There used to a be a lovely lady at our old church who would regularly and randomly bring us cake. Usually wrapped in alfoil and usually date or banana. It was quirky, a bit odd, humbling but helpful; VERY HELPFUL. My husband loved her cakes, though it was just a plain banana loaf, and it gave him something extra to take to work on mornings when I was scrambling, which was and still is a lot of the time. It was her ministry; mine is as a small Christian blogger, but what’s that got to do with cake?? Back to the story.
They were not fancy, or iced/frosted, or decorated in anyway, but they were nutritious and filling, and I really liked her cakes.
Sometimes blogging can be like that cake and many of us are here showing up and offering our alfoil wrapped cake, and that’s good, but over the past year I’ve really wrestled with what it means to be faithful with what God has given me in the way of words. And I’ve come up with icing; ya know like frosting on a cake? Honestly, I rarely frost cakes, it has to be a special occasion, but I must admit that I will happily go to a cafe and pay substantially more for a piece of iced cake.
So I’m going to compared branding to icing. Man cannot live on icing alone
There’s so much talk about branding and self promotion at the moment, even Beth Moore and Ann Voskamp have weighed in on it, but it was something I was considering before that. We know that God has given us words to share, but how do we get them out to the right people without jumping on the treadmill where we are constantly pushing ourselves on others?
To be honest it was running me ragged and I’d lost my joy in writing. I sorta accidentally took a month off, and it was the best thing ever. I’m hearing more and more that unless we are faithful with what God has given us and write what He gives us, we lose our joy and momentum in writing. Even professional blogger Crystal Paine was talking about the importance of writing and not just doing all the other stuff.
So what I’ve learnt about blogging recently is that it is a good thing to get our blogs to the point where they load smoothly, are pleasant to look at, and sorta match, just like it is pleasant to walk into a room that matches and is not cluttered. (And hey, looking at beautiful piece of cake is nice too, rather than one I yanked out of the oven and hacked apart.)
Over the past year I’ve invested in a few things that have helped me learn how to ‘frost’ my cake. These nutritious words that can be passed right by when they are just dumped right out of the oven.
Arabah Joy’s Christian Bloggers Bootcamp and corresponding Pin 21 course really helped me to present my cake nicely. That’s what branding is, learning to ‘frost’ nicely with good quality images, with a consistent word overlay.
PicMonkey.com is my go to for this, and Pinterest is your cake stand, and for many bloggers, that’s where we are getting our views from, because it is a visual Search Engine.
If we are faithful to not only write what God has given us, but also present to it well, then He will open doors of favour for our ‘cake’ to be presented in front of many, and He has this year. Make Him your source of inspiration, learn what you can from other Godly people and keep sharing your words.
If you would like resources to help you with your Christian blog, please check out Carmen’s site Married by His Grace and her corresponding facebook group By His Grace Bloggers.
Hi Lizzy,
I agree, I believe we need to have God’s wisdom in the words that we write, words are very powerful things. As the Word tells us, they either bring life or death to our reading audiences. And of course we only want to impart God’s wisdom for His glory.
As daughters of God the Father, we are always acutely aware how we promote our writing. And the fine line between self promotion verses being obedient to our Heavenly Father in getting the experience that God has taken us through… out to encourage the people He wants to encourage through those experiences.
I hope my written experiences brought blessings to both you & Stephen when you received them last month 😉
Blessings in our Lord,
Jennifer
Very well written. It reminds me of preachers who struggle with trying to be “relevant” on social media at the expense of spending time with God. We will never be able to share His good news if spend time branding ourselves instead of spending time with him.
Love your recommendations!
Thank you, it all comes back to time with Jesus, hey? Hopefully going to do a live video on this topic on facebook soon.
Hi Lizzy,
Just sharing a little bit of my journey with you since we met last year…firstly you have been both inspirational & instrumental in God’s direction for my life at this time.
So thank you for your faithfulness & obedience to the Lord’s calling for your life through this blog!
I have regularly visited with you on this site since meeting you & have taken on board your experience & inspired wisdom in writing as a blogger
.
Long story short, as a sold out active servant of God since I meet the Lord (38 years now)!
13 years ago i was struck with Chronic Health conditions. This has greatly impacted my life & the lives of my loved ones. This also has immeasurably impacted my abilities in being an active servant of God, but your statement on this site that you get itchy when you don’t write resounded deep within me.
So being inspired by your blogging & advice for writing, after much researching, reading, reading some more (as I am still a novice where the Internet is concerned) & following God’s direction & timing for my life in this time I have started a blog!
“Tea with Jennifer” was born a few days ago! Please drop by & have a cup or mug (if preferred) of tea, coffee or hot chocolate, add a treat of delightful deliciousness & linger for awhile when you have a break within your busy mummy life with me! You have been a big part of this!
Thank you! May God richly bless you in all areas of your life…
Oh Jennifer, so thrilled that I inspired you to write. One of my favourite resources is the facebook group By His Grace Bloggers. So much friendly support with everything faith and blog related. Chronic illness is just horrid. My younger sister in her early 20s lives with us and has been chronically sick for 6 years despite much prayer and especially so at the moment. Blessings, Lizzy
Thank you Lizzy, I will keep that in mind.
Sorry to hear that your sister has chronic health issues too, that is difficult & yes physically & mentally horrid!
But I have come to a place over the 13 years that I can look at my chronic health conditions as actually a spiritual gift in disguise because I have to totally rely on the Lord, I get to spend so much quiet time with Him & that truly is a blessing & very precious while waiting for healing
But it took awhile for me to see this!
Jennifer