Have You Prepared for Success?

Lori Roeleveld

Imagine reaching 2 million people with a single blog post. That wasn’t something I planned but that’s exactly what happened. 

For years, my little blog poked along with small readership. I bemoaned this fact to God in prayer. “Only 30 hits on that last post, Lord! What am I doing writing this blog?” In that moment, I felt a strong sense of conviction. What if 30 people showed up on my doorstep twice a week to ask my thoughts about God? I’d consider that a valid ministry. I wondered why God would ever send more readers if I dismissed the few who already were faithful followers.

That day, I thanked him for the people represented by those “hits” and prayed for them. I determined to write my best for them and consider it a blessing no matter what happened with audience growth. Thank God, He led me in that direction. The blog following began to grow – slowly, always slowly – until one day, one post attracted global attention.

That one post was read by over 1 million people in a week. It was read in churches across the nation the weekend after it posted, and eventually racked up over 2 million hits. Since then, I’ve had two or three other posts go viral on Facebook – one with over 67k shares! 

What was the biggest lesson I learned from that experience? It’s this. As a writer, I was always prepared for rejection and failure. What I hadn’t prepared for was success – neither technologically, emotionally, nor spiritually. God is good and provide in-the-moment support but since then, I’ve learned to write in faith and prepare for God to do great things when I least expect.

There’s no reason why your blog won’t be next (well, unless you’re still procrastinating to start one.) During the workshop, I’ll share the story of another woman who suddenly hosted millions of visitors, allowing her to share the gospel with more people than she’d ever imagined, just when she least expected it. You want to be writing your best work now. Learning about your readers, praying for them, and asking God to give you His heart for them.

You have dreams for your writing, but God also has a plan, one that you may not expect. In this workshop, I’m excited to share a few key secrets I’ve learned about crafting posts people will read, expanding your reach, maintaining faith and motivation during slow times, and looking beyond the possibility of failure to prepare for future success. 

Join me, won’t you? Blogging can be a greater Jesus adventure than you ever imagined.

Lori Stanley Roeleveld is a blogger, speaker, coach, and disturber of hobbits who enjoys making comfortable Christians late for dinner. She’s authored four unsettling books, including The Art of Hard Conversations: Biblical Tools for the Tough Talks that Matter. She speaks her mind at www.loriroeleveld.com.