"This shouldn't be so hard!" I thought to myself as I plopped my head into my hands in front of my computer.

"I literally do this for a living."

"I TEACH other people how to do this for a living," I continued berating myself.

So why wasn't I able to do it for myself??

The source of my existential crisis was creating a landing page for a recent offering for Gloriam.

I'd done all of the things I teach you to do:

I knew my audience really well.

I knew their problems.

I knew how what I offered was going to help them.

And I was super passionate about getting to offer it after dreaming of it for years.

And yet...my brain felt like mashed potatoes when it came to doing the sales page for it.

The blank page in front of me seemed to mock me, "You have a million ideas when it comes to other people's marketing, but your own? Then your brain shuts down."

But I pressed on.

Because of how life with three kids goes, my work time is...whenever I have a few minutes.

But when I need to do a bigger project that requires more focus, I do it on Saturdays when I can get a bit more uninterrupted time.

So it often feels like Saturday or bust.

And when I have a Saturday where I really need to get something done for work, my brain responds in one of two ways:

LET'S GOOOOOOOOO.

Or...zzzzzzz.

There is no in between.

So here I was, getting more and more in my head as I looked at the time ticking away, knowing I had to get this page done so I could launch like I'd planned.

It felt like having teeth pulled out, but I finally forced out a mediocre landing page hours later amidst a pounding headache. I only mostly hated it.

And then, something crazy happened.

I had some time on Monday, and decided to come back to it.

Suddenly, the ideas flowed naturally.

The difference couldn't be more night or day.

My brain felt unstuck, I knew exactly what to fix and how to say it, and the Holy Spirit and I were on a roll. I could barely type fast enough to get everything out.

And that's why waiting on the Lord's timing in your marketing is so key.

Because the crazy thing is this isn't the first time this has happened to me.

In fact, I can't even keep track of how many times I've been irrevocably stuck on something I felt "had" to get done RIGHT THEN. I try to force it, fail, and then come back to it a different day and BOOM.

When I wait on the Holy Spirit, it all goes much better and easier. Imagine.

But instead of knowing that and when I hit a roadblock kind of day, put it aside and come back to it when the Holy Spirit is ready to move, I instead try to force it because DEADLINES (that I made up myself) and so therefore I must know better, right?

So yeah. I haven't learned the lesson yet. But maybe you can.

When you get stuck in your marketing and feel pressure around a deadline, the very first thing to ask yourself is: Does this HAVE to get done right now?

Sometimes it legitimately does. Sometimes the deadline is out of your control and things need to be to printers or vendors by a very specific time.

But other times, we just decide it has to be done RIGHT THEN. When in reality...the world will keep spinning if we give it another day or week or two.

We have the time to wait on the Lord, but we just...don't want to, because we want to follow our own timeline and plans.

Last week, I was listening to the Book of Judith in Bible in a Year, and I was really struck by the contrast between Uzziah and Judith.

The people are ready to bail during a siege, and in what I at first thought was a pretty decent act of faith, Uzziah tells the people that he is confident that God will save them within five days.

Then he tells that to Judith, and she says, in so many words, it's not up to you. Like who are you to give God a timeline? He'll still be God even if He doesn't save us in five days.

And how often I do the same, in every aspect of life, but especially in my marketing.

I decide the deadlines, and then ask for His favor to bless me on that timeline.

But I think the Lord is trying to convict my heart of something, and maybe yours too, because the readings for last week included the famous "there is a time for everything" from Ecclesiastes.

And I heard this verse that had never really sunk in before:

"God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

Trying to do marketing on my own timeline is just another attempt for me to grasp at control.

But the times I have actually stopped and let Him do things on His timeline through me, they've turned out way better.

So the next time you reach a roadblock in your own marketing, consider first if the deadline is outside yourself. If it is, pray to God asking for His help, and trust that He will help you do what He needs you to do within that timeline that is not your own.

But if it is your own...ponder if the Lord is asking you to wait. Even if it doesn't make logical sense. Even if your timeline seems better.

Because, as I have on a sticky note on my desk (that I conveniently ignore when I want to do things on my own timeline)...

"God will give me the time that I need to accomplish His holy Will."

And I promise that if you can wait, your marketing that waits on His inspiration will be way better.

For His greater glory,

Emily