The Perfect Director

I am in awe of the response to our first Anchor at Home season and am celebrating that we made it through the year! As of last week, we have officially produced 10 Anchor at Home videos which have been viewed over 6,800 times (and counting!) on YouTube reaching women everywhere with hope and encouragement!

Our “studio” aboard the Concordia in Gig Harbor, WA

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined I would be producing and actually being an anchorwoman for The Anchor. And who would have thought that my home in Gig Harbor would be a studio. As I reflect back over the last year, I am amazed at God’s faithfulness and provision and all that I have learned.

I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to be a producer. Gathering all the elements required to create an Anchor at Home broadcast — the musician, the Anchor Moment testimony and the main speaker — is a lot of work and I am attuned to every detail. There is a lot of coordinating, communicating and collecting to ensure we have what is needed to produce a great Anchor. I am so thankful to have an amazing creative team to work with as it can be very stressful at times!

The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that I can’t expect everything to be perfect every time.

Since I was a child I have liked things to be just right and I always strive to do my best. In the Anchor at Home producing role, I have learned a lot about perfection. I can obsess on timing, wording, aesthetics and more. I can lose sleep on many of the worries that go into making and directing the monthly videos. Along the way, I have come to realize a few things:

A perfectionistic mindset brings stress and only leads to discontent, discouragement and frustration. Bearing that mountain of stress as I strive for perfection leads me to absurd heights of anxiety. I end up relying on my own efforts for something that only God can do.
I have to commit every detail to the Lord trusting that He will take it and make it what He wants. He is the perfect producer. I recently read a quote that has stuck with me “Thy will be done not my will…” Coming to the Lord with open hands and giving it to Him brings peace in knowing that His ways are perfect. “As for God, His way is perfect.” (Psalm 18:30)

As I prepared for one of the most recent Anchor at Home video tapings, I had a profound encounter with perfection. The morning of the taping I prayed and literally gave the whole process over to the Lord asking that He would make it perfect for Him in every way. The videographer arrived as usual and set up the cameras and equipment. We checked the sound and surroundings and all of the details… or so we thought.

I went on to perform my lines as I had rehearsed over and over in my mind. It went unbelievably smooth! No retakes — a miracle! I sighed with great relief — it can be so nerve-racking speaking into a camera to an empty room. All was well until I reached to my push my hair back off my shoulder and felt my necklace and noticed a detail that WAS out of place! My clasp had fallen front and center on my neck and I was sure it would definitely be noticed by those watching. Ugh! Would it be noticed enough to have to redo I wondered? My perfectionism was getting the best of me.

This is when my dear friend who had stopped by after the taping shared a story with me that spoke so loud and clear. She shared a legend about the Amish quilt. I sat and listened.

There is a story about Amish quilts that says a quilt cannot be perfect because only the Lord makes perfection. Amish women, knowing that only God is perfect, felt it prideful to make a perfect quilt and so they made a deliberate mistake. According to the legend, it is to indicate only God (our great Creator) is perfect. I took these words to heart. I had the evening to decide if we should redo some of the video. I finished off the evening watching the nightly news and found myself obsessing on the jewelry each anchorwoman wore — would a clasp be noticed? I wrestled ridiculously and a bit obsessively I must confess.

Quilts displayed at an Amish market

The morning brought new light on this. I chose to acknowledge it as “an Amish quilt moment.” The timing of this story and my recent committing of the Anchor at Home video to the Lord in prayer let me to know in my heart that the visible clasp would not matter. He will take it and make it and use it the way He wants.

Every detail doesn’t have to be perfect.

I find as I write this it is the same with my life. The Lord is the ultimate Producer of my story and director of my life. I can lie awake many nights worrying about how things are going to turn out, the details of life that are challenging and trying to make things all work out the way I want them. I have given my life to Him and trust and wait to see the plans He has for me to unfold. The chapters of life will look different but the truth of the matter is that He is always in control and knows every detail and will produce the best story for me.

As I dream and pray for the strategy for the future of The Anchor going forward I am confident He will direct and lead it in just the right way. He has the best plan. “…being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…” (Philippians 1:6). And, God’s plan is perfect.