Creative Change

2016 has been a beast of a year. 

To say that I'm excited to see it gone is an understatement.

Although I know there's no magic spell or divine release that happens at midnight on New Years, there is an overarching perspective shift that sweeps across the globe.

There's a strong sense of hope, a strong sense of change and the possibility of change.

But you know what change requires?

OWNERSHIP. 

Change requires action.
Change requires work.
Change requires sweat and tears.
Change requires attention. Intentionality. Energy.

Change can kind of really suck sometimes.

Occasionally it's good, rarely it's easy, and mostly it hurts.

For me, 2016 has been a year of intense change.

From moving across the country to across the globe--2016 has growled its teeth at me and I wish I could say every time I stood in defiance, but honestly, I usually hid in my own little pitiful cave of depression and defeat.

I wish I could say every time I looked to my word of the year, "Trust" (ironic, huh?) and calmly rested in the embrace of my Savior.

Can I be honest, though?

Really, I haven't trusted that much.

I know many of you are living what you think are "simple, humble lives" working "every day jobs" or simply "going to school" while I'm off in this great, foreign unknown adventure fighting against one of the most devastating industries in our world, but really? I'm just like you.

I wake up often overwhelmed by the world and my heavy emotions.

I get tired, discouraged and each time I think I've overcome something I feel like I'm drowning in it again a week later.

Life is hard. Life is tiring. Life wears you down.

And if I hear one more person say the generic Christian answer, "just spend more time with Jesus," I think I might just punch them in the face.

You wanna know what's been my grace?

What has helped me and inspired me to keep going and keep fighting when I see nothing but dark ahead of me?

Creativity. 

...I bet you didn't see that answer coming, huh?

You're probably shocked. You're probably thinking, "What?! She's a Christian, evangelical missionary! How is her answer not Jesus?! The answer is always Jesus!"

But hear me out.

I love Jesus. I deeply love Him.
He's the reason I moved across the country then across the globe.
He's the reason a changed degrees from Psychology to Ministry Studies and have a passion for people to live emotionally free lives (isn't funny how He always seems to call us to encourage others to fight against the very things we've battled the most?).
He's the reason I get out of bed in the morning and choose to keep fighting.

But He's provided me with something amazing, an essential part of His very own nature; He's given me, and every person, the ability to create. 

There's something special about putting paint to a canvas, music in the air or words on a page. A heavenly exchange happens. Revelation is given. Life is created. Battles are fought. Love embodies a physical representation.

Opportunities for me to create have been drastically broadened these past 12 months and I am so thankful.

Without the evenings to paint, the accessible guitars and pianos and journals to write in I think I would have gone insane.

Creativity, as fluid as it is, has been my bedrock this past year. 

Because Jesus, revealing Himself through pictures, people, sounds and words has not only given me the energy to push forward but the hope and joy to keep going. 

I have loved not boxing Jesus into a routine but letting Him show me how big and diverse He truly is.

I have loved being inspired by Him.

I have loved being healed by Him.

I have loved being known by Him.


I have loved letting Him simultaneously be my Anchor and Compass through the winds of change. 

I still need to have my hands on the wheel and take responsibility over my surrounding waters; change, like the rest of life, requires us to be present and active and make choices.
In this sea called Life I'm still the first mate of my ship, but He is ultimately the Captain and I can rest in that He knows where to go.

Unknown horizons are always ahead, change is always happening. Hard things happen. That's life.

But our Blessed Assurance is always there giving us new inspirations and gifts to keep leading us home. To keep leading us to Him and to love.

I'm thankful He has given us creativity as an ocean to sail with Him and navigate to Him.


Change can come at me.
Hardships only have as much power as I choose to give them.

I know Who has the victory.
He's had it in 2016 already does in 2017.

All I have to do is keep listening, keep steering, keep creating, and keep living love.


Jesus, 

Your power in victory encourages me to keep fighting, sailing and creating. 
You are the only reason I am still here. You are the very breath in my lungs and I choose to continue to humble myself to be inspired by You through creativity and Your character in those around me. 

Thank you for not being ordinary and stationary. 
Thank you for being in the change yet still incredibly steadfast. 

I am thankful for your faithfulness and continual creative nature. 

I love you. 

Love,
Hanna



The above photos are simple, unedited photos from my Iphone of the waters I came across on my visit to America this month. From the waterway and rivers of Southeast Virginia to the waterfalls, lakes and ocean bays of Northwest Washington, my visit home has been a wonderful time of being encouraged and inspired by family, friends and nature.