“We’ve got to plant good seeds everywhere. If you see somebody that needs help – help them.”

That’s the advice Tina Nijem Stewart wanted to give the viewers of this photo, but she gave me so much more than that last Sunday as she showed me around her studio behind her house in Valdosta, GA.

I met her a couple of days prior to that when the sign in her front yard (to support law enforcement) caught my attention. I stopped to photograph it, and after meeting her, I realized she was far too interesting to not come back and spend more time with.

Tina is a Labanese American folk artist, so there was all kinds of cool stuff to look at in her backyard that she had created, but her primary medium is pottery.

“I don’t sell God.” she told me in regards to what she won’t do. She mimicked what some people often ask her:

“Will you do me an angel?

“No.”

“Will you do me a cross.

“No.”

She feels that’s something you should give away and not try to sell. Tina was raised Catholic but told me “I believe, but don’t belong.” in regards to her current faith and church.

Sadly, I feel that so many others out there have been made to feel like they don’t belong in church by some of those within it too – so – they just don’t go.

It was clear Tina certainly believed, though:

“Our country has gone to hell because we’ve taken Jesus out of it.”

“The first thing I want to ask Jesus is, ‘Why was it so hard to keep you first?”

“It’s hard to keep Jesus first.” I’ve fallen off the fence a few times. I cuss, and I eat too much. The photos you took of me show that.”

“People plan and God laughs.”

“The answer to peace in the world is the people that God created. Human beings are not treating each other the way we use to. There is no basic respect for others.”

All of these comments from her made it clear to me that she very much believed in God, and offered no apologies for that or who she was. There are things she shared with me that she asked me not to share here, but I tell you, she certainly came across as a very genuine person to me.

Her and her husband, Brent, have been married for 26 years now. When I asked about him she said, “He has been the best husband. My best friend. I hit the lottery with him.”

I asked her if they had kids and she quickly replied with, “He’s my child. And we have our fur babies.” Talking about Brent and their two dogs.

Soon after this I mentioned that I had just got married and showed her a portrait I’d done of my wife. She went on to advise me about marriage: “People say that it’s a 50/50 thing. Wrong. It’s 100/100 thing.  And you have to have faith in Jesus.”

As I was leaving and we were walking back to my truck Tina said, “Your wife is beautiful. You bring her back to me so I can tell her how to keep you straight.”