Forever Beloved

For a complete list of The Blogvember Challenge prompts, click HERE!

November 21 –How do you de-stress?

I have to admit, I’m a stressy person.  I worry, I fret and I stress.  And when I’m stressed, I worry about completely irrational things.  It’s not a great quality of mine.  And to be honest I’m not great at self-care.  In the past I have commonly said yes when I should have said no.  I get so wrapped up in my stress that self-care isn’t even on my radar.

But throughout being sick, I’ve learned that stress and my body aren’t friends.  And self-care has to be a priority of mine, one that I will no doubt forget and need to remind myself of.

For me self-care looks like getting my nails done, spending time in my kitchen cooking foods from scratch, laying down in the afternoon to rest, snuggling up with a book, watching Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons and journaling in my Bible.

The past two weeks have been overwhelmingly stressful.  And my body is paying for it today.  So this afternoon, I’m going to prioritize self-care.  I just said no, even though every bit of me screamed say yes.  I am laying on the couch snuggling with a sleepy puppy while watching TV.  I’m going to cook a yummy dinner for my husband and I.  And I’m going to put myself first today, giving my mind and my body a break.

How do you de-stress?  Do you make self-care a priority?

For a complete list of The Blogvember Challenge prompts, click HERE!

November 20 – Share your favorite hymn.  Tell us why it’s your favorite and what it means to you.

Before I share my favorite hymn with you, I feel as if I must share a story with you.

When I was little, Sunday morning meant church.  That was just a given.

As soon as 9:15 came around, I’d hear a faint knock on our door.  I knew it was Grandma, who lived next door.  I already knew she would have her Sunday best on, which included a clutch-bag to match her outfit.  Her hair still fancily curled from my Mom setting it the day before.  Shiny costume jewelry that I loved to pour over would be hanging around her neck.  And a broach always adorned her dress.

My Dad would be in the bathroom, without a doubt combing his hair.  He would have on his best suit with a tie to match.  His outfit wouldn’t be complete without a fancy little tie-tack that pulled his outfit together.

My Mama was in the kitchen, putting the last touches on our Sunday dinner and getting it in the oven.  I don’t know why Sunday dinners after church always tasted so good, but they were my favorite growing up.

We would all load up in my parents car and travel the half-mile to church.

We would all split off in different directions, heading to our Sunday school classrooms.  I would find my group of friends and we would run to ours, giggling the entire way.

As soon as Sunday School was over, I’d gather my things together and scurry upstairs.  I would slide in the pew and settle in beside my Mama.

The service would begin.

I would sit there, impatiently waiting to sing a hymn.  Singing was always my favorite part of the service. The song leader would announce the hymn number and I would quickly grab my hymnal and stand, always being one of the first ones up. As soon as the hymn would start, my Dad’s voice could plainly be heard above the rest of the congregation. When he would start singing, I would stand a little taller. I was so proud of my Dad’s singing voice, his ability to harmonize easily and his knowledge of virtually every verse of every hymn.  I was always in awe of his ability to sing notes that weren’t even on the pages.

As I got older, my love of this Sunday morning moment never changed.  If there was a Sunday my Dad had to work, I would still stand tall and proud, doing my part.  My Dad had taught me how to harmonize, how to pull the melodies from the music and how to hear the piano over everyone’s voices.

I also took piano lessons for many years when I was young.  I was lucky enough to have a piano teacher that was not only a Christian but attended the same church I did.  Many of my weekly lessons were learning to play hymns.  I can assure you there was many a night spent around the piano (not always willingly on my part), playing hymns with my Dad singing melody and me singing harmony.  And Sunday mornings when the song leader would call out a hymn that I knew we had practiced at home, I would do a little victory dance inside. I would stand up and sing beside my Dad as loud as I could.

My Dad has aged over the years, not having the best hearing and vision anymore.  There were quite a few years where he didn’t attend church because of his health issues.  This had never really affected me until Easter a few years ago.  The song leader announced the hymn, He Arose.  I stood to sing and suddenly my throat was tight, my eyes welled with tears and I was overwhelmed with sadness.

I sang every hymn that Easter Sunday through tears.  My husband, bless his sweet heart, saw me crying and asked what was wrong.  I couldn’t even really explain it to him without it coming out all jumbled.  I was basically, in that single moment, overwhelmed with the reality that my life is changing.  The “old days” were just that, the old days.  They weren’t my reality anymore.  I thought I would never again stand beside my Dad in church and harmonize.  And that broke my heart into a million pieces.

But then, something happened.  Something amazing happened.  I walked into church one Sunday, and saw my Dad sitting there!  The smile on my face couldn’t be hidden.  My Dad felt confident, even though he can’t see or hear well, to again attend Sunday morning service.  And my heart exploded with joy!  That first Sunday when the song leader announced the hymn, I nearly fell over.  It was the same hymn that, all those years ago, I played on the piano while my Dad and I harmonized.  I stood as quickly as I could, turned to the page, and then I heard that familiar sound.  My Dads voice rising above the rest.  I could feel the tears welling up, but I had to hold them back.  I fell right into my harmony spot.  For the remainder of that song, I was just a 10 year old girl standing beside her Dad singing her heart out.

That hymn will be my lifetime favorite for the very reasons I explained above.  Standing On The Promises.  It holds lifetime significance for me.  And the words, oh the precious words.

Standing on the promises of Christ my King
Through eternal ages let his praises ring
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing
Standing on the promises of God

Throughout every valley in my life, right in the middle of my mess, I’ve clung to those words.  We can stand on the many promises of God.  Promises that we know, without a doubt, will come true.  From a God that doesn’t fail, doesn’t leave us in our mess and will always walk right beside us.

Years ago I found a t-shirt that says “Standing on the Promises” on the front of it.  I quickly bought it, and I wear it to the hospital on every surgery day for a reminder.

My Dads health has once again made it to where Sunday mornings are spent at home, not in church.  But you will find me there singing a hymn through my tears.

For a complete list of The Blogvember Challenge prompts, click HERE!

November 19 –  If you could give advice to a new blogger, what would it be?

Boy, the timing of this prompt.  I just had a good friend message me yesterday and ask for blogging advice.  He’s felt God nudging his heart to start blogging and isn’t sure where exactly to start.  And this gives me the push I need to write down all the advice I have for new bloggers!

As I’ve said before, I’ve had my blog for 13 years.  I’ve watched a lot of blogging trends comes and go.  And I’ve learned so, so much throughout the years.  Hopefully I can pass on a little of my blogging knowledge to y’all.

Platform

The first thing I would suggest doing is choosing your platform.  I started out on Blogger and eventually moved to WordPress.  Both platforms offer free options.  I actually used the free option until about two years ago.  But, of course, if you want to be able to do all the things you’ll have to upgrade.

Audience

You need to know who your target audience is.  These are the people that actually come to your blog, read your posts, comment on them and share your post with their friends.  When your blog speaks to your readers something truly magical happens.  The comments start rolling in on your blog and on Facebook.  Other bloggers in your industry begin wanting to network with you. Your readers start to link to your site on their posts wanting to tell their audience about you.  It’s a beautiful thing!

Photos

One thing I highly suggest is using good quality photos.  An eye-catching, interesting, bright and crisp photo will draw your audience in.  And when you take your post over to social media, your in post photo will pop up on there.

Now this was easy for me since I’m a photographer, but I realize not everyone is.  There are websites I highly suggest utilizing.  They have high-quality photos you are allowed to use royalty free.  That’s important, you never want to steal a photographers work.  But there are websites, such as unsplash, where photographers upload their work for the sole purpose of bloggers or website designers using them.

Watermark

As I said above, when you take your post to social media (Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) it will draw your in-post image up.  I highly, highly suggest putting your blog address at the bottom.  You can see what I mean by looking at the image above.  I want people to know where the post is from before they even click the link.  I also always put a title on my image for the same reason.  In our world of pinning and re-pinning, it’s easy for images to get grabbed without a direct connection back to your blog.  By adding your web address and blog title, you’re providing a direct conduit back to your blog.  Not only does it protect your images from theft, but it gives your photos that professional look.

I use Photoshop, but I realize not everyone has access to that.  There are other online editing tools, such as pixlr.  A quick google search for online photo editors will bring up a long list.

Socials

I’ve greatly benefited from having social media platforms just for my blog.  I have Bloglovin, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that I post my blogs on.  It’s a great way to get your posts out there for others to share.  Sometimes a pin (a Pinterest post) will take off like wildfire!  I’ve had one single pin take off and the post it’s linked to on my blog has been viewed over 45,000 times!  It’s a fabulous marketing tool that we have at our fingertips.  I also give my readers the option of subscribing via email.  When a new post goes live on my blog, they’ll get it right to their inbox!  When providing these options to your readers, it’s important they be visible at all times.  I would suggest either on your sidebar or menu.  Many, if not all, blog templates will have these social buttons included in their design.

Visit Other Blogs & Comment

This is a big lesson I have learned.  It’s so rewarding to get comments on a post.  Knowing that something you worked hard on was useful or rewarding to someone else.  After all, for many of us, that’s the reason we blog: to share with others.  And again, it’s a get way to network.

Post Consistently

I know, like I’m one to talk.  Set a personal goal of how many times you would like to post a week and try to stick with it.  That will help keep you disciplined and let your readers know what to expect.  So, whether it’s once a week or once a day, try to be consistent.  And of course, give yourself grace when you’re not.

I’m so excited to see what advice y’all have for new bloggers.  Be sure to link-up below!