Friday, July 19, 2013

Something New: How blogging Has Changed My Life


To begin this post, here is a random picture of some of my Essie nail polish. I just bought the peach color and I'm obsessed! The peach color is tart deco, and the turquoise color is turquoise and caicos. I love Essie because it stays on forever and all of their colors are each so bright and pretty. 

This photo below is another random photo of some of the different makeup that I use.  Starting from the left is my Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake, my Sephora long-lasting liquid eyeliner in noir black, and my Loreal Voluminous Mascara in carbon black. The eyeliner never fades and stays on all day, the mascara always makes my eyelashes look super long and pretty, and the lipstick is not only is a pretty shade of pink but it also makes my lips feel smooth and it doesn't feel like I'm wearing lip stick at all!


Hey friends! Today marks my FOURTH post for the summer of something new blog challenge. For those of you don't know what this challenge is, it was set up by my wonderful blog friend Annaliese at Southern Belle in Training, and for this challenge Annaliese, ElleJenna,  MichaelaGina and I will be sharing with you guys something new every Friday for 6 weeks! This week, I decided to switch it up from my normal crafts and DIY and share with you how starting a blog took courage and has challenged me beyond my limits. It's been a life-changing experience!

As I was scrolling through the blogging world today and reading many of your wonderful posts, I couldn't help but think to myself where my own blog has brought me. When I say where, I mean a place full of new friendships that I never imagined I would make. So many new friends leading me closer to Jesus and encouraging me to seek Him more and more. So many friends writing about their struggles in their walks with Christ that I could so easily relate with. So many women LIFTING my spirits, and filling me with joy.

I remember the exact moment of when I first decided to make my blog. Before that point, I had been talking with friends about how I was thinking about making a blog, but I didn't really know what to make it about. My first idea was to make a blog about healthy eating. I honestly didn't have enough passion though to make a blog like that, because although I am still very proud of myself for losing 50 pounds and keeping that weight off today, I really was never into the idea of making a blog only about that topic.

It was about 12:30 am on a Saturday night, and  I was scrolling through one of my favorite blogs, Bloom by Nicole. "Thats it!" I said to myself. "I HAVE to make a blog." I loved Nicole's openness in sharing her relationship with Jesus, and she so much reminded me of myself in a lot of ways through that aspect. 

I was so nervous when I started my blog. I didn't know anyone, and I didn't even know what the heck to write about. At first I would kind of flip flop and write about random things, and I was a little nervous to share my faith. I didn't think people would really be able to relate with my posts. I actually didn't even figure out how to add the "follower" button to my blog until a month and a half into making it. That really frustrated me because I had written a few posts up to that point that nobody was really reading. Once I found the follower button, I was happy but annoyed that it had taken me so long to figure out. 

Then amazing things happened. People would write posts that were exactly what I needed to read. God would speak right through them. I started to meet some new blog friends, and what was unique about these friendships was that I could tell that we clicked. No, I haven't met any of them in person (YET), but I just know that if we were able to meet in real life it would be full of laughs and pure happiness.

So friends, if your reading this and you are thinking about starting a blog but you haven't yet, DO IT! Or maybe your new to the blogging scene and you are frustrated or overwhelmed about getting it going: DON'T GIVE UP! I definitely cried a few times when I was trying to figure out how the heck to set up this blog up, it was SO confusing! But... I still did it. I persevered. It has been a true challenge with starting this blog up, but it has been totally worth every ounce of effort. I am challenged every day to write what is really on my heart and what I feel compelled to share with you guys. I still have a long way to go with building my blog, but I am so happy that I have made it this far. Blogging has definitely become a big part of my life, and I have been blessed beyond belief with becoming part of a community that I am unbelievably thankful for.

Here are my blogging besties whom I love dearly and pray for the opportunity to meet in real life one day!

Francesca at Beautiful Things

Katie at Hope Engaged

Annaliese at Southern Belle In Training

Gina at Gina Alyse

Hannah at Wonderfully Sewn

Julie at An Anchor For The Soul

Brittany at Happy Is a Choice

Cassie at Sage

Kiki at In Its Time

 Bailey at Anchored in Love Divine

Abigail at Abigail Jasmine


Kellie at Nothing Less

...and I also happen to have a REAL-LIFE friend who started a blog at the same time I did, her name is Allison and she blogs at a A God Fashioned Life- Love her & her blog!

Thats them! Go look at their pages, I promise you'll love them just as much as I do. But seriously, go look. I love them all. I also recently have met some other wonderful ladies on here that I am looking forward to becoming better friends with as well. I pray very often that somehow someday I would be able to meet each one of these ladies in person one day! I really want to do a "blog meet up" or "blog trip" but I have no idea how to set it up, let alone how that would work with all of our crazy schedules. Oh well, if its in Gods will it will just somehow happen anyway! Until then, keep doing what you do blog besties, I love you all!

Ps- My blog's Facebook page is could use some love from you guys! Click HERE to like Forever Convinced on Facebook!

PPS-  I also love Instagram and I'd love for you to follow my Instagram adventures by clicking HERE!

Love always, Jess

18 comments:

  1. aw thanks jess, this is sweet. I totally remember having a similar experience when I first started my blog as well

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  2. Such a sweet post! Thank you for sharing your heart for Jesus in your words and for being such an inspiration!

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  3. So happy you decided to start this wonderful blog! You are such a kind hearted girl with so much wisdom and love for the Lord, I am so happy to have met you through blogging!

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  4. Aww you're so kind! I am SO happy that we met through blogging as well! I am confident that someday (soon? :-)) we will meet in real life, and then be real life friends as well! Your blog has encouraged me so much, and oftentimes the things that you post are exactly what I needed to hear! LOVE YOU!

    xoxo Miss ALK

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  5. Aweee, the first two essie nail polish colors are my wedding colors for next May. HAHA! Great choices! You can't go wrong with a light green and peach combo. So Trendy now!

    Ginny
    www.buttergirldiaries.com

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  6. Thanks for the shout-out, girl! I completely feel the same way about you and about how blogging has completely changed my life. Hoping we can meet in person someday as well! :)

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  7. I'll check out these girls! Though I already read {and LOVE} Katie at Hope Engaged & Gina at Gina Alyse :)

    Love YOUR blog too...so glad you listened to that voice and started one. I've been very encouraged by your blog!

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  8. we BETTER meet in real life one day darlin:) That would be sooo lovely!! I'm officially inviting you to come visit me in Nepal, hehe!!!

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  9. I can't tell you how much you mean to me girl! God has truly blessed me with your friendship and you are a great inspiration for me! Love you girl! NEVER give up on what you are most passionate about! God will guide your steps and lead you into a place that you never would have imagined yourself!

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  10. Thanks for the blog shoutout dear! You're amazing!

    http://agodfashionedlife.com

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  11. I adore you and your blog. Is this a challenge you came up with it or was it on another blog. I enjoyed doing blog in May deal and wish there was one for every month sadly. I feel like such a bore.

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  12. Thanks for the link, Jess! And I LOVE Essie polish! That turquoise is one of my favorites and I'm fairly drooling over that lovely peach in the photo!

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  13. First off, I love how we have the same taste in beauty products--Essie nail polishes and Revlon lip butters are amazing! Second off, I'm so glad you did decide to start a blog! Your posts are so encouraging and authentic--just loving reading them! And what a great topic for the blog challenge. I feel like blogging can take us on new adventures everyday. :)

    Thanks so much for adding my link as well :) Have an amazing weekend, girl!

    xo, gina

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  14. Thanks so much for sharing! :) I'm still new(ish) to blogging and often feel frustrated with it -- how much time I can put into, the amount of followers I have, ideas for blogging, etc., so your post was definitely an encouragement. Plus, I JUST recently discovered this little niche of Christian bloggers which I am absolutely thrilled about!

    Looking forward to reading more of your posts. :)
    J @ A CUP OF J

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  15. YES! Blogging has been nothing but a blessing so far, once I figured out how the whole thing works ;) You're right, it's all women lifting each other up, and it's a beautiful thing to see. All my followers and ladies I've connected with fill me with such joy. I love reading how open and honest people get, because in real life you don't always get that. God has definitely blessed us so much with blogging. And um... can we PLEASE meet someday?! That would be the best! Love you girl :)

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  16. I too love the community of friends that forms in the blogging world. You can never have too many friends!

    I have those same Essie colors. :)

    XOXO/Lena @ RootandBlossom

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  17. Wow! I really needed to read this today! My sister and I just started our blog a month and a half ago and it has been such a learning experience! We are having a lot of fun though and I look forward to growing more as a blogger.

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  18. I've seriously tried to comment twice on this post, and both times it hasn't made it through, because I was commented through my smartphone, and it just wasn't working out. Ughh. I'm sorry. #firstworldproblems But anyway,

    First, thank you so much for calling me a blog bestie! That's awesome. :) I'm also so happy to 'meet' all these new bloggers too!

    Also, I love hearing how people got started in blogland. I can relate with all the frustrations too lol. I was definitely in tears as well when I was trying to figure how to set everything up and create new social media accounts, etc. I'm still confused about some things! But it's all so worth it, because of this awesome community of new friends you gain. :)

    Thank you for writing this! Love ya!

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