been wanting to get a tattoo to honor my mom, to remind me of her every day….and “Choose Joy” does just that. And so I’ll be getting one too….in honor of my mom and of Sara, even though I have only just barely started to know who she is, and of the many others who have run their race and are cheering them on as they approach the finish line….we’re handing them off to a great crowd of witnesses who have gone before….Oh how incredible that is!
Continuing to pray peace, comfort, strength, joy, courage and the ability to mourn well for all of you.
thank you so much for doing this…. xo
@mirandabean says:
I’m in a million percent.
I’ve only been following Sara and her blog for about 1.5 years, but in that time i’ve learned so so much. its amazing the way that God puts people and their stories in our lives or on our screens and how much it opens our hearts and changes each one of us for the better… especially in the way that she showed us how to always see the good in anything and everything that was put in front of us.
my grandmother passed 3 weeks ago from her entire body being taken over by cancer and in the time that i got to spend with her and take care of her, she always reminded us of how good God was to her, how good He was being to us for us to get to spend time with her and how she couldn’t wait to see Him. I believe she was also choosing joy even through all of the pain.
I’m so honored to get to be a part of both of their legacies and that I’ll get to tell their stories when people ask about the tattoo.
So beautiful Alece. So much beauty here.
“And now her words, her art, will be painted on the canvas of ME. A living, breathing Gitzen Girl canvas…”
That perfectly describes how I see myself in this at this moment, a reflection of the love Sara taught me to live by. Always to choose joy.
I have two of her canvases, and would love to add more reminds of beautiful Sara.
Your post yesterday was the first time I’ve heard of Sara and so I went exploring on her blog. What I read was almost too much to take in- to see the grace and dignity with which she lived life and fought through the everyday struggles. Where the enemy tried to rob her, she turned it back around to glorify the One who gave her life meaning.
Something I read on her site challenged me greatly and I hope to never forget it. It was in a post just from last month talking about her sponsor girl in Bolivia and she said this “I would wonder if that would ever be my calling. If I would ever have the chance to go and be the hands and feet of Christ in that way. If I would ever kneel down and face a child on a dirt road and gaze into eyes that were filled with a story far beyond their years. If I would ever be able to help.”
Reading that pierced my heart. I have been more privileged than most- I have been able to travel the world in my young life; I have encountered some of the most desperate, forgotten people this world contains and have been able to wrap my arms around children who may have never experienced love. And yet, somehow in all of it, I forgot that it was a blessing, an honor. I just took for granted that not everybody was able to go. Sure, some people didn’t want to but I never stopped to think that someone like Sara might long to go and simply was physically unable. It wrecked me. I am determined to appreciate every opportunity that I’ve been given. To love them for Jesus…to love them for those who want to go but are unable. in the short time I have encountered Sara, her life has altered mine.
alece, you are on my heart. I am praying, asking God to both console and inspire you.
sara’s life has brought me so much clarity and a taste of genuine unity. in every way…bitter and otherwise, it has been sweet. I am so thankful to have had a little glimpse.
@traceepersiko says:
I can’t wait to see yours sweetest!! Such an amazing idea! perfect!
@christielici0us says:
I’m not a tattoo person, but the thought of you and Tam having Sara’s motto and handwriting permanently imprinted on yourself is, well, pretty amazing.
@writingjoy says:
*tears* I love this idea so much. I’ve been wanting to get a tattoo to remember my daughter, but couldn’t figure out what. Now I have a starting point — I’m going to integrate Sara’s handwritten “choose joy” into it.
@tamhodge says:
wow…that is beautiful!!
@MainlineMom says:
Well, first of all I’m so sorry and praying for you, as I pray comfort for her and all the many many people, myself included, whose lives she touched. I am choosing joy as well, though it is hard right now. Been thinking about getting a tattoo forever and I really think this may be it…thanks for providing the design in Sara’s own handwriting :)
@larainec says:
wow! i cant even imagine this. Praying for you, and her friends and family!
@sara_schaffer says:
Alece, having experienced the death/dying of dear loved ones, I know personally God’s grace for every trial (I Peter 1:6, 4:10) I feel Sara’s dying and your grief as though I’ve known you both for years. May the blessings carry you through the heartaches and may God’s love enfold us all. With love and prayers and tears, Sara
@rachieannie says:
so beautiful. i’ve been wanting a tattoo for a long time, and maybe this will just be the impetus that i need.
@bahava says:
oh they’re so pretty. just like gitz. so glad you guys shared them with us and such a legacy and statement and a living canvas just like you said.
p.s. thinking and praying for you too, alece
Right column. Third one down. That’s mine. And I already found an awesome artist in town who I want to do it…. ASAP.
okay, the block fonts on your blog are not the same as on Tams…… I like the ones here better, the block ones.
OH SNAP! they were just loading. nevermind. ;o)
Love, love, love this! What an amazing idea! A living canvas … that you already are! But, how precious to have that piece of your puzzle … that incredible, amazing piece that is Sara … visible for the world to see! :) Love that and love you. Can’t wait for the jewelry … I want me some of that to remind me and my girls, too, of God’s sweet gift to us in Sara.
@hopefulleigh says:
“A living, breathing Gitzen Girl canvas.”
I can’t think of a better way to pay tribute to who Sara is. I’ll be joining you and Tam on the tattoo front once I can afford it.
@lauraparkerblog says:
This was such a powerful post, and what a testimony to her life– that a tribe of people would forever bear her legacy. That is so beautiful. Thanks for sharing this, I will be praying for her.
What a gift her life and message have given and are giving to the rest of us.
Today, I will choose joy, too.
I’m in. I’ve been wanting a new tattoo, but wasn’t will to get just anything. “choose joy” honours sara, but is a reminder that I want to remember daily. and choose daily. and that it is not just tattooed on my arm, but on my heart as well.
Alece-
You sweet girl…beautiful….
Through you I was introduced to Sara and my life too has been changed because of her. This was a beautiful post!!! Choose Joy has been something that I’ve reminded myself of many times. Maybe I’ll finally get that tattoo on my foot I’ve been talking about for years! :) Love you friend…..thanks for introducing me to such a beautiful person!
@amandasims says:
I’m in. What an honor it will be to have her mantra in her handwriting on me.
@Han_kyoul says:
I’ve been waiting for so long to get a tat, that i figured it would probably be never. I’ve wanted a tattoo for so long that it remains a 20 year old dream of a teenager.
i spent 10 years searching for the idea of what I wanted and then 10 more trying to justify the expense.
and that tat may be set aside for the moment for a Choose Joy tat. you see, this post and sharing around Sara’s life reminded me to look at my daily motivations, quotes that inspire me. One being from Henri Nouwen “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”
i think a visible reminder of this would be a terrific way to live the mantra of Sara’s life. and to share it with others as well.
I love the tattoo, Alece! It looks great. What a wonderful why to keep Sara’s memory, and her expression of joy alive!
@elainaavalos says:
I just haven’t had time in ages to read blogs. And I found out “accidentally” through a post on Facebook, from someone who had never read Sara’s blog, what is happening. My heart is breaking for those of you who are losing a dear friend. I have confronted my own sin in choosing pain or what I don’t have, rather than choosing joy. After reading the posts from the last few days from so many, I don’t want to forget. This choosing joy is a lesson I should have learned better from reading Sara’s blog. She, such a great example. I hope I learn it now. I want to take that reminder with me. So I will. I just don’t know where yet.
@thevelvettrunk says:
Oh girl, praying now. What a blessing you must have been to her, and still are. And what a testimony she lives, even now. Thank you for sharing a bit of her story. Love you, friend.
Hey, Alece. Thank you very much for the tattoo patterns. My immune system is currently still too compromised for me to get permanent ink, but I got henna today: a cuff on each arm of Choose Joy in different variations of Sara’s handwriting. Already because of the mehndi I’ve been able to share about Sara’s life with three people, and that’s just on the way home from the street fair. I’m heading out the door to church now. Just wanted to let you know – KJ
@UnsafeBehavior says:
Alece,
Even after traveling with my friend Kristen for just a month, I don’t know what I’d do without her. . . let alone being friends for years with someone so close to you.
Thank you for being honest. Thank you for your love for your friend. Thank you for the Grit.
Much love to you and many prayers.
~Kige (Kirsten)