Fumbling Toward Jesus: An Introduction to the Christian Fellowship Community
Hello my friends, and God bless you! I made a bit of an introductory post about this on my main blog a little over a week ago, but with the new introduction of communities to our ecosystem, I wanted to formally and specifically introduce myself here.
I originally joined Steemit all the way back in October 2016. I’ve been back on Steemit for a little over a week, and have had quite a journey in the interim. I pretty much came back to Steemit for the express purpose of starting this extended blog, Fumbling Toward Jesus, as an addendum to my podcast of the same name, which I’m launching next month. I’ve been desiring to be a part of cultivated community among other believers on the platform, so the launch of Communites has me incredibly excited.
Even though I am not new to Steemit, I have been gone for a while, and my goodness, how things have changed in my world. In all honesty, the person I was when I joined Steemit 3.5 years ago, the person I was two years ago when I became inactive, and the person I am now are all very different people. I’m excited to get to know you all with a clearer mind and a strong, renewed purpose.
If you’ve been around Steemit for a while, you may recognize my name from the early formation of the Open Mic community and other early musical endeavors here on this platform—or maybe you recognize the Adventures of Weird Plastic Baby. I was also in attendance of the first Kansas City, Missouri Steemit Meetup, as well as part of the organizing committee of the Ozark Meetup in Springfield, Missouri. I’m still playing music full-time, and still have random creative endeavors going on, but I’m not going to have that as my main focus on Steemit anymore. More on that later, of course.
I have been diving into what went on in the interim in a few of my recent posts on my main blog, but for the past couple of months I have been in preparation for a new podcast, also called Fumbling Toward Jesus that I will also be sharing here with you all in the Steemit Christian Fellowship Community.
Fumbling Toward Jesus has two parts: one is daily devotional, and the other is an audio podcast (coming in mid-March). I started the daily devos on Instagram, but will be going further in-depth on those over on the Steemit platform, as I have truly missed the Steemit community-at-large and I’m really hoping y’all will welcome me into your arms here in the Christian Fellowship Community.
I’ll share a verse or a passage of scripture from the Bible with some thoughts from a recovering addict who is passionate about studying and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pretty simple, yet super complex at the same time. It’s me.
We are called to grow in His grace both together and separately. At the end of my Fumbling posts, there will be discussion questions, and I hope to get to know you all through those and we can all strive for His glory in some good, deep discussion about all things scripture, theology, and life through quality fellowship with each other.
Fumbling Toward Jesus Podcast is a project I’ve felt led to do, and it is starting to come together and will be released around the middle of next month. The podcast focuses on those of us who are “stumbling upward,” as sinners in need of a Savior. Real faith. Real people. Really flawed. Really in need of REAL GRACE.
Every Wednesday, I will issue a call for any and all prayer requests. I am very devoted to prayer, and I would love to pray for you. I’ve written more about and included a link further explaining this initiative at the bottom of this post, and I hope you’ll join me in a collective, world-wide, corporate prayer time together on this platform. I really look forward to praying for you.
I’m incredibly happy to be back on Steemit, I’m excited about Steemit Communities, and I hope you all will follow along with me on the journey. Don’t hesitate to say hello in the comments, and/or give me a follow if we’re just meeting for the first time. I am looking forward to sharing scripture with you, praying for you, and doing life with y’all here in the Christian Fellowship Community. Let’s do this. Together. Talk to you tomorrow. <3
And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered.” (Revelation 5:5)
A Little More About Me
I am Jessamyn Orchard (@jessamynorchard), and I am a former youth pastor, worship minister, and church lay leader, who graduated from a Christian college. Most recently, however, I’m an addict in recovery who rededicated my life to Jesus about 6 months ago. I was raised in church, and saved at age 12, but I did a lot of straying over the past 10+ years, falling into pits of sin through addictions and self-pity. I’m no authority, just a believer in a big God and called to spread His word through as many conduits as present themselves to me. Fumbling Toward Jesus is a multi-media ministry campaign and includes a written blog of daily devotions on Steemit and an accompanying monthly podcast on Anchor.fm, and it represents years of study—both over the years and lately, and now combined with a whole load of human experience. I’m just a super nerdy sinner saved by a really awesome grace.
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A Sinful Woman Forgiven Series: Part I,Part II, Part III, Part IV
When Depression Strikes
The Discipline of Darkness
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
All stock photography images are sourced from pexels.com, are used with permission, and are edited by me. :)
This is fantastic Jessamyn. Welcome to the Christian Fellowship community! I have just followed you and look forward to reading more of your story. Blessings
Thank you, @nextgen622! As soon as communities were released, I quickly accessed the list to see if there was already a Christian community of believers established, and was so stoked to see Christian Fellowship on the list. Thank you for carving a space for us here to grow together! God bless you! I’ll be praying for this community to grow!!
I’m glad you found the community. Look forward to reading more from you and appreciate your prayers for the community.
So, Fumbling Toward Jesus is like Daily Bread, like Word of Life Quiet Time? I love daily devotionals. So, I'm glad you are here doing this, Hess.
Yes! My devos are similar, just delivered from a different angle. My focus is really on pointed help for other Christians who are struggling. At least, those who admit to their struggling (let’s be real—we’re all struggling in some way, right?) and who want to grow from those struggles. As a Christian who is a recovering addict, recognizing that the struggle is a place to learn and grow has been monumental to me, and I hope it blesses my readers, too. We’re not alone in this. Not only do we have the Father, but also each other.
A lot of Paul’s writings are super inspiring to me for that reason. Dude struggled so much, but allowed those struggles to build him into an absolute force for the sake of Christ!
Thanks for dropping a comment and for checking out my intro. I am looking forward to getting to know you better through our shared community!
I like what you're saying because people do end up trying to deal with addictions on their own. They should go to God for help or at least to a pastor, a mentor, etc. Many times, people can say they have no struggle. They may be unaware. In Alcohol Anonymous (AA) meetings, one of the first of the twelve steps in their program involves admitting that there is a problem in the first place. Romans is a great book. James is pretty practical.