Streams in the Desert | HealthWealthVictory

Are you in the middle of trials and difficulties right now? Feels like being in a desert? Here’s what you can do to invite God into your trials and difficulties and find victory and streams in your desert.

Thus says the LORD:

Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared;then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe.

The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water. 

-Isaiah 35:4-7A

Here is this mandate again. “Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense, he comes to save you.“

I’ve been hearing this mandate in various forms these days and in every daily prayer I keep as an appointment with the Lord: “Say to those whose hearts are frightened…”

Adam Houge, a very productive and prolific bestseller Christian author in Amazon said this message is too important not to put out there. To stop writing about. So he pushes and publishes book after book after book of Christian self-help books. 

He has more than 120 books on Amazon. And he said these little streams add up to make a river. A river of blessings to others, and in return blessings to him and his family.

And like him, that’s why I’m taking on growing my 6 SpeakChrist print-on-demand shops that I already have: Redbubble, Zazzle, TeePublic, Spreadshirt US, SpreadShirt UK and Spring (formerly Teespring) where I sell merchandise with inspirational lifequote and bible verse designs that SpeakChrist to the believer and dreamer in us.

I’m also on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing where I use my inspirational lifequote designs that I use on print-on-demand merchandise as covers of inspirational journals.

And now I’ve added Etsy and my own shopify store both of which I’m still in the process of setting up. Here I plan to sell inspirational lifequote printable wall arts and inspirational jewelries.

Something most successful entrepreneurs never advise to do.

They always say to start and focus on one platform, make it work, and then go on and expand it to other ones.

But I have a mandate: to share God’s news to every heart that is weary and frightened, and those who are dreaming and believing.

If you’ve followed reading my previous posts, God has answered my prayer for me to obtain my lifelong dream, my desired haven: Financial Freedom and Independence.

In that post, I shared how I lived like a zombie because I decided this dream can’t be achieved and so I decided to settle, with no vision and no dream. I just live each day the same way: wake up, work, sleep, repeat. But God in his goodness awakened that dream. Here, I detailed my plan of building my “nest egg” by saving much of my salary as a virtual assistant.

How God helped me transition from having a traditional job to an online job is another story of the grace and goodness of God. He brought me from being a nurse to a virtual assistant, now earning 4x what I was earning as nurse here in the Philippines, with now very flexible work schedule and working from home, even before the Pandemic hit and forced almost half of the world’s workforce to work from home.

Now that God has awakened my dream of being financially free, He has shown me a way to achieve it. It’s not only through saving 50% or 60% of my income as most of those in the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement do. Because I cant. I’m helping my family in these times.

It’s by building a business – something that I’ve also dreamed about and buried since I decided to stop working on my network marketing business for now.

God showed me another business model – print on demand. And that’s how I came to have 6 SpeakChrist shops and KDP, so 7 of these free online platforms.

I also have Etsy and Shopify as my 8th and 9th platforms but they are not free. But God led me there and so I’m there.

And on top of that, I want to be faithful in posting on this blog every Sunday, once a week at least. I’ve had this blog since 2015, paying for its maintenance but never doing much on it.

But this blog has been greatly instrumental as part of my resume when I was applying for my online job. so I thank God always for inspiring me to start this.

And recently I decided to update and post every Sunday instead of working on my job which I had started to do before even on a Sunday instead of resting and honoring God as we were supposed to do.

Now I’m maintaining this blog as part of my ministry, my platform for sharing God’s word as I applied it in my life, and as I strive to be healthy, wealthy, and victorious in all areas of my life.

So why do I choose to start my online business on as many sites as I can, as opposed to what the experts are saying?

To claim more territories for sharing God’s news of saving help to as many people as I can.

The more real estate on the world wide web I have claimed for You, for people to hear and be inspired and encouraged, the better. 

More sites published in, more people will find me, more people will see and hear.

My sister and I, while working on our online jobs, were listening to a woman who created a successful blog with about 500k views per month with just on-page SEO (Search Engine Optimization, for non-techies among us.) She just made sure she’s writing about what’s relevant to people and using the appropriate keywords for people to find her easily. She’s now making $200k a month on her blog.

I told my sister that I wanted to land on Google search result page one for the keywords “healthwealthvictory”. That’s what my blog is called because that’s what my blog is all about: helping people who want to be healthy, wealthy, and victorious to live in Christ Who, I believe, gives eternal health, generational wealth, and complete victory.

So I started a Google search and I am amazed at what I’ve found: “HealthWealthVictory” has 36k results in total in Google and my name, and website, is there and the very first is my book on Amazon. Makes sense, because nobody writes in search “health wealth victory” like that. And when I searched for the keywords “health wealth victory”, there are 56M results but my website is still on the first page. 

I’m praying that it’s true what experts say about SEO that when you start ranking on niche keywords (“niche”, meaning, specific to a particular target market), you begin getting ranked higher on the more general keywords.  

Same with Amazon, I’m testing this theory. I’m putting my journals in less-known categories so that, hopefully, when these rank on those lesser-known categories they will get ranked higher in the more commonly known categories. And I’ve seen best seller journals in categories so far off than what they really are: like journals in the category of art collectibles: newspaper and magazines. I even saw a bestseller notebook in the Travel category.  

And once the book, or anything anywhere really, like a listing in Etsy, gets a best-seller badge, it easily catches people’s eyes. 

My simple rule when I make a keyword search is to go in the search bar and use keywords with at least 1k results showing. 

And one YouTuber I’ve followed when it comes to finding good keywords on Etsy says, at least 30k or lower in the results and a best seller on the front page. I’ve personally chosen ones within the 1k range. Cause I’m afraid that lower than that means there’s no demand for those keywords. And more than that, I’d get buried in the Etsy graveyard, considering I’m just a beginner.

But the most important thing, they say, is that when you occupy more “real estate” on the web, when you’re found on more authority websites, using keywords you’d want people to find you with, you’d get easily found by Google. 

That’s why I’m opening my 9 shops all at the same time. And growing my blog on top of that. While working on 2 online jobs, one full-time and one part-time, all at the same time.

Contrary to what all the experts say: focus on 1 platform until successful and then move on to doing the next.

I want this message of hope on as many platforms as possible. 

Yes, it’s tough work. Yes, it’s a real challenge and really difficult to do. This is because I don’t use tools to automate these uploads like so many online entrepreneurs do and suggest. I don’t have the budget right now to afford these tools.

Yes, I’m finding no results for these efforts for now but thank God for this promise in this verse: 

Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water.

— Isaiah 35:6b-7 

This is God’s part. 

God will cause the results I want to happen. 

But only when I go and do my part: 

Say to those whose hearts are frightened: “Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.”

Isaiah 35:4

My part is to write about God’s message of hope, inspiration, and encouragement on my blog and proclaim it on my merchandise. Upload it on every platform possible where God’s people go. Post it on my chosen social media. 

All to proclaim this good news: Fear not! God will come to save you.

People are scared and sad and discouraged these days with Covid mutating into delta variants and all, with losing loved ones to sickness and death, natural and man-made disasters, losing jobs with debts and bills mounting. 

We all need this message of hope. Be not afraid. Be strong. God is coming to save us. We are not alone.

God always comes to save.

Whatever our circumstances are, we have reason to rejoice, to go on living, keep on fighting this good fight of faith, to never give up, to pick ourselves up from where we have fallen, to pick up the pieces of our broken lives and live and love again, to resurrect our dreams and start taking steps to make them come true. 

Because they can. God will come to save you. 

So I’m taking on this challenge. 

At first, I’m working my beautiful butt off to get my stores up and running to get ready for Q4 as the experts say it’s the biggest season of the eCommerce world where the biggest sales could happen. Where millionaire sellers are made. 

Thank You for this reminder, Lord. 

It’s not the sales that matter. It’s Your people hearing the God news, getting inspired, encouraged, motivated again, getting to know You as a personal God and Savior, dreaming, believing again.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. 

Isaiah 35:5-6

When I strive to SpeakChrist to the believer and dreamer in each and everyone of us, in all my endeavors: in my business, books, and blog, in all the things I sell, and when people get inspired and motivated, then streams will burst forth in the desert. For both me and the people who see the message.  

When you, in spite of your own difficult challenges and trials in life, look to God for encouragement and then turn around to encourage others with the encouragement You have found in God, you too, as God promised, will be refreshed.

The deserts in my life and yours will burst forth with blessings abounding. God makes amazing things to happen. So much more than we can ask or imagine. 

That’s my Q4 challenge. And not only for Q4 but for the rest of my life, for as long as I’m able to work. Fill this blog with posts that inspire and encourage, get my shops up and running full of listings and merchandise that SpeakChrist to every believer and dreamer whether they think of themselves as that or not. 

Because in essence, that’s what we all are. Believers and dreamers. Believing and dreaming for our lives, with our loved ones, to be better. To be healthy, wealthy, and victorious. 

Whatever you’re going through. Find hope in the Lord. Because you always can.  He comes to save you. 

And when you’ve found hope and the encouragement you need, start to speakChrist to the people around you. Tell them how you found the answer to your prayers, how God has saved you. Share to your loved ones whatever good thing that has happened to you. Start finding ways to encourage others.

He helps us in all our troubles, so that we are able to help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God.

2 Corinthians 1:4

Then they will hear of the good news too. They will see all the good things around them. Then they will sing again. And walk with head held high and with confidence again. Then they too will believe and dream again. 

Then streams and rivers will burst forth in your desert places and theirs too. Where you had lack, you’ll see abundance. Strength. Confidence. Good breaks. Financial opportunities and breakthroughs.

A life lived to the full, filled with vision, and purpose, and meaning.

So what is it you long to do? What is it you’ve been meaning to start but never started doing? That is God calling you. Start doing it.  

You are called to be a part of this cycle of Blessing. 

Find God in your barren places. SpeakChrist to the people around you. Then you will find streams and rivers in your desert.

You will see God doing amazing things in and through you. 

Will you do it?

• Seek God in your difficulties. He hears you.
• SpeakChrist to these situations. Encourage people around you. 
• See God do amazing things. He comes to save you.

Dear Lord, 

Help me seek You in the difficulties of my life. Help me tell others the good news of how You helped me. Let me see You do amazing things in my life and the people around me. Amen.

This is it for now. Until next time.

To our Health, Wealth, and Victory, Godspeed!