Update: 9 Months as a Jesus Blogger

This post does contain affiliate links because I couldn’t really give my update without including who I trust and believe in for great additional resources to my blog/website. If you do purchase through my links, I receive a small commission for referring you, which helps to support my website. (Thank you very much!) But there is no extra cost to you for purchasing through my links! A win-win for both of us :-), so please click away! 🙂

I have been blogging now for 9 months. I am not a blogger who blogs specifically about blogging, but since this is such a big part of who I am right now, I do give my perspective on this journey of blogging every once in a while. You can read about my most recent prior updates in these posts here and here.

I am a Christian, Faith-based, Jesus blogger, and my purpose is to encourage believers, and seekers, to walk in fellowship with Christ as closely as Enoch did in Genesis chapter 5 – all the way home to Heaven! Hence the name, Shadowing Enoch.

What an awesome Faith this is, that God wants us to be His friends!

That is what a personal relationship with Christ is all about – having our sins forgiven and our relationship with God made so right, through acceptance of the atonement of Christ, that we become God’s beloved children, and Christ’s brothers & sisters, and friends. WOW! Nothing can top that! I am so thankful that I entered into this personal relationship with my friend Jesus almost 45 years ago, at the age of 12, and you can read about that here in my personal testimony. I link to this post in many of the articles I write, because that is why I do what I do, and it is the foundation for all my other posts on my website.

The secondary purpose in my blog is to provide Faith Based resources for the entire Christian family, such as Children’s Bible lessons for family devotions, or Children’s Ministry workers to use in their classes. I have 4 lesson series up on the blog now, and have more I need to upload, so watch for those in the next few months. (I am behind on my goal on this one, as I had hoped to already have a new series up by now, but life interrupts our goals sometimes.)

I now have an active Resources page with 2 pages in the drop-down menu. If you click on the Resources button you will see the landing page to my Free Resources Library, a special library of free resources for subscribers to the Shadowing Enoch monthly (sometimes twice monthly) newsletter. When you subscribe, you are sent the passcode for this library in your welcome letter, which comes within minutes of subscribing. I have included a subscription form at the bottom of this post if you are not already subscribed. We would love to have you join us in the Shadowing Enoch community! There is a freebie poster, “7 Things You Can Always Pray for Someone, Even When You Don’t Know What Else to Pray” included on the landing page just for visiting. More content will be added to the Library in the next couple of months.

The second page under the Resources drop-down menu is where I have my Affiliate’s Resource Page. This is available to any visitor to the website, whether you are a subscriber to the newsletter or not. I have chosen to work with mostly (except for the 2 links in the next paragraphs) Faith Based affiliates, all very family friendly, so you can find great Christian books, educational materials, movies, Bibles and Journaling Bibles, Devotionals, and so much more to encourage and deepen your Christian Faith.

The only other affiliate resources I link to are chiefly for bloggers starting out. That is because I use these 2 affiliates myself with no problems or regrets, and I would highly recommend them to anyone. They have been GREAT! These 2 links are for my website host, Siteground, and my themes package, Elegant Themes.

Siteground is rated top notch for speed, security and customer/tech service. I have seen many many bloggers who are switching from their current hosts to Siteground because they are having issues with their hosts, and so I can promote Siteground with great confidence that they are the BEST!

Elegant Themes gives you 80+ themes to choose from for one low yearly price or a lifetime price option, and you also get a selection of great plug-ins included in that same price. The one I use is their Extra theme, which is top-rated for bloggers, as is their Divi Theme. The Extra Theme includes most of the perks of the Divi theme, so that’s why I chose that one. But there are 85 more to choose from too! All are the best quality and performance in the business!

That is the tech & business-ey side of my blogging update.. but here is what I have personally learned at this 9 month point.

I’ve learned that I feel extremely fulfilled and yet greatly challenged more and more every day by this blogging journey. My personal Faith has grown deeper in different ways than I could have ever imagined since I’ve been blogging about my Savior.

I pray over my blog all the time, and over who it reaches. I have seen slow but steady growth throughout, but recently, that growth seems to have increased exponentially, and that encourages me. Now, I am still only reaching an “under 50 views per day” level on my blog, but that number used to be under 30 and before that, under 10, with some days being under 1, haha, so I am very thankful for the steady upward growth.

Some bloggers reach these numbers super-fast, and go up into the hundreds / thousands per day or month. Don’t let that intimidate you if you are a new, or a smaller Faith blogger. We are all so different! I can’t say for sure across the board, but I have seen that many times those numbers come to bloggers who are in different niches; ones that have a more widespread appeal to a broader audience, not necessarily faith or Bible study based. I believe that, in general, it takes longer to grow a following on a Faith-based Christian blog, although I am sure there are many exceptions to this. I am in deep respect for many of my fellow Christian bloggers who have a wonderful gift with the Word of God that just awes me! I gain much inspiration from their Faith journeys!

For me personally, I trust that God is growing my blog at the pace He wants it to grow and it reaches who He wants it to reach. I know I personally would be overwhelmed if things took off too quickly for me, and God knows that too, haha! I am just happy that every month has been better than the one before it. That is growth, and success in my eyes!

One thing I am totally awestruck by is that people from all over the world have viewed my blog!

This humbles me and makes me want to become a better blogger day by day, especially in God’s way of measuring ‘better.’ This particular stat is one of my absolute favorite stats of all my stats! It is the one that encourages me more than any other; this list of where my blog views have come from. Of course, the vast majority are from the United States, which is where I am located, but the other countries represented makes me just praise God for how He has allowed me to have a voice to people all over the world, and tell them about my journey with Jesus, and hopefully, encourage them in theirs.

I find myself praying more and more that God will give me the right words to say to encourage all the individuals that find my blog, and especially if they are walking their Christian walk (or seeking a relationship with the Savior!) from a country that limits or completely restricts the preaching of Christ. I don’t know who theses individuals are, or how they find me (Pinterest, I’m sure!) but these are places I cannot go to, and yet… I do go there through the ministry of blogging about my beloved Savior! THAT excites me more than you will ever know! God be Praised for this wonderful ministry of blogging! What an awesome adventure it has been!

I am very glad that I took this step of faith and became a blogger. And… I am extremely glad that I started 9 months ago, and not today, as I believe the hardest part is behind me. If you are considering starting a blog, Go For It! Yes, there will be a hard part at the beginning (some exceptions to this, but for most of us, it seems a bit overwhelming at the beginning, as you are setting up your website and figuring out all the nuances of blogging) but it is well worth it, and it does get easier as you learn, learn, learn!

Another great blogging blessing is that you ‘meet’ so many great bloggers! People I would never have the opportunity of meeting, I have ‘met’ through blogging. They encourage me, and I have learned so much from them. They are some of the most helpful and encouraging people, and are glad to lend a helping hand and advice to their fellow bloggers.

I am very excited to see where God takes me as I approach my 1 year Blogiversary in July. I am determined to keep on keeping on, and my desire is to continue blogging for as long as the Lord lets me do it!

Final thought: I think Christian Faith-Blogging is the ‘door-to-door evangelism’ of the present & future. It is one of the most effective methods of reaching the world for Christ by regular people who can’t physically go to the mission field or preach/teach on the TV or radio, but have a compelling desire to witness about their Lord and Savior. People won’t let you in to their door like in the old days, but they will invite you right in to their computer or mobile device via your blog. Putting us all together, with all of our Christian blogs, I can’t imagine a corporate ministry that has the potential to reach so many around the world in such a non-intrusive way other than Christian blogging.

I have full confidence that Christ will accomplish what He plans through this ministry of blogging, and I am so happy to be a part of it. But you can be too! If you feel the Lord leading you to this ministry, don’t let your fears sway you. Join this amazing contemporary platform of spreading the Word of God through a blog. Yes, there are other types of blogs too, and that is a good thing too, if that is what your bent is, but if you are a Christian, no matter what niche you are in, let your Light Shine for Jesus.