Rosilind Jukic's Blog, page 77

How to Blog for Profit (Without Selling Your Soul) - Book Review + A Little R & R Wednesdays - a linky party #52

 
How to Bog for Profit (Without Selling Your Soul) - A Book ReviewYou can't get around the blogosphere very long without hearing about this little gem.  Especially if you are researching how to make a profit by blogging.
Everyone I have talked to has raved about this book, I started reading it and raved about it and those who took me up on the book started raving about it....
even my mom, who is in the process of launching her new blog raved about it.

How to Blog for Profit (Without Selling Your Soul) is not a book for beginners. The author, Ruth Soukup, states that herself. This is a Level 2 book, so if you're looking to start up a blog, you'll need to find a book about blog set up.
This book is about taking your established blog (even newly established blog) to the next level by exploring how to sell your blog, your articles, and your product.
This from a well-established and respected blogger who has done just that.
Here are some words of wisdom you will find:
1. "Don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle."
I totally needed to read that right there. It is so easy look at beautifully designed blogs with 8,000+ Facebook followers and totally brilliant graphics and feel like an utter failure as blogger. Oh yes, I've been there. Hundreds of thousands of times.
I have emulated design, writing style, picture taking (yes me...the non-photographer with a point-and-shoot), blog challenges that no one ever participated in...I have tried that witty-sarcasm that only came off as being ridiculous and cynical. While the process is painful to recall, I did learn a lot along the way.
I learned what styles didn't fit me, and what did. I found my "voice". I learned to have a better eye for design and that I totally love making graphics and printables. But most of all I learned where I fit in the blogosphere and appreciate the contribution I make. I may never hit the "big-time", but it's not about that. It's about knowing what I'm here for and fulfilling that role.2. "Develop a clear plan for what you want to write about which includes a main overarching theme topic, 5-8 subtopics, and 4-5 categories underneath each subtopic"
Totally brilliant! This not only appealed to my OCD organizer-self, it made me jump right up in my doctor's waiting room and yell, "YES! That!"  Okay, not really. But almost. If I could have circled and starred that sentence on my Kindle, I would have.
I do believe I have a rough draft of this in my head, and perhaps something akin to this on a piece of paper somewhere, but I already have full plans to sit down and exactly what she says in that sentence.
This really helps to prevent random blogging. Ohhhh - have I ever been guilty of that! Actually, I used to pride myself on my random-nature of rabbit-trail blogging that led to no where and inspired no one. Not even me (hence the massive "house cleaning" I did early this year which led to over half of my articles being trashed). 
3. "Work smarter, not harder in order to maximize your time."
This has become my mantra. No seriously, it has. I actually reflect on that quote weekly to ask myself "What am I doing right now that is not bringing about measurable results?" That can be from linking up at blog hops that drive you little-to-zero traffic to investing in a social media platform that garners no results.
I have pared down the parties I link to and have finally shaved down my social media to 2 days a week (except Facebook, because I can schedule my posts there). Honestly, with social media, you can go back and highlight old content, so there is no reason why you have to highlight new stuff all of it....right now!
That was what I was doing and it consumed all of my time to the point that I was stressed out all of the time . I finally sat down with Google Analytics to map out where my traffic was coming from to know where to invest. Then I mapped out a workable plan that left me ample down time. Because we all know, with blogging there is always work to do. And just because you can doesn't mean you should!

Now, I could sit here all day and quote from this book. 
She takes you through how to write pillar posts to blog designs that help sell your blog.
From how to use Pinterest to grow your blog to building your blog the "old-school" way.
How to optimize your blog for SEO and finally how to monetize your blog.

I say "finally" because honestly, she makes you realize that before you can sell your stuff, you have to sell yourself. That means, you have to earn the respect and trust of those who stop by your blog.
That's Salesmanship 101 right there.
Each chapter ends with an action plan that helps you take what you've read and put it to work for you.
This book is one that I will read over and over. Some of it applied to me now but a lot of it I will be doing later on. So it was a worthy investment on my part.

And not a large one at that!  This book is super-afforable. At only 4.99 you get a text-book that you will refer back to over and over again.
Ready to buy it?   


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 And now for the party!!!!
Here are the "rules"

1. Link up as many posts as you'd like (even giveaways!)
2. Link up old posts you wish would have received more attention!
3. Link back here by posting my button in your post or sidebar - or with a link
4. Visit the post just before yours

The party runs through next Tuesday evening!
So have FUN!

Click here to receive a weekly reminder about this party!




An InLinkz Link-up


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Is Your Husband Your Spiritual Leader?

Is your husband your spiritual leader?  I used to belong to an online forum for moms. For the most part it was helpful in finding advice, but sometimes what I read left me a little disturbed.

The discussion once turned to husbands as spiritual leaders and many of the women took to complaining that their husbands were not their spiritual leaders, that their husbands were not as mature as they are, or that they were “unequally yoked”. It caught my eye because just a couple of days before, Courtney at Women Living Well had written an article "Your Husband Is Your Spiritual Leader".
 
Not only was I saddened that these women openly gossiped about their husbands and shared some of the worst about them; a new revelation came to me about the idea of a husband's spiritual leadership in the home and what that means to us - their wives.

1. We have bought into an ideal
Women who have grown up in the church are particularly prone to an ideal. We have heard all our lives about what a spiritual leader should be. This ideal has set us up for failure because it has raised our expectations to impossible levels. When we marry we are immature; and yet we often expect our husband to fulfill a role that even mature believers are incapable to fill. 

This does not negate the fact that men have a responsibility to lead their families. The Word clearly instructs them to do so. However, each man is created differently with different personalities and differing views on how this plays out. A woman needs to free her man to lead in the way he feels God wants him to lead.

2. The modern church often does not appeal to men. 
Much of the worship today is emotion-based with songs that are so deeply emotional that men have trouble relating to them. By nature men are not as overt about their relationship with God as women are. This is not a maturity issue as much as it is a male/female issue.

A British Christian magazine once surveyed men who either stopped going to church, or only showed up after the worship was over. They all complained that the worship - and even sometimes the sermons - were difficult for them to relate to as a man. In the 80's when much of the worship was largely based on spiritual warfare, they felt it to be more relevant to their nature as men.


There are two things we must remember about our husband's spiritual leadership:
1. Each party comes into marriage with expectations. 
Each party is bound to get disappointed when those expectations are not met. Our expectations arise out of the culture we were raised in, what our perception of a loving husband, spiritual leader, and great dad is. And yet, our husbands also have perceptions of what a submissive, caring wife and nurturing mother is, as well.

What if our husbands were disappointed in us because we failed to meet his expectations of a nurturing mother? Imagine how hurt we'd feel! Imagine how hurt they feel when we grow disappointed in them for failing to meet our expectations as a spiritual leader. And may we remember that most often it is our personal expectations that are at stake here, not God’s Word and most often not even God’s expectations.

2. Paul warned us not to "compare ourselves among ourselves". 
It is not right for us to compare our husband's spiritual maturity with our own, our pastor's, or another man's, whom we believe is a shining example of a spiritual leader. God isn't done with him, just like he isn't done with us, and we need to allow the Holy Spirit to continue to do His good and perfect work in his heart.

True spiritual maturity recognizes that the depth of one's dedication cannot be seen with the naked eye - God looks at the heart. It realizes that the their devotion cannot be measured by how often one goes to church, how often one fasts, how loud one sings, or how often one prays out loud at a prayer meeting. So many flash-in-the-pan believers have done all of these things - but quickly burned out and turned away from God. It understands that God doesn't not require us to prove the depth of our spirituality to Him. Therefore, when we as wives require our husbands to prove their spiritual maturity by displaying before us certain spiritual disciplines so that we can feel at ease knowing that our husbands are fulfilling their role as our spiritual leader we are requiring more of them than even God requires!

It is time for us as wives to release our husbands. Men can easily sense when we don't respect them for the level of spiritual maturity that they are at now.

How motivated would you be if your husband didn't respect your methods of diaper changing or feeding your children? Humans are not motivated by criticism, or even nagging disguised as encouragement.

In her post, Courtney strongly stated that a husband is always a spiritual leader. Just as we are always mothers. We don't cease being mothers just because we fail from time to time - and our husbands don't cease being our spiritual leaders because they fail from time to time.

And just as we are not perfect mothers - our husbands will not be perfect spiritual leaders! Give him time to grow in that role, give him room to fail.


Let us destroy our ideals and lay down our expectations! May we choose to joyfully follow him, adore him, love him for who he is now:

The spiritual leader God created him to be!

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Banana-Berry Green Tea Smoothie {One Healthy Thing Fridays}

Last Friday I shared about starting the Elimination Diet.

It has gone fairly well. The first few days were really rough and now I'm just hungry and craving everything I can't have.

The first few days I ate solids for every meal. I felt a need to ease into it. On the first morning I replaced a solid meal with a liquid, I was a little hesitant about what to do. Non-dairy milks here are very expensive and while I would like buy coconut or almond milk to make a recipe, I certainly couldn't buy it on an on-going basis. So, I had to get creative with this.

I had the fruit, berries and oats, but needed a liquid base.

Then it hit me: Green Tea!

Green tea is very healthy and high in anti-oxidants.

On a side note: I have read probably 2 dozen diet plans for the Elimination Diet and they all vary on whether you can have green tea, oats and rice. I've decided to include those three mainly because I need variety. I can't have seafood (so most fish is out of the question for me and tuna is not allowed).

I heated up a mug of water and put 2 tea bags in it and let sit for about 7 minutes. Then I poured it in my pitcher with an extra 1/2 mug of water. Then I added what I wanted in my smoothie.

Here is the recipe for what you see above:

1 mug of strong green tea + 1/2 mug of water
1 banana
1/4 cucumber chopped (just because it seemed like a good idea)
1 cup of mixed berries
1/4 cup of oats (because I needed to thicken it somehow)

Blend with a blender.

Bottoms up!


Here is my one healthy thing for this weekOne thing thing I really need to start adding to my vitamin regimen (which incidentally has been decimated by the "no-citrus" part of this diet - no alka-seltzer vitamins) is fish oils. This week I plan to visit the pharmacy to purchase some Omega 3s to add to my multi...which happily is gluten-free!
Now! It's your turn! What is one healthy thing you plan to do this week?
Help me celebrate the launch of The Missional Handbook! Enter the giveaway. Two winners will be chosen.


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3 Things I've Learned About Pain {Motherhood and Miscarriage}

I read once that to truly rise to the heights of joy, one must know the depths of pain.

Pain.

Its something we are all acquainted with. Some more than others.

The birth of our firstborn brought overwhelming joy to my husband and me, following two miscarriages that left us shaken. 21 months later our second miracle baby joined our family, and life seemed so perfect.

I had taken the fragments of my brokenness and given them to Jesus, and in return He gave me two perfect miracles.

I was content.

It certainly never occurred to me that I'd have to do it again and again.

But in March of last year the excitement of impending motherhood was once again shattered as I said goodbye to my 3rd angel baby.

The sorrow that gripped my heart was so deep and intense, that I didn't feel capable to share it with anyone, not even my husband. Unable share its depths and unwilling to face the pain and allow God to bear it with me, I chose what I thought would be the easier route: I pushed it aside and drowned it out with noise and work.

It just seemed easier to pretend I didn't hurt.

But you can't pretend things into existence. Eventually you have to face reality.

For me, reality came last month. I had no sooner began to dream of downy, soft heads and sweet baby smells, than the crushing blow of my fourth miscarriage hit.

This time I knew that no amount of noise or work could drown out the pain. God was lovingly but firmly leading me to a place where I would allow my husband, family and friends to bear it with me.

It hasn't been easy. Frankly, it has been excruciating to open up the festering wounds to let them cleanse and heal. But in the journey I have learned a lot about myself and the endless love and grace of God.

3 Things I've Learned About Pain1. No matter how deep your pain is, God's grace is even deeper. 
You don't have to ask for grace. It's already there. You just have to reach out and take hold of it. You don't deserve it. You can't earn it. You can't ever be good enough to possess it. It's a gift that God gives each of us in direct proportion to our need. The well will never run dry. You can't ever exhaust the grace of God. I have learned this in a more profound way than I could ever adequately describe.

Is there pain in your life? Embrace God's grace and allow Him to lead you through the valley to healing pastures. The journey isn't easy, but it is necessary.

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." 2 Corinthians 12:9


2. God doesn't give more than we can bear...but not alone.
We often {mis}quote the verse that tells us that God will not give us more than we can bear. That verse is about temptation, not hardship. Does that mean that God does give us more hardship than we can bear?

He never expected us to bear our sufferings alone. He made us relational so that we would support, encourage and help one another. He will not give us more than we can bear...as long as we tap into His grace and reach out to those He has placed in our lives to help us bear it. To bear our suffering alone is not only impossible, it is dangerous.  It is in those isolated moments that Satan has his best target on us.


3. We have to embrace it.
Embrace the pain. Avoiding pain never makes it go away. By avoiding pain, we may cease to feel it, but it doesn't mean that it no longer exists, anymore than taking an Aspirin for a back ache takes away the injury. The feeling of the ache is gone, but the injury is still there.

To embrace pain, we must gather it in our hands and acknowledge it, face it, and walk the journey to healing one step at a time.


I'm still on this journey. I've not arrived yet. But I am much healthier than I was 6 months ago when I was hiding from my pain.

God sent me a dear sister on this journey who has helped me through each step. She wrote a book called "

Have you lost a child? I encourage you to
Are you walking through a painful time? Embrace God's grace, allow Him and those He has placed in your life to help you bear it, and then embrace it and start the journey to healing.

Don't forget to link up:A Little R & R Wednesdays - a linky party weekly link up

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Don't Miss Out + A Little R & R Wednesdays - a linky party #51

Last week I shared about how my husband gave me permission to keep blogging and about the vision God gave me to start making an income to help my husband get to the place where he could come home full-time.

There is another exciting part of that vision.

I have been keeping a secret for a couple of months now.

The secret is this....

www.rosilindjukic.comDon't try that link yet, though....it's  not ready.
But it will be in about a month or so.
Here's the deal...

This whole blog is going to be transferred to Wordpress to a the new domain. Everything else will pretty much stay the same. You may see some ads around here, or hear me chat about some favorite items, but all of the content that is here will transfer over to the new domain.
And the whole blog will look a little different. Prettier, more colorful, and more attractive.
If you receive my weekly newsletters, you wont miss anything at all. You'll just roll right over with us.
However....If you're not on my mailing  list, chances are you'll pop over here one day and find us missing! I don't want that to happen. So, to sign up you simply go here.
I promise that I wont spam you.  This is what you'll receive:
1. A weekly newsletter every Friday with links to the content that has been here all week (plus a little note from me)
2. A free eBook as a "thank you" for signing up
3. Occasionally when there is something extra special going on - like a giveaway or holiday - I may send out a notice to my subscribers to alert them. This may happen once a month at the most.

So, be sure to sign up today! Don't miss out on the new change coming up!!!  Oh - and tell your friends. Pass the word on!!


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Help me celebrate the launch of The Missional Handbook! Enter the giveaway. Two winners will be chosen.




********** 


 And now for the party!!!!
Here are the "rules"

1. Link up as many posts as you'd like (even giveaways!)
2. Link up old posts you wish would have received more attention!
3. Link back here by posting my button in your post or sidebar - or with a link
4. Visit the post just before yours

The party runs through next Tuesday evening!
So have FUN!

Click here to receive a weekly reminder about this party!




An InLinkz Link-up
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Mourning into Dancing

"I wanted so desperately to reach out more. To do more. Yet the demands of motherhood seemed to thwart every effort I made. I knew there were Christian women in isolated villages where there were no churches that could offer them the spiritual sustenance they needed to maintain a thriving spiritual life. How could I reach them? I knew the Lord had called me to women; to encourage them, strengthen them, witness to them, and disciple them – but how?  Never had the call seemed so illusive!"

Today I am over at Future.Flying.Saucers for the Broken Hearts, Fueled Passions series sharing about Mourning into Dancing. Read the rest of the article here


Help me celebrate the launch of The Missional Handbook! Enter the giveaway. Two winners will be chosen.



Don't forget to link up:
A Little R & R Wednesdays - a linky party weekly link up


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8 Ways to Become a Missional Family {The Missional Handbook Book Launch and Giveaway!}

There is nothing more beautiful or inspiring to see as a family that serves together. Typically families that serve together experience a higher rate of not only maintaining their children in the faith, but watching their own children's families serve together as well. Children who serve along side their parents grow up with a sense of joyful duty to the Kingdom of God and understand its power to change lives. Serving together does not require you to be in full-time ministry. It simply requires you to sacrifice time and remain focused on eternal values.

  10 Ways to Become a Missional Family  1. Go on a short-term mission as a family.  
Churches often schedule mission trips or weekend outreaches to inner cities. Volunteer to serve on a short-term mission or weekend outreach together. When you return home, compare notes and ask your children how serving and evangelizing has changed their life. Then share together about how selfless service matters for eternity, which is worth far more than any investment we can make here on earth.  

2. Host a family or multi-family mission fundraiser.  
There are so many options here that one could consider when it comes to missions fundraising. The obvious ones that come to mind are: Garage sales, bake sales, donation based mystery dinners or potlucks, auctions, silent auctions, craft fairs and more. You can provide brochures, pictures and artifacts from the mission you are raising funds for to help raise awareness about them. Making this a family event can be so much fun: from the planning to preparation, and the actual event itself. Allowing your children to play a role in each part of the event will not only make an impact on them, it will help them to feel as if they have a personal investment in that missionaries life and ministry. And indeed they will!  

3. Host a Missionary.  
When a missionary comes through your church, offer to host them in your home. You can either host them for their entire stay or ask them to dinner. This will allow your children to have an up-close-and-personal encounter with a "real-live" missionary. You never know, this may be the first step to your child hearing a call from God on their life. And it will be an enormous blessing in the life of the missionary you host!  

4. Raise Awareness of Missions.  
There is a prevailing sense of desperation among missionaries today. Most agree that they sense an overall disinterest among Christians today with regards to missions. Mission updates and appeal letters largely go unanswered, leaving them feeling abandoned and forgotten. By helping to spread the word about the work they are doing, and the eternal importance of mission work in general, you will greatly bless and inspire your missionary. They need that. Support from the home base helps to keep them energized and inspired to keep going. When you make this a family project, you also impress a deep sense of importance to your children with relation to missions. They will never forget this!  

5. Give up a holiday.  
Create a family memory for a lifetime by sacrificing a holiday to serve in a homeless shelter, retirement or nursing home, orphanage, soup kitchen or any venue where you can selflessly give to those who cannot give back.  

6. Give up a weekend and offer aid.  
Travel as a family to a disaster area and offer aid to the victims. With tornado season upon us, there will be much opportunity to offer aid to those who have suffered tremendous loss. By offering them aid, doors will open to you to share the love of Jesus.  

7. Get involved in community events.  
Use every opportunity to be missional! State fairs, city parades, marathons, little league, high school games...these are all prime opportunities to reach out and touch your community! Don't meet every event with tracts a Bible in hand. Just go and make contacts. When the door opens, share your testimony. Make a family assignment ahead of time to practice sharing your testimonies and memorize relevant verses together that you can share in normal conversation. The goal here is to make it real for your family and the ones you reach out to.  

8. Foster care and adoption  
This is one of the most life-changing ways you can be missional as a family. It not only changes the life and dynamic of your family on all levels, but it will change the life of the child you accept into your home. This single decision can change eternity not only for that child in need, but for their children and generations beyond.  
And now, the moment we've been waiting for! It is here!!!Get your copy for a limited-time at the introductory price of $2.99 (regularly $4.99) in Kindle or PDF.Here is what people are saying about The Missional Handbook:

I highly, highly suggest this book to anyone questioning God's call on their life in missions or just wanting to know what missions looks like in the 21st century. - Joseph - Amazon review

Book ReviewsThe Mount Mom
The Brown Tribe
Becoming a Godly WifeThe Pure Sacrifice
   
Interviews: 

Author Spotlight: Rosilind Jukic at The Brown Tribe
Podcast with A Chosen Remnant  Other articles by me about The Missional Handbook:Becoming Missional {we haven't even scratched the surface}Two of you will be blessed to receive a free copy of The Missional Handbook!!!   a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have you done a review of The Missional Handbook? Please link up the post to your review below. (I ask that only reviews for The Missional Handbook be linked up. All other posts will be deleted. Thank you for understanding. To link up other posts, go here)
 
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Going Gluten-Free {One Healthy Thing Fridays}

One thing we all know, but never seem to learn, is to never say never.

When all this talk about gluten started flying around the web, I laughed, mocked ridiculed, enjoyed my muffins and vowed to never bash a gluten I didn't know (I'm not sure there is a gluten I don't know and love with all my heart).

When I spoke with the specialist that tested my adrenals, he warned me that I could possibly  have a gluten sensitivity, but I brushed that off with an air of gluten-loving freedom and continued to happily consume gluten-laden goodies liberally on a daily basis.

Then last summer, after reading an article on losing your post-partum belly, I decided to severely limit my grain intake. I spread this across the entire grain spectrum - gluten or no gluten - and promptly lost 20 pounds. My energy levels were higher and I felt awesome.

The only downside was that a) the first two weeks I was hungry non-stop and b) I had to remain very focused on not consuming too much grain. I had to make conscious choices at every meal everyday. Sometimes making two separate meals.  Once I fell off the wagon, it was pretty much impossible to get going again.

Two weeks ago, while on Pinterest, an article caught my eye: 10 Signs You Are Gluten Intolerant. Usually I would flippantly pass an article like this by, but for some reason I decided to read it.  I had all but 1 symptom: I do not have Fibromyalgia - but I have all 9 of the other symptoms.

I was astounded. Seriously, I was. I had never considered myself to be sensitive to gluten before. For the past two weeks I've been researching the Elimination Diet, Paleo Diets, Gluten-Free meals and I think I'm ready to try this.

I knew I needed to give myself time to adjust to the idea, and plan a strategy. Why? Because when I need a snack, my first instinct is to spread some peanut butter and honey on a slice of bread, grab a bowl of cereal or make a ham sandwich. Gluten, gluten and gluten.

So, for the next three weeks, I will be tossing out the following items from my diet (and this is big, folks, because those of you who know me know that I am really NOT in favor of tossing stuff - especially healthy stuff - from your diet).

Gluten
 Eggs
 Dairy
 Citrus
 Caffeine
  Sugar
Citrus fruits and nightshades
 One reason is because the eczema I had has never gone away. I have been on Claritin and various types of cortisone creams for 30 days and not only is it not better, it is spreading up my arm. Perhaps this will help (with the aid of a dermatologist, whom I am seeing next week).

Have any of you ever done an elimination/gluten-free/paleo diet? Please share your experiences.

Also, if you have tips for those crazy gluten/sugar/chocolate cravings, share those, too!


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The Day My Husband Gave Me Permission to Keep Blogging + A Little R & R Wednesdays - a linky party #50

I opened up Pinterest for perhaps the first time in weeks, and staring back at me was the pin:

How My Blogging Brought My Husband Home Full-time
I had to read that post. That 8-word title summed up what I had been dreaming of.
I was trying to come out of a writing/blogging "funk" last January, when God gave me two directives. Both of them seemed so impossible!
I have shared about the first one - to blog for 14 straight days.  The other one I have alluded to over the past couple of months.
To start making serious strides to monetize my blog.
I didn't even know how to do that...beyond the Adsense ads I had put up the year before...and took down because they didn't seem to be making me any money.....and put back up because...well...it was kind of fun to watch the pennies roll in every other day.

God doesn't give directives without a purpose and I knew this one had a strong purpose.
Many of you know that my husband is a shift worker. He works all three shifts, rotating each week; many times 6-7 days a week. He has been known to work nearly 30 days with no day off. Worst of all, he doesn't even really like his job.  So not only do the shifts and lack of adequate time off put an enormous strain on our family, it isn't even a sacrifice we make because of something he really believes in.
To make it all even more difficult, he is only able to attend church 1-2 times a month.
We know this isn't God's best for him.
There was another roadblock, though. 
My husband is old-school. Now, in case you think that is a put-down, it's not. I actually really like that about him. I kind of like the fact that every email address he's had has been closed down for lack of use. I like the fact that his Internet usage is pretty much limited to YouTube and Croatia's version of Craig's List.
He is a really good balance to my tendency to lose track of time on here. 
So, over the past year a dream has been growing in my heart...and until the moment I read Jamerrill's post, my husband had always sort of humored my blogging hobby. Truly that's all it was until that point when I heard God's voice in prayer giving that double challenge
After I read the now "famed article", I shared it with him and I got a response that I did expect.  His reaction? "Then please keep blogging. Even if it takes you 4-5 years to start making money, it will be worth it." 
My jaw dropped so far down to the floor that I swear, a fly flew straight down my throat.
Did he just take blogging seriously? The same guy who wears the Anti-Facebook badge with pride?

Oh yes he did!
The past several months I have been reading up all I can on monetization and blogging about my research. I have tried out many of those tricks and found some of the immediately successful.  Some will need more tweaking and time. Some tactics I know I need to work on, some I have yet to try out. It's a journey that I know I'll be writing a lot about in the future.  Actually, really soon - as there is another part to this story that comes with some big news!
 
Do you have a story? Is it still only a dream? Is it in the painful "birthing" stage? Is it being written right now? Have you been successful?

I'd love to hear your story. If you'd like to share your story with us, email me and let me know!



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1. Link up as many posts as you'd like (even giveaways!)
2. Link up old posts you wish would have received more attention!
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4. Visit the post just before yours

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An InLinkz Link-up

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The Missional Handbook - Coming Soon

This has been 10 years in the making.  I have labored over every word; prayed and wondered if this book would ever seen the light of day. I knew the time had to be right, and until now, I just never felt the go-ahead. Quite frankly, I wasn't even sure if anyone was even interested in reading about how to be a missionary in this modern era. I also knew that what I was proposing is revolutionary; it's new and many have never even considered these alternative methods to fulfilling the Great Commission. You see, in this modern age with technology and advancements, we can do so much more to spread the Good News in a way that makes economic sense. The world is entrenched in a financial crisis, and these economic struggles we face do not have prevent missionaries from "going", we just need to change how we approach missions. The fact is, we can go into all the world - literally - for a grand total of $0.00!!! Yes, you read that right. You can literally reach nations without spending a dime. I share about this in The Missional Handbook. I also share about ways you can be a local missionary, and how to prepare to become a traditional missionary as well.
But there's moreThis book also includes a free bonus section! In the bonus section you will find:
Questions and answersTips from missionaries andMissionary stories - stories from real, live missionaries who are serving today!I was privileged to sit down with Gertrude Nonterah of A Chosen Remnant to talk about the book. We had a wonderful conversation which she recorded as an interview for her podcast Running After God, which you can follow on iTunes. It was such a great opportunity to sit down with her, I could chat with her for hours.
 Here is a link to where you can listen to the interview. In the interview I talk about some of my experiences as well as why I wrote this book. You may also read a review of the book by Julie Pierce from Mount Mom. Her children are preparing for a summer mission trip.   Now, for some goodies!! Imagine you are a kid in grade school - say 2nd or 3rd grade - and you leave all of your friends behind to move to a country where they don't speak your language. Imagine the loneliness missionary kids face: for their friends, for a conversation in a language they understand. Imagine how exciting it would be for them to receive a letter from a pen pal. Does your missionary have children? Would your children like to become pen pals with them? It is my desire in the future to begin offering a pen pal service here at Missional Call to help pair up missionary kids with kids in their home towns or home countries. Until then, I am offering you this stationary free to download so that your children can write a missionary kid a letter.
Click image to download, or click here.   
On Wednesday we will be offering this Missionary Bundle to all of our subscribers. If you are a subscriber, you will automatically receive your bundle in a special email. If you're not a subscriber, you can subscribe easily at this bottom of this email. You can subscribe to receive this bundle until the book launch next Monday.   
To find out more about The Missional Handbook, visit the book page where you will find a promo video and some free downloads as well.Then come back next week to find out how you can purchase a copy at the discounted advance price!

Don't forget to link up:A Little R & R Wednesdays - a linky party weekly link up

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