Jesus is the Lord of the Dance, and we can’t dance his dance without expecting some improvisation. Let Jesus take the lead; you’ll be surprised the places he will take you and the joys you will discover. – Katherine Walden (2006)
Hello, my friend!
I figure I can call you friend as most of you who visit this website have done so for for years.
So what’s up? I’ve felt a nudge over the past few months to shake things up a little as far as how I communicate my message. I am not taking advantage of the full scope the Internet affords me. The Lord has been drawing me toward Youtube, for example. He is slowly opening relational doors for me with both creators and viewers who frequent that platform, and I feel he is already using me as a positive encouragement there. I have the gear and the software to expand my reach there, but I have not been a good steward of that gear.
Videos and podcasts take me right out of my comfort zone. And yet I KNOW God is leading me to step out of my cocoon and walk forward in obedience. Writing is safe for me. However, safe is not always right. Safe can lead to complacency. I can edit my weekly blog to my heart’s content and at my leisure. I have been guilty of editing my blogs to the point that I lose track of my original point. Excessive self-editing stifles creative thought!
Although talking head podcast videos such as mine are relatively simple to produce, they still require copious amounts of editing time and resources. However, if this style of video is overly edited, the result is choppy and disjointed! Once a video is uploaded to YouTube, it is not an easy process to edit that video, and so I will have to keep my grimy little editing fingers to myself for the most part.
Here’s the scoop. I will be creating a series of YouTube videos, based on my first two books; Seasons and Dare to Call Him Friend. In each video, I will read or paraphrase directly from my books, and then add a short practical application or tip for further study. If you have not yet subscribed to my YouTube channel, it’s easy to do. Look for the red Subscribe button. Click on it. A bell will appear. Click on the bell, and you will be notified when a new video from me is ready for viewing.
I will be providing a private discussion area via my existing Patreon for those who would like to deepen their conversation beyond the casual comments that most people feel are safe enough to leave under YouTube Videos. Patreon is relatively troll-free as most trolls are stingy and they don’t want to have to pay to be mean to other people. I hope that we will share our hearts, one with another. I like to look at myself as a scribe of devotions more than a writer of commitments. God speaks to me just as much as he speaks to you through what he prompts me to write.
You can join my Patreon community for as little as 1.00 USD a month. That is as low as Patreon allows. The money raised will go toward a transcription service I will be using and other ministry expenses, such a software, website fees and upgrades, etc. You can cancel your membership at any time. There will never be a charge to watch my YouTube videos.
As you can imagine this project will take me several months to complete. Each book contains at least 90 devotions. I will probably create one or two videos a day but I will release one video per day. I will transcribe each of these video devotions into text form.
Those rough transcripts will only be made available to those in my Patreon community. Once we go through each book, I will polish those transcripts and use them to create updated study versions on Amazon and other online outlets. I will also provide a free booklet made up of just the personal applications in PDF format for my Patreons, in case you wanted to use the booklets in a small discussion group offline.
The nice thing about this process is that I will also be able to correct some errors in the original book that somehow slipped past my amazing editor team.
What does this mean to you, those of you who are on my mailing list and who visit this site every week? I will continue to send out a weekly email. However, I won’t necessarily be writing a full blog each week. As always, a weekly archive of the Daily Christian Quote will be included. A brief original thought written by me should appear weekly on the mailing list as well. I will also be posting those thoughts here on the blog.
Did you know that I have published three books, all available on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback formats? Check them out here. We’ll be starting the video series using “Seasons,” and move on to “Dare to Call Him Friend.” My third book, “Not Always All Together” already has a video series on my YouTube channel. Check out the playlist to get a general idea of what to expect.
Don’t forget. Follow me on Facebook. You do not need to send me a friend request to follow me. However, I do welcome friend requests if you message me first to say you know me from the website or email list! Here is the Facebook link.
If you are coming here from Facebook, you might not be aware that you can receive these weekly devotions via email. Sometimes, Facebook doesn’t show my links to these devotionals, and so you might not see when I post something new. How to fix that? Sign up for my weekly email that not only includes a devotional but also seven quotes from prominent authors, speakers, and heroes of our faith. I do not use this mailing list for any other purpose!
All Bible verses attributed to the ESV version unless otherwise indicated.
Until Next Week
2019 Katherine Walden
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