FAITH: TCA’s Winchester seeks humbleness
During this past week, Trinity Christian Academy senior libero Anna Claire Winchester made the decision to play college volleyball at Union University.
Through her four years of playing volleyball at TCA, Winchester has learned one thing that has led her to a better understanding of God.
“One big way that my faith shows on the volleyball court is being humble,” Winchester said. “In sports, we get carried away about getting recognized for our accomplishments. Being a libero, you are not necessarily going to get recognized because I am not the big hitter. I have to be humble in the fact that my worth doesn’t come from other people’s opinions. My worth is in God alone.”
It is through her learning about humbleness that she goes to 2 Corinthians 12 for her favorite verse.
“My favorite part is that it says that my weakness is made perfect in His strength,” Winchester said. “His power is perfect in my weakness.”
Winchester has been on three missions trips – two to Arizona and one to Las Vegas – and she has seen humbleness during the trips when she is forced to get out of her comfort zone.
“Living in the South, we are exposed to the Gospel every day,” she said. “I go to a Christian school, so I can get numb to the truth of the Gospel. Last year in Las Vegas, I found out that some people have never heard God’s name before unless it was in vain. Not everyone is blessed to hear about God all of the time. Talking with the people there was eye-opening.
“The biggest thing that I have learned is that it is about the little things and making a difference where you are.”
Winchester grew up in church and walked through being saved when she was 8, but in 2013, she felt her heart changed.
“When I was 8, I walked through the steps, but I don’t think I meant it with my heart,” Winchester said. “I said it with my mouth, but not with my heart.
“One night at church, we had a special preacher, and it hit me all at once. I felt guilty for the sins I had. I thought that if I drive home tonight and had a wreck and died, I don’t feel like I would go to heaven. I knew I had to do something about it.”
So that night, Winchester was saved, but it happened in a location most wouldn’t think about.
“I got saved that night in the McDonald’s parking lot with my mom,” Winchester said. “It was a cool experience.”
Through her salvation, Winchester has one name for God that stands out more than all of the rest.
“There are a lot of different names that God is for me, but a big one is Savior,” she said. “When I got saved three years ago, I became more aware of while I am a sinner, I had to realize that He came to Earth and died for me on the cross.”
Winchester attends Englewood Baptist Church, and she is active within the church along with going on the three mission trips.
“I go to Warehouse on Wednesday and Sunday,” she said. “I have been to camps and retreats, and my Sunday School class helps with the preschoolers once a month. That is a cool way to serve. We sometimes get caught up being active within the youth group, but our job as Christians is to serve.”
When Winchester wants to feel God’s presence, she goes in her backyard into an area that her grandfather made.
“My grandfather has all of these verses on posts in the backyard,” she said. “I go out there when I am down and read verses. It might be a brush of the wind, but I know that God is walking with me. I feel His presence, and I feel comfort.”
Michael Odom, 425-9754
Anna Claire Winchester’s favorite verse
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.