Behind the Rare Faith Curtain

Okay – here’s a quick look behind the ThoughtsAlive curtain:

I’ve been looking for a short name or phrase that runs like a thread through everything I’ve shared or created since I began my ThoughtsAlive business in 2002. I’ve tried various things over the years, but inevitably they each missed the mark with a good portion of my materials.

All those years without an elevator speech.

At first, I tried to make everything about “ThoughtsAlive” because it was kind of catchy and connoted an idea similar to the message from Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poem, “Thoughts are Things” (look it up if you like). But the problem is, you can’t say it out loud without someone asking you to spell it.

They hear “Spots of life”, “Thoughts a lie”, “That’s a lie”, or a whole bunch of other variations. Not good for branding. Yes, I’m keeping it as my company name (because I got the LLC a long time ago and don’t want to start over), but I don’t use the word very often to spread the word about what I do.

(Kind of like the way Dave Ramsey doesn’t spend a lot of time talking about LAMPO.)

Then I tried to make my business all about “The Jackrabbit Factor” but nobody can tell what that’s all about without reading the book, and I wanted words that captured the principles while aligning naturally with my own personal faith tradition.

I tried “Heaven’s Astonishing Help with your Money Matters” but honestly, it’s too long, and the fact is, what I teach is not all about money. That eventually turned into “Hidden Treasures” with a similar tagline, but again, it’s not descriptive enough to cover everything else outside of my second book.

I tried “Positive Thinking Tips” because that’s kind of what it’s all about, but it misses the purpose as to why it’s important to think positive, and it fails to bring in the source on which I believe we should be relying for help (more on that).

I tried “47tips” because I was ready to throw up my hands and resign to the notion that it needed to be that generic to capture it ALL (plus it was short, easy to remember, and somewhat easy to brand). But vagueness in a catchword or phrase pretty much leads to the ineffectiveness of said phrase.

However, a couple years ago I came upon a quote. My new blog name, my new brand, my new hashtag, the new name for my newsletter is ALL derived from that quote:

There are two kinds of faith. One of them functions ordinarily in the life of every soul. It is the kind of faith born by experience; it gives us certainty that a new day will dawn, that spring will come, that growth will take place. It is the kind of faith that relates us with confidence to that which is scheduled to happen. …

There is another kind of faith, rare indeed. This is the kind of faith that causes things to happen. It is the kind of faith that is worthy and prepared and unyielding, and it calls forth things that otherwise would not be. It is the kind of faith that moves people. It is the kind of faith that sometimes moves things. …

It comes by gradual growth. It is a marvelous, even a transcendent, power, a power as real and as invisible as electricity. Directed and channeled, it has great effect. (Quote by Boyd K. Packer © By Intellectual Reserve, Inc., used with permission).

Click here to read more about A Rare Kind of Faith

You’ll see this is why the phrase “A Rare Kind of Faith” (to me) captures it ALL. It encompasses pretty much everything I’ve ever taught or created. It’s really about faith. And not just a vague, passive, or weak kind of faith, but the rare kind of faith that is intentional, and which enables you to accomplish ALL the things that you were put here to do, and to overcome ALL the obstacles that will get in the way.

So, now you can be a part of the community more easily than ever.

It’s simple: whenever you have a breakthrough (no matter how big or small), or when you have a story or a cool meme to share, or a video that inspires you along this vein, please use the hashtag #RareFaith so we can ALL benefit!

And then if you ever want to read what others are saying, just search social media for #RareFaith.

You can also LIKE my Facebook page A Rare Kind of Faith to get regular encouragement in your newsfeed (then hover over the “LIKED” button to select how you want to get updates). I’m also on Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, and Instagram.

See you there!