The Inspiration behind Therapy Fund Art & semi•ARTISAN Jewelry: Honoring a Legacy of Faith, Resilience, and Craft

When I created semi•ARTISAN Jewelry the inspiration came from many places. Of course it was in prayer I was inspired by my Heavenly Father to help survivors of Domestic Violence find their voices and fund their art therapy, but the therapy of Therapy Fund Art for myself was necessary in recovery of losing my late Father.  Each piece in each collection is carefully created to embody resilience, empowerment, and the transformative power of art. When you wear semi•ARTISAN, you join a movement that supports domestic violence survivors on their journeys from healing from their pain and grief and celebrating their triumph. Yet, the heart of this line is deeply personal—it is a tribute to my late father, Richard Grow, whose life, spirit, and work ethic continue to inspire me.

My father, Richard, had a remarkable passion for exploring the natural world. He would dream of collecting agates in Montana, where he was born and raised, though life never afforded us the chance to share that adventure. Before his passing, he prophesied that I would make jewelry from agates—a vision I now honor in semi•ARTISAN. I established Therapy Fund Art as a means to cope with my grief following his death in 2018, I started painting little wooden circles during one of the most challenging seasons of my life. In these creations, I find a way to honor his legacy and continue his work, crafting each piece with tools he taught me to use, pouring my heart into every detail, just as he did in the beautiful landscapes he arranged from rocks and earth.

The first jewelry pieces that marked my journey with Therapy Fund Art were hand-painted earrings, inspired by scenes of walking the Oregon mountains and valleys with my father during hunting season. When we were all still small girls, he was concerned he may not have any hunting buddies when we grew up. Among his three daughters, I was the one who eagerly joined him in exploring those rugged terrains, grateful for the escape and adventure. My father, a man of boundless curiosity and spirit, always encouraged me to try new things. He was, in many ways, my safest place—a constant source of strength and inspiration, who always showed a willingness to change and become better for his family and for God.

In the months before his passing, my father shared with me his fears of what lay beyond this life. Seven months earlier, I had experienced a vivid dream of Jesus returning to Earth, a dream that now holds profound significance and meaning in my life but at the time I didn't understand. In the dream, I was within a mountain, looking through a glass window that showed the landscape outside of the mountain. In front of me was a red velvet rope, like one you'd see for lines at an old movie theatre or used to separate people from art in a museum. Beside me stood a young boy, both of us bewildered by the scene unfolding before us. A bright white light broke through the sky, revealing a cloud with a star in the shape of the Jerusalem star from which the blinding light was emanating from descending upon the land. This radiant light filled the sky with a beautiful cascade of rainbow hues, unveiling Jesus Christ, arms outstretched, welcoming us to come to Him.

As we recognized Jesus, the boy and I embraced with joy, but that joy soon turned to dread as we saw the image of Christ pierced in his rib, clutching his side and falling to the Earth–striking it like a meteor. I reached out, desperate to help, Realizing in that moment that He was the Savior, not me. I now recognize I was witnessing something yet to come—a revelation I could hardly comprehend. When I awoke from the dream, I was shaken from the sheer brightness of light and profoundly moved by this. I had little understanding of the Bible at the time, yet I sensed that this vision was biblical. I was in yoga teacher training, yoga meaning to yoke with God, at that time and couldn't bring myself to attend that morning due to the shock I was in. I still headed to the class as if to attend but decided to sit at a starbucks and research the dream I had just had. I came across these scriptures: “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.”
— Revelation 1:7 (NKJV)
“Then they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
— Matthew 24:30 (NKJV)
“This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
— Acts 1:11 (NKJV)

After searching these and finding out that there were actually scripture in the bible about this very thing I saw, including His Power and Glory being what is of note and what put a deep fear that was more reverence than terror, I decided to search about dreams as well. These are the scriptures I came across that struck me:

Joel 2:28 – This verse is a powerful prophecy about dreams and visions in the last days:

“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”
— Joel 2:28 (NKJV)

Numbers 12:6 – God explains how He reveals Himself through visions and dreams:

“Then He said, ‘Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.’”
— Numbers 12:6 (NKJV)

Job 33:14-16 – This verse speaks of God speaking through dreams to turn people from wrongdoing and guide them:

“For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction.”
— Job 33:14-16 (NKJV)

I was stunned by these findings. I wasn't sure what a prophet even was. Since then, I have prophesied more things would come to pass than I can count and they do 99% of the time. I prophesy from a place of hearing God's will for people and when people align themselves with God's will rather than their own will. Which my dad also prophesied over me about my future in jewelry (at the time the above picture was taken) but I will get to that later. That evening, I called my father to share it, only to learn that the cancer they had found in his brain had spread to his spine and that he was preparing for surgery. Heartbroken yet determined, I began to seek Jesus, trying to understand what this all meant and the purpose of this powerful dream.

A few weeks later, I visited my father in the hospital while he was recovering, bringing him tacos and racing around with him in his wheelchair in the hospital's wide hallways, savoring moments of play with my dad amidst the pain. During that visit, he confided in me his fear of death and not being sure he would go to heaven, if he had been good enough. I shared with Him the revelation I had been given. Heaven is available to all who choose to put their faith in God, who is capable of reconciling us to Him through Jesus Christ. I explained the powerful message of the gospel, that Jesus said “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”— Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV) I explained to my father that the gift of salvation is given to us as an act of mercy and grace and has nothing to do with the good things we've done in this life, to which his furrowed brow softened, he smirked and tweaked his head to the side, a familiar expression from my father when he was having a revelation, too. While Jesus of course gives us the commandments to:

• Love God – Jesus teaches that the greatest commandment is to love God wholeheartedly:

  “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.”
  — Matthew 22:37-38 (NKJV)

• Love Your Neighbor – Jesus follows by saying that the second commandment is to love others:

  “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
  — Matthew 22:39-40 (NKJV)

He makes it abundantly clear that salvation is given by grace and received by faith. Following what I felt was a prompting from the Lord, I took him to the chapel, where I shared with him what I now understood about salvation. Together, we prayed, and I cried out to the Lord, asking Him to welcome my father into His kingdom. Months later, I received several dreams from the Lord, showing me my dad was moving on to his new home and three days after his passing a dream of my father in his glorified body, glowing a radiant glowing light, wholy well and more handsome than I ever knew him, younger than even I was in the dream. While I panicked asking if he was alive in the dream and why he was younger than me. He just smiled at me as if to say "you know exactly why" stood and walked away and I knew he was at peace. I'll never forget his perfect face in that dream or his silky dark brown hair. He is stunning in the Kingdom. A few weeks after this I dreamt of him on a giant landscape, being mowed and tended to by his friends, him around a bonfire with his buddies drinking cool beverages in the warm golden light, all of us dressed in white and his three child aged daughters around him. He pointed off to the hills where a big mansion was, and explained what he was preparing for his family to the men around him. He was still young and glowing, but older than the first dream. 

Today, semi•ARTISAN Jewelry continues my father’s legacy. His memory lives on in every piece, each one a tribute to his life, his faith, and his love for God. My father showed me how to work with my hands and with tools, moving earth and arranging stones into beautiful landscapes. I love making these, but they weren't exactly the jewelry I always wanted to wear. Which brings me back to the prophesy given to me in the picture above. My father told me he had a dream. We were in Montana searching for agates to turn into jewelry. This dream inspired him to tell me that we should be going agate hunting and making jewelry. At the time, just a barista and a single mom, working to make ends meet, taking on a business seemed insurmountable. I all but dismissed his prophesy. Fast forward to 2022, after experimenting with stones and metals, I now make jewelry with agates all of the time. There is something so delightful and peace giving about honoring him with creations that stand as symbols of strength, hope and recovery from something out of the grief that attempted to steal my peace and joy, but I have overcome.

In Loving Memory of Richard Grow (December 1, 1958 - November 9, 2018)

Through semi•ARTISAN, my work is not just about jewelry. It’s about carrying forward the legacy of a father who was my foundation, my safe place, and my greatest encourager, who pushed me to be fearless and talk to strangers(😆), who taught me how to strike a bargain and make a sale. I am grateful to create, knowing that I am honoring both my father and myself.