Meet Jacinda Arndt

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacinda Arndt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jacinda, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

One of the hardest questions for most people in their life is, why am I here? As a teen I struggled with this existential crisis and sought out psycadellic substances and studied philosophy in college as a way to find the answer. My life was going at an up and down rocky pace with extreme highs and extreme lows. Suddenly along with getting pregnant at 18 in NYC while modeling, it all leveled out to a steady calm that washed over me. The creation of the life within me sparked a hope and awakened the little kid who I used to be. I felt closer to my answer than ever and although it was a fresh outlook on life and a new chapter it wasn’t the beggining. I had forgotten what it felt like to be a little child and have the faith of a child. But this is where it started, little Jacinda Li, going to sunday school, awanas and bible summer camps, watching my mom and grandma act out their faith and talk about it with me. Bible songs and verses ingrained deep down from christian preschool. I realized how I wanted to raise my daughter who was growing inside of me and how lost I had become as a teen, how far I strayed from my roots. The reason I was searching for the answer to my question of why, is because I had rebelled against the truth and forgotten who I was when I was barely just a youth. Now this newfound purpose wasn’t so new, I want what I had as a child for my children too, maybe more so and even more centered around the way, truth and life our Lord, Jesus Christ. To be dedicated, consecrated unto Him, this is the answer to my question, to worship and shine the Light, to show the beauty that came from him and to give it back instead of sin. I have been an artist my whole life, but now as a mother and believer the art, like me is born again and given a purpose, where it once had no meaning or a false one at that, now He gives it all meaning and a reason to share my gifts.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

It was because of my first daughters loud bold singing of childrens bible songs as we went out about in the world that inspired me to write a childrens book about the song she belted out as she rode on my bike through the streets of our neighborhood unapologetically having the faith of a child. I think she is gifted to sing and I cannot wait to foster her talents and see her light shine. But until then I am inspired to show hers through mine.
I used to write poetry about things that didn’t make sense and now I write childrens books to help them answer tough questions, I think I want to give them what I wanted and needed when I was their age. Encouragement in the faith and answers to tough questions through a biblical lense.
I painted provocative paintings throughout my teen years, and now I can paint what little kid me needed to see through the tears. So I wrote two books in 2020. One is about how God answers our prayers, specifically talking about how if we are lonely and pray for a friend He already answered and prepared before us what we didn’t know that he had in store. The second is a songbook of “hallelujah, praise the Lord” illustrated colorfully, my favorite page in it being a drawing of Ilen singing on the back of my bike with me riding through a neighborhood. This book, “God loves you, Little Rock.” Is to being published this year. Now four years later I have two daughters so Ilen has a little sister and I homeschool them with our faith at the center of everthing I do, my second daughters name is Emunah which is hebrew for faith. Homeschooling has inspired a whole line of books that are in the works and yet to be released that “answer biblical questions through art and play for children and parents”. These books, written and illustrated by myself will prompt parents to explore childrens questions, answered by the bible and talked over related crafting projects included at the end of the book. Each book will have a different theme and project and explore different biblical questions. I do so many arts and projects as I teach my children and it has been so gratifying to have my own projects in writing and illustrating childrens books. I handsew in my downtime and enjoy handsewing leather moccasins for my children. As I move through life, my art mediums will fluctuate, but I am looking forward to steadily coming up with more childrens books to find purpose in sharing the light of what I am constantly learning and growing in for faith and to show for my children.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Instead of “finding ourselves” or changing your identity or wanting to be different, I think the best thing to be is more childlike. Specifically to be more like YOU as a child, get back to who you once were. See your childself and be who they needed or see through your child eyes and do what they would do. Have faith like a child and you cannot be any more genuine and unique than that. Don’t forget who you truly are deep down in your heart. Don’t rebel and run away and try to change that child, their existence depends on you and the choices you will make now. We can learn so much from our children. So let them inspire us and let the little kid inside of us shine, don’t blow their light out.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

Something that really made a difference to the outcomes of my endeavers was to take risks. Take the risk that may plunge you into where you want to be. Invest your time in what you may have put on the backburner for some time. If you have an idea create it now or atleast write it down, don’t let your ideas slip away from you. I had to in a way force myself to spend time on writing and painting and organizing my thoughts on different projects amongst all the chaos of parenting. To not lose sight of my priorities which also included my goals. I have had to put myself out there even though I am so reserved and shy. I still work on just talking to people in real life and trying to push myself to open up and be more extroverted. Being more positive and optimistic for myself and my children, I need to have hope and live it, not just think or say it. As a teen I was very pessimistic and thought negatively and didn’t have much hope at all. Keeping the hope alive and not loosing sight of who I am deep down and what my capabilities are has pushed me to continue to work on things that I still struggle with, feeling as though they might not be a success. Nothing is a success until you make it one.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vanillassweetsoles.etsy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacindalilove?igsh=dmM4dXpiMWZ5dHY4
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits

Myself, Jacinda Li Arndt