I have met Ivey and heard him tell the story of his spiritual life. Ivey's early work was very exacting and precise...virtually photographic. He told me how he didn't want to paint in the bold colorful style that has brought him commercial success, rather the Lord told him that he was going to paint in this manner. It was sometime later, after 6 years or so of personal struggle and unhappiness at this new form of expression, that he was stricken with crippling rheumatoid arthritis. He tells a very moving story.