Everyone Loves Jesus in January.
Hey My Friend,
This is our first letter of 2020 and I am so excited to see how God is going to move in your life in this new year and a new decade. I have a story to tell you . . . a little behind the scenes of A Symphony of Praise and an encouragement to do 2020 differently.
I have been working at A Symphony of Praise (originally The Felicity Bee) since summer 2016 (check out our very first post!) and I have noticed one trend that is the same every single year . . .
Every December/January, our site goes crazy.
Our numbers go through the roof. People are downloading all of the free resources, Bible Study Plans, Inscribe the Word plans, and Inscribe the Word journals. Our email list grows exponentially, our Inscribe the Word journals always sell out, and our numbers peek every January.
It is wonderful to see so many women and families clinging to God's Word and the resources we provide to get into God's Word in a fresh new way. Each year, since 2016, my heart rejoices at the commitments folks are making to know God and to know His Word in the year ahead.
Then, every February/March, we plummet.
The numbers go down. The folks who subscribed to make a commitment to Inscribe the Word in January begin unsubscribing with "I no longer want to receive these emails." The page views to our site go way down. I get tons of emails from ladies who have started strong, only to have given up the commitment mid-March and are feeling guilty.
It happens every year and my heart breaks. Not because it's about my numbers or my reach at A Symphony of Praise. Please understand that. I get no revenue from you coming to view my site or downloading our Inscribe the Word plans. (Notice, we are one of the few sites that doesn't plaster ads all over the place? That is intentional. I don't want to clutter the resources we have with ads to make money.)
I've said it from the first day I started The Felicity Bee back in June of 2016, this site isn't about me, or my numbers, or my business. This business and the ministry here should lead you to Jesus and knowing Him on a deeper level. So the fact that the numbers plummet, doesn't affect me. It's the ladies I talk to that have given up on knowing God through His Word that breaks my heart.
Everyone loves Jesus in January . . .
but few follow through with their commitment to know Him deeper past the first of the year. Let's let this year be different, My Friend.
If you've made the commitment to know Jesus through His Word in the past, only to allow life and busy to distract you by March, let's change that. No condemnation! But let's make a fresh decision that this year is going to be different. Let's not go into another January feeling defeated that we didn't keep up with the commitments of the year before.
Galatians 6:9, "Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up."
You don't harvest a field of wheat the day after you sow the seed. In the same way, you don't harvest the rewards of knowing God deeper through His Word the day after you Inscribe your first passage or read your first chapter. God told Joshua, "This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do." (Joshua 1:8)
So this is my New Year’s Letter to you . . . imploring you . . . Don't neglect the Word in 2020. Let it not depart from you. Meditate on it day and night. If the resources at A Symphony of Praise don't fit your needs, there are plenty of other places you can go for guidance. Get involved in your churches if they offer extra Bible studies. Join a small group. Wake up 30 minutes earlier and sacrifice that time for Jesus. Just don't end the first year of this new decade wishing you had spent more time with the Lord.
We all have prayed for guidance in this New Year, but you can't have guidance without a guide (the Holy Spirit) and a map (The Word of God). My prayer for you in 2020 is that you don't lose sight of your Guide and you don't forget your Map.