Practical Nuggets of Wisdom For New and Born-again Christians

Happy New Year Familia!

It’s been a while, and I’ve missed you, but before I dig into the practical nuggets of wisdom that I’m about to share with my fellow born-again or new Christians, I thought I’d start by giving you a quick life update. I’m mindful that I’ve been quiet for a little while, and I feel like I owe you a bit of an explanation…

Those of you who follow me on Instagram (which you should all be doing by now!) will know that I recently decided to relaunch this platform into the Christian lifestyle blog that I believe the lord intended it to be. When I initially launched Real Life with Liv back in 2022, I had a lack of clarity and direction regarding what it should look like and basically had no idea where to start. I wanted to help any and every one and was casting the net too wide. Despite this, I knew that if I didn’t start posting content and get this space up and running, I never would. But this made it difficult to create so the past few months have been a bit of a struggle…

Table of Contents

• Picture this…
• Tell me one thing you wish you knew before you became a Christian…
• Share one piece of advice you’d give new, born-again Christians or those who are currently seeking…
• As for me, I have a lot to say on this topic but if I were to give the new or born-again believer one practical nugget of wisdom it would be this…

That was until the lord sent a wonderful woman called Trudy my way to assist me from Digital Dreamers Hub! After a very eye-opening conversation she helped me realise it was time to go back to the drawing board, niche down and refocus my efforts. She gave me numerous practical nuggets of wisdom which I’m honestly so grateful for. Crossing paths with her was a real answer to prayer and no, this isn’t an ad! I’m just a firm believer in giving people their flowers and I have to big her up because I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the time and energy she’s given me. If any of you reading this are looking for a coach to help you launch your online business, I couldn’t recommend her enough! Thanks, Trudy, I appreciate you!

After this powerful conversation I prayed and prayed until I realised it was time to take this project back to God and fully surrender it over to him because regardless of how I envision it, he needs to be the centrepiece. I want everything that I share here to serve, honour, and please him, and provide nourishment to his people. To achieve that required a spiritual strategy!

I never intended to post on here for the sake of it and have tried my best to stand by that. I’d rather post inconsistent but authentic content than put ridiculous amounts of pressure on myself to post something every month just to tick a box. This isn’t just a business or side hustle to me; it’s a form of ministry and I take that very seriously. With that being said, I definitely lost sight of the fact that this was God’s platform not my own.

So, the Holy Spirit and I have been on a journey the past thirteen days planning, strategizing, clarifying, and going back to basics and I’m pleased to announce that I finally have a solid blog plan that I believe has been birthed in the spirit! I’m finally clear on the type of content the Lord wants me to share that will best serve you. I also feel more equipped to achieve the mission I believe he’s given me as a creative and a writer. You can find out more about that mission by clicking here. The moral of the story…

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans – Proverbs 16:3.

There’s a practical nugget of wisdom for you right there fresh out of the word of God!

But what I love about Jesus is that he uses our circumstances to speak to us and never lets anything go to waste. While I was frustrated about the concept of having to go back to basics after months of hard work trying to launch this blog with minimal progress, he’s not only used this process to give me clarity, correction and a plan, he’s also given me heavenly downloads and inspiration for future blog posts, including this one. So I guess you could say that taking a few steps backwards has allowed me to move forward on this occasion!

Picture this…

It was a random Saturday morning in October, I was bored and had some free time on my hands because believe it or not, the weather was terrible! I thought I’d try and use my time wisely by creating some content, but as I started to log on to my laptop I felt a overwhelming urge to market research – something I knew nothing about whatsoever!

I didn’t know where to start, but after watching a few YouTube tutorials I took to Google Forms, opened up my Instagram and started asking my amazing Christian friends and family members two questions. They were as follows…

Tell me one thing you wish you had known before you became a Christian.

Or, if they were an individual who’s always walked with the Lord, I asked them the following…

What advice would you give to either a new or born-again Christian or someone that’s seeking?

Pretty deep and thought-provoking questions, right? At the time, I knew there was a reason why I felt this urge and acted on it, but I had no idea what to expect or what I would end up doing with the responses. Before I knew it my DMs were popping full of practical nuggets of wisdom! The only problem was that I had no idea what to do with them, so they just sat in my inbox gathering dust!

Now I must confess that I completely forgot all about this exercise, that was until I felt the Holy Spirit notify me that it was time to share the responses last night! After months of struggling to create meaningful content with no clear direction or plan, it was in that moment I realised that he didn’t just take me back to basics to get the blog right, he took me back to basics because he wanted me to do the same with you…

You see following Jesus can be a rollercoaster, and no matter how many years, months, weeks, days or hours you’ve been following him, it’s very easy to get caught up in the chaos of life and to forget the simple yet most important aspects of your faith. So, to kick off the new year and the official relaunch of Real Life with Liv, I’ve decided to co-produce this blog post with some of the incredible friends I get to call family. In this post, we’ll be giving new and born-again Christians Practical Nuggets of Wisdom in the hope that they will help you simplify and revisit some of the core principles of Christianity in this new season. Let’s start this new year right!

So, without further ado, I introduce to you my wonderful friends, as well as a very special guest (who will be revealed shortly!) and the Practical Nuggets of Wisdom for New and Born-again Christians that they have very kindly agreed to share.

Tell me one thing you wish you knew before you became a Christian…

#1: Intimacy is everything.

“You can do a lot for the kingdom of God, but it means nothing if you’re lacking in intimacy”.

Emily – San Juan, Puerto Rico.

#2: I wish I knew the depth of God’s love.

“Throughout my life, I always heard people talk about heaven and hell and about the fact that you would either go to one place or the other, but no one ever spoke to me about the depth of God’s love. I had no idea how much he loved me and that was hard to comprehend. Maybe if I knew the depth of God’s love back then, I would have given my life to Christ sooner”.

Mervin – London, England.

#3: It doesn’t get easier, but it becomes more and more worth it.

“I wish I knew that just because I’d accepted Christ it didn’t mean that my hard times would come to an end. You’ll still mess up, but his grace is sufficient even when your own isn’t!”

Aliya – Seattle, Washington.

#4: The difference between churchgoers and Christians.

“I wish I knew that there was a difference between churchgoers and Christians! I might have become a Christian sooner!”

My beautiful friend Stacey then went on to add…

#5: Taste and see that the lord is good!

“Taste and see that the Lord is good by reading a bible verse or scripture every day. It will change your life!”

Stacey – Huddersfield, England.

#6: That I don’t have to save myself or know it all.

“It wasn’t ever about my efforts or strength. I just had to come to God as I am and agree to make changes. I didn’t know it all and I didn’t need to. He knows exactly what to do”.

Michelle – London, England.

#7: Living for Christ is about relationship.

“Even though I’ve been following Christ since I was young, I had no idea what it meant to be in a relationship. Now that I’m older, I’m learning that I must choose to love Him every day and to sacrifice myself for Him, but most importantly I know that I have the greatest gift which is to know Him intimately. It’s a whole journey and I didn’t know what commitment was until later in mine!”

Jennifer – San Francisco, California.

#8: Learn about your authority and who you are in Christ first.

“When you start walking with the Lord, learning about your authority, and understanding who you are in Christ is so important. This is what will help you walk in and embrace your new identity in Christ”.

Joanna – London, England.

#9: “It’s not an easy road and you have to let God lead you”.

“I wish someone told me that Christian life is not an easy road and that I would have to build an intimate relationship with God, choosing not to follow the traditions and ideologies of others but to let God lead me instead”.

This individual chose to remain anonymous.

I also decided to rope my dad into all of this by asking him the same question. What was interesting was that he struggled to answer me, which was unusual because he loves to chat and usually has an answer for everything (like father like daughter ay dad!) Yet as I started writing this post today, I felt prompted to revisit this question, so I asked him again and his response was exactly as I expected…blunt (he is a very honest individual) but wise and too good not to share!

Without hesitation, he replied with the following response:

#10: Don’t expect every Christian you meet to be a wonderful, loving amazing person.

“We’re all on a journey and at different stages of our walk. Some of us might be rejoicing, but some of us are hurting”.

My old man – London. (Thanks, Dad!)

I think it’s fair to say that these are a powerful set of answers that give us a lot to think about. But before we move on, I want to encourage you to take a moment and reflect. Do any of these practical nuggets of wisdom resonate with you? Could any of them provide some encouragement to someone you know? Take a second to think about this before you explore the remaining practical nuggets of wisdom we’re about to offer.

Share one piece of advice you’d give new, born-again Christians or those who are currently seeking…

#1: Learn to separate the actions and behaviour of leaders, pastors and the church congregation from God.

“I feel like if someone had advised me earlier on in my journey to disassociate the pastor’s and leader’s behaviour from God, it would have saved me a lot of uncomfortable moments and hurt. It’s just important to know and be clear that pastors and leaders might and will fail, and people in the church will too…but God NEVER fails”.

Génesis – San Juan, Puerto Rico.

#2: Read Colossians.

“I’ve always been a believer, but I was reading the book of Colossians yesterday and it wrecked me. I think it’s a great book for new believers. But my advice generally would be to read the word and listen to sermons.”

My generous sister didn’t stop there. She very kindly added another nugget of practical wisdom shortly after by encouraging seekers or new and born-again Christians to…

#3: Seek Mentors.

“There are pastors and leaders who are spiritually capable of understanding questions that born-again or new believers want to ask. One of my friends just gave his life to Christ and has been getting frustrated because he’s struggling to read the bible. Connecting him with our Pastor has helped him start to make sense of it. But when you’re hungry God feeds, and he will give you revelation”.

Aitza – San Juan, Puerto Rico.

#4: “Seeing and believing in God isn’t always about emotions”.

Seeing God move and believing in him isn’t about always your emotions. It’s about believing that the word of God is true, and that God is who he says he is.  The enemy will try and deceive you and fill your mind with lies. It was only the blood of Jesus that overcame sin and the grave, and you need to understand and believe that.

Nathaniel – somewhere in the US (I love you bro but I don’t remember for the life of me what state you’re in! If you’re reading this just know I tried to reach out to you on IG before I posted this but you didn’t respond in time lol.)

#5: Don’t treat God like an ATM machine.

“There is a lot of advice I could give, but lately this one has been sitting with me. Do not treat God like an ATM machine. He doesn’t reward you or give you what you think you deserve or earned but gives according to his vast nature”.

Jeanne – London, England.

#6: Don’t try to be perfect.

“I would say don’t try and be perfect. It’s in our imperfections where God shows up most because we are the perfect ones for him, meaning He will always show up in our mess and deliver us from our troubles but also, He walks with us through our storms. He might not always take us out of them, but He will always carry us through them”.

This individual chose to remain anonymous.

#7: That the love we all crave/desire can only be fulfilled by Jesus.

“You won’t ever be satisfied until you know His love for you. That love we all crave and desire for can only be filled with Jesus. Instead of fighting battles alone, rest assured that you can do it with him”.

Another fabulous piece of advice from my twin Jennifer – San Francisco, California.

#8: Joy, rest and peace in Christ are worth far more than the sacrifice required to live for Him.

“You might feel like you’ve had to sacrifice a lot, but trust me when I say that the joy, rest, and peace in Christ that you will experience is worth so much more than the sacrifices you will have to make to live for him!”

This individual chose to remain anonymous.

Finally, I asked my dad for his input and once again, the response was gold so I had to include it.

#9: Don’t expect other people to live your Christian life for you.

“Your faith is your own. Ask for prayer and lean on other Christians for support but don’t expect other people to live your Christian life for you. You need to spend time with the Lord yourself and seek him personally. Build your own relationship with him, don’t rely on other people to do it for you”.

Can I get an AMEN somebody!?!?! If I do say so myself, that was some powerful stuff!

Honestly, I’m so blessed to be connected to such wonderful people and I don’t take that for granted. Once upon a time, I prayed for friends like this, but God took it one step further and gave me an international family instead.

All these responses are real sources of feedback from real people, so I want to take a second to thank everyone I’ve referenced for engaging in this discussion and their willingness to share. I don’t think any of you realise how much these practical nuggets of wisdom will help new and born-again Christians. These answers blessed me and gave me a lot to think about, and I know I would have appreciated this feedback earlier on in my journey, especially during the darker times when I was struggling to find my feet!

As for me, I have a lot to say on this topic but if I were to give the new or born-again believer one practical nugget of wisdom it would be this…

Christianity is a walk and whenever you walk anywhere in life there’s always a risk of tripping over, falling, becoming weak and weary or taking the wrong path. But if you commit your steps to the lord, he will guide you. If you trip, try, and catch yourself before you fall and if you fall, do whatever you can to get back on your feet again as quickly as possible. The trick is to just keep going, especially when it gets foggy, and you can’t see what’s right in front of you.

Pursuing Christianity is a lifestyle and developing your faith, as well as your relationship with God is a journey. Just take it one step at a time. If you’re reading this and you have practical nuggets of wisdom you’d like to add, I’d love to hear from you and keep this conversation going! Deep conversations are what I live for!

Feel free to leave a comment below sharing something you wish you knew before you became a Christian or a piece of advice you would give to a new or born-again Christian. Alternatively, if there’s anything you would like to share with those who are seeking now’s your chance! You never know who needs to receive the word you feel led to share…

Until next time,

Liv

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