✝️ Writer · Coach · Speaker · Mama in the Caucasus 🎨
Welcome to Edifying Pen
This is a space to be encouraged through creativity and faith. I’m Anna — a Canadian writer, teacher, and follower of Jesus, living and doing ministry in the country of Georgia. I write about faith, creativity, mental health, and the beauty of ordinary life surrendered to God.
Whether you’re a fellow creative, a seeker, or just someone who stumbled here — you’re welcome. Get a tea or a coffee or really any drink lol, and pull up a chair 😊☕
Recent Posts
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My Non-Festive Festive October
Every October, my social media feed fills up with pumpkins, costumes and seasonal latte flavours. And while I am a HUUUGE coffee fan and love the idea of being festive, sometimes it all feels like just so much. In Canada (and probably the States too), lawns are decorated fervently, and candy is bought weeks in…
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Somewhere Between Beginnings and Endings
For about 17 years of my life, September always marked new beginnings: a new season (fall), a new school year, a new version of myself after whatever challenges the summer before had brought. I suppose this past brought some new beginnings too. Travelling to a different city, then a different country, then a different continent—just…
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August Inklings: The Hemlock and The Long Run
The last time I studied Socrates must have been about twelve years ago, shuffled into an enormous room filled with 300–400 other students, learning about the philosophy of education. As a small-town girl sitting in such a big class, I was intimidated. But there I was, becoming what I always thought I would be: a…
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The Night I First Called Emergency (And What July Taught Me)
Tendrils of water slipped through my fingers as I swam and splashed through the St. Lawrence River every summer before I turned sixteen. I remember the way the sunlight fluttered across the navy blue water. It was not the bright blue lagoon colour of how I imagine a Miami beach would be, but more like…
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The Weight of Wanting to be Beautiful
A reflection on how loss of control—not vanity—often fuels body image struggles; how even “good theology” can quietly turn into self-management; how algorithms and beauty standards shape our thoughts without us noticing; and how God gently met me in the middle of all of it.
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A unique, yet not-so-unique journey to motherhood
My Story – What Culture Taught Me Growing up in the church, I was often asked, “Do you have a boyfriend?”, “When will you get one?”, “How many kids do you want?” These questions weren’t necessarily harmful, but I noticed they weren’t being asked to the boys in our youth group. Rarely did anyone ask…