Our Lisa caught up with Anna Smith to talk life, love and dating. The interview continues as we hear from Anna on reading the word, dating, valuing time and living for a purpose…
4. Living for a cause
“What’s your prize, what’s your aim in life? My prize is Jesus- my eyes are on Him. If your prize is not fame, or popularity or how many Insta likes you get, what is your prize? Mine is being obedient to my Father, and knowing that I am doing His will. I need to make sure that everything is pointing towards that. And I love my life, I really enjoy it. And it’s not hard. His yoke is easy. I don’t have to carry it all, because He already carried it. I have a lot of fun, and I can choose to have a lot of fun. I’m not going to make this a tiresome thing, I’m going to have a lot of fun along the journey. That’s what God wants- that’s what He’s chosen. And anything that becomes heavy or burdened, I don’t think you’re doing it well. I think you need to put it down. And of course we all have tough times- but guilt, shame, forgiveness, we need to sort that out- it’s not for us to carry. It’s weighing you down, and stopping you from enjoying life.”
5. Godly dating
“I love this chat! I chatted with my girls- and my boys- about dating quite early on, about what time is good to start dating. When is a good season for them to think about their future husbands and wives. We’re not talking about messing around here- we’re talking about marriage. One of the biggest tips that I would always say is just hang out in big groups- get to know people well. Get to know people that you trust well, who also know that person. Get conversations going, be open, and relax and enjoy. Don’t be intense- have fun! Also, don’t rush into anything. Really respect your body. Respect that you are a temple of the Holy Spirit. You are precious, and don’t give that away to anyone. I met Martin when I was 18, and I think there really is a huge pressure on dating and getting married very, very quickly. Let that time go as long or as short as you want it to do. Keep things in the light, anything that is in the dark I think probably isn’t great. Just be honest about things and not pretending. Because we all struggle- so actually, let’s talk about what you’re struggling about.”
6. Rare and cherished days off
“I’ve always loved shopping and fashion. I’m also involved with this project called Safe Haven with the church, and that’s just for street women in Brighton. It can be quite chaotic and full on but I absolutely love it. So in my spare time I just go down there- paint their nails, give them food. It’s not service, it’s something I do to help people, they are honestly are my friends, and are people that you’d want to hang out with. They are such beautiful people often with such big issues but you can just only listen; I often have no words. Sometimes I have nothing over to say than just ‘I love you, you are amazing.’ They are coping with huge things in their day-to-day life; things you can’t even dream about. Despite that being quite draining, I love doing that. We have lots of students around the house often, so most of my day is spent cooking. Our house is still being built so I am having lots of fun at home. We have a studio in the house so there’s always lots of music in the house. Music, laughter and love.”
7. Learning how to read the bible
“I absolutely love Proverbs. Short and sweet and I can just mediate on one of those. They are just little nuggets of wisdom that I can get a hold of when I’m doing life. I’m getting to know a bit more Psalms- I didn’t really understand them that much- but some of them are just so incredible. I used to find it just a huge struggle just to read the bible, so I set up this group- for students in particular- to help them read it. Because actually there are so many different books, and so for them to pick up another book can be challenging. So we set up this group called ‘How To Love The Bible’ and that runs every six weeks at my home with an older lady who absolutely adores her bible. She just knows the bible inside out. It’s all coming out because I struggled reading the bible. We all just get together- about 20 of us now- and talk about how to love our bible more. We just mediate on one line of scripture. Sometimes we just talk about what God thinks of us as women. We grab ideas off each other and spur each other on. If it’s the food on which we feed on daily then we really need to take that seriously. If it is the light unto our paths then we really need to be reading it more, and taking it seriously. And, even if you don’t read it He doesn’t love you any less. The enemy will do anything to stop you from picking that book up, try to fill you with guilt. One of the things I love that Ellie does, is she actually leaves her bible open, because she said that she believes that the words will really fill her room. Because actually it’s harder to open it once it’s been closed- and she does the same with the piano. Write with lipstick on your mirror, write on your walls- do whatever it takes to get those truths into your soul daily. What are we really feeding on? We carve enough time to read social media, so lets do the same for the bible.”
By Lisa Walden