a letter on the creative drought!
is there somewhere I can go to drown out all this noise? I've searched high and low, but this world always comes back void. I can't wait to go to heaven! (I wanna go - ian austin)
hey there & happy tuesday morning! I hope you had a very happy week full of love & memories. thank you for being here! if you enjoy my content, please make sure that you are subscribed to get weekly updates straight to your inbox:
the week recap! week of: 6/3/25 - 6/9/25
have I lived enough?
have I loved enough?
have I considered right action enough, have I
come to any conclusions?
have I experienced happiness with sufficient gratitude?
have I endured loneliness with grace?I say this, or perhaps I’m just thinking it.
actually, I probably think too much.then I step out into the garden,
where the gardener, who is said to be a simple man,
is tending his children, the roses.
A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver, page seven
⛅️ something to celebrate: inviting the Holy Spirit into the mundane! a lot of my faith journey has been anchored in the beauty of words & letters. ever since I was a little girl, the imagery of mailboxes, love letters, handwritten prayers, & other stationary-related things such as those have been used to draw me closer to the heart of my Father. He designed me to feel connected to His presence through words!
for more background on my story + what this looks like for me, please feel free to read the piece I wrote for MS Christian Living Magazine about this topic last September, linked here: “to: God, love: Ansley Claire.”
after a little over one year of consistent, fired-up blog posting, I unexpectedly fell into a spiritually creative rut. with words & creativity meaning so much to me in my faith journey, my platform, & call to ministry, it felt like a dark cloud had literally started to rain on my parade & was shading my light. attending the awakening project conference at the start of this summer helped me realize that the Lord was actively (even though I kept feeling quite stagnant) using this little season as time to re-till & water the soil of my garden, so that new flowers (with patience) will eventually sprout up with excellence. I stumbled upon this poem from Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings, on Pinterest one afternoon & it resonated so much with what I was feeling - the Spirit has placed the practices of gentle consistency & drawing into the secret place during this time of creative drought. I had to start inviting Him into my content & place Him as the means of creativity, over production & views.
like clockwork in my routine as of recent, I have the urge to crack open my Bible to Proverbs around 3pm alongside my afternoon an iced vanilla latte. Proverbs 18:4 reads, “the words of a man’s mouth are deep waters, the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.” we reveal the depths of our hearts by our words & through our art. is the Lord your wellspring of creativity? that’s the same question I have had to center my heart on these past few weeks.
all the Lord wants is my art to overflow from a love for Him! I do not have to jump through hoops of creating for the Lord to get Him to notice me - He is already with me! these big dreams that He has placed on my heart will come to fruition with prayer, consistency, & inviting Him into the process, not just the finished product. all of this being said, the Lord has blessed my obedience in creativity & this platform He has gifted me beyond measure. I literally wouldn’t be here without His work in my heart & without your support. from the bottom of my heart, thank you all! I have finally felt ready to come back to the blog this week - all vulnerable & peppy per usual.
⛅️ something out of my comfort zone: a creative drought! enduring this majorly uncreative period has been extremely difficult for me as a girl whose entire life, & hopefully future career, revolves around making art. for a while, I felt I was at a standstill with the Lord, when all He really wanted me to do was throw away all my thoughts about needing to be impressive, & just draw nearer to Him exactly as I am. thankfully, the Lord, the literal Creator of the universe, is a well-spring of creativity. I do believe the Lord wanted to pull me out of my comfort zone to further enhance my faith. I just had to endure a drought, & learn out to end said drought, for the sake of my creative garden & future Kingdom work.
a drought-ender: (according to Garrett Howell - a Paul-figure of Generation Z) someone whose connection to God and lifestyle of prayer would have profound ripple effects upon myriads of God-followers and pagans alike. in the midst of your mundane God is using this season to cultivate in you faith to call down rain.
as I am writing this, I am sitting on a beautiful sunflower quilt at a host home (with the sweetest hosts) in Madison, Alabama for a prayer conference hosted by Asbury Church called Zion Rising; Garrett Howell is the founder of this event. I’ve only been here for two days or so & the Lord is already moving in my heart through forced vulnerability, intergenerational wisdom, & simply taking some time away from my “real life” to focus on my spiritual walk! it’s incredible what the Spirit can do when you lay down days for Him to move & try to see the world how He does. if there’s one thing I can confidently tell you about my experience here so far, it’s that the Lord draws your heart closer to His in such personal ways, & He is a faithful God who answers prayers (no matter how silly).
a big part of this creative rut was definitely brought on by some doubts I had about my call to ministry - “God, are you sure I can do it? I don’t understand how you’re going to bring these big dreams on my heart to fruition? what’s my next move? I’m afraid of the future!” good thing our big God is not afraid of our (inevitable) doubts! as I was sipping a cup of coffee & reading the Word on the porch of my host home, Abba revealed Psalm 91 to me to meditate on over this weekend. the first two verses read, “he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘my refuge & my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’” His intentions for my future are far better than any plans I have made for myself because He is in control & He is way bigger than I am. I trust in Him because He has shown me how faithful, good, & holy His character is. the Lord has so clearly told me to make Him my dwelling place, & from there will creativity overflow!
⛅️ something I’ve learned: the value of getting in the Word + wanting to do so! on Pinterest the other day (I am literally always on Pinterest these days), I read a quote that said:
if we feel guilty at all when we don’t spend time with God, we probably misunderstand who loses. it’s not God who is left lacking. it is not God who is changed as we draw near. yes, He is praised & pleased. changed? no. it’s not God whose day is altered. God is not needy. we are.
woah, that’s good! real talk, this convicted me to my core. one of my favorite character attributes of the Lord is that He is unchangeable! I’ve found that, personally, it’s important for me to build my routine around my Bible reading, & not the other way around. I can get so caught up in prioritizing things of this world - that are good things overall like working out - that I push my time in the secret place down off of my to-do list. what was important for me to note here was that I am the one who is changed by the living + active word of God! He is jealous for my devotion & He deserves all of it.
I want to leave you with Hebrews 12:29, which says that, “for our God is a consuming fire.” I’ll definitely be keeping this quote & verse in mind the next time I want to skip out on my quiet time! fun fact: I’ve been challenging myself to try to get in the Word 3x a day for this very reason!
things that have brought me joy while feeling uncreative: lots of reading, going to the gym with my best friend, an escape room with my little sister, a volleyball tournament, tanning outside, joining Strava, eating fruit, starting new hobbies, packing my lunch for work, & lots of ice cream!
⛅️ something I’ve read: literally so many books! here’s a list of my recent reads from the past couple of weeks because it has been a while since I’ve updated y’all: I’ve hit 50 books read for the year btw!
Under the Stars by Laura Pavlov - this is her second book in the “Cottonwood Cove series” & honestly I may not continue it…gave this 323 page romance novel a 2 out of 5 stars! ew this book put me in a reading slump!
Cleopatra & Frankenstein by Coco Mellors - oh this is one of my favorite authors! so many good quotes from this literary fiction novel! I gave it a full 5 stars & it was 370 pages. here’s a favorite quote for y’all: "that's what life should feel like; setting off on a long car ride with all your worries & hopes strapped around you, the people who love you most frantically waving you off as you go."
On Writing by Stephen King - a 317 page nonfiction novel all about King’s thoughts on writing along with some of his life story. no rating! loved it! another favorite quote if you wanted one: "I have written because it fulfilled me...I did it for the pure joy of the thing. & if you can do it for joy, you can do it forever." he obviously writes for the joy of writing & reads for the joy of reading. he just happened to get famous for it! I was really fascinated with his upbringing, his timeline to fame, the backstories of some of his works, & his sweet relationship with his wife. he writes with her in mind!
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry - I buddy read this one with my friend Jodi! it was a 418 page literary fiction romance book & I only gave it a 3 out of 5 stars; I’ve heard this was really hit or miss for people. not my favorite of hers! this was the great big beautiful life of Margaret Ives & only Margaret Ives!
Releasing 10 by Chloe Walsh - this is the sixth book in her rightfully famous “Boys of Tommen” series. I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars & it was a 757 page romance novel with a lot of backstory. the last 150 pages had me in absolute tears, & I remembered exactly why I fell in love with this series. you could simply never make me hate Lizzie, & I will always respect Hugh! cannot wait to re-read the series with all of this new background, & I'm so not over this plot that I'm anxious for the next book already.
make sure to check out my goodreads (linked on the blog’s homepage)!
a word of advice: you all should listen to “I Wanna Go” by Ian Austin! the melody is addicting & the words hit home: “is there somewhere I can go to drown out all this noise? I've searched high and low, but this world always comes back void. I can't wait to go to heaven!” I found this song on a random playlist on my quest to find new Christian music & haven’t yet gotten over it.
I hope each of you has a very happy rest of the week! love you! Jesus loves you! praying for you! peace! thank you for being here & I hope to see you again soon! 🕊️
make sure to check out the blog’s Instagram & TikTok (@tuesdaymorningsblog - linked on the blog’s homepage)!
“therefore, encourage one another & build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Love this!
On Writing reminded me of an incredible book I've read called Charitable Writing by Richard Gibson and James Beitler! It is all about how to best worship the Lord through the writing process and love our neighbor!