Guest Post – Page 5

Embracing Change: The Pearl of Joy

January 4, 2016 by Ann Leave a Comment

This is the start of my newest article for (in)courage.
You can read the entire article here!

This last year was a whirlwind of change for me. Our family uprooted from the city we had lived in for over a decade—the city where my husband and I fell in love, the city where we found our first jobs, the city where we figured out life as newlyweds, the city where we navigated serious sickness and struggle, the city where our daughter was born. We had a home there, and not just a physical one. Our community, our church, our jobs—we had a place that we knew, and people who knew us. We were settled.

And then, God.

God opened a new door for us, one that we knew we were meant walk through. My husband had the opportunity to go to graduate school, and that meant moving to a new state, finding a new home, and starting a new life where we hardly knew anyone. It meant, essentially, change.

For me, change has always felt gut-wrenching, difficult, gear-grinding tight. I have never loved change; I have usually avoided it.

But this past year felt like a gift unwrapped for me, given by my heavenly father. Because I found, for the first time in my life, that I was not terrified of the unknown. What I experienced this past year, as I prayed for help to accept and embrace the changes we were facing, was grace.

Read the rest of the article over at (in)courage!

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Filed Under: God, Guest Post, Life, Marriage Tagged With: Ann Swindell, change, embracing change, guest post, how do I deal with change, incourage, incourage writer, joy, my soul is tired, obedience, obedience leads to joy, where is God in hard times, writing for incourage

How to Let Winter Revive the Soul

December 18, 2015 by Ann Leave a Comment

[This is the start of my newest article for Darling Magazine.
Click here to read the whole piece!]

Winter is upon us, now. The air hollows itself out, offering only cold and wind. The ground is freezing, slowing, and stalling its growth. Grass browns, trees harden. Earth, it seems, pauses.

Perhaps we would be wise to do the same.

Winter arrives, for many of us, in a bustle of activity: Holidays and more holidays, parties and more parties, gifts, clothes, decorations, busyness. Much of this is fun and exciting, but the reality is that after these holidays are over, we often find ourselves more exhausted than we were before.

What if, instead of getting caught up in the rhythms of everyone around us this year, we intentionally approached this winter with a decision to pause? To rest? To hibernate? What if we sought to take a cue from nature and slowed down this winter, instead of pushing ahead?

While we can’t exactly hibernate and sleep for most of the winter (although at times we might wish that we could!), we can take a lesson from the pause of nature and the hibernation of bears to reconsider how we might approach the winter season through both rest and rejuvenation.

We need seasons of rest every year — pushing too hard can hurt our creativity and our health. Share on X

REST

Trees: In nature, we see that trees stop flowering. They are in a state of dormancy; their growth slows and even stops in some cases. This dormancy is actually a good sign for the tree, as it is a normal part of its life cycle and important for the tree’s overall health.

The same is true with us. We need seasons of rest every year — pushing too hard can hurt our creativity and our health. This winter, we can allow ourselves to press pause on our continual pace of productivity and rest. Consider a “staycation” or a couple long weekends where you intentionally let your mind and body rest, rather than work. This will set us up well to leave the winter season rested and ready for the creativity and life that comes in the spring.

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

Image via Madison Holmlund.

Filed Under: Guest Post, Life Tagged With: hibernation, how do i revive my soul, i want to hibernate, life in winter, my soul is heavy, rejuvenating in winter, soul, winter

God Doesn’t Care How Big Your Platform Is: An Article for RELEVANT Magazine

October 22, 2015 by Ann Leave a Comment

Most of my life, I’ve felt a tug toward greatness.

You know–that feeling that burns deep and can push us wide? Deep because we know that we were created to do important, meaningful, gorgeous things in the world. Wide because we look around us at all that we aren’t doing and see people who seem great in our eyes—people who carry great influence, great ideas, great power.

And that feeling in us, that yearning for greatness, can sometimes make us feel very small. Small because we lack great influence. Small because we lack world-changing ideas. Small because we lack great power. I don’t have a million followers, a best-selling book, a corporate position or a lot of money. I’m guessing you might not, either.

But we look at others who do, and it’s easy to feel like we should be doing something bigger and greater and more important with our lives. Sometimes, we might even find ourselves thinking: “What if I’ve missed it?” “What if I’m never great in the way I long to be?”

Those are the moments when I find myself trying to push my way into greatness. I think that if I can work harder, think more deeply or just be better—then, perhaps, greatness will fall upon me like a cape. If I just keep driving my way forward, maybe I can make this thing—this elusive greatness—happen.

But I can’t. It never works out that way…

Read the rest of the article here, at RELEVANT!

Filed Under: God, Guest Post, Life, Ministry Tagged With: Ann Swindell, Big love for God, Christian platform, Christianity, famous, how do I grow my platform, how to grow a Christian platform, I want to be famous, Jesus, love for God, my soul is tired, platform, Relevant Magazine

5 Books for Aspiring Writers

September 3, 2015 by Ann Leave a Comment

This is from my newest piece for Darling Magazine. Read the full article here!
[image via Lydia & Emilie]

Good writers are readers; it’s a maxim for a reason. And that’s why reading books by experienced authors is important — even necessary — for the aspiring writer. But along with novels and biographies and memoirs, consider reading books about writing, in which authors pull back the curtain on the writing process and life as a person of words.

While this is by no means an exhaustive list, these books are on my personal short list for writers. Here are 5 books to read this fall if you want to grow in the craft of writing:

“Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott

In typical Anne Lamott fashion, this book (no, it’s not actually about birds) is cheeky and gritty and packed with punchy stories about writing and life. You can read a chapter at a time or devour the entire book in one sitting. Especially freeing for perfectionistic writers is her chapter on penning horrible first drafts.

“Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies” by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre

“Loving language means cherishing it for its beauty, precision, power to enhance understanding, power to name, power to heal. And it means using words as instruments of love” (p. 23). Through lovely prose and a deeply thoughtful commentary on culture, McEntyre invites readers to steward language and the inherent power that words carry.

“The Writing Life” by Annie Dillard

With fluid and almost dream-like prose, Dillard offers heavy-hitting truths about writing and life through unexpected stories and winding analogies. Readers who are writers will appreciate Dillard’s honesty about the difficulties and rewards of writing.

Read about the other two books here, at Darling.

If you’re a fellow writer, I’ll be teaching a writing course this January–registration opens in November, and I can’t wait to talk writing, craft, and publishing, with you. Check out the site and sign up for updates here!

Filed Under: Guest Post, Teaching, Writing Tagged With: amwriting, aspiring writer, be a better writer, books for writers, darling, Darling Magazine, growing as a writer, how do I become a better writer, learning as a writer, Writing

Writing for Glory: His and Not Our Own

August 28, 2015 by Ann Leave a Comment

As a member of the Redbud Writers Guild, I had the opportunity to write for the Redbud blog this week.
Here is the start of my article. You can read the full piece here!

I have been writing, now, for decades. It started back in elementary school, when we were given blank books in second grade, books that were pure white, inside and out. The covers, the pages, the seams of the binding—all of it, whiter than winter clouds. There were no lines, no rules. Just space. For a student who went to school long before photo websites offered personalized books for any and every occasion, a blank book was a mystery and a rarity. It felt like a prize.

And all of these pages were given to me—for filling. I was given empty space and also the opportunity to fill it. It felt, to me, like a great gift.

It also felt like a burden.

All writing is like that for me—a gift and a burden. I am not handed blank books anymore; there is no teacher setting one down on my desk every month. Instead, I open a new screen and seek to fill the space with meaningful words that recall moments and share stories and offer truth. I do this because I have always been drawn to writing, and because have spent the better part of the last ten years studying words, learning how to tie them together with strands so thin they part like fumes in the wake of a whisper. I have spent time with words, learning how to train them like sentinels waiting for the trumpet blow, ready to release the hammering shock of truth to a willing reader. It is a gift to be able to write. It is also a holy burden to seek to do that well, and faithfully. The gift and the burden, bound up together.

This is the start of my article for the Redbud Writers Guild–a group of female, Christian writers who are committed to expanding the feminine voice in our churches, communities, and culture. I feel privileged to be a part of this guild of women and encourage you to check out our website and the other female writers and speakers there!

Filed Under: God, Guest Post, Life, Writing Tagged With: being a writer, being a writer of faith, faith and writing, how can I be a writer, Jesus and writing, Redbud Writers Guild, redbud writing group, religious writing, what does it mean to write for God, writers group, writing for glory, writing for God, writing for God's glory, writing group

Time with God Shouldn’t Be a Chore: An Article for RELEVANT Magazine

August 21, 2015 by Ann Leave a Comment

[This is from my newest piece at RELEVANT Magazine. Click here to read the entire article!]

Quiet time, devotional time, prayer time, personal time—whatever you want to call it, most of us are referring to something similar: a regular time when we seek to meet with the Lord, read his World and worship Him, love Him and know Him better.

It’s a wonderful value and a beautiful aspect of our relationship with Christ—that we can, actually, have a personal and meaningful relationship with the King of the Universe. When you think about it, it’s fairly unfathomable that the biggest power in the world has time for each of us, especially if, like me, you’re not a foreign dignitary, a millionaire or a superstar. It’s pretty incredible that God wants to have an intentional relationship with each of us.

It’s incredible that God wants to have an intentional relationship with each of us. Share on X

And as with anyone we want to get to know, we need to actually spend time with that person in order to grow in friendship. Thus the idea of regular time with God. Often, this time is spent reading the Bible, praying, perhaps journaling or singing. But do our quiet times actually need to be, ahem, quiet? I don’t think so.

Here are a few ways, other than Scripture reading, we can get to know God in unexpected avenues.

The Arts

If you’re a creative at heart, consider adding in an artistic element to your devotional time. Paint your prayers, doodle your thoughts, pen a poem to God. As you participate in the creative process, consider God’s creativity in the world, and ask Him how you can partner with His creativity at work.

Paint your prayers, doodle your thoughts, pen a poem to God. Share on X

Music

If you’re musical, consider writing songs that focus on what you love about God. Put Scripture to song, or sing to Jesus about whatever bubbles up out of your heart. God, who sings over us (Zephaniah 3:17), welcomes our songs of praise and thanksgiving back to Him.

Nature

If being outside makes your soul come alive, set aside intentional time to connect with God in the great outdoors. The One who called the earth into existence is the same God who died on the crossbars of a tree to save us. The whole earth is full of God’s glory (Isaiah 6:3)—so go and encounter Him there. Sit by a river and meditate on Scripture. Go on a hike and let the beauty of the earth remind you of God’s beauty.

Friends

There is a long and biblical history of God’s people gathering together to worship Him—and weekly church is a wonderful thing. But what about spending “quiet time” together with a friend or two? You can pray for and with one another; you can read Scripture to and with one another. You can eat together and share your hearts over a shared meal. The early church was meeting together daily (Acts 2:42-47); we can too.