Dear reader:
My name is Girl Tanner Kay Swanson. The word girl fronts my name because my husband is also named Tanner. You can call him Boy Tanner, Tanner 1.0, or TJ.
Sharing a name with the spouse whom you love is a wonderfully fun fact (and perhaps the sharpest of icebreakers). Fun facts don’t spell foundational facts, though. Above all else, you should know that Christ rules my heart and, thereby, my life. By grace he saved the sixth-grade me; by grace he now saves the 24-year-old me; and by grace he will save the wrinkly me (1 Corinthians 15:1–2).
I write to proclaim this Jesus.
My dad passed on his love of words to me. He gave me his arachnophobia, too. Thankfully, spiders are few and far between in the glorious state of Colorado, where my husband and I both graduated from college and still live. Like my dad, I studied English Literature. A childhood love for C. S. Lewis enrolled me in classes focused on the Middle Ages.
As my husband attends dental school, I teach — and learn patience from — third and fourth graders. My class is called The Art of Thinking. It’s a fancy name for an essential skill: media literacy. Texts and pictures and captions and videos overload our eyes and ears and minds and hearts. How can we discern what is real? How can we uncover what is true?
Answer: The word of God.
My mom gave me my first Bible. My sixth grade Bible teacher got me to study it. My then-boyfriend, now-husband encouraged me to love it. Desiring God helped me (and continues to help me) to craft my words upon it — to the praise of Jesus Christ. He alone is the only Word that matters and lasts (John 1:1).
I pray this blog widens the eyes of your heart. May you see Christ more clearly and love him more deeply.
With joy,
Girl Tanner
Tanner Kay 