Today we’d like to introduce you to Becky Bennett.
Hi Becky, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Aloha! I’m Becky. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me!
You can usually find me between two oceans, painting my way around beautiful Hawaii and the coast of Florida.
Getting to create with my own hands is such a gift to me. It has a way of reminding me that I’m held by Hands much stronger, more careful, and far more artistic than my own. In the story God’s been crafting in my life, I sure have needed to know I’m held by those Hands.
You see, in 2014, when my kids were all under the age of 4, I was diagnosed with a rare and debilitating nerve disorder. It knocked me off my feet and put me in a wheelchair and then on crutches for years. We didn’t know if I’d ever walk again.
My life as a mom to my little ones was redefined. My career as a dancer disappeared. My marriage spiraled under the stress. My body fought against us at every turn.
But God.
I knew He was still good, through it all. I knew He was with me, carrying me even when I didn’t have legs to stand on. Through the struggle, the unknown, and the pain. Through years of spine procedures, therapies, and bone cancer treatments. Jesus was my joy, my strength, my constant hope.
It was in the thick of that season of life that I picked up the rusty brushes I had tucked away in place of finger paints in the early years of motherhood. I began to hand letter truth from Scripture to cover my walls. I was desperate for words of hope to keep my eyes lifted beyond the pain. Seeing my walls covered with this art that reminded me of God’s presence, even on my darkest days, was a source of survival for me.
Then, when God miraculously lifted me back onto my legs a few years ago, my brush strokes shifted from words to waves. Waves remind me of the hope that has held me all along – hope that’s never failing and sometimes seems far off but, sure as the tide, is always steadfast. The deeper the waves drew me, the more creation I determined myself to capture on canvas.
My health is still unpredictable. There are days now when I can walk and paint and dance, and there are days when I still can’t use my legs or arms or hands at all. But here I am, every moment that I can, painting waves and so much more – capturing glimpses of my awe of the One who keeps on carrying me through it all. My hope is that you might get a little lost in each brush stroke and find fresh hope for whatever you’re facing there.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
For eleven years, I’ve been battling with a debilitating nerve disorder.
Like I mentioned earlier, in 2014, when my three kids were all under the age of four and I was loving life as a mom and a wife and a dance teacher, I was diagnosed with a rare and debilitating nerve disorder that causes constant, excruciating pain. The doctors didn’t know if I’d ever be able to walk again. They call it the suicide disease and it’s considered to be one of the most painful conditions known to exist. There’s no cure.
In the span of a four-day hospital stay, I had to trade my ballet slippers for a wheelchair, to trade getting to hold and care for my babies for needing to be carried everywhere myself, to trade nearly everything I had known for a life of suffering.
For the first 6 years that I battled CRPS and held on for dear life while it spread through my body, I spent my time in a wheelchair, in hospital beds, and on crutches, pushed through countless physical therapy sessions and intense medications, underwent bone cancer treatments and risky spine procedures (one of which sent me into an hour-long seizure and it’s a miracle that I survived it). In early 2021, my body miraculously went into remission, and then, in late 2025, the disease came back with a vengeance.
Has it been hard? Yes. Have I been afraid? Of course. Have there been days when I wished I could trade my story for another? Absolutely.
In all of the unpredictability and inability, though, there’s been a constant in my life that has sustained me and kept my eyes lifted beyond the pain. It’s been Jesus. He has carried me even when I haven’t been able to stand. I know my God is faithful and loving and good, even if I’m up against odds that seem insurmountable. Fixing my eyes on Jesus instead of on the pain and knowing that I’m not home yet has been my survival.
I’ve always used my whole being to express my creativity. Before CRPS, it was usually through dance – sharing my story through movement. Since then, it’s been through art – living my story through stillness.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a contemporary artist based in Hawaii and Florida. I paint waves and water, coastal landscapes, and ocean treasures. My primary medium is oil, but sometimes I play with acrylic and watercolor. I love capturing light, reflections, and the most intricate details. My work is inspired by the beauty and majesty around me and echoes the resilience I’ve had to forge against life’s crashing waves. Each piece I create is a quiet reflection of hope and an invitation to pause, breathe, and find true peace in the midst of any storm.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I imagine that if there were no other reason, I could create just because that creativity runs through the deepest parts of me, but what motivates me to make beauty through brushstrokes is, more than anything, my desire to share Light and hope and peace with the world around me. It’s the only way I could have made it this far. I truly believe that a willingness to be vulnerable with my own story is what makes people feel safe to invite me (and my art) into theirs. From the battles I’ve had to face day-to-day, I know intimately that pain is often invisible. If I can draw people’s vision to a hope that they can see and sense and soak in, to a hope that lifts their eyes from their own pain, even for a moment, I’ll have succeeded.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beckybennett.co
- Instagram: @beckybennettco
- Facebook: @beckybennettco
- Other: hello@beckybennett.co
