sweet sponsor: What She Saw

Happy Weekend, friends! 
I am currently packing up my hotel room in Indianapolis with 3 of my best blog and real life friends, headed to a Chicago adventure. I have so much to share with you about my past few days at Influence Conference! But til then, let me share one of my favorite bloggers and one of the sweet girls I am with right now. This interview was done last week, before we'd officially met :) ::

I have a very special friend to share with you today. I've never met her in "real life", but as you read this now, I will have spent a few days with her at Influence Conference! In fact, she is the reason I was even able to attend the conference. And for that I am eternally thankful. We met earlier this year through reading one another's blogs, and our friendship has grown. 
She is an absolute gem. Her heart for Jesus inspires me to chase Him more fervently. And her passion for life and loving others is contagious. If you're looking for a beautiful, well-written, faith-inspiring blog, please take some time to get to know Annie.

1 // Tell us all about your inspiring, encouraging blog and why you chose the name. What She Saw is a blog all about, well, what she saw. I write about how God is moving my eyes to seek His heart more constantly Occasionally I'll share photographs, and in those instances, you literally see what I saw. 

This month, I'm writing a series called 31 Days of Practical Faith, which was terribly reckless and audacious on my part, because I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to this whole following in Jesus's footsteps thing. But I have learned alot since I almost walked away from Him entirely at 16, and I want to share that. So many of us, myself included, want to seek His heart but don't know how. I thought, however audaciously and recklessly, this series would be a useful resource for us all to learn how to chase Him as audaciously and recklessly, and at the same time, practically. 

For the two reasons I shared in the first paragraph, I thought the name What She Saw was pretty appropriate for my blog. Also, SAW are my initials. And no, Annie is not my middle name. ;] 
2 // What is the Lord teaching you right now? If I had to sum it up in a word, I would say: endurance. 

I just started working retail a couple months ago, and the thing about any job that includes costumer service is that it involves talking to a lot of different people. People who are strangers. And introverts, especially one as severely introverted as me, and strangers do not mix well.

There are times when the stress of talking to so many people I don't know ust builds and builds, and I almost feel like Mt. Vesuvius just before it rained ash down on Pompeii and Herculaneum. At that point, if I were any other place or time, I would probably snap. Or I would run for the nearest empty room for the sake of my sanity. But at work, that's not an option (and in the other cases, it's still something I need to work on), so I pray. I pray Jesus will give me strength to keep going, if only enough to speak to the next person I walk past. I pray He will give me the spirit I need to help customers as fully and completely and wisely as I can when they ask for something. It's kind of amazing to see what happens: I have lived gospel more fully on that sales floor than probably anywhere else, and I'm astounded, because I know that wasn't who I was before. He is truly a God of miracles.
3 // If your life was made into a movie, which actress would you choose to portray you and why?
Emma Stone, hands down. No other actress nails my dry humor so well. She might need a tan first though. And she's definitely gonna need to get her hair dyed brown.

Or I could always dye my hair red like I've always wanted and get skin surgery like Michael Jackson, and then she wouldn't have to worry about the tan or going brunette. It may sound a little drastic on my part, but I'm up for ANYTHING to share the work of God in my life.

4 // If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could only have 3 items, what would you bring?
my journals, Tigger, and a post office. I would bring the post office so I could send and receive mail from all my friends.

(Aside: Erin, I think getting my college degree was easier to do than answering this question. ;] )

5 // What is your favorite thing about blogging? What is one tip you can share to help other bloggers?
My favorite thing, bar none, is the community. I didn't grow up with a strong sense of that even though I grew up in church. I've built such strong friendships in this community and I am made speechless by His provision and His grace in bringing those to me.

As for my tip: make every decision about your blog in favor of what's best for your blog - and for you. For me, this means a roughly two-month sabbatical on blogging every year. I took it the first year in accordance with Lent, out of desperation, because blogging had become about numbers and not about just blogging. So I stopped. The next year I didn't think I would, but it just felt like a good idea after I thought about it, so I did it again. This year I consider it tradition and terribly necessary, so I'll be doing it again. I think it just makes me a better, more focused writer the rest of the year. Also, there are months I haven't sponsored blogs because, again, it became about attracting numbers, and it just stressed me out. For the same reason, I didn't want to take sponsors on my blog. I wanted to keep my blog as simple as possible. I did change my mind on this recently, because I believe part of building community is facilitating connection. I began blogging five years ago to encourage woman and edify their hearts, and I make every decision about my blog by asking myself if what I choose to do will further that mission or not.

// follow her // 

blog: www.anniewiltse.com
twitter: http://twitter.com/anniewiltse
pinterest: http://pinterest.com/anniewiltse 
Erin Morrissweet sponsor6 Comments