Reality Check with Ann Downing...

Quitting was not a word heard very often on the Sanders farm where I grew up. Daddy was a cotton farmer…and my sister Lavern, my Mama and I were the biggest part of his “equipment”, so to speak. Cotton farming was hard work….but I can honestly say that I could count on my two hands the number of times I ever heard Ernest and Lillie Sanders say they were tired after working in the field from sunup to sundown, literally, with about a 30 – 45 minute break for lunch, which Mama had cooked before leaving for the field very early in the morning (and this was after she’d cooked a full breakfast). What I did hear a lot of was “well, we got a lot done today”, or perhaps “feels good to be tired so I can sleep better”. So, I often say…. when somebody questions me as to how I drive the long hours, stay in a studio for an eternity to record an album, personally stay in touch, as much as I possibly can, with all those who communicate with me on email, Facebook, via my website’s fANN forum mes...

It's the Easter season....life is everywhere! But there had to be and still has to be death first. I'm asking myself today...."what do you need to let 'die', Ann?". I'm not good at change....seems you need to hang onto everything without having to say "goodbye" to it, which seems sad, even if it's the arrangement of furniture in my living/great/gathering room. I have no idea why I feel it's sacred to let things stay the same...at the risk of sometimes having to drag the "old" day after day, wearing myself out,leaving little energy for the "new" things God could perhaps want to do in my life. I'm working on the trust in letting go. I'm watching a couple of guys work in my little courtyard, digging out those awful looking plants, or whatever they are :)....they're taking out a lot of half-dead, ugly stuff, but oh my, what beautiful pieces of green grass they're putting down,my shrubs look somewh...

My sweet sister, Lavern, once commented that she was amazed at what some folks refer to as "problems". She added that so many of those things some of her friends described when saying "I've got this problem......"was what she called "life". I have to agree with my big "sis". Don't you agree, too? Now come on and be honest....are we really always going through a "terrible" time, having a "horrible" day, ready to give up on life when we hit a rough spot??? Even on those worst days, do we really have "problems" or do we struggle in not having the "tools" to work through those hiccups and hard spots along the way? Aren't we just a little miffed, sometimes, that we aren't having days and days of ease and things perhaps not going our way??? Can I challenge you (and me) to consider that SOMETIMES we have the "not so great" days in order for us to learn a whole lot more about His...

I've made some real stupid choices in relationships...I mean those "committed" kinds of relationships, where there is to be equal commitment, equal sacrifice. I realize that all relationships are healthier if both are on even ground, I believe that's God's plan. But even more so in those life-long commitments!!! We can't pretend the red flags aren't there IF THEY ARE!!!...we can't ignore what our gut says and believe it'll just "work out". It won't...commitments to relationships just don't happen in a day. I remember something Dr. Charles Stanley said long ago..."if you don't know for sure which step to take, don't move". If we find ourselves in any kind of situation where we're interacting constantly with someone, are beginning to commit to be true to the development of a life-time or long-term "walk" together, whether it be at work, in a marriage, professional relationship, wherever....it...

A lot of you are familiar with or at least know of my only niece, Scarlett (or Sweet Scarlett, as I often refer to her). A brilliant gal in the prime of her life and career was involved in a horrible car accident at the age of 36, leaving her with a severe brain injury. God has brought her so far….so many accomplishments that she wasn’t “supposed” to ever achieve. A couple of years ago while she was going through a particularly hard struggle, she said to me, “Aunt Ann, I know I’m gonna make it, but right now I’m in that in between place”. I knew exactly what she was saying…and I’d imagine you do, too, right? We believe that God’s gonna walk with us and get us to the other side…however, sometimes it just seems like a longggggg way from here to there, doesn’t it? We’re gonna make it..but there are times we sure do need a hand to hold or place to rest on the journey….’cause we aren’t “there” yet…and we need to hear from somebody, who actually cares where we are struggling, that w...