community
Lindsey Kubly
Posted on January 4, 2013
I am a small, new blogger. Five years ago, I wrote a blog as a newlywed in a new city, documenting our weekend outings and online wish list. There wasn’t much substance, since I was not brave enough to reveal my heart and struggles. The internet can be an intimidating place when you go it alone. I loved the idea of recording our story to see how God was shaping my family – yet I was blogging in isolation, and it was neither profitable nor fun. So I stopped.
In October, my twitter feed exploded with two hundred women sharing about a conference that was taking place twenty minutes from my home. I kicked myself for not being there, because God showed up and knit women’s hearts together. Since then, the blogosphere has not been the same. I have seen women writing authentic posts about life. Women have been supporting one another, strategizing about how to grow their online businesses, and encouraging others through life. Women were connected, reading the Word together and spurring one another towards love and good deeds. And they influenced me.
In November I launched a new blog, with a different focus and clarity. Before I published a single post, I scoured the web for advice and studied up. I pinpointed my brand and began defining my unique voice. I spent time crafting a unified design and learning about HTML coding. I asked close friends about my strengths and how to portray my personality online. Then I began writing our story.
Even with all these strategic changes, the most significant difference in my online life was joining this community. I woke up early the morning after the conference, to invest in an early-supporter ticket for next year’s Influence conference. It became my motivation to move beyond fear. Instead of writing in isolation, I reached out to women within the Influence community. As a stay-at-home new mom, friendships became my goal. With a baby, I couldn’t always make it out of the house for a few hours of girl-time or even connect with work colleagues, like I used to. But I could read posts, comment, email, and jump into conversation on twitter during my daughter’s nap time. And so, I found women like me, with struggles and dreams, willing to let Jesus shine in their life. They have been consistently kind, encouraging, and real. I hope I have been that for them.
You may be a brand new blogger. Maybe you were one of those 200 women at the Influence Conference. Maybe you have been hard at work, but need people to bolster you up. Join in, and I believe you will experience what I did.
It’s ok to be new. It’s ok to start small. It’s ok to ask for help. It’s ok to join in, even when you feel on the outside.
We can resource you with tools and encouragement and community for your endeavors, collected into one space online. Don’t go it alone. Find your people and let’s walk forward together into what God has called each of us.
I love this. Over the past two years in my “real” life, I have learned how important community is! And it only makes sense that you need community in the blogging world too. As a new blogger (very new-ha!), thank you for posting this and for helping me to realize that it is JUST as important to have community here as it is in my “real” day to day life.
Glad to have you here, Erika. I liked what Rebecca said below about having a community that edifies your faith. It is vital in real life, and so encouraging to find online as well. I wish I would have had it 5 years ago — think where those friendships could be now!
Thank you so much for this. I am a new blogger, and this is exactly how I feel. I do work outside the home, but felt myself drifting along without purpose, until God led me to She Reads Truth and the Influence Network gals. This has really changed my life in many ways, from being a person depressed and exhausted to one of new life and purpose. God is a good God and knows exactly what I needed.
Thank you, Influence Network, for providing this for me and others. You have NO idea what this has done for me.
He is SO good at meeting our needs. Amen.
This is so amazing!! Thanks for the motivation and for sharing!
http://www.gratefulwithtwo.com
LOVE this:):)
yes, after the conference i also began to notice much more posts that were from the heart and were so encouraging!
this is great and can’t wait to see where God leads you ladies in this beautiful chapter.
Lindsey, thank you for sharing your heart. This is so much how I feel as well. More than anything else, this community is life-giving and edifying for my faith. Meeting all of you has encouraged me to live out all the parts of myself that God has created.
So glad you’re going to be a regular sharing your thoughts here!
Thanks Rebecca. Yes – I agree about the edification. In fact, I think seeing a peek at other women spurring on another on – even just on Twitter – keeps me accountable to be in my Bible and growing in faith.
Thank you so much for posting this! I didn’t start feeling really connected, really inspired, and really excited until I found several blogger girls with a very similar Biblical heart and mindset to mind. It was exciting to find out that there were other girls out there just like me. And I am so encouraged to read their stories every day! I hope to meet them all one day!
Meeting those kindred spirits in real-life will be a sweet, sweet day. I am looking forward to hugging some blogger girls that bolstered me up, too.
I really like this. Especially you saying you are a small blogger and it is okay to start small. I’m in the same boat, and it is easy to feel intimidated by this network in the sense that you feel it is BIG bloggers with BIG followers and BIG plans. But I know that isn’t what the influence network is about at all, and it is simply not true that a small blogger can’t have influence. Be where you are – write the words that you have, and let God use them to encourage and build relationship!
I just really really loved this!
I’m so glad it resonated with you, Lindsy. You are spot on with your comment – all women have influence given to them by God, not their amount of followers.
This post was so inspiring.
I’ve been blogging on and off for the past few years and really plan to give it a go in July, I’m currently in the process of rebranding and redesigning.
i LOVE this post, Lindsey. we underestimate how critical community is, especially when we’re seeking to serve His kingdom. i’m so thankful we’re blessed with the opportunity to forge a piece of the kingdom online together!
annie – I totally agree. I love the surprise of experiencing the body of Christ through online community. such a blessing!
Lindsey, what a great reminder that we all need community. As a just-starting-out blogger, I keep yearning and searching for that type of online community, but I’m struggling because my blog is professional, not personal. I’m trying really hard to connect with an audience of writers to help them improve their writing and to bolster my own business, but I struggle with wanting to reveal more of myself in my blog and feeling like I can’t because it would be unprofessional. Reading the Influence blog here makes me at least feel like I’m part of something, even though it’s not in the same way as many other women bloggers.
I’m glad you are here, Ashley. I believe there is opportunity through online business to reveal more of yourself than there might be in a traditional office setting. I think it helps clients relate and develop trust with you as an individual. It shows some of your uniqueness. Just an idea
Lindsey, This is exactly how I have been feeling as well..! I am in my early twenties and have not necessarily found my “niche” when it comes to blogging. I so want to delve into this online community but sometimes I think I might be more cut out as just a reader! Thank you for inspiring me to see that it is ok to step back and re-access and start small. It seems as though you have definitely found your way~ thanks again for the encouragement!!!
~Kore
i wasn’t able to attend the conference either…or should i say, i was maybe to scared to go, and therefore found an excuse as to why i couldn’t go. you said it perfectly, i kicked myself when everyone got back. i think when we enter into our twenties, we have this constant need for friendship…what i’m learning now is that it’s perfectly fine to have those friends on the internet. 2013 is my year to develop more friendships that have been sitting under my nose this whole time!
blessings!
maybe you’ll be there this year?? I would love to see you there, Megan!
Omigosh. Well, that’s it. Now you’ve gone and made me cry! …Because I am there now. I’m not new to blogging, but I feel isolated. I moved across the country about 5 months ago with my new husband and it was hard. Newlywed life has been hard. Being uprooted from my deep, established community back home has been and is HARD. All I’ve wanted were girl friends to talk with and cry with and laugh with and pray with…
I hope we can meet face to face – God willing, I’m coming to the Conference this year!
Maybe it’s time to finally take the plunge?? Out of all the Influence blog posts I’ve read, this is the one that has done me in… Thank you Lindsey, really, your story is what I needed to read
Jessi,
I would love to meet you at Influence this year! I was right there with you as a newlywed, far-away from family. It is HARD. Praying that God will send you those girlfriends and that you’ll find support from the Influence Community as well.
xo.