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On the brink of adventure!

December 23, 2014 / / 0 Comments

All my life I have been dreaming of my prince charming – that dashing young man who, when our eyes meet across the room, falls madly in love with me, sweeps me off my feet and carries me off to his castle where we live happily ever after.

Crazy right?

But seriously, what girl doesn’t wonder what her future husband looks like, what he did that day, what he’s thinking about? Will he be handsome? Will his eyes be blue, brown or hazel? What will we do? How the heck will we find enough things to talk about?

And now, in just a few days, on Dec. 28, 2014, I’ll be walking down the aisle toward the man of my dreams. I still almost can’t quite believe it. He matches everything on my “Mr. Right” list and is so much more than I could ever imagine or ask for.

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Photo courtesy of Gina Meyers Photography

He’s a strong believer in Christ and is actively growing in his relationship with our heavenly Father, he is kind, caring, fun, has a sense of humor, puts my needs in front of his own, does whatever he can to make me smile, enjoys spending time with my family and friends, welcomed me into his entire life (work, friends, family – there isn’t an area in his life that I’m not privy to) and the list goes on!

You know all those Bible study books (such as “Every Young Woman’s Battle,” “Captivated” and “Lady in Waiting”) that have that chapter about waiting for Mr. Right? How we, as maturing women of God, shouldn’t have to go out and find ourselves a man, that he will come into our lives at the right time. No need to worry, right?

It took me until age 23 to figure out what that means.

At first, I thought it meant that if I lived each day in expectation that I might meet my future husband, putting a little extra work into my appearance and greeting everyone with a smile, the right guy would find me irresistible and ask me out on the spot.

Right?

Nope!

While that was all well and good, the joy wasn’t real.

Living in expectation of something that wasn’t fully guaranteed took a toll on my emotions, leaving me exhausted and grumpy. I started thinking I wasn’t pretty enough or that I wasn’t a good enough Christian to deserve “the right guy.” Thoughts were running through my head every day as I watched my friends enter into relationship, get married and start families of their own.

Why didn’t I have that special someone in my life? All I’ve ever wanted was to be married to a great Christian guy, grow in Christ and raise a family together. What’s so wrong with that and why the heck was it taking so long to find my future husband?

In reality, if we want to become all that God has planned for us to be, to live our lives as the women of God that we are, we can’t live each day wondering when and if we will ever meet our future husband. Like I said before, it gets tiring and disappointing.

To be naturally filled with the joy of the Lord each day, we have to shift our focus from us to God and actively invest in a relationship with our heavenly Father.

When you start focusing on Christ, your whole perspective changes. You start seeing people through Christ’s eyes and your heart begins to overflow with love for others. Your smile will be genuine and your life will begin to fill with joy.

Not the joy that comes from having a super cute guy glance your way, but the joy that comes from an awesome love relationship with the Lord of all!

The kind of joy that makes the little things (a cup of coffee, sunlight, the chirping of birds in the trees, a smile, a chocolate bar, etc.) seem like big things…

… that makes the fact that you’re single fade to the background…

… that makes the sun shine just a little brighter…

… because if you think about it, you’re in an amazing love relationship with the Creator of the universe! And He loves to shower you with blessings that bring a smile to your face…

… and that is more than enough to make your joy complete without too much effort or wear and tear on your emotions 🙂

Trust me – lay down your worry about never marrying and becoming a nun at the throne of grace and leave it there! Walk away from it with your head held high, a smile on your face and the joy of the Lord in your heart….

… and start running full speed toward Jesus Christ. He’ll welcome you with open arms!

And who knows? Your prince charming may be just waiting around the corner…

… mine was 😉

So, dear friends, this will be the last time that I sign off as Ms. Anna Tielmann… because the next time I post, I”ll be known as…

… Mrs. Charles Crossan!!!!!

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There is no one who is youer than you!

September 2, 2013 / / 0 Comments

“What kind of people are we? 
What kind of culture have we created?
What do we want our children to be?”
– I Weep for Miley by Trevin Wax

These are the questions we should be asking ourselves on a daily basis. We may not realize how much of an impact we can have on those around us, but if you stop to think about it; every little Facebook post, every person you meet or text.. every little thing we do leaves a mark on someone’s life, no matter how big or small it may be.

I’m assuming everyone saw (or at least heard about) Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance. She pretty much came out of a robotic monkey’s belly, tongue hanging out and dressed in a sleazy teddy bear leotard, which she tore off half-way through her performance to reveal a nude bikini. Miley then proceeded to make inappropriate gestures and twerked against Robin Thicke during his song “Blurred Lines.”

It breaks my hear to think of all the young girls who had looked up to her during her career as Hannah Montana. What must they be thinking now? Is that performance considered to be cool or shocking to them? Is it the “latest fad” or something not to aspire to?

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says:

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.”

Yes, I understand that we are all human and none of us will ever attain God’s standard of perfection, but that doesn’t give us an excuse to flaunt our sexuality and come across as crass and indecent.

A woman shouldn’t feel like she needs to reveal as much skin as possible in order to feel accepted or noticed. Women have been blinded by this false idea that we can appear “sexy” if we wear low-cut shirts, really short skirts or skin-tight jeans.

A bunch of my friends went to Musikfest in Bethlehem this past month and one of the major things they noticed was not the number of great bands that performed or the delicious food that was being served… the one thing that really stood out to them was the number of young girls (preteens and teenagers alike) who were wearing practically nothing!

Reality check… all these girls are doing is buying into the lie that they’ll be more attractive and socially accepted if they show off their bodies or act a certain way.

What girls need to hear more and more of these days is that they are beautiful just by being themselves. The Bible couldn’t make it clearer in 1 Peter 3:3-4:

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

Our Creator made each of us beautifully unique and special in our own way.. and guess what? No one in this whole wide world of ours is exactly the same! Yeah, there may be billions of people out there, but I’m not kidding you.. you’re the only one who looks like you, acts like you, dresses like you, thinks like you and lives like you.

“Today you are YOU,
that is TRUER than true.
There is NO ONE alive
who is YOUER than YOU!”
-Dr. Seuss

Please don’t fall for the lie that you’re not beautiful unless you slather on the makeup or show off more skin with the clothes that you wear. Remember that our heavenly Father made you the way that you are for a purpose and loves you unconditionally. You are not a mistake!

You are BEAUTIFUL! 🙂

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Women in Literature Panel

April 16, 2011 / / 0 Comments

EDINBORO UNIVERSITY – In honor of Women’s History Month, four students participated in a  “Women in Literature Student Panel” on March 31 in the Frank G. Pogue Student Center’s Multipurpose Room A.

Discussion focused upon  women authors and characters don’t receiving the recognition that they each deserve.

“Recognizing the importance of women in literature… is an important step in a journey to developing a more dynamic view of the role of women in society,” said Morgan Larchuk, vice president of Sigma Tau Delta at Edinboro University.

Corey Saxton, a sophomore English Literature major, analyzed the characters in Virginia Woolf’s book To the Lighthouse and how they display the concept of the ideal woman.

Saxton said that Woolf’s perception of the “perfect woman is… so constituted that she never had a mind or a wish of her own, but preferred to sympathize always with the mind and wishes of others.”

Yet, this could create a problem for women writers who want to publish their own work. According to Saxton, Woolf states: “this perception of women… stands in the way of any female author wishing to express her true thoughts on morals, sexuality and human relations.”

Next, Edward Jackson, a junior secondary education and English major, introduced and spoke about Judy Blume and how her writing impacted literature.

“Overstated moral lessons have caused [Judy Blume] to become the center of censorship controversies,” he said.

“Judy Blume’s books have not only directly touched generations of readers,” Jackson stated, “but have also helped to pave the way for a whole genre of realistic fiction for young people.”

The panel also examined the stereotypes in the stories. Larchuk talked about why stepmothers in fairy tales and other types of stories are seen as “usurpers” (taking a position that doesn’t belong to them) and “deviants” (lack of fitting in with the social norms).

Since the stories were written down a long time ago, many of the ideas from that time are still passed around, she said.

“Women who did not represent the traits of conventional femininity are cast as villains because cleverness, will power and manipulative skill are allied with vanity, shrewishness and ugliness,” Larchuk said.

“While fairy tales may seem innocent and cute, said Larchuk, they send an underlying message to women who don’t conform to expected role women are supposed to play in society.

“But not all independent women are pictured as evil. Megan DeLancey, a sophomore English major, ended the panel with a discussion on one of the best known characters of the Harry Potter’s series: Hermoine Granger.

“Since 1997… one witch has shown what it takes to be an amazing role model to girls and women alike,” said DeLancey. “[She demonstrates] what it means to be herself and stand up for what is right.”

“As readers follow Hermoine through the her years of growing up and learning at Hogwarts, she teaches them that girls don’t need to wait for a man and don’t need one to complete them, DeLancey pointed out.

The panel was held by Sigma Tau Delta in order to show the importance of women in literature and stories. According the program, Women’s History Month is a time when many of us look forward to hearing new ideas and broadening our perspectives on women throughout the world and throughout history. Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

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