Work It, Girl!

Starting at age 8, I danced ballet. After a few years, I was taking classes or rehearsing 5 days a week, sometimes two classes in one day. That was my only exercise for 10 years. My senior year of high school, my knees starting killing me, and after going to a doctor, I discovered I had developed a lovely thing called Ilio-tibial Band Syndrome, meaning the band that runs from under my knee up to my hip started tightening up too much. In the following physical therapy, I learned that I am physiologically a bit twisted, literally. The bone in the top of my leg doesn't line up straight with the bones in the bottom of my leg, making my knee twist every time I take a step, etc. All of this to say, I stopped dancing (except for a few low-key classes occasionally), and therefore, I stopped working out.

I proceeded to go to college, where I lost weight from walking to classes. Then, I proceeded to move home to get married, where I gained weight from eating more and walking less. I'm back to a little over my high school weight, which isn't a crisis, but I started feeling a little blah, you know? So last week, I made a decision. After almost two years of laziness, broken up by occasional walks, I have decided to get healthy. It is not primarily to get in shape, although that is definitely a contributing factor. Rather, I have decided that I want to be healthy. If I lose a couple of pounds, great, but mainly, I just want to feel like I am taking care of my body. After all, I want to be a doctor...keeping people healthy will one day be my job, so a few bike rides can only increase my integrity in my future profession!

So to get over my fear/hatred of working out, I've decided to change my perspective. Working out is no longer to get in shape (ie to look good)...it is to be healthy. Cardio is good for your heart and the rest of your body. I ride the stationary bike 10.5 miles 3 days a week, and I'm taking yoga at school three other days during the week. Both of these activities are good for my body, my mind, and they're easy on my knees. Plus, working out is a much more productive and positive way to spend my free time. Instead of watching a tv show, I can go to the gym for 30 minutes. And at the end of the day, that feels like a much better way to do things!

Giving it Our All

I have been very challenged lately to stop skating through life. It seems so easy at times to go through days, weeks, and months even without taking stock of your life, without really committing yourself to anything of value. God has been banging on my heart with a cry to get real, to stop going through the motions of life, and to start really LIVING!

We are doing a series at church right now called "Live Like You Were Dying," and it challenges us to reevaluate our priorities and our life's focus. Stop giving 90% to what you are doing: to your relationships, to your ministry, to your causes, to your God. If you believe something, take a stand. If you love someone, live like it. If you want to make a change, do so. We only have this one life to make a difference. If you have dreams that are big enough for you to reach on your own, dream bigger. God is more magnificent, more powerful, more loving than anything we can know...give your life over to him, totally and without reservation. Let Him grow your dreams. Let Him build your relationships. Let Him guide your days, giving every second to him. There's not a moment to waste. It's time for us to step up to the plate and to knock one out of the park!

"For with You is the spring of life. In Your light shall we see light."

-Psalm 36:9

"For life is a tenuous thing: fragile, fleeting. Don't wait for tomorrow. Be here now! Be here now! Be here now!"

-Anonymous

Burn, Baby, Burn!

Last night, we "spent" our rain check from New Year's Eve. Every New Year's Eve, my sister-in-law Melissa's family all gets together, plays bunco, eats food, and burns Christmas trees in a giant bon fire. This year, Mikey, me, and Oscar and Maria Sanchez were invited to join the Combs in their New Year's festivities, but sadly, it rained. So while we got to play bunco and gorge ourselves on dips and desserts, all of the Christmas trees were safe. So we've been waiting for it to dry up a bit around here, and last night, we had the bonfire with a bunch of friends! Chad (Mikey's bro and Melissa's husband) found over twenty more trees yesterday, and let me tell you, these trees may burn fast, but they are HOT!!! I think mine and Mikey's made the hugest, fastest fire because we only watered the poor guy like four or five times in the whole month that we had him! :) lol. All of the trees definitely kept us more than warm for the hours we were out there enjoying the show :)

If you look past the fire, you can see Oscar and Carly trying to stay on the bench the whole night!

Me and Melissa :)

With my wonderful husband :)

Running the Race

Growing up, I always knew about God, and I got to a point in my life, around the end of middle school, when I realized that the God I'd always learned about was worth living for. I decided to devote myself to serving him, and while I was far from perfect, I kept Him as a very central figure. Then, I grew up some more, and I got tired of being looked at as the "perfect" one. I was sick of people pointing out my smallest mistakes because they thought they were so rare. I decided that people needed to realize that I am just as human as everyone else, and I stopped trying so hard to be like God.

I didn't stop loving God or seeking Him. I just stopped watching myself so closely; I stopped praying so ardently to look more like him. And my lack of diligence was rewarded with a lack of godliness. When we seek God, He is there to be found. But when we ignore God, we fail to recognize not only His presence in our daily lives, but also His grandness. So I got my wish, and I stopped being labeled so strictly as the "goody two shoes" of any group, but I also fell out of step with the Holy Spirit (a concept originating in the Bible and brought back to my attention by Francis Chan's book Forgotten God). What I've since realized is that we do not need to try to reveal our human nature. It is always there with us, drawing us to live life for ourselves, to worry about our own way, to forget the greatness of God's way. And while God is also always there, He needs more of an invitation into our lives than our own self interests do. That is why it is so important to actively seek God, to look to the Holy Spirit for guidance, to pray wholeheartedly and on every occasion. If we are claiming to be children of God, let's embrace and try to honor our Father, our Abba, with our whole lives, with every breath! He is perfect and holy and magnificent, and He is definitely worth our all!

So if you're like I was (and sometimes can still be), I just want to send out a word of encouragement to keep running the race and fighting the good fight. How much better to live for the God of the Universe than for our self-interests or a normal reputation! God is close at hand. His Spirit is alive in our hearts and lives. We just need to listen to His guidance and to seek His face (not our own!). And, in the end, the race will be well worth it!

"Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is"

-Ephesians 5: 15-17

"The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace"

-Romans 8:6

"I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize"

-1 Corinthians 9:26-27

A New Venture

Dear Readers,

First, I want to start off with thanking all of you for your interest in the life and thoughts of a young, and often confused and learning, woman. Thank you for comments that encourage and support me in my pursuits and in my ideas. Thank you for comments that challenge and sometimes unsettle me. Thank you for joining me in my life's journey. I pray that you are all surrounded equally or more with friends and family that love, challenge, and support you daily. And more desperately, I pray that each of you are filled with God's Holy Spirit, who loves, guides, renews, encourages, and emboldens you!

And now, dear readers, I would like to ask you to join me in a new venture. God has been breaking my heart over the past year and a half, as I have searched and cried and prayed over finding a ministry in my new place at Northwood church and as the wife of an amazing man. What I would like from you is your prayer. Please join me in praying for guidance, both for me and for the church as a whole, that those of us who claim to follow Christ would truly be led by His Spirit and walking in His Way! I have been earnestly praying this for some time, and now I feel that God is starting to reveal a way for me to serve in my new position. Years ago, when Mikey and I weren't even dating, he had a house church one night. At his apartment with other young guys, he and some friends led a night of worship with a short message and discussion. From praying and reading my bible, this version of worship really resonated with me as a real and vital way of seeking God and encouraging one another. So...I would like to have a service at our apartment sometime soon! This is not a replacement for other services, but rather, an extension of worship. I don't know whether this will be a one-time thing or a more regular occurrence. I don't know when it will be. I don't know exactly what we will do or how it will work. But I am asking you all to join me in praying for guidance, in knowing how best to open our home, how best to encourage those who come, and how to open the night to the Holy Spirit, not to our own designs.

Thank you again for your love and support!

Love, Anna

Best Day Ever

Today has been a great day! I slept in, got picked up by Mikey to go to bfast at the church, finished my surprise present for Mikey, gave the present to Mikey because I'm not good at waiting, put up my new curtains from my mom because I'm not good at waiting, chilled with Mikey, beat Mikey at scrabble and dots on my ipod, watched the Steelers beat the Packers in the LAST second of the game, and went to to TBonz to celebrate our Year-and-a-Half-Aversary!!! Whew. THAT is the epitome of an awesome day...relaxing but productive and full of time with my amazing husband!

Here are the super cute curtains my mom got me for Christmas :) I have some other really nice ones from my grandmother, but I have to wait to unwrap those! I love the big pattern of these with our plain brown bed...plus I just LOVE green!

Here is a picture of the surprise I got Mikey. He asked for a picture of me (and without himself-he's so silly!) for his desk, so I asked our friend Alexa (who took our anniversary pictures) to take a few pics of me at the park where Mikey and I first met. She did such a great job that I picked a few more to put in this other frame for our apartment...haha :) I felt silly, but she's so artistic and had some great ideas!

And, finally, here are some pictures of Mikey and I on our date! We went to Tbonz, which is where we went for our very first date :) We sat at a table right near the one we sat at on that first date! We had a great time talking, reminiscing, and enjoying great food...I am so lucky to be married to such a funny, smart, and fun man! :)