JDP senior Anna

Sometimes others see the greatness in you long before God has lifted the veil for your own eyes. This kind of person is as easy to love as a Sunday morning.  As this greatness is revealed, often God tempers it with lessons that are bound to keep you close to Him.  And really, despite the pain, is there any better place to be in life?

It would be easy for JDP senior Anna to walk around like she’s God’s gift to the game of lacrosse.  It’s what is often said about her.  And if you have a chance to see Anna in action or watch her amazing stick handling ability, you’d likely agree.

The summer after 8th grade, with an intense love of lax and a fierce work ethic, Anna began to be heavily recruited by colleges.  This surprised her.  She believes they saw potential in her to achieve beyond what she was thinking at the time.  She began to have dealings with the coaching staff at Loyola who were coming out to see her games.  She adored them immediately for their knowledge of the game and how personable they were.  She got a sense for their family first attitude which meant more to her than they could ever know.

You see, Anna’s been surrounded by a nurturing, sports loving, call out the best in you, large family network her whole life.  Grandparents on both sides who have been actively involved with helping out her mom and dad as family and career demands grew for the Rubys.

The summer after her freshman year, Anna committed to Loyola to play lacrosse.   At her signing ceremony and scholarship acceptance, she asked the coaching staff, “what would you like to see me improve on to get better?”  Jan Adams asked, “is she for real?”

Yes, that’s often how people feel when linking arms with Anna in life.  I asked her how she made that decision for Loyola and she said the family first mentality resonated deeply with her.  The network of love that has grown Anna into the incredible young woman she is today, is a lifeline for her.  She recognizes she does not want to be too far away from her support system.  She has no desire to go too far from  her little sister Mae.  She wants to be around for Mae’s childhood and to serve as a mentor for her.  Anna also says her mom Sandra is her best friend and she can’t imagine not having her mom around.  Sandra has walked through the thick and thin with Anna her whole life, but especially in the last year when Anna suffered a devastating sports injury.

Local sports fans know that Westminster boys and girls lacrosse made it to the state championships last season.  Anna was in the thick of the game, battling for a victory, when she felt something go very wrong.  She assumed she’d been cleated in the calf.  Her coaches watched from the sidelines and knew something was very wrong.  There had been no contact, but Anna was not ok.  She was carried off the field, in the most important game of her life.  She was determined not to let this mystery injury ruin this championship experience.  The whole experience was bittersweet for her because the Westminster Owls did win the championship and Anna was carried out on the field by her team mates.  This was her first time not being 100% in her lacrosse career.  Was this the first time Anna was injured in a lax game, no.  However, this girl has a resiliency that is legendary in her circles.  She does not complain, she perseveres.  She does not make excuses, she makes it happen.  So she celebrated, on the shoulders of her team mates, unaware of what was going on with her leg.

Anna learned that she had ruptured her Achilles and this would set her on a course of surgery and physical therapy recovery that would (and is) consuming the next year of her life.   Anna has shed a fair amount of tears of loss and frustration as she’s walking through this process.  And here’s where her support network comes in to be with her, to encourage her and to call out the best in this frustrating situation.  Her grandfather reminded her, “Anna, God never wastes pain,” which has been a lifeline she has clung to in this season of tear down to rebuild.

Anna has realized how humbling it is to be dependent on others in a way she’s never had to be.  She’s a get it done kind of girl and has never met an obstacle she wasn’t prepared to scale.  No project is too daunting to her; she thrives on challenge and competition and pressing herself to accomplish what once seemed unreachable.  So to be stuck in a holding pattern, on crutches and missing out on her team experiences, was, and is incredibly frustrating.  Anna is eagerly waiting on the voice and direction of God in her life.

Anna’s surgery was June 1st.  She is now 4 months past it and hot and heavy in rehab, which requires a long drive back and forth to regularly.  Her mom Sandra noted the challenge in Anna’s first stage of recovery, prior to rehab, was going to be “holding back the tiger”.  This gentle soul goes into beast mode with a physical challenge before her in a fierce way. A trait so prized throughout her sports career, was, for the first time, a potential liability to her recovery process.  For the first time in her life, Anna had to learn how to not push through pain.

Anna’s goal was to have her senior portrait time in late September.  When Sandra mentioned that was likely not realistic, I saw a fierce glean in Anna’s eyes that told me she had locked onto that goal and nothing was going to stop her.  Personally, I knew a winter session was much more likely based on the slow wound healing she was having…but low and behold, Anna’s session did happen in late September!  Of course!

Wherever Anna goes in life she makes deposits that bring out the best in whoever is there.  Her mission in life is to give back.  She credits her sports training to teaching her so much about life beyond the field.  She wants to pass this onto the next generation of athletes.  She remembers feeling star struck by the older girls who came out to help in her training as a little girl.  She and her mom feel they “won the coaches lottery”  in 5th grade with her first experience at club level lacrosse.  Anna feels as though the Lord has blessed her journey with lax over the years and this is just one reason she wants to give back.  Today while she’s recovering and rehabbing, she’s giving back by helping to coach Mae’s lax team.

Relationships are where Anna thrives.  She spoke so highly of the relationship culture of her teams at Westminster High, especially field hockey.  There is a culture of sisterhood that keeps the drama out and what’s most important, most important.  These girls laugh and cry together, they give each other permission to be goofballs on an off the field without the barrier of judgement and drama.  Leadership has set this tone and Anna, as team captain, is a big part of continuing that legacy.  One of the most significant mentor leaders who has modeled this for Anna is Jessica Ohnheiser who owns Recruit her LLC.  Jess modeled for Anna incredible team leadership, life lessons at the end of practice, commitment to excellence, humility.  Jess has also helped Anna realize her life goal is to always be involved in coaching.

Today we are in an age when coaches come and go pretty quickly.  They most often have great intentions, but are unaware of what it means to grow athletes as individuals, team members and in athletic skill.  They love the game, so they sign on as a coach, not realizing how expansive the job is to address all three of those points for a truly successful team.  Anna does.  She has been coached by many people who do.  This is what has helped her to fall in love with sports and coaching.  Her lacrosse journey has been in direct competition with private schools with big budgets that her high school and club team do not have.  She realized quickly that as she competed at this level, no one knew who she was when they all went in to the game, but they most definitely did afterwards! 😉

What makes Anna so adored by her team mates as their leader?  It’s very simple.  In her own words, she says, “I guess in this world I’ve been called to love and high school is the only time in my life when I’ll be surrounded by such a large group to love on.  I just want to try and love on everyone who crosses my path.  She says, “this is the call God has placed on my life.” Wow, certainly seems what He has called all of us to, but few of us are able to unlock the mystery of how to consistently lay aside our own agendas to champion anothers.

Anna’s faith is instrumental in this call to love.  She’s been raised in a Christian home, but it became personal for her at a Young Life camp in high school.  “I’ve seen the way He’s spoken to me in the last few years.  It’s a joy to be able to offer humble advice to friends to give them the gift I have received from the Lord.”  She acknowledges the impact other kids her age have made on her and she wants to return that.  Anna is very involved with Young Life today and her parents open their home to weekly meetings for kids to connect and be introduced to a God who loves them fiercely.  She’s a Fellowship of Christian Athletes leader and helps to lead huddles for her teams as well.

Anna’s heart is the most precious thing about her.  She exudes a kindness, graciousness and humility that must bring such a giant smile to the heart of our Savior.  One of her life mottoes is from Tim Keller, “humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” This seems to guide Anna in a way that is powerful.  Her grandparents like to recount a story of when she was 3 years old at a family Christmas party.  She walked around with a pad of paper, asking guests, “tell me what your problems are.”  Then she’d come back a few minutes later and offer some surprisingly wise advice.  Sandra thinks she was likely doing her Psych rotation during her medical school training at the time.  I guess we shouldn’t be surprised at how on point Anna’s suggestions were, Jesus told us to become like children to see the kingdom of God.

Anna had plans to attend a mission trip to Guatemala this summer with LifePoint Church, but was unable to go given her slow wound healing.  This devastated her.  She was supposed to be roommates with her lax coach Jess.  Jess has been in connection and supporting Anna  during her injury recovery.  And it doesn’t stop with Jess, Jess’s little boy Zeke grabbed Anna’s hand when he saw her after injury and asked, “can I pray for you Anna?” Sometimes our worst times in life are opportunities for the people of God to rise up and take on Christ-like characteristics, to be His reflection to a world that needs to know His great love.  God does not waste pain.

Anna was introduced to Jesus when she was 10 years old by a missionary who visited her church.  She hoped to be on the giving role of this gift to someone in Guatemala, but understands this was not her turn.  Perhaps it was someone else’s turn to rise up into a leadership role that Anna’s absence opened up?  This summer Anna was able to be a part of CrossRoads Church’s Thrive camp which serves children with disabilities.  What has she learned from her time volunteering with kids with disabilities?  There’s no one more forgiving.  She feels a joy in helping these kids that is incomparable to anything she’s ever known.

So what’s next for sweet Anna?  She’s had a lot of heart to hearts with the Lord.  She’s ready for her recovery to be over and to lace up her cleats again to hit the field.  But, she also knows His timetable rarely matches ours, and she trusts Him to grow beautiful things in her during this time of waiting.

Anna, your heart is precious and I am honored to know you and get to do a bit of life with you.  Recently I shared a photo journey of Venice and encouraged readers not to just scroll through the beauty, but take a moment to savor the story behind that would connect them with the sights and sounds that are unique to Venice.  I feel the same way here.  It would be a shame for people to scroll through quickly, to be stopped by your beauty, but miss the heart and soul that shines so brightly behind it.  You radiate a beauty that is precious and rare because of the heart behind your intent to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a world that desperately needs to know His overwhelming love.  Your impact is a force in the kingdom of God already in just your few short years!  I cannot wait to see all He will unfold in your willing life!  I have a final anthem song for you to always, always remember dear one:  You Say.

Anna transported into a 1000 year old church in Florence.  Looking for your own senior portraits?  We create year round, click here to contact us!