Absolute devotion is required.
“Above all, you must live as citizens of Heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then… I will know that you are standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.”
-Philippians 1:27
First and foremost, thank you for being an integral part of WLF this past year! Whether you’ve read one post or all 58, I deeply appreciate it. More than that, I hope you’ve learned about our amazing Saviour and Creator through the words He’s led me to write.
As we reflect on 2025, I want to be very clear: none of this would be possible without God. It’s only by His power that I could do what I’ve done, day in and day out.
Before we begin, I hope you’ll consider listening to the podcast version of this post once you’re done reading. For the first time in WLF history, I’m doing a split release. This means you’ll get a unique set of takeaways and stories about God’s faithfulness on the podcast. You can check it out by visiting Spotify or clicking the episode link atop this post.
I can’t wait to share the last twelve months with you.
A Year in Review
From a WLF perspective, it was a monumental year. After launching the WLF podcast in January, I wrote five blog series (and a few camp bonus posts), updated the site, began incorporating custom thumbnails and designs, released downloadable PDFs, and tackled a ton of behind-the-scenes work.
It was hard to boil 365 days of WLF into 10 takeaways, but here’s my best shot. Before you’re tempted to skim, I want you to know that these takeaways can apply to any Christian blog/ministry/program. I believe there’s something for everyone to take away. Let’s dive in.
(A quick reminder: sharing a quote doesn’t necessarily mean I approve of everything the person says or stands for.)
1. Care about it.
“Passion is so key in leading and creating excellence that I will hire passion over education and talent every time.”
-Dave Ramsey
Seriously, you’re not going to accomplish anything if you don’t care about it. If you feel like you’re sucking in school or at work, could it be that you have no passion for what you’re doing? The reason I brought my best to WLF every week was simple: I cared about it. I invested in it. To accomplish anything in life, you have to care.
2. Show up.
“80% of success is showing up.”
-Woody Allen
Some of the best writing advice I’ve heard is to show up, every day. It doesn’t matter if you write five words or five hundred, just show up. For WLF, this meant showing up to brainstorm, write, edit, or review a post every day (aside from Sunday). Maybe I didn’t feel like it, or didn’t have time, but I did it. You’ll soon find that the more you show up, the easier it becomes to keep showing up. I’d encourage you to apply this pattern to your spiritual life too.
3. Establish a routine.
“The more you repeat a behaviour, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behaviour.”
-James Clear
Showing up is the first step; creating a routine is the second. Here’s how I did it: Last year I transferred my WLF tasks to a new Google Calendar. From there, I scheduled everything into its respective day (write on this day, edit on this day, review on this day, etc.). And since this wasn’t my personal calendar, it allowed me to see everything I wanted to accomplish in a given month. It’s awesome – as long as you stick to it. If you feel like you’re floundering, why not try scheduling?
4. Persist and persevere.
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”
-Newt Gingrich
Let me be honest, there were hard days. There were days when I sat down and did not feel like writing. I was mentally tired, I was distracted, I was too busy, I had no inspiration, and so on. I could have given up. It’s not like I’d get fired for not writing a post. But that isn’t what I did. I stared at the page on my monitor and told myself that I would not stop until I wrote this post. I didn’t fail once.
5. Know your goals.
“If you’re bored with life – you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things – you don’t have enough goals.”
–Lou Holt
Even if they’re small goals (reach ten subscribers, write every day for a week), goals are goals. If you don’t have goals, you have no way of measuring success or growth. Personally, I have a scheduled reminder every month to ‘Reflect on Monthly Objectives’ and ‘Brainstorm Monthly Objectives’. This allows me to clarify my vision and keep tabs on my overarching projects. I do this personally and professionally, and I’d encourage you to adopt it too.
6. Be proactive.
“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you.”
-Barack Obama
If I had to share one trait that absolutely irks me in a person, it’s a lack of proactivity. People who sit around and wait for work or wait for life to act on them won’t succeed. Early on with WLF, I adopted a proactive mindset. With no one to motivate me, I needed to motivate myself. If I hadn’t been proactive, there would be no WLF podcast, no PDF Downloads, no new series ideas, and no new announcements (read on for more info). As one of the guys from GoLove told me, “If you wish to make a difference, you must be the difference you wish to see.”
7. Don’t give in.
“Disappointment is inevitable. But to become discouraged, there’s a choice I make. God would never discourage me. He would always point me to Himself to trust Him. Therefore, my discouragement is from Satan.”
-Charles Stanley
No matter what you’re doing, as long as you’re doing it for the Kingdom, you will face discouragement. You will experience the devil knocking at your door, telling you to quit. Unless you sense God telling you to switch focus, don’t quit. I have been tempted to drop WLF. It’s hard to see hours of work sometimes receive minimal views. Yet I remind myself that God sees what I’m doing, and He sees what you’re doing too.
8. Ask for help.
“One of the biggest defects in life is the inability to ask for help.”
-Robert Kiyosaki
In case you didn’t already know, WLF is not a one-man show. If it were, it would be pretty lame. The success of WLF is dedicated to the work of God and those I asked for help. I knew I couldn’t do it alone, which is why I started recruiting. Every piece of content I put out is first screened by my Written Communications Manager, who possesses over 25 years of corporate and real-world experience. And every podcast episode is reviewed by my Audio Communications Manager, who possesses nearly 10 years of live radio experience. Point is: growth doesn’t come alone. You need help.
9. Pray.
“A person prays, that he himself may be constructed, not that God may be instructed.”
-Augustine
I put these last two points at the end not because they aren’t important, but because they’re the foundation on which everything else rides. Especially this year, I’ve made it a habit to pray before doing any writing or editing. It doesn’t need to be long. Something as short as “God, give me wisdom as I write so that I can glorify you” is great. It helps remind me why I’m doing what I’m doing, and it gives me the right footing off the hop.
10. Seek God’s advice.
“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.”
-James 1:5
Since WLF belongs to God, should I not ask Him for advice on how to manage it? No matter what you’re doing, ask Him for advice. Listen for His voice, then act on it. Whenever I’ve gotten stuck while writing a post or panicked because something went wrong, God has been there for me. He’s here for all of us, whenever we ask. May His will be done.
The Big Announcement
Before I sign off on 2025, allow me to thank you once again. If WLF has taught you anything new about God, or if a certain post has encouraged you, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
But we do have…one more thing. After something like six months in the making, I’m incredibly excited to unveil…
After weeks of brainstorming, designing, writing, and reviewing, I’m very blessed to present these to you!
Going forward, I hope to publish a one-page devotional every Tuesday on the new Devotionals page of my site. You’ll have the option to read the devotional on the website, download it as a PDF to share/print, or subscribe to receive them directly in your inbox (you can follow this link to do that). You should know that you’ll need to subscribe separately through the devotionals page to receive them via email.
To hear the heart behind these devotionals, you can read or download the inaugural one, pictured above.
It’s only by God’s grace that I’m able to do this, and I pray these devotionals will be used to bring Him glory. With that, Happy New Year! I’ll see you on Friday for my new blog series and Tuesday for my first devotional series!
For His glory, always.
~Samuel James
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
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