then the silence was broken by a roar

HEYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

My goodness. I haven’t been on here in ages. I haven’t been on here since last year! *checks blog to make sure that’s correct* Yup. Wow. That’s crazy. Internet silence for more than a month. Though it’s not without good cause, I assure you. I have been scary busy, and haven’t been able to get on. (By the time you get to the end of a big day, I assure you that the only thing that you want to do is sink down into the couch with potato chips and watch a Disney movie. Yup.)

So what on earth have I been up to? Stuff. Lots of stuff. Weirdly enough, I haven’t really got to pursue any of my hobbies lately. (Which... makes sense, I suppose, since I haven’t been able to blog and blogging’s kind of a hobby for me.)

But oh my goodness. I have thought of so many things to right on here. I keep on making mental blog posts in my head - things I want to share with you guys - and then it’s just followed by like, “Except... for the fact that you’ll never be able to get on.” But now I’m on!!! Yippeee!!!!! (Plus, I did something today that will hopefully make it easier to get on. #yes)

And yes!! Those glasses in the picture up there^ are mine. #lovethem I seriously do. :)

(This is slightly random, but I just took a break to check my design email, so just wanted to say so sorry that I hadn’t replied to everyone who emailed me earlier. And also, if you need a reply from me and I haven’t, just let me know. :) Really sorry!)

Have you ever felt like you should do something, but you were too scared? You were afraid to step out, because you thought you might fall? I’ve felt like that. A lot. But something God’s been teaching me is that it’s not about me - it’s about Him. And He calls us to care for others, and to do things that we feel like is jumping off a cliff into a bay of sharks. But sometimes we just need to trust.

Trust is hard for me. I like control. I like things that I can control and put in their spots. So when everything’s going crazy and I don’t feel like I can do the task at hand, it’s kind of one of the worst things ever. And so I find myself saying, “Trust. Trust. TRUST!” But the thing is? Saying words doesn’t help. Because as a really wise person pointed out to me last night, I can’t trust on my own. God’s got to help me.

I have some more words that I want to share with you guys at a later date about not being shy. It’s actually a speech that I wrote, but that I didn’t have to use. It’s so funny - last time I had to write a speech, I was kind of freaking out. It was a few days before I might’ve needed to have made it, and the days before were going to be packed. This was the time I needed to write it, and I was kind of like, “Uhhhh.... what on earth am I supposed to write this on?!?!”

And then my friend told me, “Just write it like a blog post.”

And I did. And it turned out alright. And now when this year came around, I found myself in a situation where I had lots of time to kill, a notebook, and a pen. And I remembered my friend’s words - “Just like a blog post.” So that’s how I wrote it.

There’s something so amazing about just “writing something like a blog post.” Blog posts are amazing (for me, at least) because I’m always way more open then I would be if I was just talking to somebody. Like I actually just write down what I’m thinking and feeling, things that have come up in my life and how I see them through my eyes. There’s something so incredibly honest about it. Something that if you asked me about it, you might not get out of me.

Thanks to all of you for just being there and listening to me. I hope all of you guys have the greatest day. God bless each and every one of you.

God bless,
Anna

P.S. By the way... the title of this post...? Kind of has duals meanings, I suppose. 1) If you’re shy, break your boundaries and step out/speak out and 2) I’ve been silent on here for so long that this post feels like a pleasant roar to me. :)

P.P.S. WOW do I have a crazy amount of labels. lol ;)

P.P.P.S. Are any of you guys sponsors for this blog? Because if you are, I want to make sure to put you up/negotiate a new deal with you or something along those lines. Because I just realized I don't have any lists of sponsors or anything. So sorry if you were one of them and you're not being displayed!! (I don't know what's wrong with my brain. =P) SUPER SORRY!!