After I got baptized, I immediately told myself, “Okay, I’m a Christian now.” (Of course, I’d been a Christian for a long time at that point, but I had finally made a public declaration by getting baptized.) “Now, I have to make a difference.”

Woah, woah, woah, calm down, Willow. At the time, I was a bit ambitious—I think I still am—but this wasn’t the right mindset to have.

While my heart has this very genuine, sincere wish, I wasn’t focused on the right goal. And yes, our goal is to share the love of God and help introduce Christ to others, but we can’t do that if our relationship with God is faulty.

I like to use this illustration: when you’re on an airplane and the flight attendants are doing all their safety instructions at the beginning of the flight, they mention oxygen masks. They say that when they fall from the ceiling in the case of an emergency, parents are supposed to put their mask on first before helping the kids. After all, they can’t help their kids while they’re passing out, right?

If you are drowning in your faith, you won’t be able to help others with their faith.

We forget that our own faith is so important, and fun fact: it is not a sin at all to focus on growing your relationship with Christ.

If your relationship with Christ is failing, soon your other relationships will as well.

Now, when I mentioned about wanting to make a difference—was this a bad dream? No. Was this a reasonable dream? Of course! And was it a possible dream? Absolutely.

But I wanted to do something big. I’ll admit, I would have loved to see in the headlines:

“Willow, 16, baptized on February 23rd of 2025, goes on to blah blah blah, something about helping start a huge revival in the Christian faith.”

But y’all, we forget:

Doing something big starts in the small moments.

If you read my most recent post, Don’t Let Anyone Look Down On Your Youth (I should have come up with a catchier title), I write about what it means to do big things as a young adult or teenager. We read about three boys who started a Bible study that grew to consist of twenty-three people over just a few weeks. It started small, but God used these boys to make something that would change their friends’ lives by providing fellowship, friendship, and prayer.

Doing something big does not have to start out with founding a nonprofit at sixteen, although that is possible! A lot of teenagers have done things like this, but that doesn’t make them a ‘better Christian’.

Doing ‘small things’ does not eliminate you as a Christian.

I’m going to have you do something—a mid-post reflection question, you could say.

How have you made a positive difference in someone’s life?

Answer it proudly! Don’t pull a Willow and say, “Well, I did this, but I don’t want to brag about it.”

Brag about it—not in a “This is all about me” way, brag in a “LOOK WHAT MY GOD CAN DO” way. God works miracles in our lives, why would we keep that quiet?! And a lot of miracles start by working through us.

Don’t be afraid to share your story and testimony, don’t be afraid to tell people, “God moved me to start a Bible study and I’ve never been closer with my friends.”

Don’t be afraid to say, “God gave me the courage to share the gospel.”

Don’t be afraid to say, “God took a chance on me and said, ‘I’m going to use you for my good plan.’”

David writes in the Psalms that we are to tell everyone—make it known across the nations—what God has done.

Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
Psalms 105:1-2 NIV

Now, you might be saying: Willow, this is scary and hard and I don’t know what to do!

Can I give you an example of something God has worked through me?

It’s this. Right here, this very blog post you are reading—actually the whole website. If I had known two years ago that people would want to read the things I have to say, have found encouragement, and maybe (hopefully!) have even found a friend in this girl behind the screen, I would have laughed in your face.

Heck no! I don’t share my writing, I don’t share my thoughts! That’s absolutely ridiculous—you’re even crazier than I thought you were.

And let me tell you: The Faithful Wanderer has seriously changed my life. I’ve found a great community, I’ve learned about myself, about my faith, and the God that I write so much about. He has seriously taught me a ton through this blog!

But when I first started The Faithful Wanderer, the idea of sharing my personal thoughts online seemed so hard and scary. In my mind, I was the only one who struggled with those certain things. Little did I know that other people felt the same way.

Which brings me to my next point:

The point isn’t to do big things, the point is to do hard things.

Your life will be challenged a whole lot. We see that in Matthew chapter ten—we will be hated. But Jesus assures us in John 16:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33 NIV

With Jesus we know peace is coming—but for right now, while we are waiting, our focus is this:

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40 NIV

Our goal is to love God and love others.

So when we look at the ‘big things’ that other people are doing, we can admire them, right? We can want to do those things, sure, but remember:

Big things come from small moments.

Start a Bible study, share your testimony, pray with a friend, have a lil worship sesh, invite a friend to church or youth group—someone’s life just might be changed because of an invitation.

Thanks for reading and I’d love to hear your thoughts! It really means the world that you guys are supporting me—praying for you all! Have a great week!
~Willow