Greetings to you all in the name of Jesus Christ.
From my heart to yours, I hope and pray that you understand my post about the blog awards. While I am greatly appreciative of the nominations, I have a very hard time posting them on my page and following the directions to receive and nominate others.
This has been on my mind for a while, so now I feel I can express why you have not seen them pasted on my page and passed along.
Well for starters, this is Christian blogging. We are to share the Gospel of Christ, encourage each other and be a living example to the world in cyberspace as well as in person. The Holy Spirit has inspired each of us to write and convey messages/posts in our own unique ways. While awarding and commending others of their achievements thus far seems really nice and encouraging, they could also be stumbling blocks and hinderances for others new in Christ and blogging.
While this may not be the case, as everyone is entitled to their opinion and convictions, it doesn’t sit well within me.
Please believe me when I say that I am not against the awards and their purpose, I would just rather see equality and not limitations on how many can receive, as well as the nominee having to pick and choose amongst their followers who receive. It puts a lump in my throat to have to omit others when they may be giving their best to share with their readers. ( again this is just how I feel )
I personally don’t want to leave a door opened or cracked for the enemy to come in and distract the thoughts of anyone who hasn’t received an award or the beginning thoughts of how they too can achieve one, when the main purpose is to share what God has spoken to your heart to share with the world.
As most of you already know ( but in case you don’t ) I am an empathetic, compassionate “heart” person. I tend to look deeper than the surface of things or people in general. This is God’s gift embedded deep within my inner being. I never want to come off as being inconsiderate, arrogant or anything that one would start to perceive of me as being negative because it’s not my intention or heart’s desire.
I would like to say that I have been inspired to like different styles of writing since I have met you all. Some of it through poetry, Christian rap music and other various ways. Point being…. I have grown to become fond of them. The writers in the bible were inspired by the Spirit just as well. In my eyes, none are no greater than the other. They are just written differently and collectively put together to illustrate the beauty of God and the bond brought together of His children to spread out and share with others; Christian and sinner alike.
For it is not of our own wisdom that we are able to write and share, but of the Lord. All credit I give to him when I write because it is the Holy Spirit who prompts and inspires me to do of such. I am just a vessel working through obedience. Nothing more and nothing less.
May we all continue to lift each other up and encourage in love as we trek this journey in the Lord and in blogging. To God be the glory in all we think, say and do for the Kingdom.
God bless you all! I count it joy to have come to know you through this site as well as friendships being built.
~ Terra
Living Simply In Abundance 
I’m a new blogger, so the Lord used the awards to inspire me to reach out to others. I’m shy! God can use different things for different people. I love how we all fit together, but yet exude our personalities and writing styles as you have mentioned. But you’re right, we need to give the glory to God at all times.
You have a precious heart, Terra!
God Bless You,
Dei
Thank you Dei for understanding my view as I understand yours as well! What may be a platform for you may not be for others. That’s the great thing about God and how things are orchestrated. I too am a shy person believe it or not ( lol ) but blogging was the last thing I would have ever found myself doing almost a year ago. Someone inspired me to write after I seen their page. I was clueless to what a blog even was! When I was on Facebook, I found myself writing encouraging messages and such but not to the length that I am now, simply because of character count unless you made it into a Note. Anyway, this new found blessing in my life has done so much for me. I don’t see me in my writing as I am critical of myself but it is God working in me and through me to reach out to touch others and that within itself has moved my heart beyond words.
As I said before, I personally have a thing with not sharing the awards. My hopes are that you all will not take offense to the nominations I have not done anything with other than thank you for nominating. Your prayers and encouragement is my platform to keep following what God planned for me to do. It’s hard stepping away from being behind the scenes as that is my personality. Ultimately, it is God who gets the spotlight! Not us!
( whew sigh ) Thanks Dei for blessing me with warm words! You are appreciated more than you know. 😉
Terra, thank you for sharing this point of view. I had never thought of it that way, especially when it comes to the blogs that attempt to proclaim the Gospel. Let’s pray we are never stumbling blocks to each other and that we do not become caught up in the “glamour” of writing. May God be praised through it all.
You are welcome Carolyn. Thank you for responding. I am praying with you that we don’t get caught up in the ” glamour ” of writing. Well said my friend. To God be the glory Amen.
I feel the same way, Terra. Thank you for expressing it so well. I, too, have felt called not to give or receive awards, but I never want to hurt the person’s feelings who nominates me. I realize the temptation to self-promote instead of promoting and lifting up Christ, and I really don’t want to fall prey to that. I also don’t want anyone to feel left out. We are all different (and vital!) parts of the body of Christ. Like you, I don’t judge anyone who feels differently. Again, God may be calling us to do different things in different ways. He knows us best and knows what we need to stay firmly rooted in Him and accomplish His purposes 🙂
God bless you, friend. Thank you for this post!
Thank you my dear friend for this. Your feelings speak much of what I am feeling and didn’t write or forgot to mention. You and the others have contributed to my thoughts and I appreciate them. We all are different I agree and self-promotion can become an idol if we aren’t careful. That’s not good when it comes to obeying the calling God put in us when it is he who gets the glory out of it all. Some may need the boost but as you say, God knows what we can use as a boost. We just need to be very mindful and aware of the things that can blow up in our faces when we get a little big-headed. You are most welcome for my share as I felt it necessary to do so. God bless you 🙂
Well said Terra, I also politely thanks my fellow bloggers for nominations. I however cannot post the required acceptance post. My blog is apart of a ministry and there is a format that I follow. Like you said Christian Blogging is done to glorify God. I do understand that the awards help to promote our blogs but God is the great promoter. If it is His will for our blogs to be seen they will be.
Yes yes yes that is true about God’s promotion and will for it to be seen. I had actually thought about it earlier on when I became a blogger last year and I started off writing on Facebook. That was my biggest crowd, so when I decided to leave that social network, I trusted the Father still that whoever needs to be blessed by it, that he would provide a way. He did just that! When I took a lazy time away from blogging because I wasn’t sure about what I was doing since I was fairly new still to it and I pretty much disliked computers, someone battling depression who isn’t a blogger found my page through googling particular words. God sent them to my page and gave them exactly what they needed to hear from him! Now if that wasn’t a wake up for me, then I don’t know what is! From that day on, I knew that this was what God was leading me to do. If we trust Him, he will provide how he sees fit. He will get the glory one way or another. Thanks Jillian. ( apologies for the drawn out story but I was making a point! hahaha )
Thank you Terra for sharing this up. I thank God for the nominations made on my blog because without Him, I am nothing. I view these awards as encouragement and being a stumbling block is the last thing I want to happen. But I must admit, I experience the same difficulty too (hence, I haven’t made the follow up posts for some of them) though I’m sincerely grateful for all the support and encouragement. When every reader view my blog, I credit it all to God because it is of His grace that I am able to share. Above all, it is of His will that I am here, reading yours, as we are all united in one purpose of glorifying Him. With all sincerity, we pray that this is not to misinterpret the support and encouragement we mutually share but just to put back a reminder why we write, and to whom we write for. God bless 🙂
You are welcome Joyce. Thank you for sharing your heart. Just as Lady Deidre says that it helps her because she is shy, it helps you just as well in being of encouragement, then that is fine. This applies to all of us. Keeping God first and giving him the credit is what is most important. There is nothing wrong with tools being used to encourage others. I just wish there wasn’t a limited number of bloggers who can receive the award. That is where the stumbling blocks can come in. That’s my concern. I don’t want others to feel left out or so focused to try and write things just to earn an award. God can’t get the glory out of self ambition. I agree in prayer that this is not misinterpreted as I am not knocking the awards at all. It’s just to bring awareness that it CAN be a stumbling block for those who are new babes in Christ as well as those new to blogging or just anyone needing encouragement as they press on in the Lord through their blog. I too have thanked my readers for the nominations as they ( the readers ) have been a blessing and encouragement to me. We all are vital parts who work uniquely in The Body. May that always be our prime goal! I thank you much my friend. God bless you always! 🙂
Thank you Terra for voicing your thoughts on these awards. I hesitate on receiving them because when it comes to having to choose so few out of all the ones I follow, I wonder if someone will be hurt that they were not chosen; but I did not want to upset the nominators by refusing. For the ones I have received and passed on, I have tried to nominate new people each time so that most will be included at some point. I also agree that it takes the focus off the main reason we write our faith-based blogs; and that is to glorify the Lord and testify to what He is doing in our lives.
Thanks Drusilla for sharing your thoughts with me as I agree and understand how you feel. It’s better that I just leave the middle man out and just give my thanks and appreciation. I can’t put myself through the stress of choosing and eliminating. You are welcome about me sharing. It was hard to do as it was not mainly of my flesh speaking. The Spirit opens up doors for a reason. My prayers always is that love and light be she’d through this post. No harm or offensive to anyone intended. God comes first and glory to the highest will be in honor of him. He surely will let us know just that. Gof bless you for expressing your heart. 🙂 Much appreciation.
So not only was this a great post, but it was also necessary and important. In addition to limiting the works of others, such distractions can brainwash the minds of His vessels. Awards can cause us to become focused on stats and consumed with comments and the approval of man. We must always desire to be obedient to the Lord, fulfilling the perfect and divine plan He has for our lives even if we are rejected by the world. I came across these awards not too long ago and I was extremely confused. I saw the seeds planted, ready to take off like weeds. Thanks for sharing what God put on your heart and all thanks to Him for giving you a heart and mind to remain focused. 🙂
God bless your heart for sharing your thoughts. I agree with you as I see that you too have understood my conviction to not partake in the award giving/receiving. Lord knows I am thankful for the thoughts of others recognizing the blog. My heart stays humble but I have to stand my ground and rooted in the direction God sends me.
In Christ…..
Terra