I am delighted to introduce you to a special friend of mine called Liz Cosh, who I had the very good fortune of meeting when I was on TSM, as a student. She was an encourager of me from the get go and I quickly realised that this is who she is, she is encouragement personified.
She is an incredibly generous, creative friend with a prophetic voice. I am excited to share with you her art work and the journey she has been on to paint in public. Her work is prophetic and she paints what she feels God is saying to her, to encourage others.
Be inspired by…
Liz Cosh
What prophetic words have shaped your life/ministry?
So many prophetic moments and things I have felt God speak to me have changed my life. All the paintings I paint are based upon pictures God has shown me and spoken to me through, so I guess they have changed my life and ministry as there wouldn’t be a ministry without them!
One evening on TSM, I was prayed for, for impartation (receive in seed form what the person praying has worked for) by another artist friend of mine, which was an incredibly powerful moment for me. It all started with a different friend hearing from God that the other artist needed to give some of her paintbrushes away as a prophetic action of impartation. Neither of them knew who it was meant for until they saw me, and apparently then it just felt right to give them to me and pray for me.
I have also felt God say to me that I was to be an ‘Ensign for His kingdom’. When He said it, I didn’t know what an ensign was, so I had to look it up!
Oxford dictionaries define it as the following:
A flag or standard, especially a military or naval one indicating nationality.
archaic A sign or emblem of a particular thing. ‘all the ensigns of our greatness’
A standard-bearer.
Have there been any pivotal/tipping point moments in your life/ministry that have changed your direction?
The TSM prayer moment started it all. Since then, I have painted during worship times in Church (Kings Arms Church, Bedford) on Sundays and sometimes in conferences. I have heard many times how God has spoken to other through my paintings and encouraged them. That all makes it worthwhile.
We all hear from God differently. How do you hear from God?
I have a very pictoral mind and have done since I was small. So I discern things in the spirit realm, and God brings pictures to my mind a lot. This can happen in the supermarket, through dreams when I am asleep, or wherever I go. It often involves nature, but not always. A lot of the time I sense things also. For example, sensing a darkness over those troubled or feeling overwhelmed.
Who has been an inspiration in your life or a spiritual parent to you?
When I became a Christian at 16, I was kind of spiritually adopted by a family. They had 5 kids of their own, but had an open door policy for me (and many others), and I would often spend whole weekends with them, or at least Sundays in between the morning and evening meetings at church. They showed me what family looked like in terms of inclusion of everyone, having a heart to serve and following God’s direction to do it. They were incredible spiritual parents to so many lonely souls like me, and I continue to be so grateful for how they made me feel important, interested in, and loved for who I was.
What do you do whilst waiting for promises to be fulfilled?
I usually cry out and scream at God a lot!!! I do get impatient and frustrated, but I have some incredible friends who speak into my life, allow me to verbally process, and stand with me while I wait. I think it’s important to go to God with every part of who we are including the loud, not so happy bits! I feel like there is no point in hiding it because He knows us completely anyway and loves us like it! Having the authenticity in our relationship with God is, for me, important to know Him truly as my Father in Heaven who loves me and accepts me for who I am.
How have you coped with any disappointments in your life/ministry?
I am also very fortunate and blessed to have some other artist friends who I see on a regular basis. We have an openness to share what is going on for us and in us, and we support each other and pray for each other a lot. Using your creativity for God is an incredibly vulnerable thing as any art is subjective and one person can appreciate it and the next person completely doesn’t get it. It’s important for us as artists and creatives to spend time in community of like-minded people in order that we stay true to who God has made us to be, and to be faithful with what He called us to do. Otherwise we can easily get discouraged in the face of negative comments. With my paintings it feels vulnerable because they are like my journal, so if people don’t get it, or don’t ask me to explain what it means, it’s a very easy step to being offended because it’s so personal for me. Having my arty friends with me in that place, can offer me reassurance when it’s needed.
What has been the key to breakthrough in your life/ministry?
Being obedient and faithful to what God has given me. Also being honest and authentic with people who can stand with me in the hard times. When I began painting at church on Sundays, my artist friend would come and see me on stage before the service and pray with me and encourage me. She would then stand just down from the stage so that I had a friendly face near me so I wouldn’t feel so vulnerable.
What do you want to see God do in your life?
I want to display more of who God is and who He has made His kids to be. I want to release revelation to people about being God’s kids and being forever adored by Him. I want to release the power of the Holy Spirit in my paintings that one day people would be healed just by looking at my paintings, or even walking past them.
What have been your biggest obstacles and how have you overcome them?
Time. Painting takes a lot of time (anything up to 20 hours per picture). As well as painting, I have a job 3 days a week, I help my husband run our Web Design and Graphic Design business and I have a family with 2 kids to run too! My life is a juggling act, so it takes discipline to choose to paint when I’m desperate for a sit down! I am a bit of a creature of habit and I love routine, so I mentally save 1 day per week for painting. Sometimes it works better than others, but it helps having that focus and goal.
Do you have a daily routine with God and what does that look like?
I’m not so good in the mornings so I wake up before everyone else is awake and have my coffee with God. Sometimes it’s just in silence, sometimes it’s in worship, sometimes praying. Apart from that, when I’m painting I usually have live worship music on from youtube or Bethel church in Redding.
When we met you weren’t painting publicly, what happened to change this?
My artist friend who oversees the Sunday Art team met up with me to discuss where I was at and what I wanted to do and felt God calling me to. She invited me to paint at a smaller meeting along with her and that led to painting on Sunday mornings. Sometimes it’s hugely vulnerable actually speaking out to another person what you feel God is calling you to be doing for the Kingdom, but I think it’s important to do that because then opportunities can come along. If people don’t know, how can they help you? My friend was so encouraging and she felt it was right for me to paint publicly. I think it’s also important to emphasise that she is overseen by one of the Elders of the Church, so decisions were made together for me to paint on Sunday mornings.
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I want to showcase Liz’s art here too, so please enjoy a selection of her paintings. She has a Facebook page where you can contact her if you wish to commission a prophetic painting as myself and Tim did. We asked Liz to do us a painting and we are so happy with what she created and what God wanted to say to us through it. The painting was actually unbeknown to Liz a field that Tim used to play in growing up and for him there was a strong sense of ownership over it and we knew that God saw us, it really was a beautiful moment as she unveiled it. The message on the painting was I See You which was astonishingly accurate.
Just recently the Lovely Mr B and I were at Lullingstone for the day, and as we walked through the fields we realised that we were indeed standing in our prophetic painting which would turn out to be the most beautiful, timely reminder from God that He sees us. We even saw the Sparrowhawks although they are not in the photograph because they were too quick.
You can continue to be inspired by Liz Cosh by following her on:
If you have been inspired by reading this, please drop me a message and let me know how you have been inspired. Thanks for taking the time to read it.
There are 10 inspiring ladies in this series, so if you have missed one you can link to it from here:
Inspired By Ladies
Liz Cosh
Kingdom Calling Blog... 
I am so inspired by you Liz and how you are such an example of someone flourishing in who Gods made them to be. I love your art!
I bought a greetings card of yours last Christmas at the KA fair and recently sent it to a friend in Oklahoma with a prophetic word about the season she was in. I heard recently she used the same card as part of an object prophecy activation exercise and 3 people got prophesied in different ways through it. So God is using your gift internationally 😊
Wow that is phenomenal!!! It’s so good to see Liz flourishing and stepping into all God has called her to be. 😃
I was sharing with our knitting group the different crafts I had done. Knitting crochet pottery woodwork cane and basketwork to name a few. All my life I’ve done things with my hands I’m interested now to start doing Bible journalism. God has spoken to me in pictures it will be a new thing to put these pictures down.
This sounds exciting June. I started bible journaling in Jan this year. I have a page on my site about it where I share some of my favourite bible pages if you’re interested. It’s such fun and a great way to spend time with Papa. Xx
I love that Liz screams at Goc while she is waiting and that her friends encourage her. So many times, as Christians, we feel like we have to have patience and peace and do it all alone because we trust “God.” Her authenticity is refreshing!
I totally agree. 🙌🏼
*God