MDA Ambassador Guest Blog: Finding Passion & Purpose in Art

Jennifer Lane is a wife and mother of three grown children and lives in Alabama. She is involved in church ministry and is an advocate and Ambassador for the MDA. She was diagnosed with LGMD 1C in 2022, after 13 years of searching for a diagnosis. Jennifer is a published artist, loves going to concerts, going on cruises, and taking care of her dogs.

Jennifer Lane

Art has had a major impact on my life. It has given me purpose and comfort, especially after being diagnosed with neuromuscular disease. The Lord gave me art when I needed it the most and in quite miraculous fashion.

In 2009, I was working at my dream job doing office management and paralegal type work at a well-known attorney office in the beautiful state of Alabama. I was working towards law school, and I was just finishing up my associates degree when muscular dystrophy made it clear that it had a different idea. I was on my way to beautiful Lake Lure, North Carolina for a vacation with my family when I started having intense pain in my hands. By the end of the vacation, the pain seemed to be all over my body, and I had horrible fatigue. The pain and fatigue only increased over the next few months and after many doctor appointments, I was feeling weaker, using a walker, and no closer to finding out what was going on with my body.

I ended up having to quit my job to limit activity, because the pain was so excruciating. I found that I felt better if I took things easy and didn’t have to stick to a schedule. This was a very dark time for me as I was a very active, on-the-go kind of person. I had three young children, a wonderful husband, a house to keep, and a busy ministry. For a healthy person that was a lot, but for someone now living with a disability it all seemed absolutely daunting. I was a very goal driven person, and I struggled with the big life change of spending more time sitting at home alone and needing to let my body rest.

Portrait created by Jennifer Lane

One day I was sitting on the couch feeling bad for myself and I looked over and saw my son’s art sketch book of my sons. I thought maybe I should give it a try -what did I have to lose?  I know the Lord intervened on that day because before then, my art skills were limited to mediocre stick figures at best. I opened YouTube and started to learn to draw using the grid method and whatever else I could get my hands on. As a person who had always been driven when pursuing a new task or talent, I worked constantly. I drew with graphite and then moved on to artist grade colored pencil and then to PanPastel. (PanPastel is a brand name of pastels that come in cake form. Traditionally they are applied with sponges, but I prefer to use paint brushes and makeup brushes giving my art a unique look.)

Creating art gave me purpose. I started giving my artwork to loved ones as presents.  As more people saw my artwork, they began to ask me to do commissions for them. My artwork was chosen for monthly online challenges. And as I dug deeper into the gift of creating art, I found that I was quite good at photorealism. I was so happy drawing God’s creations, my favorite being flowers, which to me are smiles from Heaven. I also started drawing people and doing memorial art of beloved family members and friends.

My artwork and numerous articles that I have written about art have been featured in blogs, websites, and published in art magazines. I have won “Best in Show” in competitions.  And, as what I consider my crowning achievement, I earned a spot in a CP Treasures book that features colored pencil masterworks from around the globe. I was tickled pink to find out that the book considered my art as one of the top 100 colored pencil pieces in the world – two years in a row!

Artwork created by Jennifer Lane

To me, these aren’t my own accomplishments but are gifts given to me by God when I needed purpose, love, and comfort. Creating art gave me meaning and purpose when I needed it most. In those dark days when I thought life was through with me, I learned that even while facing the challenges of living with a disability, I could truly make a difference. I could show God’s love to others through drawing his beautiful creation. I truly feel, if I had not gone through the ups and downs of life with a neuromuscular disease, I would have never found the gift of art. God works in mysterious ways through things that we can never understand. I am so incredibly grateful for how he has used me and my experience to create beauty.

After thirteen years of searching and advocating for myself, I finally received a diagnosis of Limb Girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) Type 1C in 2022. I use a wheelchair now and I am not always able to draw as much as I used to because of weakness and pain in my hands, but God has given me newer purpose. He has given me a chance to work as an advocate and Ambassador for the MDA… and life could not be sweeter.