How I was called by the Greatest Artist

The Lord taught Helen Yousaf to paint in five days, then sent her out to minister through prophetic paintings. She told Chris Rolfe her remarkable story.

Imagine being in a service and mid-sermon the preacher points at you: “Could that woman stand up? Yes, you – you with the fake blonde hair!”

That’s what happened to Helen Yousaf at River Camp in 2017, and it’s how someone who hadn’t picked up a paintbrush since school came to be a prophetic artist.

In this moment, Helen recalls how Christy Wimber asked her if she was known for any creative gifts. Yes, Helen replied, she was a worship leader.

Christy told her: “The Lord says there’s something else in you and he wants you to find out what it is. It’s a different gift, nothing to do with music.”

Three months later, all became clear. “I was looking at some clouds and thought, ‘if I ever painted clouds I’d use my finger instead of a paintbrush’. I hadn’t painted since my teens, so where on earth did that come from?!”

She headed to Hobby Craft and played a game with the Holy Spirit. “I walked around asking ‘hot or cold?’ until I knew what to buy. I bought a load of paint and spent the next five days painting.” The Holy Spirit wasn’t just a great personal shopper; he was a skilled art teacher too. “He taught me how to paint people, water and fire.

“Within a year everything he’d told me to paint had happened or I’d met the people in my pictures, so I knew it was a prophetic gift.”

Ever since, Helen has followed God’s lead as she has created prophetic artwork at events, corporate settings and schools and at funerals and art parties.

What’s next? This month, Helen is heading to India with Elim Missions.

At Freedom House in Bangalore she will work with women who have been rescued from sex trafficking and exploitation.

“These ladies were given to the temple as prostitutes, then when they became too old they were flung out to beg on the streets,” she says. “I’ll spend a week with them, painting and teaching. It will be for therapy, but also to teach those who show skill how to create and sell artwork to earn a living.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.