When Our Instagram Reel Went Viral

“Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.”

– Psalm 147:5

Our Story

Derek and I have been building Faithful Parent for a few years now, but we are still having new experiences as our website grows. Recently, I had an Instagram reel go viral. To say I was surprised is an understatement! (See the reel here.)

At the beginning of the year, I had started being more intentional about posting to social media. My goal was to create a reel a day for at least 3 months. I’ll be honest, they weren’t great and certainly nothing special. But I was improving from week to week and learning a lot about how to make them interesting and eye-catching.

Around mid-March, I decided to do a reel about our daughter’s Jumbo Jesus doll (a giant stuffy that is six feet tall). She already had a treasured, smaller version, but when Lily heard that there was one that was much bigger, she put it at the top of her Christmas list.

I really didn’t want to spend the money on it. It was absolutely massive and not exactly cheap! But Derek reminded me that I could easily spend a similar amount of money on something that would quickly break or that she wouldn’t be interested in for very long…which is how Lily ended up utterly delighted on that Christmas Eve when she opened up a giant box and Jumbo Jesus was inside.

Our reel was a reenactment. In the video, I handed her a box and then it cut to a clip of her hugging Jumbo Jesus. It was all of ten seconds, and within a few minutes, I was able to post it and go about my day.

It didn’t get many views at first. Within twenty-four hours, it had been seen about two hundred times. Not bad, but certainly nothing shocking. But a couple days later, I started getting a bunch of notifications; people were liking and commenting on my reel at a more rapid pace. And let me tell you, some of the comments were terrible! I was accused of indoctrinating and brainwashing my child, and there were several inappropriate things said too. After a little while, I turned off the comments because they were getting so bad.

Those comments were truly shocking to me. I have a small Instagram account and I really wasn’t expecting that kind of response. But I also realized that it didn’t matter what I posted. Because my account is overtly Christian, it had become a target.

Today, that reel has almost 16 million views. I still get many likes on it (and any other reel I have posted with Jumbo Jesus). I’ve come to understand that I shouldn’t be surprised that this is also the video that has come under the most fire. We can expect to be made fun of or slandered when we share our faith with others, and Christ promises to be with us in it. I remember praying that God would protect my heart from the harsh words people wrote, and fill me with joy so that I could continue to share how amazing He is. (John 16:33 and 1 Peter 4:12-16 were a great comfort to me when those nasty comments were pouring in!)

Application

This experience really drove home to us that we need to prepare our children for the flaming arrows of the world and the evil one. If we want them to share their faith and tell others about Jesus, we also need to equip them to be able to handle the ugliness that they are certain to face in this world. It is so important that we are teaching our children in our homes and building faith habits, such as learning and studying the Bible daily as a part of our routine. Teaching them Apologetics is also a great tool. Our children shouldn’t leave our homes thinking that Christian persecution is a thing of the past that they will never encounter. Rather, we must equip them well to stand firm in an age of mockery and derision with a smile on their faces and a steadfast faith in the One who created them for His own glory.