Happy New Year!

It's the new year! Anna and Sarah discuss some of their resolutions as well as answer a few questions about the year to come.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey guys, welcome back to our Worship Warriors podcast.

(00:06):
Hello and welcome back to our Worship Warriors podcast.
We're your hosts, I'm Anna.
I'm Sarah.
And today we're going to be discussing our New Year's resolutions as well as having,
we have some fun questions to discuss, don't we?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We're just answering them on the spot.
It's like a, I found like a blog thing online that this lady had questions and I just printed

(00:28):
about and cut a few up.
Sarah knows what these questions are, I don't.
I haven't really thought about much of them though.
Like one of them I remember reading and I was like, I don't have an answer for this
and I still don't.
So we'll just have fun with it.
Okay.
Yeah.
That's fun.
We're here with a video podcast.
We're moving on up in the world in 2024.
I know.

(00:48):
I'm very excited.
Okay, so it's January 1st.
Well, when we're recording this.
Yeah.
It'll be the 8th, I think is next Monday.
So today's January 1st, otherwise known as Dan Hutchinson's birthday.
That's her dad.
Oh yeah.
It's also New Year's.
Yeah.

(01:09):
Okay.
So I want to read a verse and then we can get started.
So last night I was doing, I was praying through Psalm 31 and I got kind of just like, I think
I'm yelling, sorry.
You said excited for the New Year.
I was really loud.
Anyway, so I was reading or praying through Psalm 31 and God kind of like stuck these

(01:36):
verses out to me and it kind of was like, these are my verses for the year.
I didn't really look for verses for the year like some people do.
Yeah.
But he just kind of like highlighted these for me.
What'd you say?
Seven, eight and then 24.
Okay.
So it's Psalm 31 verses seven and eight and then 24.
And this is the ESD version.
It says, I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love because you have seen my affliction.

(02:01):
You have known the distress of my soul and you have not delivered me into the hand of
the enemy.
You have set my feet in a broad place.
And then 24 says, be strong and let your heart take courage.
All you who wait for the Lord.
And this like really stood out to me because I recently went through this, it was a very
short season, but it felt long in the moment.
A very short season of like distancing myself from God.

(02:24):
And it, especially like whenever you have like an online ministry like this, everyone
sees it.
Like because the further you get away from God, the more generic and not as genuine your
content sounds.
Like you can look at some of our Christmas videos and I just was not there.
Like I didn't even do one of them because I was like, my heart is not in it.
I'm thinking about deleting another one of them because I just like, I was so far from

(02:48):
God compared to what I have been.
Yeah.
But I felt it and it affected like every single aspect of my life.
And so then recently I like within the past couple of weeks, God just gave like really
in the past week, but I guess overall it started a couple of weeks ago.
I was like, God, I miss you.

(03:08):
I need you.
My heart needs you, but my flesh is weak and I just need help.
And last night when I was praying through this song, I, the reason that these stuck
out to me was because it says, I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love.
Because even though it wasn't very long of a season, like when you look at it, it was
really only like two or three, like two weeks, I think, even that, but it felt like forever

(03:30):
in the moment.
Like he stayed steadfast in his love for me, even though I was so far gone from him compared
to what I have been in a long time.
And then verse eight, and you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy.
He literally could have said, okay, well Sarah, if you're going to turn away from me, bye.
He could have, but he did it.
He stayed steadfast in his love and he didn't deliver me into the hand of the enemy.

(03:55):
And then verse 24, be strong.
So this is telling myself, Sarah, be strong, let your heart take courage, or so Sarah,
while you wait for the Lord.
And so those verses kind of just were like, okay, that's my 2024 theme.
I need to remember that God is with me.
And even when I distance myself, he is staying strong and I need to run back to him because

(04:17):
he's always loving me and he's not going to hand me over to the enemy.
I am secure in him and I need to live that out because everything else is meaningless
compared to him.
And so I need to stay strong and let my heart take courage while I wait on him.
Well, so yeah, because he is God with us.
No, that's funny because yesterday, like I said, I'm taught the pre-k Sunday school and

(04:42):
really I had had a rough day on Saturday, just with like a lot of things coming to a
head for me.
And it was bad.
There are two, my mom was upset with me because like I had been, I didn't pick up a package
off the porch.
And I said I would, but it turned into this whole big thing and we're fine now and everything.

(05:03):
But like, it was just, and then I, and then with my job at church, I just realized that
I had like let something drop that I shouldn't have let drop and it was on me.
And so it was, it was just rough and I felt terrible.
Like I felt like a failure.
I was like, I can't do anything right.
I can't focus.
I can't do what I'm supposed to do because this is something that my, like the children's

(05:25):
ministry director had asked me to do like weeks ago and I didn't do it.
And cause I just forgot.
And she had to talk to me about it.
And it was, so that was like one phone conversation after the other.
Like first the ministry director talked to me and then I called my mom because like,
I was fine too after her name was Christina, after she talked to me and I was like, it's
going to be okay.

(05:45):
Like I can do better.
You know, this is one time thing, but it's, I'm going to do better.
And then my mom texted me and she was like, you didn't pick up the package off the front
porch.
And that was just like this job that broke the camel's back.
And like I, my friend, my friend, Alexa was with me and I like, just started crying and
I was like, I forgot to pick up the package off the front porch.
I can't do anything right.

(06:05):
And I called my mom and my mom was upset about it.
And so anyway, it was a whole thing.
So I got like two lectures in a row that night.
I was not doing well.
So I went to church on Sunday feeling discouraged and kind of embarrassed to even like face
the ministry director because I knew I let her down and like, she's a woman that means
a lot to me and I love and respect her so much.

(06:27):
And I just know, I knew I had let her down and I said I was going to do something.
I didn't do it.
And I felt so discouraged.
And then I was not even going to be in big church where I, you know, like the main service
where I felt like I was going to be encouraged.
And so I was kind of like, well, and now I, you know, I'm not going to get really spiritually
fed today because I'm going to have to go teach preschoolers.

(06:47):
Well the Lord, the Lord works through anything, even like small children, Sunday school lessons.
And as I was teaching this lesson, I hadn't really looked through it before.
But as I was like reading through it, it was exactly what I needed.
And there was also a video that I showed the kids and it was talking about how like, if
you feel like you've messed up or you feel like, you know, because I really felt like

(07:11):
I messed up Saturday night and you feel like, you know, you've gone too far, you've sinned
too much or you've whatever, like God loves you no matter what and his love is steadfast
and unchanging for you.
And then also like the main lesson that I taught them, like I read to them was about
how God is with us and we can be strong and courageous.
And it just really, I don't know, so encouraging to me because I was like, wow, this is exactly

(07:33):
what I needed to like as a reminder that I can move on from this.
I can do better through Christ.
And my big problem was that I hadn't been in Christ like I should have been.
My relationship with Christ, like the month of December was like steady on and off, but
like the last two weeks or so it's not been great.
And I've not been in my Bible like I should or anything.

(07:55):
And I really feel like the rest of my life shows the results of that as well.
And so, I don't know, it's just crazy that that's your verse because like the verse we
ended on I think with the kids was the Sunday School lesson had me read them, you know,
Be Strong and Courageous, the verse from Joshua.
And so, yeah.

(08:17):
That's good.
Yeah.
So really, I mean, if you feel like you've messed up or you feel like you're too far
from God, you're not.
No, yeah.
No, just get back up again the next day and do better.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, we're going to kind of talk just like surface level, talk about near resolutions
a little bit because that's obviously a hot topic.

(08:39):
Yeah.
Right now.
So, Anna, we haven't discussed this ahead of time.
Not really, no.
No.
So, what I just realized, sorry for you OCD people, I have red socks on with striped with
blue tie dye.
Well, sorry, deal with it.
Well, and I've got just white socks on because I like to be aesthetic.

(09:00):
I'm like my friend.
They're off white right here.
They are.
They're dirty on the bottom.
I'm just kidding.
I'm teasing you.
Really?
Well, shoot.
I'm feeling insecure.
Call me out.
It's fine.
It's fine.
Don't cry.
Don't cry.
No.
Having a mental breakdown with the first video podcast.
I already had that Saturday night.

(09:21):
Yeah, we're good.
You're good for a few days.
Yeah, I am.
What were we?
Oh, yeah.
What's your opinion on as a Christian, a young Christian, what's your opinion, your personal
opinion on New Year resolutions?
I mean, I think they're good to have in place, right?
I think they help me a lot.
I don't know that I have necessarily a negative or positive opinion about them.

(09:48):
I do think that you should constantly be seeking to better yourself in the Lord all throughout
the year and not just at the beginning of the year.
But the beginning of the year is a good place to start.
Yeah, I agree.
Yeah.
No, I've been really thinking in depth about this for a few weeks, but especially the past

(10:10):
few days, I'm making notes for... This podcast is coming out next Monday.
A few days before this on Friday, there's going to be a video on our YouTube channel
and I'm in depth discussing, based off of my own personal beliefs and opinions, about
New Year resolutions and the world's take on them and how it's unhealthy.

(10:33):
But also they can be really good, but you have to remember that your New Year resolutions,
the ultimate goal should be to grow closer to God and glorify him in all of your resolutions.
Right.
That's the gist, but there's a lot to it.
I've been really thinking about it a lot more because of that.
I think this is the first year that I'm actually excited about my New Year resolutions because

(10:53):
they're realistic, first of all.
You don't need to be committing to things that you know you've never even gotten close
to doing.
You need to be realistic about it.
If you want to read more, but you usually only read maybe once, one book a year, okay,
we'll have a resolution of reading three books this year, max.
Don't say one book a month if you don't ever read, or maybe two books even.

(11:17):
So I don't know.
Or if you just don't have time to read, but you want to read more, just say two books
this year, three books this year.
Be realistic.
So I think because I was so realistic about my resolutions and because of how much I've
grown closer to God and the wisdom he's given me over the past even just a couple years,
my relationship with him is so different from what it used to be.

(11:39):
So it's the first year that my resolutions reflect that, and I'm really excited about
it.
So, yeah.
So I think they're good to have because it does bring structure to your life too.
Brings dreams, visions, and I believe that all those things are biblical.
I just think that as long as we're glorifying God with them, there's not a problem.

(12:02):
And I also think a lot of people have them, and I'm going to really cover this in the
video so I really don't want to talk about it a lot more, but I think discontentment
is a big motivation motivator for a lot of people's resolutions because they're like,
oh, I'm not content with my life, I'm not content with my body, I'm not content with
people's opinions of me, so I'm going to change myself by doing all of these things.

(12:25):
And I think that not everybody and not every resolution, I feel like that's a good, like
one of the biggest motivators.
And that's not healthy either because we should be content in that peace with what God's given
us and build upon that.
Well, I mean, it shouldn't be so much about us changing ourselves as much as it is allowing
the Holy Spirit to change us.
Right.
Yeah.

(12:46):
Yeah.
As long as we're glorifying God and growing closer to him as we do that, he's going to
change us into who we're supposed to be.
Oh yeah, what are you, were we going to discuss what our, yeah.
Okay, what are yours?
My resolutions?
So last year, I attempted to read the Bible in a year, and that didn't happen.
Unfortunately, I stopped in like April.

(13:07):
Okay, so just make it to, no.
If I make it to May this year, I'll be happy.
No, we're going to go hard, Anna.
Make it to December.
No, I know.
I'm just joking because that is something I want to do.
Like I do, I want to read through the Bible this year.
Last year, I mean, I said I wanted to, but this year I'm like, no, you really, Anna,

(13:27):
you got to do it.
Meaning that the reason my friend Kelsey, so a bunch of us at my college ministry were
a part of this plan and only like three of us, not including me, made it to the end of
the year.
But one of my friends who made it, she listened to it every day because she was like, even
if like I can't sit down, I don't have time to sit down and physically read it, she had

(13:50):
been listening to it like in her car every single day.
And so she made sure she got it in somehow.
And she was like, listening to it is better than like not doing it at all.
And I was like, man, that's so true.
And it's not like she used that as her primary thing every day.
But like, there were times when she did.
Yeah, it is better than nothing because you're still hearing God's word.
You're still absorbing God's word.
So I mean, I think that's going to be really helpful to me as I attempt to do this.

(14:15):
And then I think for me, last year with the reading through the Bible, I was attempting
to do too much per day.
So I was not only reading it, I was like going to journal over it.
I was going to do all these things over it.
And I was going, I was going, I mean, you can never go too in depth with scripture,
but really I was kind of burning myself out.
Right.
Because I was trying to.
You weren't being realistic about it.

(14:36):
Exactly.
And so, yeah.
And I think as long as I'm reading it, absorbing it, praying over it, then, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's good.
One of mine.
So I have, if you were to look at my list, it looks like a lot of resolutions and there
are a lot, but some of them are like something that you do one time.

(14:58):
So like for instance, I another, a skill that I want to be introduced to, because I've only
done this when I was a kid and I really don't count it for different reasons.
But anyway, was pottery.
But I don't have time realistically with my life right now.
I work full time from home.
I also am a stay at home mom on top of that.
I have a husband that is obviously priority over hobbies.

(15:18):
And I have this ministry.
Like it's just not realistic for me to consistently be doing pottery because I'm not going to
go out and buy pottery stuff.
One, because who knows if I'm even going to want to stick to it.
Right.
So there's no use in learning it at home right now.
But anyway, so like one of them is literally just this.
In the whole entire year, I need to go to at least one pottery class to learn how to

(15:39):
throw on the wheel.
But that's it.
Just once.
Now if I go more, like I can still go more.
Yeah.
My only suggestion is to go at least once just to like actually take the first initiative
to do something with it.
And then next year if I want to do more, and I can, then I will.
And so that's what I mean by like some of them are really small like that.

(16:00):
But I think for me spiritually, as far as scripture goes, I am only resolving to do
12 books this year.
And some of them are shorter and some of them are longer.
So like it won't be a book a month because one book might take two months.

(16:21):
But then one is only like four chapters and I may not study super in depth over some of
the chapters.
So it might only take a couple of weeks to get through that or whatever.
And so I'm not saying like a book a month, but it's just 12 books at least.
And also my other thing is this is the biggest one out of my spiritual ones because I have
like three or four spiritual ones.

(16:42):
I have to look, but anyway, is now it's going to sound like a big goal, but then wait till
the second part so you know that I made it realistic for me because I know myself.
So the goal overall is to spend time quality time with God every single day.
But to make it more realistic for me so I don't get burnt out.

(17:04):
Now I'm not saying well, let me finish this first and then I'll say I made it realistic
by spending I want to spend at least 10 minutes of time just talking to God in prayer, whether
I'm praying through the Psalm, writing out my prayer, just talking to him randomly like
about random stuff going on throughout my day.
I really like praying to the Psalm because of a lot of reasons, but it really is beneficial

(17:26):
and it's one of the things that has helped me grow tremendously in my faith.
So 10 minutes of praying, 10 minutes of talking to God and 10 minutes of being in his word.
I can do more.
I could do 30.
I could do an hour or whatever, but minimum 10 minutes a day.
And I split it up.
So I have like a morning routine and a night routine that I do.

(17:47):
But it's very simple.
I have three morning musts and three nightly musts.
And my three morning musts are like do my skincare and brush my teeth.
And the second one is drink some water in the morning, like drink a cup of water or
something, just chug some water.
Because sometimes I just forget to drink water and I can tell the difference in my body.
So drink some water.
And then the third one is spend at least five minutes of praying through a song.

(18:08):
That's it.
That's super easy stuff.
Like I just get up, go brush my teeth, do that, chug some water.
And then once I get my skincare and stuff done or whatever, I just come sit down with
my Bible either at my desk or a year and I pray for at least five minutes.
And sometimes I even set a timer.
And then when the timer goes off, if I have time and I want to continue, then I'll continue.
That's it.
And then at night, I do the other five minutes right before bed.

(18:30):
So it's split up.
And then the 10 minutes of Bible study time I do right before bed because that's part
of my nightly must.
My nightly must is teeth and skincare, 10 minutes in my Bible, five minutes of prayer.
Yeah.
Very simple.
And so that's how I'm going to do my best to spend time with God every single day.
And then also like the other thing is, so that's my like resolution or whatever, my

(18:53):
big one.
As far as like throughout the day though, like I'm not limiting my time with God to
just those few minutes.
Right.
I just want to clarify that.
Like if you are driving in the car or maybe you have a screaming toddler, you know, a
toddler screaming at you and you know, you just need some time with God, like, but you
can't get away.
OK, I literally, I kid you not, I have literally several times just like Markham, we're going

(19:15):
to pray and you know, he doesn't understand what's going on.
He's not even one and a half.
He's almost one and a half.
But you know, it'll be crying and fussy and moody and I just need God.
Like I need his strength, I need his help.
So we just start praying in the middle of the living room while he's crying at me.
Like you can still talk to God in the mundane things and the crazy things.
Spend time with God all day, but that's my resolution.

(19:36):
But you made them my non-Christian one.
Well, I have a few.
Oh, I did too.
But one of them is relearning basic sentence structure in Spanish and learning more terms
so that I can have more basic conversation.
Because whenever mom and I used to go to Guatemala for mission trips, I used to be able to understand
more.

(19:56):
I couldn't really speak it, but I could understand here and there, like pick up on things.
But I am way out of practice and I'm on Duolingo and I have like an 18 day streak.
Go share.
Let's make that a 318 day streak.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.

(20:17):
So those are mine.
What's the rest of yours?
I want to get better at crocheting.
I'm currently working on a blanket.
I have one whole like row of squares done.
So I only have to do that 11 more times.
That's exciting.
Yeah.
That took like three hours.
I only have like only 33 more hours.
Just take off work a week.
Yeah.
And I'll have it done.
Just four days though.

(20:37):
Like you don't have to take off, you know, just, you know.
Just crochet all day.
Yeah.
Until I get it finished.
No.
So honestly, I'd like to do more than just that.
But like, let's be realistic.
If I get that blanket done this year, I'll call that a win.
But I also do want to get more into like doing patterns to like, you know, you don't, y'all
don't care about crocheting, but like making like, I know how to make granny squares.

(20:59):
I want to make like, I want to make like nicer, more complicated things.
So we'll see.
That's awesome.
Follow some patterns.
Dude, you could make that and like sell it as a little sign.
I know.
Like get these on Etsy.
And you could like make your overall theme like a faith based theme.
And then put your little like thank you cards or whatever and put like the gospel on the

(21:20):
back.
Yeah.
I'll help you, Ava.
Okay.
So this is a new business center for our ministry.
Yeah.
Merch coming soon.
I'm crocheted in the next 20 years.
And then another one of my resolutions is actually to read more.
Because like, obviously, most importantly, when I read God's Word every day.

(21:42):
But once I've done that, I would like to do more reading for fun as well.
Because I used to read so much when I was younger.
Like so much.
Like I would devour books.
And I, she really would.
I hate to say it, I was that kid who was in like science class and I like hid my like
fun book behind my science book.

(22:02):
Don't think Brother Ellis appreciated that.
I hope he listens to this.
And if you are listening, I'm very sorry.
He probably doesn't care now.
It's been how many years?
I don't even know.
A long time.
Yeah.
Like 10 years since I was in eighth grade.
But still.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
We were in eighth grade 10 years ago.
And I still feel bad about it.

(22:23):
And I'm like, you know, he probably really, you know, didn't appreciate that.
He's probably more mad about, do you remember what I did?
He wrote the class notes.
Yeah.
And I thought that they were so, Brotus, Brother Otis, he would write the notes or he would
have notes up from the previous period because he would be teaching a different class.
And then one of us would come in, we would erase them for him because it would be like

(22:46):
all over the board.
So it was like from side to side, top to bottom, he would have notes.
So we would help him by erasing the board.
Yeah.
And he would write new notes for the next class.
Yeah.
And it was like a little step that he didn't have to do.
I remember that.
I just assumed that it was like it was every single day, but apparently he got done early
with his previous class or something and wrote the notes for our class all over the board.

(23:09):
And I went in and he erased them.
And he just literally walked in.
Do you remember this?
He walked in, looked at the board and he went.
Yeah, I remember that.
I do.
And he put his head against the board and then he stood up.
He put down the chalk and said, all right, we're having a study hall.
Get out your homework and you can just do your homework.
And then he sat down at the desk and I felt so bad.

(23:31):
So bad.
That was, I thought it was like one of my biggest regrets.
Yeah.
I'm just stuck with you, huh?
All these years later.
You did.
I made me so upset.
So I think you're fine, Anna.
Yeah.
I think I covered your sin.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Of like reading behind my side.
Yeah.
So yeah.
But I would love to do more.
I have shelves full of books.
Okay.

(23:52):
I'm my father's daughter.
Dan, if you should see my dad's book collection, it's insane.
But I haven't read most of them and I even have them inside.
Like I have my Christian fiction and my Christian historical fiction and I have my fantasy and
I have my classics and like they're there.
I just gotta read them.
So I would like to read more instead of like being on my phone or like scrolling social

(24:15):
media for hours because I know like neither of those things are necessarily like edifying
or whatever.
But I mean arguably at least I'm expanding maybe my mind a little bit more through reading
rather than just like scrolling Instagram, you know?
And then another one of mine is I would like to finish writing a book this year.

(24:38):
I like to write.
I've written.
You're putting it out there, Anna.
I know.
I know.
She has started other books though.
Yeah, I've written a book.
It's just that's not I'm gonna have to rewrite it because it's not very good because I wrote
it when I was like 18, 19.
I remember in high school though you wrote one and you sent it to me.
Oh yeah.
Some of the chapters I read it and it was really good.
I'm not just saying that either.
But I think you only sent me a few chapters.

(24:58):
Well because I never finished that one.
I started it way back in high school.
Was Alan one of the names?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I remember.
It was in historical fiction.
Like they went through, you know, depression, World War II.
It's intense.
If I remember the name, you know I liked it.
Man.
Maybe, you know, 2024 I'm going to become a bestselling author.
I'm working on a really exciting like Christian fiction, historical fiction right now.

(25:21):
I'm very excited about it.
So I got like nine chapters down.
24,000 words I think I'm at.
So that's like a third of a book.
Yeah.
We'll see.
Good job, Anna.
Yeah.
And then my other last, I think my last big resolution is I want to be more intentional
with my kids at work and treating like, because obviously I work at my church and children's

(25:44):
ministry and like that's like obviously ministry, but I am privileged and blessed enough to
work at a Christian daycare.
And I know I need to be more intentional with like sharing the gospel with my kids at work
and just like giving them a foundation of like loving the Lord at this early age.
And so I want to be more intentional with like our circle times, including Jesus and

(26:06):
more of my things that I do with them.
So yeah, that's good.
Those are probably my big, oh yeah.
And then also I'm going to get my life together this year.
That's easy.
That's the biggest one.
That's the easiest one, Anna.
No, because I'm someone, I saw Sarah on the phone earlier.
I'm someone who takes on too much on her plate.
And so I'm really praying about some things that I might need to give up for a time.

(26:33):
So this is my last podcast actually.
I was not aware of that.
That was a joke.
I will not be doing this.
It's okay.
I'm their favorite anyway.
Sorry.
I just think I'm funny.
That's all.
But I'm really working on prioritizing my time.
It's unfortunate though, because like everything I'm involved in is actually ministry.

(26:54):
So like which ministry do you want me to step back on?
Yeah.
So not this one.
Are we ready?
Yeah.
Okay.
So I have some questions in this cute little hat here.
I think there's 14 of them, but then I dropped some.
So hopefully I picked them all up.
But we don't have, but we're not doing all of them.
We can probably just do like five and see how long it's been.

(27:17):
Also the sun is already starting to go down.
That's 445.
And it's 445.
I love this time of year, but I also hate it.
It's okay.
December 21st is the shortest day of the year.
So they're only getting longer from here.
Okay.
So, so questions.
You want to go first?
Sure.
Okay.
Pick one.
Anyone?
I guess we'll both answer them.
Yeah.

(27:38):
Let's see.
What are you most grateful for from this past year?
I'll go if you're still thinking.
I feel like a lot of my friendships were very much deepened this year and I'm thankful for
the godly friends that the Lord has given me.
Last night I posted, you know, on Instagram people do like the, you saw my story, do the

(28:00):
recap of the year.
I never really posted on Instagram, but I was like, eh, I'll go ahead and be one of
those basic girlies and do it.
And so I did.
I put together a little collage of my past year and like looking back, I was like, oh
my gosh, like look at how many friends the Lord has blessed.
And it's not like, it's not like I have a ton of friends, but like the, you know, the
ones you have are really good.
Yes.
The ones I have are really good.

(28:21):
Yeah.
That's good.
So yeah, I'm thankful for the quality godly friendships that the Lord has given me.
And in fact, a year ago, I was talking to one of my friends, Natasha, a year ago, she
and I were not close.
Like we weren't, like we were friends, but we weren't like whatever.
And then this year I'm going to be moving in with her.
Yeah.
Like that's just crazy how the Lord works.

(28:41):
So that's what I'm grateful for.
Like that's not the only thing, but it's one of the, I don't even know if it's like the
thing I'm most, it's one of the things I'm most grateful for though.
I'll say that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm most grateful for, but one of my like top two or three is my relationship with my
husband and where it's come in this year.

(29:02):
It just, I don't know, like my appreciation and my fondness of my husband has grown so
much the closer I've gotten to God.
And he's literally like my favorite human in the entire world.
And that like not-
No, second only to me.
Yeah.
Right.
Anna's number one, you know.
I'm just joking.
No offense, mom.

(29:22):
I'm just kidding.
Oh yeah.
Sorry, Ms. Kristy.
Yeah.
No, I don't know.
I just like, I don't know.
I'm not like a very affectionate person naturally.
And like, not even, I'm not even talking about physically.
I'm talking about like even with like words of affirmation and like my, just being fond
of people to the point where I genuinely want to see them every day.

(29:44):
Like I literally don't get tired of my husband ever.
And I get so excited for him to come home from work.
Like he leaves a few hours later and I miss him.
And we actually spend time together.
It's not like we don't ever see each other.
We see each other like a lot.
And so, I don't know.
I feel like, I mean, I know for a fact that that's because of my relationship with God

(30:05):
too.
Because whenever like the further away from God I am in my relationship with God, the
less, not that I'm not fond of Casey, but like-
You get what I mean though.
He's not good with God.
She hates Casey's-
Get out.
No, I'm just kidding.
No.
And so yeah, I don't know.
That's like, so I'm very grateful for my relationship with him for this year.
Or this year.

(30:26):
That's like probably my, one of the things I'm most grateful for.
For sure.
Yeah.
It must be nice.
I'll thank you some one, Anna.
What are three words that best describe your year?
So 2023.
I have one.
What's your word?

(30:46):
Yeah.
It was so hard.
It wasn't the hardest year for sure.
I think 2018, 2019 was the hardest for me, but it was, it was hard.
Yeah.
Mine was probably, here, here's my favorite.
Several car problems.
That's a good one.
Because y'all back in-

(31:10):
How many cars have you gone through, Anna?
I'm on my third, I got a new car.
Did I tell you?
Since the last time, since three weeks ago?
Yeah.
I got a new car the other day.
December 26th, 8th.
Is it because you hit the deer?
Yeah.
My car was totaled.
Okay.
So back in April, I had just gotten a new car too, like in November from my, like, you

(31:30):
know, I had gotten my parents, yeah, I got my parents' old car.
And so then like, or my mom's old car.
So it was like new to me, right?
And I'd just gotten it in November.
And then in April, I was driving home from my college, like the college ministry meeting.
And I even left early that night and everything, but it was raining.
I was on the phone with Sarah and I hydroplained.

(31:51):
And I wasn't going, like, I was going like 60 in the forward lane.
She was focusing.
I was being careful.
It was through Bluetooth.
Like I even was like, and I just like, I hydroplained.
And I had just put new tires on this car too.
And that was like, it was just like a freak thing.
That's also the night I got to sit in an ambulance for the first time and a sheriff's car for
the first time ever.
So very exciting.
Not to make this about me, but I almost got hit trying to get to Anna.

(32:16):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because it's crazy.
And traffic was crazy.
Yeah.
And it was on the side of the interstate too.
So I had to like pull over.
Yeah.
And Sarah, because Sarah was on the phone with me and she, yeah, she came to me.
Well, and I was only like 10 minutes away and her mom was further.
So I got there first.
Yeah.
Anyway.
And she even had like, she had Casey call my mom and like, it was just a whole, it
was a whole thing.
Yeah.
So yeah, that happened in April.

(32:38):
And then in October I was on my way to see my friend Ruby and her husband who lived down
in Conway.
And I was driving down there and my transmission broke down, got my transmission fixed, had
to leave my car in Russellville.
10 days after I get my car back, I hit a deer.
So because my car from the April accident was totaled.

(32:59):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
And then, so I got a new car in May and then that car.
And then you hit the deer.
10 days after I got my car back in last month.
So you're on your third car.
I just got a new car the other day though.
And this one's your third.
This is my third car.
So.
That's a record.
Did she get some money for this record?
I think everything that happened to me, like I'm not saying I'm a perfect driver.

(33:22):
None of it was my fault though.
Like it wasn't, it was all just like freak things.
Like honestly.
And so I think the Lord is just like, Hey, just trust me.
Yeah.
My mom and I were talking about the other day when we were going to pick up my new car,
cause it's like from a dealership, it's, I have to make car payments on it.
Unfortunately, that's how, you know, it was a little expensive for me, but like not above
my means of course.
Like I wouldn't do that.

(33:43):
But, um, when you're going to pick up this car, it's 2020, which is like the newest car
I've ever owned.
I'm like, I feel like I'm moving on up in the world.
Like look at me.
It's like only like, I guess technically four years old now.
Um, and anyway, when we were going to pick this up, my mom was like, I really feel like
this is like the Lord blessing you for being so faithful and like trusting him through
all your other car problems.

(34:04):
And I was like, I really, I think so too.
You had to really learn like trust, I trust you God, but why am I having accident after
accident?
Yeah.
I was so angry after like, I'm not going to like the first time when I hydroplane, I was
upset because I was like about to make some life changes and I was like Lord now why?
And then he was like, Anna, you could have died.

(34:25):
You could have been hurt.
You could have been hospitalized.
Like literally the only thing from that hydroplane, like if y'all saw the pictures in my car,
it was hit on both sides.
Did he have a phone with you?
Yes, it was bad.
It was like there I spun like two or three times, hit the median.
I probably shouldn't be alive, but like the only thing that happened was like a bruised
ankle and like a scratch on my arm.
I mean, and that was a little sore.

(34:47):
Yeah.
But like, come on, that should have been so much worse.
And then when I got my car back after paying the thousands of dollars for a new transmission
and I hit the deer, I was angry then, but the Lord was just like, trust me.
And I was like, okay, I have peace about this.
I do.
So anyway, now I got the nice car.
It obviously has a plan through it all because you, well, even just for the reason alone

(35:08):
that you survived the one.
Right.
I mean, it was so bad that you were even in a little bit of a shock.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
We were talking about it a little bit after, like not that day, but like several days later.
And I was telling her like the things that she was saying to me on the phone when it
happened, she didn't even remember.
No.
Like, so.
I remember like I took the day off work the next day because I was like, yeah.

(35:32):
And I can't come in after this.
And my boss was like very understanding and everything.
But was I going to say, oh, no, it's okay.
But I remember like I was fine most of the day.
And then like around like the afternoonish time, it just really hit me.
And I remember just like breaking down crying because it just, I don't know, it was a very,
it was a very drawing and shocking experience.

(35:53):
Yeah.
Especially once you think about it, like I literally almost, I just like, I was on the
verge of death.
Like it was, yeah.
So anyway, yeah, those are my three words, several car problems.
But I don't know.
Mine is hard.
It was the most rewarding one I've had in a long, like probably ever.
Rewarding.
Hard.

(36:14):
And I don't really know my third one.
If I think of one along the way, I'll say it.
Yeah.
Next question.
What's the biggest lesson you learned this year?
Contentment and fun.
Meaning how to have fun and just let loose and just be the most yourself and free you

(36:34):
can be in God.
Yeah.
So fun.
Because that's like the word that I think of when I think of that.
Yeah.
Because for the first time in my entire life, probably, well, since I was like a kid, like
toddlers are being themselves.
Yeah.
They're authentic self.
But I think for the first time in most of my life this year, I've just let loose and
just let God show me who I am.

(36:57):
You know, I'm still growing too.
Obviously, I'm still going to learn more about myself and about God.
But I think it's the first year that people have really gotten to see like the real Sarah.
Well, other than Casey the past few years.
But yeah.
Yeah.
So fun.
Authentic fun.
You know what I mean.
And what was my other one?

(37:17):
Contentment.
Yeah.
That was a big one.
Contentment is hard.
Yeah.
No, mine is, I mean, honestly, probably to trust the Lord.
Because I feel like there was a couple big and a lot of them had to do with my car.
They did.
Like my car situation.
A lot of just like trusting the Lord and knowing that it's going to it's going to work out

(37:40):
and he has a plan.
Yeah.
Because like, again, these weren't things that were necessarily my fault.
Right.
And like I had no control over them.
And ironically, they both happened after I had like I'd gone through like a major time
of like spiritual growth and prayer.
And like I remember right before I hydroplained, like the day before I'd been praying and I
was like, Lord, I just want you to know, like I open my hands up to you.

(38:03):
My life is yours.
Like take it and do whatever you want with it.
And then the next night I get in this accident.
Yeah.
I was like, that's not what I meant, God.
Yeah.
And then right before I hit the deer, I literally prayed to suffer for the Lord.
Like suffer as Christ suffered, because that's what we've been talking about.
Yeah.
On Tuesday nights at our meetings, we're going through Romans eight.
And it's talking about how, you know, provided you like your great will be your reward provided

(38:27):
you suffer, you know, with as Jesus did, like with Jesus or whatever.
And so I was like, Lord, I'm this is and I even wrote it down.
I wrote this prayer down.
I was like, I know this is a scary prayer to pray and I'm scared to pray it.
But I want to suffer for you.
I want to suffer until like and then the Lord said, OK, yeah.
And I'm not saying that's like the worst suffering I could ever know.
But it's just that it happened like a couple of days later.

(38:50):
Right.
And I mean, he listens to us, y'all.
And the Lord is really just like, and do you trust me?
And do you trust me?
And do you trust me?
And I will, you know, every time I just I had to say, yes, I do.
And so I think that's the biggest lesson I learned.
That's good.
Yeah.
I think my other one, you just made me think of one and had nothing to do with what you
were saying, but somehow you made me think of this was self-discipline.

(39:12):
Not that I'm perfect at self-discipline.
By all means, I'm not.
But I've really gotten a lot more.
I've gotten stronger with self-discipline.
And again, I'm not perfect at it.
But like even with small things, just like the structure of our days and stuff, like
remembering like, no, I don't want to do this right now.

(39:33):
But if I don't do it today, then it's going to be just like a domino effect of things
that I'm going to have to get done all in one day because I'm procrastinating or whatever.
Like even with small things like that.
So then I just say, OK, God, help me.
And then I just do it anyway, even though I don't want to do like little things and
big things.
Self-discipline was a huge one for me.
I don't know why I didn't say that first.

(39:54):
But then contentment also was huge.
Yeah.
Oh, that's fun.
If you could travel anywhere in the coming year, where would you go and why?
Well, I want to go to Germany.
That's where my family is.
I got to go back in 2019 and I'd like to go again.
And my family, my mom, I know especially would like to go this year because her aunt is turning

(40:17):
90 in October of this year.
And so we'd like to go see her and celebrate her birthday and everything.
So it's a big milestone.
And then also, we don't get to see her very often.
So like, you know, it might be kind of lost time or whatever, too, which is sad to think
about.
But, you know, so I really hope that we get to go this year.

(40:42):
I'd like to go.
Well, we won't get to go to these two places this year.
But my two that I would want to go to if we could is I want to go to Costa Rica with Casey.
I've been one time, but I want to go with Casey specifically because it's just different.
And then the other one would be I'm not a big city gal or like cramped spaces kind of

(41:06):
gal with lots of people.
But I do want to go to London just at least once in my life.
I think it would be really fun.
Me and Casey actually were planning a trip to London next year.
But then there were some other things that came up that were more of a priority.
So we were like, OK, well, obviously, London is not a priority compared to these things.
So we're pushing it off and we'll hopefully eventually go because we definitely are people
who like to travel.

(41:26):
So when the Lord allows that, it'll happen.
But those are the two plus there's a restaurant in London.
I don't know what it's called.
Casey watched this.
I'll just very quickly say this.
Casey was watching this guy's YouTube video or whatever.
And he went he was in London and he went to this restaurant and it's one of Gordon Ramsay's
restaurants.
And he had this there was like a challenge that you pay.

(41:50):
I can't remember the amounts, but you pay a certain amount and then you have a clock
that starts for two hours and it counts down and you eat as much pizza as you can.
Like how many ever slices.
And someone had a record of 38 slices.
And this guy got like 42 slices and even had a milkshake toward the end too with his pizza.
And so he broke the record.
And anyway, so if you beat the record within the two hours, then I don't it's either you

(42:16):
don't pay at all or you only have to pay a small amount or something.
I can't remember.
But if you don't beat it, then you have to pay a bigger amount, which is like I don't
want to say because I can't remember.
But anyway, I really wanted to go so Casey could try it.
I feel like if anyone could do it, it would be Casey.
It would be Casey.
He could do it.
But anyway, that would be really fun.
That's literally like don't want to meet anything for like the two days.

(42:37):
Yeah, I kid you not though.
That is like my biggest motivator for wanting to go to London.
I just wanted to try that challenge.
But it would also just be fun and a different experience because it's like nothing compared
to where we live.
Right.
Anyway, or not anything compared.
You know, I mean, it's very different is what I mean.
Anyway, you do one more.
Something you want to do for someone next year.

(42:59):
I guess I have a small one.
Yeah, I might have more.
But something on actually on my list for New Year resolutions is to buy myself.
I like buying flowers just for my countertop.
So my resolution was to buy myself and a friend flowers more often.
So like every time I get myself, even if it's just like a $5 bouquet from the store, I like

(43:20):
the little cheap ones that I go the extra mile and buy just any friend, buy a friend
a bouquet of flowers.
So I don't know, I feel like it's just such a beautiful little gesture.
And if someone just randomly showed up and like, hey, I got these flowers for you.
They'd be like, thank you.
I already do that for people.
I'm just joking.
I never actually I don't buy flowers for people.

(43:41):
I bring people coffee.
Yeah, but I probably something I want to do for someone since I'm going to be getting
better at crocheting.
Uh huh.
Oh, yeah.
I was going to say maybe like all my gifts that I give people this year, handmade crochet.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I like those little crochet scrunchies.
Okay.
Good to know.
Good to know.

(44:02):
Good to know.
I used to make those and I have a couple of them.
Spent those for every birthday and Christmas of our friendship going forward.
I'm going to have like a collection of Anna scrunchies that I'll never wear all of them.
Because we're going to be friends forever.
We are.
It's yeah.
It's already going on year 11 this year, friendships.
I know.
I know.

(44:22):
Okay.
Anyway.
Oh, did you enter or was that your?
Yeah, probably just I want to make things for people more.
And that would challenge you to get better at it too.
It would challenge me to get better at it.
That's good.
I think that's it.
It seemed kind of long, but that's okay.
It did seem kind of long.
This was fun.
Happy New Year.
Bye year.
It sounded like you said bye and then year together.

(44:44):
Bye year.
Bye year.
Bye year.