May 12, 2017 | 30 Days Deeper, The Good Word
Hey! I have a riddle for you! What’s writing and writing and happy all over?
Give up?
Me.
Was that a bit cheesy? At least it was an honest joke.
I’m popping into the blogosphere with just a few thoughts in mind today.
First, believe it or not, we’ve made it to Day 12 of the 30 Days Deeper series, and wow, I’ve been blown away by the positive response from the readers. (If you have no idea what 30 Days Deeper is, read this.) The texts and emails and Facebook comments that tell me that people are being encouraged deeper into Jesus are like water to my soul!
If 30 DD wasn’t something that fit into your schedule right now, but you’d still like to participate in it at some point in the future, fear not! I am planning to make it available either by offering it again to a fresh Email Community in a few months, or by formatting it as an ebook that you can peruse in your own sweet time.
But because I’d like to share a little encouragement in this temporarily-slightly-neglected corner of the web, I want to share a few of the highlights from 30 Days Deeper, that I hope will be a blessing to your soul.
These are 12 Days of Deeper, if you will, so that you’re enjoying a slice of each day to chew on…
- Who your people are will have a very, very profound impact on who you will become.
- Swimming your race of faith with a lot of drag can be a terrible drag. It’s important to deal with the things that are slowing you down.
- Otis the Tractor is an incredible example of why you should learn to carefully follow your Leader.
- Social Media can make a bright day seem like a thunderstorm — guard your heart.
- Just like Elvis says, you need to learn to recognize something that looks like an angel, but is the devil in disguise.
- Don’t leave throw-up in a paper bag in a minivan. And be careful what you say yes to.
- Anybody can be a doofus and get swept into a bad situation. We all need Jesus.
- Creation can teach you way more about the Creator than you probably realize.
- It’s easy to grow weeds, but much harder to make good things happen.
- Studying the Word in the Light will give you a flashlight in the darkness.
- The wicked won’t get off scot-free… so do the good stuff.
- Find people who will tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear.
These tiny tidbits are just scratching the surface of some of the great discussions we’ve had so far! Would you like to have some of them unpacked for you? Like, what does Elvis have to do with faithfulness? And how is throw-up in a minivan related to saying yes?
Well, good news.
If you’d like to jump into 30 Days Deeper and join the conversation, it is not too late, and I’ll be glad to send you the emails you’ve missed so far if you want to catch up. But you don’t have to, so no pressure either way — you can really start going deeper any time! Isn’t that God’s goodness?
If nothing else, just hear this one thought today, friends. The Creator of the Universe loves you, personally, intimately, you-for-you you. Even if 30DD isn’t the right thing for you right now, I pray you are seeking and listening for those whispers of His love. His plans for you are amazing. His love for you is unending. Let Him sweep you off your feet. Soon.
xCC
You can click here to join 30 Days Deeper (do I need to mention that it’s free?) — and be encouraged to go deeper today. I’d love to welcome you in!
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Apr 25, 2017 | 30 Days Deeper
[Insert seventeen random emoticons here as an illustration of the following…] When people actually started signing up to join the 30 Days Deeper Adventure, I was a mixture of exhilarated and freaking out. Now that I’ve had a chance to recover a little from that exhilarating freak out, I’ve realized there are a few questions coming up that I need to make sure I answer! If this email doesn’t answer your questions, please reply and I will try my best to do so!
1. If I already subscribe to your blog do I need to subscribe to the 30 Days Deeper Community?
Yes! I thought long and hard about this, but felt like out of respect for my subscribers, I didn’t want to make an assumption and begin flooding their inboxes with content they hadn’t requested. Do I hope every single subscriber decides to Opt-In? Of course! But I think free will is a good thing… so I’ve left that choice in the hands of each and every current subscriber (and the other folks who are subscribing for the first time.) And by the way, welcome all you new folks!! I can’t yet put into words how excited I am to have you!!!
So, if you already subscribe to With Love, From Here, you’ll still need to update your subscription preferences to Opt-In to 30 Days. If you’ve tried and you’re not sure it’s working properly, comment below and we will get it straight!!
2. If I subscribe to the 30 Days Deeper Community, will I still get your regular blog posts via email, too?
Yes! And can I tell you how much it blesses my soul that you asked? I plan to continue writing when possible during, and of course after 30 Days… so all that content will be coming your way… and you’ll always have the free will to opt in or out at any time!
3. Do I need to subscribe if I’m in the Facebook Community?
Yes! Facebook does not share your email address with me. And for several reasons (some of which I’ll try to articulate below) I am not planning to make this content publicly available on my website. So if you want to receive the daily emails to participate in 30 Days Deeper, you do have to subscribe to With Love, From Here and Opt-In to the 30 Days Deeper Email Community. (Check that little box beside 30 Days Deeper.)
4. Why are you doing this differently from your normal blog posts or past “31 Days” Series?
While praying and considering this community, I was nudged with a simple quote I’ll share later that basically talks about how much can be accomplished with small but consistent effort put in over time. If you aren’t receiving these posts via email, you might not see the little notification pop up on Facebook to tell you there’s a new post. Or you might not remember to check back over at carolinecollie.com to see if Day Such-and-Such is live yet. I felt like email was the best chance we have at staying connected consistently for these 30 Days — and I think part of the magic is going to come from the consistency.
Alrighty! I hope this answers your questions, but if you have more, fire away! And please? Ask a friend to join you on the journey. Life is better together. Growth is easier with encouragement. I’m stoked!
xCC
P.S. If you’ve subscribed to With Love, From Here but are on the fence about 30 Days Deeper, can I just tell you I’d really love for you to jump in? And if you jump in and decide you’d like to jump out… totally fine! No risk, high reward situation!! If you’d like to join, please update your subscription preferences here!
Apr 24, 2017 | 30 Days Deeper, The Good Word
I’ve had this idea for a little while. I think it’s a pretty simple idea, but it could potentially have a profound impact. Can I just jump right in and tell you what I’m thinking?
We’re almost halfway through 2017. And a lot of my readers seem to fall in the category of being about halfway through running the race of life, too. Now, when you’re running a race, it’s a good idea to take stock of where you are and where you want to go to make sure you’re headed in the right direction. And if the race you’re running is toward Jesus, the road is usually long and hard… and it’s easy to get slowed down, sidetracked, distracted or discouraged.
What if you could get a jumpstart that made you feel like your relationship with the Lord just got fresher, deeper… more vibrant? You can’t pay to get closer to Jesus, but if you could, my guess is you’d probably want to. If you’re running a race in the literal sense, you might visit a trainer who’d look at your form, your gait, how you’re breathing while you’re running, and so on — someone would take stock and make suggestions for you to improve technique and perhaps shave seconds or minutes off your time, making you more effective in the race you’re running.
What if we could take stock together of the race we’re running in the faith toward Jesus, and look for areas that might be those “hindrances and the things that so easily entangle us”? Could we become more effective believers — people who are experiencing and sharing more of the goodness of God, because we have more than enough?
Here’s the idea. I’d like to ask you to welcome me into your inbox every day for 30 days. We will read one chapter of Proverbs each morning. (I’ll give you a link directly to the chapter to help make it super easy.) And then I’ll write about one simple thing to consider that day that might help draw you closer to Jesus. You read the Word, you read the words, and (hopefully) something strikes a chord in your heart that means something to your soul. I’m going to do my best to make it meaningful but brief because I know reading an email is not the only thing on your plate each day!
I’m not going to ask you to do anything overwhelmingly crazy. I’m not going to ask you for money. I’m not going to ask you to move to a different country. (Jesus might.) I’m only asking for the one thing you can’t get any more of — your time — to see if together we could perhaps find our way deeper into Jesus.
Because I believe He is and He is good and sometimes we get sidetracked running the race and we need encouragement to keep going, and we need help looking for the right direction.
We also believe He is, but get confused about Who He is, so sometimes we’ll take the focus off our particular race to think more clearly about the God we’re running toward.
I’ll be creating a private Facebook group to create opportunities for further conversations. My hope is that beyond what I’m able to offer, you will be able to offer each other even more. You don’t have to join that group or be on Facebook to participate — that is just an added option that could increase the impact of this experience for you.
I hope to be “most honest” with you. And I’ll be extending this invitation to all my Subscribers — if you want to join 30 Days Deeper you can Opt-In below. Since this is a different idea to the normal post series at With Love, From Here, these emails will NOT also be online as blog posts. I hope to continue writing and encouraging there during the 30 Days as well, but the content will be different.
So! Two last things: an invitation to you, and a special request. Please sign up to join in 30 Days Deeper. I truly don’t know exactly how Jesus is going to use this in your life or mine, but I feel confident that anytime we take steps to draw closer to Him, He draws closer to us and it is glorious.
And? Please invite a friend to join you on the journey. Having one more person to be accountable to — to ask if they had a chance to read, ask what they took away from it, how they were encouraged — always makes an experience more meaningful, and gives you a person alongside you cheering you on.
Will you take a deep breath and jump in with me? We’re going to get started Monday, May 1st and I cannot wait! Once you sign up below, you’ll receive an email confirmation and invitation to the Facebook group. I hope you’ll join me on an adventure toward deeper waters, and I hope you’ll invite those around you to join in on the journey!
xCC
Step One:
Sign up for 30 Days Deeper Right Here —Please Note: If you’re already a subscriber, you might receive an “error” message, and then you’ll indicate that you’d like to update your preferences. You’ll get an email which will allow you to Opt-In to the 30 Days Deeper Email Community by checking a box and clicking update! I will NOT share your email address with anyone, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Make sure you click that box to join the 30 Days Deeper Email Community! You will receive a confirmation email that will help you be sure you’ve done this correctly!
Step Two:
After signing up, Click here to request to join the Facebook Community!
I’m still working out the kinks in the system so if anything happens that you think wasn’t supposed to happen, pretty pretty please let me know!
I create resources to help people find deeper, more meaningful relationships with God through pursuing, pondering, and prayer. The "Shop" link above will take you to the home of many of the lovely resources I’ve created to help you keep walking one day deeper with Jesus.