I’ve had a lot of thoughts this morning surrounding social media and my purposes for using social media. As an author, I’m naturally inclined to use social media like a business: for marketing and selling purposes. While that is all well and good, something just hasn’t clicked for me. Here’s the thing, I’ve tried it all. The strategies, the tricks, the inspiration. You name it, and I’ve probably tried it to get my social media posts and content to have some reach. I could blame it on algorithms and platforms, but that’s not the true cause. The truth behind my stressing over social media is that I haven’t put the faith and trust in the Lord in this circumstance when I should have.

I haven’t put the faith and trust in the Lord in this circumstance

Moving from just a personal use of social media to a business use has been a challenge for me. That’s not a secret. I’ve struggled to balance consistency and content creation with my daily life and my writing. However, I have never once sat down and just handed my social media accounts to the Lord. It never even occurred to me to do so, honestly. Maybe I thought, “they’re so small that God wouldn’t want to have anything to do with this”, or “The Lord has so many other pressing things to handle that He’s not worried about my content”. Do you see how silly that sounds when it’s all typed out? I didn’t, until this morning.

I’ve already been contemplating a change in posting habits and platforms for my social media because I desire a community of friends who are interested in reading my books or who write books as well. I spent the better part of last night working out new plans for posting and interaction, and I scoured different “marketing experts” to try to find the best way to reach people. What a big ball of stress and waste of my time–time that the good Lord has given me to serve Him not worry about something he already has handled.

When I started writing, I gave it all to the Lord. I wanted Him to guide my pen (or keyboard in this case). I wanted Him to lead me through publishing, and He has never failed me. He never will fail. But, who am I to think that God can and will guide my writing but not my social media? Why would I ever think that my social media is out of His hands because it’s small? There is nothing in this world that is too big or too small for God, including my writing and social media.

We’re constantly told in scripture to “truth the Lord”, so why don’t I trust him in this circumstance? While I believe that with every fiber of my being, I just struggle with faith in this area so much. It is small, and it probably does seem silly to many people out there. For someone who relies on social media for marketing and running a business, this isn’t a small matter. I’m always asking God to strengthen my faith, and here I am not listening to Him when clearly He is telling me to trust Him in this matter.

My prayer time this morning really focused on faith and why I’ve been struggling to have faith in the Lord while dealing with social media. My Bible reading didn’t even have anything to do with this topic, but it was apparently put on my heart. No longer will I worry about making “the best” content. No longer will I worry about posting at the right times. No longer will I worry about making sure the algorithm is working in my favor. It’s not about that anymore. I’m still the one making the content and posting it, but I won’t be posting in stress or fear anymore. My social media accounts are not out of God’s hands. It’s time my actions reflected this thought and prayer.