About one year ago, when I was 16 years old, Faith Filled You was created. What started out as a small Instagram account and Pinterest account quickly evolved into so much more. As my online community continued to steadily grow, I made the decision to start a blog, but not just any blog – a Christian, faith-based blog.
Now, here I am at 17 years old, and I’m ready to share about my journey as a Christian blogger, but most importantly, why I started a Christian blog at 16 years old. Here’s my story…
A Foundation In Faith
Before I get into the details, I want to quickly introduce myself. Hi, I’m Leah! I’m a 17-year-old junior in high school living on the East Coast. High school is where my faith began to flourish. During my freshman year of school, I took a religion class that completely changed my life, and without it, I don’t think I’d be here.
I’ve been a Christian all of my life, but it was in that class that I really discovered who Christ is. I learned that being a Christian is more than just going to church, saying prayers, and saying that you love God – it’s about actively following Him, sharing the gospel, and leading others to Him.
Taking what I learned in that class, I was able to build a stronger relationship with God and I learned the importance of having a strong faith. By growing in faith, I grew as a person and I felt loved, welcomed, forgiven, strong, cared for, and so much more. Seeing the way that growing closer to God had impacted my daily life, I felt a desire to lead other people to Him. I felt like I had found a purpose – to help other people find Christ.
I have become so passionate about helping other people to find Jesus in their life, especially fellow young believers who may just be beginning their walk with Christ or may be confused on where to start. I have seen the way that having faith and a relationship with God has changed my life, and I want to help others to do the same.
There’s an endless list of why I want to lead others to Jesus and help them grow a relationship with God – but ultimately, my goal is to make Heaven more crowded.
Being 17, I most definitely do not know everything. I try to make sure that everything I share is accurate and I only share about topics that I know about, but I am human and may slip up sometimes. While I want my platform to educate others about Christ, my main goal is to encourage others to seek Him and help them to do so that that we may all learn about our faith and grow our relationship with God!
Blogging History
You’d think that at age 16 I would have been a pioneer at this whole blogging thing, but nope! I actually had a few (yes a few) blogs before – one with my dad when I was really young, one with my best friend, and one of my own. Granted, not all of them were very serious, but I’ve always loved the idea of publishing content and it potentially getting seen by people all around the world. I’ve also always been fascinated by the whole idea of marketing, social media, search engine algorithms. I’m such a nerd for that stuff! (I could learn about it all day!)
Blogging has always given me something to do and goals to work towards. If you ask some people who know me, they would most likely tell you that I always need a good project, and when I have my heart set on something, I go for it! So when I got the idea to start a blog that would share my faith and hopefully encourage others to seek God, I was so excited by the idea and knew I needed to do it.
My previous blogs definitely led to my desire to start a faith-based, Christian blog. However, instead of investing money into this blog by buying a domain and host (like some of my other blogs, which I felt like added a stress for me to succeed) I decided to start a free website. I initially started with a free Wix site (which I’d recommend due to its design abilities), but I soon after switched to a WordPress.com site (you can start a free WordPress.com website by clicking here) with hopes that I will eventually switch to a self-hosted WordPress.org website (I’m not too sure how it works but I know it’s possible!).
Feeling a Calling
So, why do I have a faith blog? And what is it that made me actually start it? Honestly, it was an idea that I got one day that excited me and that I wanted to pursue. I felt like it was something God put into my mind for a reason. As Faith Filled You slowly grew and evolved and it just felt right to do so. So I thought, why not give it a try?
In all truth, I’ve struggled with inconsistency. There have been multiple times when Faith Filled You has not been my priority, and even a few times when I had forgotten about it completely. However, something that I noticed is that when I was not actively sharing my faith and about the good God, my faith never felt as strong. Actively sharing God’s word and working for Him has allowed my faith to flourish and has helped me to continue my own journey closer to Him. That makes me feel that this is God’s plan for me.
As I mentioned above, I have another personal blog, and balancing the two is nearly impossible so I always had to pick one or the other which often left me confused. My other blog I could make a profit from. It’s monetized through affiliate links and it has potential, but I noticed that it just doesn’t bring me happiness and fulfillment. I find myself stressed, overwhelmed, and consumed in earthly ideas such as financial success, leading me away from God, who is a true source of joy and fulfillment. I find my worthiness through Christ, not through money.
When I would contemplate which blog to focus my time and effort on, I often turned to God. And nearly ever time I questioned it, God would always lead me back to Faith Filled You. I would always get an overwhelming feeling that pursuing my other blog, at least at the moment, was not what God had planned for me. I always felt an indescribable feeling that confirmed to me that I would not find joy or fulfillment through working so hard on my other blog for the sake of money, and that I would feel joy and fulfillment from working hard to bring others to Jesus. The most fulfilling part of providing spiritual encouragement and leading others to Christ is seeing the way it helps other people, and that is a reward greater than most others I’ve received on Earth. To me, that is success.
When I see comments on Pinterest such as “I needed this today” or I get messages from people telling me to keep spreading the word of God, I feel like I’m in the right place. A Bible verse that I used to keep at the top of my blog (and that I sill keep at the top of my Pinterest) is Mark 16:15, which says “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” It inspires me to keep doing what I do, and I hope it inspires you to share about Jesus as well!
Is God calling YOU?
I plan to write more and expand on this topic in the future, but to anyone who has clicked on this post who feels like they may be called to start a Christian blog, (or Instagram, or Pinterest, etc.) here’s my advice:
Listen to these feelings, because God may be planting these desires inside of you to lead you to what He’s calling you to do.
God uses us each in different ways and calls us serve us in the ways He directs our paths to. 1 Corinthians 7:17 says “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.” If you’re interested in learning more about the meaning behind this quote, I’d recommend reading this post. This verse reminds me that every individual will lead a different life in which the Lord has planned for them.
Friend, listen to the feelings you’re given and don’t push them aside. Don’t ignore it. It could be God calling you. My best advice of all is to pray about it. Ask God for clarity and ask Him about you’re calling. Then, follow the path that God puts you on and trust His plan for you. (If you ever get nervous about what your future holds, read my post 5 Bible Verses For When You’re Worried About The Future!)
I hope my story about starting my Christian blog, Faith Filled You, has inspired you (and maybe even encouraged you to do the same!) I look forward to writing more about my Christian blogging journey and tips in the future, as well as sharing the complete story of Faith Filled You and how it’s gotten to where it has. What questions you have about blogging? I’d love to answer them in the comments!
Faith Filled You 