Faithful Bloggers

Last Friday I met up with a good friend that I hadn't seen or talked to in a long while. It was great. Good Tex-Mex and great conversation. One of the topics we got on was about prayer and how awesome it is that God actually takes the time to listen to all our prayers and answer them. Even prayers about our blogs and online businesses.

I shared with my about a specific prayer request I had and was answered. In less then two weeks I am traveling to the NAMS conference in Atlanta, GA. I'm pretty excited about it. Got the conference ticket. Bought the plane ticket. But still needed a place to stay. The original plan was to share a room with 3 other ladies but last month all 3 of them decided not to go to the conference for different personal reasons. Luckily, I found another set of roommates. Please keep in mind, I did not want to room with someone I didn't know so I was being kind of picky. These new roommates, I didn't know in real life but did know pretty well online. However once again these ladies decided to stay home instead of attending the conference as planned.

So now I'm thinking, Lord, am I suppose to even go? I can't afford the hotel room by myself for 5 days. So I try to cancel my plane ticket. Unsuccessful. Stuck going. Then I start praying. Lord what is your will? Am I suppose to go the conference, if so, please provide the money to pay for the hotel room by myself, or if not, please allow me to be able to get a refund on my plane ticket.

Guess what? God answered my prayer and quickly. Within two weeks I made enough extra money through my design job to completely pay for the hotel room. God is good and He answers prayers!

Don't let anyone ever tell you prayer doesn't work. It does! I'm living proof.

Thankful Thursday is being hosted this month by Women Taking a Stand

I am a firm believer in the power of prayer. I keep a prayer journal and write everything I can think of to pray about in it. It is so exciting to be able to cross an item off my prayer list because the Lord has answered it! Prayer is one of the most important aspects of my relationship with the Lord. I don't have any worries in my life because I pray and hand everything over to the Lord. It is a very refreshing and thrilling feeling to know that my life is in the Lord's hand and that His will will be done. I also incorporate this same philosophy with blogging. I don't worry about my blog. I don't get upset if I don't get the traffic I want or the opportunity I was hoping for. I don't get caught up in the blog drama that constantly seems to be happening. I pray for my blog. I pray for my blog readers. And praying makes all the difference in the world.

Here are 10 ways you can pray for your blog:

Posts and articles you write. Praying before you sit down to write a post or article can make the whole process go a lot faster. If you feel you are being led by the Lord to write on a certain topic, the words just seem to come together naturally. Just a quick prayer asking the Lord to give you the words needed is all it takes to make the writing process much more enjoyable and easier.
How you react and respond to comments. It is inevitable that you will get some rude and hurtful comments at some point in your blogging life. Unfortunately not everyone understands where we as Christians are coming from and can feel threatened for no reason. People sometimes leave rude and unjustified comments just because the can. Whatever the reason for the undesired comment, take a moment in prayer before responding and acting upon the comment. I response made in the heat of the moment maybe all it takes to destroy our testimony.
Advertisement or sponsorship. Before accepting any paid advertisements or sponsorships take some time to pray about it first. By accepting their advertisement on your site you are referring your readers to them. Make sure any advertiser you agree to sell ad space to holds the same values as you do. Sure the money you can make is great, but does the ad or product align with your faith? Would you be putting your testimony on the line by accepting the advertisement or sponsorship?
Product reviews and/or giveaways. This could actually fall into the advertisement or sponsorship category. If you are going to include product review and/or giveaways on your blog, pray before accepting the review offer. Pray as your write the review and host the giveaway. See if there is a way to incorporate the product or giveaway with your faith. Most of all be honest and up front about any review or giveaway you do.
Your blog readers. Not only do I pray for more readers, but I pray daily that the readers I do have will find my posts helpful. Readers are one of the main reasons we blog. We want to be able to communicate with the world and blogging is one way of doing that. Without the readers where would blogging be?
Other bloggers. We should encourage other bloggers even if it results in them becoming a better blogger than yourself. Praying for bloggers is one of the best ways to encourage them.
God's will for your blog. You may have a lot of plans for your blog, but if it isn't God's will then it probably won't happen. Praying that God's will be done will bring our wills under His.
Partnerships. Before starting a partnership with another blogger pray about it. Does the other blogger have the same faith and values as you do? Kelly and I met on Twitter and were instant friends. When we started discussions about starting this site together, I know we both spent time in prayer about it. Of course over time and talking to each other over Skype and Twitter, it turns out we have a lot more in common than just our faith and love for blogging.
Ebooks, Special Reports, etc. Pray about any product or service you plan to offer to others. In the past I have started projects without praying and it was such a struggle to get everything going. The projects I have prayed about and felt the Lord leading me to do have been much more successful. I pray every step of the way from conception of the idea, to implementation, to any writings I must to do, to asking price, and marketing efforts.
Affiliate Programs. Affiliate programs are great ways to try to make some money on your blog. Before you start actively promoting an affiliate product pray to make sure the product is a good fit for your blog.