About the Author

Anna works full-time for DaySpring from Minnesota, where she lives with her husband and four kids. Anna is the author of A Moment of Christmas and Pumpkin Spice for Your Soul, and she shares the good stuff of the regular, encouraging you to see the ordinary glory in your everyday.

(in)side DaySpring: things we love
& you will too!
Find more at DaySpring.com
(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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Comments

  1. Anna,
    I applaud you in your attempt to write the “real” and I believe writing the “real” is indeed “good” because it keeps pointing your life’s arrow toward God. When you write of struggles, you allow us to see how God is working through them for His glory. When you write of pain, we see that blessed are those who grieve for they will be comforted. When you write about loving your children so deeply, it reminds us of God’s great love for us even when we aren’t doing what we’re supposed to be doing…Daring to be real and vulnerable is hard, but it more adequately defines our relationship with our Heavenly Father than some white-washed version of pretend perfection. Write on girlfriend!!
    Blessings,
    Bev

    • In these endless days of chatter I find myself with a need to be very selective where I take time to park for a moment and enjoy the view. This morning as I was surfing through my inbox the Holy Spirit stopped me on your lovely post. I was blessed as I read the words that were clearly coming from deep within your heart. Raw, honest and beautiful. May God bless this journey called life that He has your feet upon. May you always feel His infinite presence surrounding you, comforting you and lifting you higher into Hi sweet presence. Thank you for this share.
      Sweet Blessings,
      Jo

    • Bev, you’re the best cheerleader I know. Thank you for your continued and consistent presence in this community! Not sure that you know how grateful we all are for YOU, sisterfriend. Thank you for the encouragement!

  2. Anna,

    Oh how I hear you! I wish we lived closer so we could revel in the beautiful messiness that is life together. As a fellow mama, writer, and Jesus-lover, I can relate on so many levels. Isn’t it beautiful, that even though it is not what we think it will be at times, He uses it to make beauty, redemption, goodness, blessings? Wishing you grace, peace, and strength on your journey!

  3. You are not alone @ ‘I want to write all these things and more, and it’s the slew of words that renders me silent’.
    You are so so not alone and very brave @’About the dreams I have that are painfully on hold because other things are bigger’.
    Well done!

  4. Anna…Always encouragingly and writing the real. I believe Jesus is using you, your heart for writing, passion for family, and lover of normal, to gather all the gals who feel that they are old enough to make good decisions about what’s important and somehow you make it okay to not have all the views, and “feeling big” sediments… and that my friend is better than GOOD because it is 100% REAL and balanced. Bless, Jenny

  5. Anna-wow! Thank you so much for writing the good and sharing it with us! Your post is very timely as this has been a rough week-full of weakness and challenges-yet the pull of the Heavenly Father has stayed strong and constant.
    Thank you for your honesty and grace infused words.

  6. I applaud you. Loving is what good from God I want to write about. I have had some stumbles along the way..The loss of my youngest child at age 20 to suicide. I prayed.over this son until.i felt my heart would bleed. My first words were upon hearing he was gone.were Oh God..please give me strength to tell the other kids and my grandchildren..oh God why? Oh God.give me the correct words. In Jesus Name Amen. I want to learn to write the truth..the love. I applaud you..i.admire you. I hope you will publish so.i may read your truth..Thank you..Mary

    • Oh sweet Mary… mercy. Thank you for your kind comment here, and thank you for sharing your story. I am so, so sorry for the loss of your son. Praying His strength infuses your heart today and everyday.

  7. Can I just say, WOW and THANK YOU! You have perfectly captured my desires, as I read what you’ve written, it took my breath away because you have managed to write the many thoughts that swirl in my mind most days and nights. The thoughts and feelings that I long to write but struggle to list even in a journal entry because of the swirling “slew of words that renders me” frozen, pen in hand and blank page in front of me as I stare straight ahead and long for the place to start.

    Thank you for capturing so that is in me and so eloquently getting it right and written down, so that maybe I can now have a place to start! I too want to write even if only for me to read at a later date when i need a reminder of “the real” that is my life today.

    • I love love love hearing other women say ‘me too’. Thank you so much for making me feel not alone, but in very good company! I appreciate your comment here so much.

  8. Anna, this brings a smile to my face 🙂 Love how you just pour out your heart on the good and bad of life and the God who covers all of it. He is so good, so loving, so worthy to be written about. Keep writing!

  9. Yes, yes, and YES! A lovely reflection of “mom-life” , honest and true. My feelings, exactly in an earlier phase of life. My encouragement to you is to enjoy your “mom-life” to the fullest. There are more beautiful things to come, including lots of time for reflection, friendship, a clean and quiet home, and exploring new and interesting parts of yourself! God is good in every phase of life!

  10. I am double your 30 yrs. I lost my dearest friend. Her addiction to prescription drugs unraveled.
    Talk about real. Talk about broken.
    I miss her. I pray for her. Such grrat loss, for both of us.
    Shattering real hurts.
    That said, I prefer real. God. Friends or lack thereof. The Lord steps in. In the silence and void. He heals us, from the inside out. Some wounds can only heal if they remain open. Tenderly washed and tended to each day. Slowly, that wound closes. The scar does not hurt, yet it looks different. There was a battle. There is change.
    Keep writing about your real. God does go before each one of us. Real. Able to do more than we ask or imagine, for His purpose.

    • Kathryn, I am so deeply sorry for the loss of your dear friend. Nothing makes that kind of pain disappear. Thank you for sharing your story and your heart here with us – we will hold you in prayer, and are so thankful to have you in this community.

  11. Thank you for your article. The opening paragraph grabbed me and so beautifully put into words the feelings that I share with you about the goodness of God. It is a powerful gift to be able to write with simplicity the things that are so extraordinary, like the comfort of God’s goodness and knowing Him. Thank you.

  12. Anna
    I am the girl who is called to make peace and called to intercede, called to serve “without a blog!” I am inspired and I see the real in your piece above. It’s part of many of us. I write when God asks me to, His way, His will, His time. Because at the end of it is often solace to my group of besties who some 30 years later spread out over the globe, snd may never see each other again, but still remember the little young girls we were. I write to pray aloud because my heart is shattered by the hurt another is experiencing, I write to encourage you to keep on keeping on. You will write a book one day and it will be gentle to souls. For now you write for those of us who are privileged to have found you. Thank you

  13. You’ve communicated what I wanted to…thank you for giving life to thoughts – truth to life.
    Praise & Blessings…for all you do today.

  14. I so loved this! I am almost 60 years old and feeling all the same emotions. Our struggles as women are universal and not confined to age or demographics. Keep singing your song and writing your words!

  15. Thank you Anna! I join with those whose eyes welled up while reading your post, and whose hearts whispered “me too.”

  16. …and you have, Anna! And you will! – keep writing the good. You will continue to pour out what has to be said and read in the written. What is true in the written is always good when it points the way to our Lord and Saviour – Jesus Christ. The only one who can turn our rotten to good. He is the Peace that doesn’t make any sense. But it is because of him that we can have a ‘sense’ of that peace in the here and now. Praise and worship cannot help but pour out from hearts who love him.
    Praise and worship pours out from your written good, Anna. Your first paragraph made me think of the Psalmist, David who poured it out continually.
    “My heart is welling forth with a good matter;
    I say what I have composed touching the King.
    My tongue is the pen of a ready writer” Psalm 45
    Keep using the pen of a ready writer, Anna.
    Much love coming your way this day❤️
    Yvonne

  17. Yes, I ditto this. The good encompasses all of this…the real, the hard, the simple, the struggle, the questions, the love…God is in the midst of it all and He is good!
    Great post!

  18. So glad I read this. Many days I just delete since my inbox feels too much…but this? I felt like I wrote it, except I’m entering my 40’s. So much good here.

  19. I feel you just wrote out what the words that go through my heart and mind so often. Your last paragraph is where I find myself the most lately and I need to move out of the “unfocused” and just write. Thank you for this. It was beautiful and it may be just what I needed to read today to pick up in my writing where I left off several months ago. 🙂

  20. Anna! This was beautiful. Forgive me for the comparison, (you are certainly your own kind of special and talented) but I had to go back to the top to see who had authored this post. For a moment I thought I was reading Ann Voskamp, whom I truly love. It’s the depth of feeling I heard in each line that kept me on your page. I LOVED it, I CONNECTED with it, I APPRECIATED it. Thank you and God Bless you GirlWithBlog!

    • Forgive you?! How about THANK you? I’m honored by the comparison. Ann means so much to the (in)courage community <3 I can't tell you how I appreciate your comment and encouragement!

  21. Anna,
    I really appreciate your encouraging words and the way you point us Mommas to our Savior. Thanks for being bold in writing about your fears (“the headlines find me”). I can relate for sure as a mother of four. Keep using your spiritual gift from God.

  22. Oh how I relate!!!! I see so many other who relate as well. And I too want to write and share stories with other “real” people who love passionately and sometimes fail miserable but still find strength in the hope our sovereign God provides. Who aren’t afraid to seek answers to the hard questions and look forward to being better everyday. Those of us mothers who struggle with the upkeep of our homes, busy schedule, soccer games and bible studies, time with God and time loving on ourselves, babies and spouses (for those of us who have them). I thank you for your transparency and hope you continue to write about the “Good” things that are in all of our hearts. God bless.

  23. Making real friends is difficult at any age. People tend to gravitate to those with their own beliefs and away as from us sometimes as we grow in faith. All women appear to be tired, overly so, it has been an oppression te Lrd wants to lift, to keep it simple, to hold us in His love. I’m finishing my writing challenge on rest if you care to check out my blog, https://adaughtersgiftoflove.wordpress.com/2016/10/27/soul-restful/

  24. Anna, I could NOT have said this better. This is EXACTLY how it is with me. I appreciate you speaking out and letting others know that they are not alone in their journeys. I believe that God is using your words to relay compassion and a sense of community among us moms. I pray that God blesses you with wisdom and direction through the power of HIs peace as you put your trust in Him.

  25. Anna you have written beautifully thank you. I also want to write. I want to start a new blog where I can share my faithFull story.

  26. Beautiful post Anna! You encompassed so many of my inner thoughts and struggles. Sometimes with little ones it seems as if life is in fast forward, and then other times things seem to get paused for what feels like forever. Then once again, without warning, we are thrust back into fast forward to catch up with all the time we lost while standing still. It’s a crazy, exhausting cycle, motherhood. But there are these fragments, these tiny specs, that are effortlessly beautiful. You certainly aren’t alone in this season (allthough I agree, through the lens of social media it can seem that way a lot) – but this season – its a season of growing, of making mistakes and learning from them, of blind trust and leaps of faith. Its a season of messes and making magical memories. So thank you for your words today. They were exactly what I needed to see.

  27. Anna, isn’t it wonderful to see how many hearts you have connected with your writing the good!? Keep listening to God and He will continue to bless you. Thank you for expressing what so many of us feel.

  28. Anna,

    I want to write about the struggle to live in the between — between work, between personal, between all the things that get in the way of both. AMEN! That sentence fits me to a tee. Over the past few years I have struggled with the in between. My aging dad had major medical/health issues. Juggling that with a job that was changing and life I felt stressed. It got to the point I had to quit my job to fully manage his health. You are a great writer and resonate with soo many women. Please keep writing and encouraging us!

    Blessings 🙂