my story

hey, i'm maddi! i'm the free spirited, tattoo'd, bible loving hippie artist here at sparrows & wildflowers. i am the wife of the pastor of calvary chapel greater portland in southern maine & a mama to twin 4 year olds. i was born & raised in chattanooga, tn but moved to maine at the age of 19 when a ravaging heroin addiction almost took my life. one night near the end of my addiction, i was thrown out of a moving car full of my "friends" (drug dealers & wanted felons on the run) after overdosing. they didn't know what to do with me, i was lifeless... hopeless. left to die on the side of the road that night, it still amazes me that GOD (outside of time) was orchestrating a far greater plan for my life than i could have ever imagined. someone passing by happened to see me & take me to a hospital where i was pronouced "dead on arrival" & then brought back to life. i began the road of wordly recovery. inside every rehab, halfway house, IOP, detox, NA/AA meeting that i went to for help after that to "work the steps" & "get clean", i was told that "some higher power has a plan for you & that's the reason you're alive." but still, after so many relapses back to the same habits that desroyed me time & time again, i didn't believe there was a GOD & if there was, how could HE love me? i was at the point of wanting to end my own life to put myself & my family that i continued to hurt out of the misery. you could take drugs out of my life & tell me i was "clean", but i didn't feel clean at all. without meeting the HEART HEALER on HIS terms, i'd contiinue the endless cycle of running back to the bondage HE longed to set me free from. BUT GOD, HE broke through the darkness & i entered into a year long discipleship program where i was introduced to JESUS CHRIST & HE met me right where i was. but, thankfully, the work didn't stop there! HE loved me enough to not leave me that way! HE changed me from the inside our, showed me my sin that broke HIS heart, how i wasn't designed to chase after those things & that HE paid the price for me. i was completely set free by the powerful words inside the book i now get to paint for a living, how cool is that?! along my journey to almost 10 years of freedom, i have crossed paths with many beautiful people who have experienced the same life changing power of JESUS CHRIST. these are the names & stories behind my Bible design names! i am constantly amazed that i have the blessing of serving the ONE who redeemed life by hand painting the PRECIOUS BOOK that has forever changed me. my desire is that you too would marvel at the wonderful mysteries inside of this text message from heaven+ grow closer to our KING as the beauty of the outside draws you closer to go deeper learning more about the far surpassing beauty within these pages.