Guest Post – Page 4

4 Things I Wish I Knew About My Body in My Twenties

April 19, 2016 by Ann 1 Comment

This is the start of my newest article for RELEVANT Magazine.
You can read the entire article over at RELEVANT.

I spent a good portion of my twenties focusing on my body and being critical about the shape of it, the size of it, the weight of it. If my pant size moved up, I did what I could to move the size back down. I worried that my body wasn’t as it should be, that it wasn’t good enough and that it needed to change.

Now, in my thirties, I have come to a comfortable peace with my body. Are there still things I would change if I could? Sure. But over the last decade, as my relationship with God has deepened—and as my body has altered and shifted—I have been able to cling to gratefulness.

Your body’s main purpose is to worship the God who created it. Share on X

My body has carried me through severe sickness and emotional pain. It has grown and stretched with a child I love dearly. It has walked me over thousands of miles across the world. I am thankful for it, jiggles and all.

Here are the things I wish I had understood about my body in my twenties—the things that have allowed me to not only accept but rejoice in the body I have:

Your body’s main purpose is not to attract others to it.

Our culture shows us more than enough images of bodies to make us believe that they exist simply to attract others. And in large part because of that, I had a lot of angst in my twenties about how my body appeared to others. I looked in the mirror for lumps and bumps in what I considered to be the “wrong places,” and chose my clothes based on how attractive I thought they made me look to others.

I wanted to look beautiful, and I wanted to be attractive.

Now, hear me: I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with wanting to appear attractive. I still want to be a beautiful woman. But it was the way I approached my body in my twenties that made my mindset so unhealthy. I was operating from the lens that culture had taught me, rather than getting my grid for beauty and attractiveness from Scripture.

I’m not suggesting that we wear paper bags and frumpy clothes, but what I wish I would have grasped in my twenties is this: Your body’s main purpose is to worship the God who created it.

The book of Romans exhorts us: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1).

Your body is primarily a means of worshiping God—through service, through love, through acts of praise and mercy. Attracting the presence of God through the lives we live in our bodies is much more important than attracting the passing attention of others.

Attracting the presence of God is more important than attracting the passing attention of others. Share on X

Sex is wonderful but it isn’t the pinnacle of existence.

Part of the angst about attractiveness and the shape and size of our bodies stems from a culture that is obsessed with sex. And when the act of sex is at the center of a culture’s focus, then bodies become hyper-sexualized—everything about their attractiveness stems from sexualized ideals. But what I wish I had known in my twenties was that the other aspects of sex—the emotional aspect, the spiritual aspect, the relational aspect. These are the things that make sex deeply satisfying, over and over again, with the same person, in the context of a godly marriage.

I needed to hear in my twenties that it’s not the shape or size of a body that makes sex wonderful—it’s the context of sex within a loving marriage to a fun and thoughtful spouse thats gives sex its power and delight.

Read the rest of the article here, at RELEVANT!

Filed Under: God, Guest Post, Life, Motherhood Tagged With: attracting God, attracting guys, attractive, body, body image, Christianity, God and my body, good sex in marriage, healthy sex, modesty, RELEVANT, Relevant Magazine, sex in marriage, worshiping God

Pursuing Your Passion in the Margins

April 11, 2016 by Ann 2 Comments

This is the start of my newest article for Darling Magazine.
You can read the full article here!

While we wish it were otherwise, most of us don’t have the luxury of pursuing our creative passions as a full-time job. Whether we love painting or pouring candles, writing or dancing, event planning or photography, the truth is that we don’t often make a living from those passions. Instead, we find pockets of time to shadow those desires on the weekends, the evenings, and, often, when we could be sleeping. We read articles and books about our hobbies, and spend our money on the passion we love so dearly. But we aren’t waking up every morning to head to a studio or the craft room or the keyboard. Instead, we get up and work at jobs that don’t set our hearts aflame.

Those hours in the margins are often charged with the electricity of a soul on fire. Share on X

There were a lot of years where I bemoaned my lack of time to pursue my passion. I’m a writer at heart, a woman who comes alive with the tap of keys on the keyboard, a woman who could spend hours each day whittling down a paragraph until it sings with the vibrancy of power and precision. But for most of my adult life, I’ve been a writer in the margins, pulling out my laptop in the evenings or on the weekends, taking twenty minutes over lunch or an hour after work to finish an article or pen a chapter.

And for a while, I thought I was missing out. I spent my best hours, I believed, working as an administrative assistant, and later as a teacher — for ten years. I gave those “normal” work hours to jobs that I deeply valued but that didn’t necessarily hit the sweet spot of all of my dreams and passions. I supposed that because I wasn’t a full time writer — a full time creative — I wasn’t doing the beautiful, meaningful work that I could be doing if only I had the time.

I was wrong.

I can say that because, in many ways, I’m on the other side of the proverbial fence now; I work as a writer and writing coach. I’m a full-time creative — well, as full-time as I can be while also being a wife and mother, and being primarily at home with my toddler. But I’m making a living as a writer, and when I’m working at my job, it’s (mostly) in my creative sweet spot.

And I have learned that I’m not more creative because I have more time. I’m not even convinced that I’m producing “better” work because I have more hours to work in.

Having to squeeze our passions into the margins of our lives is a good, good thing. Share on X

In fact, what I’m realizing now is that the necessary boundaries that most of us live in — our jobs, our responsibilities, the hours we give to mothering and laundry-folding and meal-making and grocery shopping — those boundaries are actually gifts to us, if we will receive them that way. Having to squeeze our passions into the margins of our lives is a good, good thing.

You can read the rest of the article here, at Darling Magazine!

And if you’re a writer, don’t miss out on this post!

Images via Sé Kipp

Filed Under: Guest Post, Writing Tagged With: Ann Swindell, creative, creativity, Darling Magazine, full time creative, how do I become a writer, passion, passion in the margins, Writer

Writing for Christ’s Glory

March 4, 2016 by Ann Leave a Comment

Image via Deeply Rooted Magazine

This is the start of my newest article for Deeply Rooted Magazine.
Read the full article here!

For those of us who are word lovers, who enjoy the feeling of pens in our hands and keys clacking under our fingertips, writing often feels like second nature, like coming home. We love the ways that words help us make sense of our lives and help us encounter God.

This, I believe, is a good and holy thing.

After all, God spoke the universe into existence with a word. The first five verses of the book of John remind us of the beautiful and timeless declaration that Jesus is, himself, the Word—and so we see that who God is and how he is are bound up in the power of words.

To be those who love and use words is a high and sacred calling—and not one that we can take lightly. This is because words hold great power; they name us, shape us, and ultimately point us (and our readers) to the Truth of Christ or to lies and death.

Words hold great power; they name us, shape us, and point us to truth--or lies. Share on X

But how do we seek to be women who are writing for Christ’s glory? While there’s no one definitive answer, my own journey as a writer has shown me several ways that we can focus our hearts and our words on Jesus in this work of writing.

First, I believe that writing for Christ’s glory means that we lay down our right to renown. In the world’s eyes, a writer garners praise for her byline, for her status, for her fame. But to write in the Kingdom may mean something else entirely. It means that our heart’s aim is not to secure our own fame, but the fame of our King. If we have opportunities to write that further his Kingdom and his work in the world, then we can pursue those without concern for our own name.

Read the rest of the article here, at Deeply Rooted!

And if you’re a writer, head over to Writing with Grace to learn about the six week writing course that I teach. Registration is open now, but only for a little while longer!

Filed Under: God, Guest Post, Writing Tagged With: Christian writer, Christianity, faith, how can I write for God, how to become a writer, I want to write, motherhood, Writer, Writing, writing class, writing for Christ's glory, writing for glory, writing for God, writing for Jesus, writing mom

4 Ways to Grow as a Writer

February 15, 2016 by Ann Leave a Comment

This is the start of my newest piece for Darling Magazine. Read the article here!
Image via Madison Holmlund

For those of us who feel the tug toward words and books, toward verse and ink on the page, writing may feel like second nature, like a gift. For many of us, it even feels like a lifeline—a way to uncoil our thoughts, understand our existence and connect to our truest selves.

But after our years of school end, how do we continue to grow as writers? How do we invest in this passion? Is it even worth it? If we aren’t going to write a best-seller or even make money writing, can we justify giving the craft more time and expense?

Yes. In fact, I believe that we must invest in what brings us fully alive, even—and especially—if it isn’t “profitable” from the world’s perspective. Instead, we must ask ourselves if our souls will prosper from time spent clacking at the keyboard and penning words into journals. If so? Then we have our answer.

We must invest in what brings us fully alive. Share on X

Here are four ways to invest in our desire to grow as writers—as women who live fully alive in our gifts and callings:

1. Take a writing class.

Most of us won’t have time to drive across town to take a traditional college or graduate writing class, but there are other choices are available. Online writing courses, communities and cohorts are wonderful options for writers who need to fit their love for words in the margin of their lives. For example, I teach a live, online writing course.

2. Respond to consistent writing prompts.

The best way to become a better writer? Write! It seems simple, but it can be difficult to actually sit down on a regular basis and write for ten or twenty minutes, especially if you don’t know what to focus on. In order to stretch your writing muscles, aim to respond to three or four prompts a week. You can time yourself—say, five or ten minutes per response—and write in whatever direction the prompt takes you. My guess? You’ll probably be surprised where your words lead! Pick up a book likethis or head to this website for a dose of regular writing prompts.

Read the rest of the article here, at Darling Magazine!

Filed Under: Guest Post, Writing Tagged With: am I called to write, Darling Magazine, grow as a writer, how do I grow as a writer, I want to write better, online writing class, online writing course, Writer, writing class, writing prompts

5 Resources to Help You Develop and Determine Your Calling

January 22, 2016 by Ann

This is the start of my newest article for Darling Magazine.
You can read the entire article here, at Darling!

It’s a question that most of us bump up against for decades, no matter what it is we are in the middle of doing: Is this what I’m called to do? We wonder, in the middle of our working and coaching and mothering and writing and dancing and dating and marrying and studying:

Should I be doing something else? Why am I still not sure what I’m made for?

Let us remember this first: None of us are stagnant souls. We will not be called to do the same thing in the same way for the whole of our lives. Our “calling” and our purpose in any particular season of life may shift and change, as we do. But at this start of the new year, it is worthwhile to step back from the immediacy of the demands we face in order to re-evaluate what our calling might look like in this particular time. It is valuable to seek to develop our purpose right now so that we can live fully and presently, exactly where we are.

None of us are stagnant souls. We will not be called to do the same thing in the same way for the whole of our lives. Share on X

Here are five tools to help you in uncovering and clarifying the direction and passion of your life, right now, this year.

1. PowerSheets

Lara Casey has created a workbook that is packed with meaningful questions for the reader to ask herself about her dreams, her goals, and her why behind everything she does. While PowerSheets includes goal-setting priorities and visually engaging ways to see your progress toward those goals, where it really shines is as a tool to help readers clarify their life purpose and direction. Lara is the author of the bestselling Make it Happen book, and PowerSheets pairs well with that text. I found this resource to be deeply meaningful in unearthing my own desires and dreams for the coming year, and I think you will, too.

2. StrengthsFinder

In the midst of hundreds of personality tests, StrengthsFinder differs in that it focuses exclusively on the reader’s top strengths — places of ability, insight, and influence that the individual already carries in herself. The StrengthsFinder bookcomes with a code for an online test that readers can take; out of 32 strengths, the quiz will clarify the top five.

StrengthsFinder is often used in businesses and organizations to help create a sense of understanding between team members, and my husband and I have found it to be deeply helpful in clarifying our strengths as individuals and in our marriage. When we understand our tendencies and gifts through the lens of strength — and how those strengths can encourage those around us — we can better see our purpose and direction in a given season of life.

Read about the other three resources here, at Darling Magazine!

Filed Under: Guest Post, Life, Writing Tagged With: Ann Swindell, calling, calling and career, Darling Magazine, develop my calling, develop your calling, what am I called to do, what is a calling, what should I do with my life

Spending Time with Him to Be Like Him

January 11, 2016 by Ann Leave a Comment

[Image by Kelly Kee]

This is the start of my most recent article for Deeply Rooted Magazine.
Read the full article here!

I’m not the type of person who is usually motivated by goals, and New Year’s resolutions tend to fall under this category for me. But there is one type of resolution I made nearly a decade a ago that has utterly transformed my life.

I aim to spend time with Jesus every single day.

Of course, there are days when life gets a little too wild and I don’t manage to set time aside for the Lord, but by and large, I spend time with him every day of the week, every week of the year. I don’t say this because I’m fantastic; I say this because I’m a broken and sinful person, desperately in need of the healing and love of Christ every single day. It’s spiritual life and death for me; spending time with Jesus is the only thing that keeps me hopeful, kind, and loving—because he is hopeful, kind, and loving. When I spend time with him, I become more like him, and that is what I need most of all.

Read the rest of the article here, at Deeply Rooted!

Filed Under: God, Guest Post Tagged With: Ann Swindell, best resolution, Deeply Rooted, Deeply Rooted Magazine, Jesus and resolutions, New Year's resolution, resolution