I honestly can’t believe it, but Authentic Faith just celebrated its first anniversary! On May 8, 2022, I published the website, having no idea how much of an impact it would have in my life. This blog was originally created as a part of my final project for psychology, but it quickly became sooooo much more than that. Now, it is a space for me to share my experiences and where I’ve grown, and encourages me to study Scripture on a deeper level. It has grown me so much as a person, and I have heard that it has had impacts on other people, which I am so grateful for. I just wanted to take this blog post to share what I’ve learned in my first year of having Authentic Faith, as well as sharing my hopes for the future of the blog.
What I’ve Learned from Authentic Faith
1.) Self-accountability
Because I am a student, my life has always revolved around the deadlines others have set for me. Every assignment, project, and test had to be done by a certain day, and there were always other people that set deadlines and made sure that I met those deadlines.
With the blog, however, there is nobody else to keep me accountable. All of this is my own responsibility, which means that if I do not keep myself accountable, then no progress will be made. I find this to be pretty new, because although I have had many things where I need to be responsible, this is a whole new level. Throughout this year, I have created schedules for when I need to get posts up, create promotions on social media, and have spent a lot of time learning how to do these to the best of my abilities. I know that I still have so much more to learn, but I have already made progress in these things, which only increases my need for self-accountability.
What I have learned about self-accountability is that you need a key motivator. If you are only doing it because somebody tells you to, or because you feel like you are obligated to, you won’t get too far. When I lose sight of my key motivator, which is growing closer to the Lord and helping others grow, I notice that what I am doing feels more like a chore than a blessing. This is when I put things off until the last minute, and sometimes don’t even get a post up.
If you want to do something on your own, and grow in your self-accountability, find your key motivator and don’t lose sight of it. I have learned that this is the only way to really get things done and achieve your goals.
2.) Impacting others
This is the part of the blog that I never thought would be a part of my life, but I am so glad it is. Having this platform gives me the ability to speak into the lives of other people. When I first started writing, I loved being able to go more in depth about topics or passages that I loved and was curious about. Anything that I had on my mind became something that I could research and write about, which is something I still love about my blog today.
Whenever I publish something, though, it becomes more than just my own learning. My posts are shared out to other people, who are both encouraged and convicted by what the Lord has shown me. I have had many people reach out to me to let me know that I am having an impact on their life through my blog. Sometimes, it is them telling me that they are going through something similar as what I shared in an Authentic Faith life update, were convicted by a topic I covered, or wanted to try one of the challenges I wrote about at the end of a post. These messages people send to me really keep me going at my best, because impacting others is something I am passionate about. I will not stop my blogging because of how little or how much I feel I am impacting others, but it really helps me to do my best when I know this not only affects me, but also other people. One of my motivators behind having it named Authentic Faith is to share genuine, unfiltered parts of my life to show to others. There are too many people on social media that are trying to put up a fake front, and I couldn’t find any teens that wrote about their real struggles in life, whether it be in high school, their faith, relationships, or anything else. I knew that if I was searching for these platforms, then other people would be too. I love knowing that simply being honest about what I am going through, whether it be the good, the bad, or even the mundane, can impact others. This last year has taught me that everybody that you meet impacts you in one way or another. In life, I notice myself picking up little habits or phrases from the people that I am close to. Similarly, when we hang out around people and spend time with them, they will begin to influence what we do, say, think, and believe. I am so blessed that God allows me to influence others through this, and hopefully to bring them closer to Him.
3.) Keep pushing on
As much as I love my blog, it is still a big commitment. Since I want to post every other Friday, I am on a two-week deadline at all times. I write an outline for what I want to cover, which includes research, write the whole post and then revise and edit it. Next, I have to create things for social media. I currently have an Instagram account for the blog, and this is where lots of my expanding comes from. It is still definitely in the beginning stages, but even now, I have a lot to do for it. Three posts go up every week, which are made entirely by me, and I am learning how to create Reels to boost the number of people who see Authentic Faith. All of this is a lot, especially when I have so many other commitments in life.
All of that is to say that sometimes, it is exhausting. Like I said earlier, if you lose sight of your key motivators, it becomes really hard to go through all the work. I have had multiple periods of time where the blog was totally inactive for a month, and I absolutely hate it when that happens. I know that what I am doing is given to be my God, so I am doing a good thing, but it still can overwhelm me if I am not staying close to Him and asking for direction constantly. It can even be hard for me to feel uplifted when a recent blog post doesn’t get any attention. However, the book of Galatians contains a verse that has been very comforting to me in many parts of my life. “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9). I absolutely love that it mentions that we will reap “in due season”. This references God’s timing, which is the best timing of all. It can get very hard when God’s timing is not aligned with ours, because I often get impatient and want things to go my way when I say so. However, when it is all over, and God provides like He promised He would, I can see that waiting for God to provide is what worked best for me.
Sometimes, the things that we are told to do by God are very hard, even when it is something that we love to do. I don’t want to work on the blog if my heart is not in it, because the last thing I want is to put out something that is not centered around the Lord. Sometimes, I am simply lazy, and would rather watch Gilmore Girls for hours instead of getting up and doing the work of the Lord. My encouragement for anyone that is dealing with this is to not give up, as Paul says in Galatians 6:9. I know that waiting sucks, and it can often feel like the waiting has gone on for an eternity, but God promises to provide in His own time, as He has done time and time again. I need to work on pushing on and doing this for the glory of God, instead of trying to find motivation in selfish and worldly things.
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I just want to thank you all again for your continued love and support. I feel as if I say this all the time, but I am so grateful for you all. Now that a whole year of running a blog has passed by, I am realizing more and more that God blessed me with not just this website, but also so many loving people that find me worth investing in and caring about. You, all the readers, are those people. Thank you for coming back time after time, and for sticking with me through all the rough spots and breaks in the blog. “I thank God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” (Philippians 1:3-5). Here’s to many more years of Authentic Faith!
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