All The Time

Hello, friends!

Today I decided to share some thoughts that have been pressing on my heart lately as I try to balance all of life's insanity, struggle to figure out where I'm going next, and rediscover the wonder of my Savior's love over and over again.

As humans, most of us are striving for something.  We're striving to become "who we're supposed to be".  We're reaching for goals and a future; we're trying to "figure it out" and we're trying to get "there"... wherever "there" is.

But here's the thing:

We never get “there”... we never finish learning, we never figure everything out,
and we never reach the finish line here on earth.  This is as it should be, because we are
imperfect humans living in an imperfect world; our souls are longing for a home we can’t yet get to.  We’re subconsciously looking for something much bigger and far greater than anything we could accomplish or attain on this earth. As imperfect, sinful human beings, this is normal for us.
We struggle, especially in the waiting.
There are things we constantly realize, forget, and realize all over again.  We trust God, we rejoice
in the knowledge that everything is in His control, and we find peace... and then we forget.  As soon as we feel sad or alone, as soon as we don't know the answers, or as soon as we grow impatient, we forget. 
We lose that peace and we succumb to the doubts and worries and despair pressing in. 
We feel ourselves spinning out of control and we panic because we think we’re losing hold of things
that were never in our  hands to begin with. And then we realize it again.  We’re reminded that God has been and always will be faithful.
We’re reminded through the encouragement of a friend, the beauty and promise of a sunrise,
or simply the reinforcement of quiet knowledge that always resides deep within us: the knowledge that says
“He is in control, He has a plan, and He will work all things for His good”.
No matter what, this is true.  This always has been true and it always will be true. 
No matter what you’re feeling, no matter what struggles you’re currently facing, no matter how confused
and hopeless and weary you are, the promise of God’s goodness and love is true. The ups and downs are normal. You are not alone in the constant forgetfulness and rediscovery. Thankfully, our God is greater than the highs and lows. The following scriptures have been a great source of strength and hope for me lately, and I think we can all benefit from them in one or many ways.
I encourage you to read them, write them down, remember them always...
no matter what circumstances you find yourself in.
—
“When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul.”
{Psalm 94:19}
—
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness;
He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.”
{Zephaniah 3:17}
—
“In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.”
{Job 12:10}
—
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
{Philippians 4:6-7}

God is good all the time // All the time He is good.
Thanks for reading, friend.  I wish you all of the joy, peace, and hope.

-Anna

Finish Strong | Advice + Encouragement from a NaNoWriMo Survivor

       Hello, friends!
Happy (late) Thanksgiving!  I hope you're all enjoying a break from school/work and time to spend with your families.  And since it's officially the day after Thanksgiving... Merry Christmas!

(We're casually ignoring this weird blog site switch + the fact that I haven't posted in months+ other changes for now.)

            

          Three years ago, I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time (in case you've never heard of NaNoWriMo, it's a writing challenge that pushes authors to complete a 50,000 word draft within one month.  Yeah, it's as insane as it sounds.).  This was an amazing experience that was incredibly challenging, but even more rewarding.  It definitely pushed me from being interested in writing to actually becoming a writer. 
Unfortunately, I'm not able to participate in NaNoWriMo this year due to school, work, life, etc.  However, I know a lot of you are trying to write 50,000 words this month, and I want to encourage you guys (as well as anyone who may be considering trying NaNoWriMo in the near future... *wink wink*).
It's almost the end of the month!  The end is near, and you have one week left to reach your word count goal!  It may seem like you're never going to get there... to stay on track during NaNoWriMo, you have to write nearly 2,000 words per day.  That's a lot of words, and if you aren't able get to that word count each and every day, you can fall behind pretty fast.  But just because you get behind doesn't mean you can't still succeed!
I didn't write 2,000 words per day.  There were some days when I wrote less (or not at all), but there were also days when I wrote double or even triple my target word count for the day.  That's how creativity works- our ideas ebb and flow.  Some days are going to be better writing days than others; that's a fact.
All of that to say: Don't stress yourself out over daily word counts!  It's okay to veer slightly from the recommended daily goal.  However, I will say that looking back on my NaNoWriMo experience, I'd recommend trying your very best to write some words every single day (maybe give yourself one day to be completely "off", such as Thanksgiving).  Even if you only write 50-100 words in a particular day, you've still written something, and that will push you even just a tiny bit further towards your ultimate goal.

         If you're way behind and you feel like it's really going to take a miracle to get you to 50,000 words by the end of November, DON'T GIVE UP!  You can do it!

Make a schedule of the time you have left.  If at all possible, choose a few days when you know you'll have a lot of free time.  Then commit to using certain times during those days for writing only.  I know it's hard to commit to writing for a long period of time (especially if you're tired and the story isn't coming together and the whole thing is starting to feel tedious), so here are two suggestions for helping you to better manage your time:

1. Limit other distractions.  This could mean finding a place where you can be alone and have complete silence (if that helps you; seclusion isn't always helpful to me), putting in earbuds and not actually listening to music (blissful silence), or turning off your phone entirely.  I know several writer friends who turn off their WiFi or set restrictions on their laptops so that they can only access their documents while writing.
2. Get an "accountability partner".  Find a buddy (writer or otherwise) who can sit down with you and help you stay on task and keep working.  Maybe even hand over your phone for a bit and tell them not to give it back until you've reached a certain word count (hehe).

Speaking of friends, writing with a friend is one of my favorite ways to be productive while keeping writing fun!  Joy and I participated in NaNoWriMo together back in 2015, and we had a lot of fun writing together (sometimes in person, sometimes via Skype).  We kept in touch via text and we'd do "word sprints" together (word sprints are a sort of game where you set a specific amount of time (i.e. 15 minutes) and then just write as many words as you can within that time, not really thinking about the quality of the context (you can edit later).).

You can also join your regional group via the NaNoWriMo site.  Different regions will host a variety of events that allow you to have fun, connect with other writers, and write in good company.  Most regions have a group chat as well for support, help, word sprints, etc., etc.  

And hey, when all is said and done, remember that even if you aren't able to write 50,000 words by the end of November, LIFE GOES ON.  It will be okay; you're still going to finish an amazing novel and share your story with the world.  NaNoWriMo really can be hard, and you've taken on a huge challenge just by beginning.  Life is busy and uncertain, and it gets in the way of our best-laid plans sometimes.  That's okay.

Nevertheless, I do believe in you!  A week is plenty of time to catch up, write ALL THE WORDS, and achieve your goal.  You're gonna win!  So what are you waiting for?  

Go kill this novel thing, WriMos!

(P.S. If you're a writer but NaNoWriMo still sounds like the most terrifying thing in the world to you, please don't be scared of it.  Go for it.  Do hard things.  It's an awesome experience, I promise you.)

Have an amazing rest of your weekend, friends.

Thanks for reading!

-Anna

The one about Guatemala

This photo was taken at the Adventures in Missions Guatemala base, where we lived the entire time we were in Guatemala.

        

            Hello, friends!  

   As most of you already know, this summer I had the amazing chance to spend one month in the country of Guatemala, serving the people there and spreading the love of Christ.  At long last, I am posting photos and writing about it.  Here we go...

        The people of Guatemala are some of the kindest and most positive people I've ever met.  They value family and relationships above all else.  The majority of the people we talked to were extremely hospitable and welcoming.  Seeing the way these people live their lives and love each other is humbling, and it greatly challenges your perspective and priorities.  I was so blessed by the people we talked to and spent time with, and I'm forever grateful that I was exposed to this culture. 

       I got to embark on this trip alongside 25 brothers and sisters in Christ; these people were essentially strangers to me on June 22nd (our first day of training camp in GA), but by the following Friday they felt like family (and still do).  

As Meggie pointed out, "This REALLY shouldn't work... but it does!"  It's true.  Bringing together 26 strangers to live and work with each other for a month sounds risky... you'd hope for tolerance at best, right?  And yet our group grew incredibly close, got along remarkably well (all things considered), and truly became a family.  I'm so proud of this team; I love each and every one of them and miss them all like crazy.  I was blessed beyond measure when God put these people into my life.

      ^ This is my small group, a.k.a. "Benny and the Jets".  (Chase, Isaac, Pricila, and Raina are my grandchildren and Ben is their elected bodyguard (and our fearless leader)).  

Our "small team" discussions/debriefs were some of my favorite times during the trip and I'm thankful that I got the chance to know these humans better; they're all freaking amazing humans who shine so much light on those around them.

           During our first week in Guatemala, we went to local villages and spent the mornings giving out water filters and teaching families how to assemble them (I wrote a post about this on the Ambassador blog here).  Then we would go to a school and run a VBS (Vacation Bible School) for any kids in the surrounding areas who came.  This involved acting out stories, singing songs (usually with hand motions and/or dances), arts and crafts time, and some sort of game.  We'd also have a lot of time to just hang out with the kids (they loved playing with Avery's ukulele, and there was usually some sort of soccer game going on.  The girls loved to braid hair as well.).

Soccer is THE sport in Guatemala...we witnessed some pretty intense games while we were there.

There were a lot of beautiful sunsets/sunrises in Guatemala (as is the case pretty much everywhere); however, this one in particular was breathtaking (seriously, the pictures don't even come close to doing it justice).

The guys decided to take advantage of some quality selfie lighting.

We had multiple bonfires while we were there.  One of these was to celebrate the Fourth of July (we also recognized said holiday with fireworks and sparklers...lots of flames.)

This picture and the one below it were taken on our way out of Guatemala City the day we landed.

You're probably already picking up on this, but Guatemala is an absolutely beautiful country. 

 

For the last few weeks of our time in Guatemala, we taught English to students at three different schools in the area (two public schools and one private school).  This was a really cool and unique experience (despite communication issues and the fact that the majority of us are not fluent in Spanish).  The kids at the schools were (mostly) super sweet and eager to hang out and play or dance with us during recess times.

Michal and I with one of the classes we taught.

          There you have it, friends (part of it, at least).  I may be sharing videos or more specific stories on the blog in the future, but for now, I hope you enjoyed this look at what the trip was like.  It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and I wouldn't have wanted to do anything else this Summer (10/10 recommend).
     
  Thanks for reading!
-Anna