Artful faith: Loezytha’s powerful testimony of suffering, joy and victory

A column in which Marzanne Slabbert explores the enigmatic fusion of faith and art in South Africa. Join her on an artistic journey and explore the many ways in which God is using the visual arts!

In the heart of the picturesque Eastern Free State, in Clarens, resides talented artist Loezytha Maritz. If you are familiar with prophetic art, attend Christian gatherings, or move within Holy Spirit-driven circles in South Africa, you may have encountered her anointed work in various forms. Her art graces the walls of many doctors’ waiting rooms, is featured in private prophetic collections, and resonates deeply with those who experience it. Often, her creations evoke profound emotional healing and a renewed sense of hope in Jesus.

But who is the person behind Loezytha’s HeArt and Arising Bride Ministries? How does she view herself, and what is her testimony?

Take a moment to settle in with your favorite beverage, switch off distractions, and prepare to be moved by a story of profound suffering, incredible joy, and ultimate victory in Christ! 

Marzanne: Loezytha, who are you? 

Loezytha: “I’m someone who does what she can, with what she’s got, where I am. I live each moment to the fullest, with passion. I actively seek opportunities to testify because I can’t keep it in — the joy of the Lord is my strength!

I strive to be an open book with no hidden agendas. I follow Yahshua [Jesus], and to me, being original is always better than being a copy. I’m humble, teachable, and I never pretend to know everything.

As a creative, I enjoy working with my hands — it’s therapeutic for me. I love engaging with people, encouraging them, and simply listening to their stories. Above all, I cherish the opportunity to testify about the Father’s love for them.

I choose to be positive — it makes life easier and keeps my spirit light. It’s like seeing through the eyes of Yahshua.”

Marzanne: Tell us briefly about your younger years. Where did you grow up?

Loezytha: “I was born in Despatch, but since my father was a magistrate, we moved often. I was the youngest and only daughter, so I was probably a bit spoiled. It was a loving and carefree time in my life. However, there were challenges that I only dealt with as an adult woman…”

Marzanne: When was the first time you experienced God using your art for His Kingdom?

Loezytha: “I have no formal training, but I’ve loved drawing since childhood. I only started painting in my 30s, and for the past year, I’ve been a full-time artist. 

My journey into prophetic painting, however, really began 17 years ago when someone asked me to create a painting that represented joy before the Father. I painted a woman in a pink dress, standing in a field of purple flowers, her hands raised in worship. (Strangely, I struggled to paint her hands properly. Hands are tricky, but I usually manage). When the woman who commissioned the painting came to collect it, she burst into tears. She told me: “You painted my daughter.” I hadn’t even known she had a daughter! When I explained my struggle with the hands, she revealed that her daughter had an incurable disease that affected her hands. I had painted her in detail without knowing it.

Three months later, she contacted me again, telling me that someone had prayed for her daughter and afterwards prophesied over her: “I see you with your hands lifted high, wearing a pink dress, in a field of purple flowers.” I was in awe. That’s when I realised that God was using me through my art!”

Marzanne: You mentioned facing struggles during your childhood that had implications in your adult life. Could you share more about those challenges?”

“Loezytha: I was 12 years old when I was raped by three young men, in their early twenties. It’s a time in my life that I hid away. I didn’t know how to tell the people around me. I felt guilty. They made me feel guilty – like it was my fault. All the lies that a little girl believes.

I was athletic, so I started putting all my energy into that. I wanted to run away from it! What often happens when someone experiences trauma is that they turn to coping mechanisms. I began to tell lies to bring people closer to me. I believed the enemy’s lie that telling a lie would make people come close to me and love me. As a little girl, I needed it, but I gave them other reasons, not the real reason. 

As an adult, I carried this with me, and it just caused more strongholds in my life.

In my thirties, I was raped again. This time, I believed the Enemy’s lie that the Father was punishing me for all the lies I had told. But later, the Father showed me the lies I had believed. And then the bomb exploded. Everything burst open. I started talking about what happened to me as a little girl. For the first time, I faced it, and I was able to work through it. I understood why I had told lies – because I needed help but didn’t know how to ask for it. That’s when I went through deliverance and was set free. 

For the first time, I could choose life! Three times before, I had tried to take my own life because I just didn’t want to live. That’s how the Enemy works. He knows what the Father has planned for us, and he wants to stop it… 

Marzanne: Unfortunately, the Enemy is relentless. He persisted in his attacks, trying to break you in other ways…

Loezytha: “Yes, it was around 2019 when a third party (an employee) entered my marriage. Father God told me I should not leave the farm. During their affair, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2020, which had spread to my uterus, among other areas. I started taking medication and undergoing chemotherapy, which made me very sick. It was an incredibly difficult time, handling what was happening in my marriage while also dealing with cancer.

One night, I truly felt like I was going to die. I’m not sure if it was a demonic attack or just the side effects of all the medication, but I lay on the kitchen floor, speaking to the Father, telling Him that I couldn’t die like this. It was in the middle of the night. I couldn’t get a word out, not even the name of Jesus! I couldn’t speak! I crawled to my phone to try and get help, and the only name I could see was Aunt Doris’s. She started praying for me in the middle of the night. (Aunt Doris is from Bloemfontein, where we had known each other, and I reconnected with her in Clarens in 2010. She is in her seventies, a great intercessor, and walks closely with the Father. She began praying for me at 3am.)

The next morning, I decided to stop all medication and trust the Father for complete healing. I began eating properly, excluding sugar, dairy, and starch for six months, which was quite a challenge because I even cut out natural fruit sugars. I just began to believe I was healed. After the six months, when I went for tests, I was completely healed! The Father had miraculously and completely healed me! It was an incredible journey with Him!

During that time, the Father also told me I needed to walk a path with Bianca (the third party). She wanted to leave the farm because my ex-husband had left. I told her she didn’t need to go anywhere, that the Father would open a door for her, and she could stay on the farm. And so, the Father walked a path of emotional healing with both of us. 

I encouraged her to attend one of my camps, but she was afraid of being judged. My words to her were: “No, the people — the Enemy — may want to judge you, but the Father wants to clothe you with who you are.” After that, she agreed to attend my camp, and it was amazing to see how she truly gave her heart to the Father and started walking that path. That Sunday, she even asked to be baptised. I can’t describe the power that came out of that water after I baptised her; it was like a slap in the Enemy’s face. The Father still uses Bianca powerfully today, and I would go through fire for that woman! It’s incredible how the Father can take what the Enemy intended to destroy you and turn it for His glory. So, the journey of my cancer was about a year, from diagnosis to complete healing.”

Marzanne: Is it still hard for you to talk about these dark chapters in your life?

Loezytha: “The Father can come and restore a person in such a way that it sometimes feels like I’m talking about someone else. In the beginning, it was hard for me — the lies would come and try to remind me of what had happened. But the Father came, and even with my marriage with Thys breaking down, He not only healed me, but it was as if He completely gave me a new heart! After that, I had to learn to trust again so that when another man comes across my path, I can trust the Father.

There are many things from which a person can be stripped in life, but then the Father comes and completely clothes you with character, and you grow through those things. I always say: “There in the valleys between the mountains, that’s where the lilies grow; there in the mud — in the difficult times.” That’s where I want to give people hope. When they are in that mud. I want to tell them, the Father can come and pull you out of it!

I remember when I once took an overdose of pills, I lay there in ICU and just heard the beep-beep-beep, and the pipes and machines, and the Father said to me: ‘Do you know, I raised you from the dead, but you’re still walking like Lazarus, wrapped in your grave clothes?”

I’ve begun a path of freedom, and today, I can rise like a bride, truly looking forward to the coming of her bridegroom. I want to give people hope with my testimony that you are so much more than what has happened to you. If someone comes to me about something they’ve been through, I can never judge them because we never know a person’s whole story. We don’t know what lies behind their actions. Even with my rapist (in my thirties), he had to know that I forgave him. One day, out of the blue, I got his number, and I was able to send him a message saying I forgive him and release him. Shortly after that, I bumped into him, and he could see that I had truly forgiven him. It all happened in a few days, one after another. (Two years after the incident). About six months later, I had a stall at the KKNK (a South African arts festival), and I saw that he was also exhibiting there. I didn’t go closer, but the things he was displaying were sculptures, and they were all from Scripture. That’s when I realised he needed to know that I forgave him so that he could fully step into the calling the Father had for him. 

We need to realise that even the Father has a plan for the man who raped you, and even for a third party, the Father loves him/her. We are all flawed human beings! And we must walk a path of forgiveness and obedience.”

Marzanne: Given all the heartache and victory you’ve experienced, how would you describe your calling and the drive that propels you forward?

Loezytha: “Broken people are close to my heart because I have personally experienced how the Father healed me on different levels. That’s why I want to give people hope when they have none left. 2 Timothy 1:9 says: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control.” My goal is, of course, to make disciples, but as you can infer, I had first to become a disciple myself before I could make disciples. My ministry’s purpose is to equip the bride for the time we are living in and for what lies ahead. To give people hope when they feel they can’t go any further. People are visual beings, and that’s why my art can speak powerfully to them, as they can relate to it. My art is a testimony of the path I’ve walked — a path of healing, deliverance, arising, obedience to full surrender, and freedom in Him. Because when you have nothing but Him, you have everything.”

An invitation to encounter

Loezytha’s ministry extends beyond art. Through workshops, she leads people in powerful encounters with the Holy Spirit. In March, she will be hosting a worship flag workshop in Wesselsbron, where participants dye silk flags under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. “You don’t control the outcome — the Spirit does,” she says. “Each flag carries a unique message.”

On May 24, she will be ministering at Logos Church in Cape Town, sharing her story of hope through her paintings. In September, she will once again lead the Song of Songs Retreat in Clarens — a deep journey into intimacy with God.

The urgency of the hour

Loezytha senses a great urgency in the Spirit. “The Bride of Christ needs to rise up,” she declares. “Many are weighed down by lies of the Enemy and have compromised their faith. But time is running out. My greatest desire is to bring the Word to as many people as possible before it’s too late.”

See more…

To see more of Loezytha’s prophetic artwork, visit www.loezythasheart.co.za or find her on Facebook at Loezytha’s heART. For further enquiries about her workshops or bookings: +27 82 959 3150. email  loezythamaritz@gmail.com

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