My name is Hannah Hutson, and I am prone to run. Ironically, I hate to do it for exercise; however, my heart could run laps until the cows came home. My life is a paradox of me chasing Jesus with my whole heart, and yet wandering far far away from Him. I run from heartbreak. I flee from vulnerability. The mere thought of opening my heart up scares me to my core. And yet, when I take the focus off me and my struggles and focus simply on Jesus, that is when we begin to see that my story has never been about me and the endless marathon that is this life, but rather the endless pursuit Jesus endures to save the ones He loves.
My sophomore year of high school was the year I was saved. Before I found Jesus, I was a young girl who was insecure, depressed, and quite frankly, just going through the motions of life. I wasn’t truly living. Before I met Jesus, there was something missing in my life— a void— that couldn’t be filled no matter how hard I tried. It wasn’t until I hit rock bottom that I finally chose to quit wandering, to stop moving, and finally hit my knees and pray. This is where Jesus found me. This is where my story truly begins.
Now that I am looking back over the course of these past few years, it is mind-blowing to see what all He has done for me in my life. I am now a freshman in college at the University of Arkansas at Monticello where I am currently playing softball and gaining a degree in Middle Level Education and a minor in English Creative Writing. Looking back, it is quite humbling to see how many doors, blessings, and opportunities have opened up to get me to where I am today. This past year, I got involved with the BCM on campus and had the privilege to help start up the FCA here with some of my teammates and other athletes. It has been so great to see how He has been working in and through us, and to see how He has developed a tight and loving community between the athletes.
Before I got to Monticello, I had two main people pour into my life back at home. My mother is a woman of great faith, and if it wasn’t for her and her encouragement I wouldn’t be the young woman writing this to you today. She by far one of the most amazing people who I have ever encountered, and I am honored to call her my mom. One woman that has made an impact in both of our lives is a woman named Mrs. Angela Schuler, and she is the woman who taught me how to Bible Journal. Now the way I do journaling is not the pretty doodles all over the pages of the Bible (though I so wish I could, I am not artsy at all) but rather it is a way to really breakdown and study scripture and allow for God to speak to you through it and over the concerns of your heart.
Not long after I had asked to be saved, my youth pastor preached this sermon about God being a potter and we are the clay, and that if we truly wanted to follow Him we needed to allow Him to have full control of our lives—to mold us and shape us into the people He wanted us to be. My junior year was the year I prayed that wholeheartedly, and over the course of time and after a season of prayer, I felt God call me to speak and write for His ministry. This didn’t occur until my senior year of high school, but it took until this past semester for me to be fully prepared to begin to fulfill this calling. Fast forward to today, I am currently the owner and writer of a blog called Radical Reckless Love. I use this blog to encourage women of all age ranges, and I write on there based upon things I have learned on my walk with Jesus, my journaling, in “Big Church” or in the Bible Study I go to on Monday nights. It has been so cool to see the responses that have occurred since I have started doing this. It is truly humbling to see God working in and through me in this small town, and I genuinely cannot wait to see what else is in store!
As I have mentioned before, my name is Hannah Hutson, and I am prone to run. This is one of my struggles that Jesus and I am working on. I have been called to write and to speak, and I can’t wait to see where He is going to take me. I am nowhere near perfect, and I don’t even try to claim that I am, but I have a relationship with Him that makes me perfect in His eyes, and if He can use my words to help someone else experience the love He has for us, then my purpose will be satisfied.