July Monthly Recap

 

Hey, friends. I can’t believe July’s over already. Time for a recap!

Purposeful Pages Link-Up Launch!

 

Purposeful Pages launched on July 2^nd, and it went fabulously. Thank you to all who participated, supported, commented, shared on social media, and talked about it – you guys are amazing, and I can’t wait for the next installment. (It’s next week! Get your blogs ready!)

June Monthly Recap

 

Although a little late, we recapped June in early July.

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.

 

This is one of my more poetic-prose posts, and I like it especially for that reason. Life says we need to be okay – but sometimes, we need to step back, and realize that it’s truly okay to admit that we don’t have it all together – because there is One who does.

We Are Redeemed! (Hebrews Bible Study: Week 5)

 

We studied Hebrews 5, here, and learned that Jesus is our mediator, our brother, and ultimately our Savior.

When We Feel Unworthy of Being Loved

 

This is one of the most vulnerable – and yet so freeing – posts I’ve ever written. For all of you who have ever wondered if you’re enough, worthy to receive love from another person – this one’s for you. And for me too.

Our Only True Hope (Hebrews Bible Study: Week 6)

 

Hope’s something that we all need – and not just for salvation, but in our everyday, messy lives. And Jesus is that hope.

Why I Never Made A Future Spouse Checklist (And Things to Consider Before Making Yours)

 

Despite the controversial title and subject matter, this topic has been on my heart and mind for a while, and I got such a great response to the post. In my middle school youth group, we were asked to make a list of qualities we admired and that we’d look for in a future spouse, but I never really gave it much thought then. And now, with the Christian craze of making the Future Spouse Lists, I wanted to let my voice be heard – and explain why I don’t think they’re such a great idea after all.

Why Jesus is Truly Enough (Hebrews Bible Study: Week 7)

 

This is a tough chapter of Hebrews to deal with, to be perfectly honest. And so instead of trying to be a commentary, I pulled a few points out of chapter 7 – and concluded that a life lived by grace is one of true holiness.

 

 

How to Make Connections and Boost Your Writing Career

 

I read this blog post on Go Teen Writers this past week, and it was wonderful. It’s a fantastic post about networking and making connections as a blogger and writer, and it was great to read. Thank you, Rachelle!

 

When I Almost Died & What I Have to Say About It

 

Seriously, just go read this now. I can’t really explain it, because you just need to read it to understand, but honestly? We need to keep reminding ourselves that God is good no matter what happens in life, and that we need to live fully, like every day is our last. Thank you, to my Twitter friend Rosalie!

 

Allow Yourself

 

An awesome post about letting God lead and life happen and plans change, by my new friend. Thank you, Raquel!

 

Netflix or Friendship? (And Other Dilemmas Introverts Face)

 

I definitely needed to read this post. It’s so easy for me to get caught up in my world of Netflix and books and blogs and forget to meet people, because I’m an introvert, and investing in new people can be intimidating, uncomfortable, and exhausting. But it’s so, so worth it. Thank you, Boundless and Abby Dorman.

 

 

Sadly, I completed no books this month. I’ve been crazy busy with a lot of other things…and I temporarily had to let my literary hobby slide.

 

I’m currently reading Siren’s Fury by Mary Weber, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I love them all, it’s just so hard to find the time to actually get around to reading.

 

 

Camp NaNoWriMo is wrapping up, and wow, I’m kind of sad about that. It’s so much fun to be “with” people that are in similar places in their lives, writing, reading, loving Jesus, and so very encouraging. I’ve passed my goal of writing 7,000 words this month – woohoo! – and now my book is sitting at 27,495 words, as of Friday night at midnight. It’s going really well, and I’m so excited to see where it goes.

 

Additionally, I’ve been writing some guest posts, so stay tuned for the links.

 

 

I’ve been doing so much on my blog, guys, it’s crazy.

 

For one, I made an archives page, so now, you can access EVERY SINGLE POST EVER WRITTEN on my blog. Which is kind of crazy, because I’m not a huge fan of those vintage posts, but regardless here’s my young soul, bared to the world. Handle it gently, won’t you?

 

I hit 200 WordPress followers! Not including email, Bloglovin’, or social media. That excited me so ridiculously much – because I finally feel like my blog is taking off, and it’s thrilling, honestly.

 

My blog posts now show summaries on the home page. What does that mean? It means that you’ll have to click “Continue reading ->” when you’re on the home page, so you can more easily choose what posts you’d like to read, you can scroll through a bunch more easily, and the Search Engine Optimization is better, since there’s now no duplicate content.

 

I’ve started unifying my post header images to have the same two fonts. That way, they’ll be more identifiable as “my posts.” Who knows whether I’ll stay with this trend or not.

 

I’m working on a page of my favorite blogs currently. Stay tuned.

 

I changed the “My Book” page to be “The Book” now. I think that sounds better – because while it is technically mine, the story’s about all of us, and about our faith, collectively. It’s a work of Christian Living Nonfiction, as opposed to being, say, fantasy, so it’s less of my story to tell and more of a message that needs sharing.

 

Purposeful Pages went spectacularly, and I am seriously blown away by all the responses, and am so grateful for all the people who participated. Stay tuned for the next set of questions, up next Saturday!

 

 

This month, I’m totally not going to predict what posts I’ll write. While a real-life planner, I’m extremely spontaneous when it comes to blogging, and I like to keep it that way.

 

If I try to give post ideas of what I’m going to write about, I’ll probably disregard them again.

 

However, what I do know is this: Tuesdays in August will be Bible Study posts, and next Saturday will be August’s Purposeful Pages link-up.

 

But beyond that? I have no idea, and I’m perfectly happy that way – because now I can freely write what God puts on my heart when the opportunity presents itself.

 

And as I said above, I’m doing my best to put together a page of blogs that I love, so hopefully that’ll be done soon.

 

 

What have you been up to this month? And for those of you who’ve been following my Hebrews Bible Study, what do you think of it? I’m really curious! I hope you all had a fabulous July.

 

*aj