Good morning friends, I’m sorry that this week’s newsletter is late. I hope you have been doing well and are enjoying the start of the holiday season. After the survey I posted 2 weeks ago to get some feedback and clarity on your experience with The Growing Seed I asked on our WhatsApp group if you would like to see the results and hear some of the ideas I have for the future of this platform. So today’s newsletter is exactly that.

All personal information has been kept private and only general information has been shared. I would also like to note that the ideas and comments I write here are simply that - ideas and comments. They will all need further thought and development and ultimately the Lord’s blessing. Even though it is likely not all of these ideas will come to fruition I think it would still be fun to include you in the development process and dream with you.

If you haven’t yet filled in the survey discussed today, it is still open and I would love to encourage you to click here and take a moment to complete it. 

I hope you enjoy looking through this feedback.

As I’ve been reviewing these results, its become more and more clear what the Lord’s plans are for this community. After this past year, I have found a passion and desire to focus on helping young women who are just out of high school and navigating the drastic changes in life that this season brings. It’s a difficult time to be in and after going through it myself, I would love to make an impact in the areas I wish I had more support in. With this in mind, I do want to try grow this side of our community and in the new year I would love to reach out to some of the next first years.

I also have a dream of embodying the nature Titus 2:3-5 speaks about with older women guiding and teaching younger women. I would love to create some sort of mentorship structure within The Growing Seed. I’m not sure how to go about this yet but see mentorship as being a vital part of Christian community and a medium of transformational growth.

So if there is anyone you know or meet who you think would benefit from joining The Growing Seed please feel free to tell them about it and share this platform with them. You can either add them to the WhatsApp group or send them this link to the website: thegrowingseed.beehiiv.com

Everyone’s faith journey is different and it’s encouraging to see how versatile our community is. All these seasons are so relevant and, in light of the fact that most of you answered that personal stories has been your favourite type of newsletters, it would be nice to hear more of your stories and encouragement for the season you find yourself in too. I don’t think sharing about your journey should only be reserved for when you feel strong and confident in your faith. I know I wouldn’t have classified myself as strong in my faith for a lot of the past year.

Once again, these statistics give a better idea of the specific needs correlating to the seasons that are prominent in The Growing Seed. I think it would be interesting to see how mentorship and passing down lessons to the those in the seasons we have already experienced would look like.

It is fascinating to see the connection between the most common challenges. Struggling with discipline directly affects consistency and lacking routine leaves us feeling overwhelmed and confused. I would love to address these topics in practical tools and resources as well as maybe doing a deep dive on these issues.

I am also a firm believer in accountability being one of the strongest forces to build discipline and consistency and I envision bringing this approach into whatever resources I create.

The results to this question has left me in awe of God. Throughout this year my boyfriend has specifically been picking up on how intentional I am in my life and what I want to do with my time. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on this and seeing if this skill I have developed has any place in The Growing Seed. All along God knew it did! I’m really looking forward to explore this topic more and I’m so thrilled to see it is something relevant to a lot of you. I believe that through living an intentional life most, if not all, the other areas mentioned in this question will be addressed. If you are intentional about hearing God’s voice you will listen more closely, if you want to manage your emotions better you will take notice of what upsets or angers you, if you are intentional about serving others it will be what you prioritise spending your time on.

Something specific I have started looking into is addressing the topic of “not knowing where to start”. I think it is a very overwhelming thing to try figure out and the start is the most important part of a process. I think by addressing some practical places to start we can develop consistency, feel less overwhelmed and eliminate distractions and from there continue to build.

In terms of distractions, I personally find my phone to be the biggest distraction. So when I think of addressing distractions my mind instantly goes to addressing my phone habits. I realise that this might not be your biggest distraction so I’d love to hear what you find yourself being most distracted by. 

I’ve been considering doing a podcast for quite a while now so it’s encouraging to see it would be suited to many of you. I think this can also easily be combined with short form videos. My mind is also geared towards creating a course which would make use of short form videos as the method of teaching. 

Many of these answers I can imagine combining into a all-rounded resource. I’m excited to see how the Lord will weave them together. 

I have spent quite some time looking into creating a community for Christian women which wasn’t a top choice for you but I’d love to hear if you would be interested if it included all the options you did like? Such as courses, challenges and guided journals. 

I have been playing with the idea of doing some kind of fast to help us get momentum in prioritising God and addressing intentionality but have been considering that it might be quite an overwhelming place to start. This wouldn’t be a full no eating fast but something more like the Daniel fast which is a three week partial fast. The reason I thought about this is because it made a significant impact for me and my journey with the Lord. In the same breath, that was a couple of years ago and I really struggled to make fasting practical throughout this last year in my uni life. I would love to hear your thoughts on this and if it would be something suited to you in your current season.

This excites me and once again shows how God aligns things for His purpose and plan. I would definitely like to do something long term as we are all dynamic and ever-evolving beings. The Growing Seed aims to build a lifestyle centered on the Lord not just a short lived goal. That’s not to say The Growing Seed will be a life-long commitment but I do hope it can at least help us navigate part of that journey. 

One of the most significant works God has done in my life this year is related to community. Throughout the year God was constantly teaching me about what community means and looks like and gave me such a deep desire to be part of that type of community. Yet, He withheld it from me. I do believe He has been very intentional with this and I believe it has a purpose specifically in relation to this platform. The reason I asked these questions is because I wanted to see what you understand community to be and the role it plays. The Lord also exposed to me a lot of the common misunderstandings and false perceptions we tend to have around community. 

Many of you agreed that the Bible says community is essential but that didn’t directly mirror in how you see community in your personal life. Although majority of the responses did still strongly value community, it wasn’t seen as essential. This is something I have been very passionate and convicted about and I plan on doing a series on exploring godly community and what the Bible says about community. 

Sometimes I feel like doing something more Bible focused would be more valuable and more honouring to God but I think there is a place for personal testimonies and lessons. Ultimately our goal is glorify God and point others to Him and, while Biblical literacy is very important, it may not be what God wants this platform to be.

From my side, I enjoyed writing the ‘how to honour God with your work’ and ‘topic studies’ the most but they are definitely more work than just sharing personal stories.

Even if additional branches of content and resources develop in The Growing Seed I would like to try keep a brief and fun newsletter that is dedicated to these personal stories and lessons. 

I hope you enjoyed having a look at some of the behind-the-scenes of The Growing Seed. I’m excited to see what the Lord does will all these ideas and I’m glad I get to include you in the process until they come to fruition. I think this is also a great way for you to keep me accountable and know what the general direction of this platform is.

Once again, if you have not filled in the survey, you are welcome to do so by clicking here.

Based on the discussion of the newsletter, I have created a form for you to give your input on some of the ideas I have shared. I would love to see what you think about them and what you would like to see practically come from these ideas. It is shorter and easier than the previous survey but still something I would like to encourage you to take part in. You can click here to fill out this survey. 

If you would like to join our WhatsApp group to be more involved in the happenings of The Growing Seed and receive addition resources you can do so by clicking here.

I would like to disclaim that with the festive season approaching rapidly, I have a feeling my newsletters are going to continue being delayed and a bit irregular. I will try my best to stay consistent but just wanted to make you aware of this. I may also choose to take a couple of weeks off to prepare and work on the ideas I’ve mentioned today to kick 2026 off with.

I hope you have a lovely holiday and we will chat again soon.

Lots of love, Cailyn x