(Mini-Series) Episode 5: Saturday Seasons

Welcome to part five of our miniseries. This mini series is called Our Kingdom Marketing Mindset for Authors. My name is Shelli Hitz, but today our topic is Saturday seasons. You know, when we're talking about a project, whether it's publishing a book or it's marketing that book or whatever it is, it's so fun to talk about the beginning of the project and, and to talk about the end of the project. But we, we don't often talk about that messy middle, right? And when we think about Jesus's death, you know, he died on Friday and his resurrection was on Sunday, but then there was this messy middle or this silence of Saturday.

And so we think about this Saturday season that Jesus went through. You know, Friday in many ways represents the step of obedience. Jesus took to go to the cross for each one of us for our sins. He died for us. He took on the sin of the world and changed everything forever.

Saturday silence. Sunday represents the victory, represents, you know, the miracle that God did of raising Jesus back to life. And so, you know, you have this Friday, the step of obedience. And when you're marketing your book, because this particular conference, this edition is called our courageous writer edition, and it's all about marketing your books and selling more books with collaborations, that takes courage. It takes steps of obedience. I mean, oh, my goodness, I. Many times I just want to hide under the covers and not do anything, right? But we're stewarding the book that God has given us. We are willing to take that step of obedience. And that first initial step, like even being part of this conference, it feels exciting and everything. And then you get to the messy middle, right? And all of the things, and there's some sort of little tech thing that you want to pull your hair out or you know, you're not hearing back from the people you thought you would, or things aren't working out the way in the timing that you wanted or whatever, there's that silence and then the miracle or the victory or crossing that finish line or whatever it is. And you know, the times that we don't see God working because he's always working. He's always working. But sometimes we just don't see it in that moment.

In that Saturday season, it's often easy to fall into self sufficiency. Well, if, if God's not doing something, I better do something. I better push harder, I better strive, I better make this happen. And that's where the business meetings with God come in. That's where we are choos to submit to him. Choosing to surrender to him and choosing to get his plans for our marketing because otherwise, when we're in that season, that Saturday season, it's easy just to follow the next shiny object and do the next thing and try something else and strive, strive, strive. But when we're in this place with marketing our books, it's when we've taken the step of obedience, but we haven't seen the result yet. I have to admit, even with hosting this conference, it has been a step of obedience. And this messy middle, the in between. It has been hard, it's been a lot of work, but there's so much uncertainty. There's been, it's been ups and downs, there have been disappointments along the way, there have been highs and lows. And I won't fully know probably till we get to heaven fully the results, but by the end of next week, I will have a better idea of the results, Right? But it's like when we're in that messy middle, are you able to trust and wait even when you can't yet see the results?

Don't lose faith in the in between. Because often, friends, a miracle is coming. Just hold on. I know for me personally, when I sense that God has given me an assignment. Now, you know, some of you may not think of it in this way, but I just really believe in the kingdom of God. God has given each one of us gifts and, and many times there are different seasons for, you know, different assignments and we are given the opportunity to join God and what He's. And so when I sense that God has given me a particular assignment for that season, I can often jump to conclusions of what I think the results will look like or what they should look like. And maybe God has not given me an exact number or what that result will look like. He's just invited me to join him in this marketing campaign or in this, this particular thing, like with this conference. And so when I start getting though expectations of what the results will look like, it starts putting pressure on me and I can start getting back into that striving mode. Those of you that know my story know that I am a redeemed workaholic. God has definitely redeemed me. He's still working in me, but that's where I just need to let go of the results and leave the outcome to God. Amen. So in the Saturday season, the in between, we need to leave the results to God. And you know, the reason God invites us to do something, maybe it's a collaboration that you initiate as a result of this conference. Maybe It's a marketing thing that you're doing. Maybe it's a specific book that you've published. But the reason God invites us to do something may be something actually very different than what we think. We may think that we're going to have these big results. For example, with my book Broken Crayons Still Color. It has been by far one of our best selling books. And yet the book launch, in all honesty, was very disappointing. I thought the book was going to be amazing. I mean, I had over 100 people on my book launch team. People were so excited about it, they loved the title, they were getting transformation from the book. So many people told me this book was just going to do amazing. And then, I mean, the book launch barely sold many books. And I was like, wow, what is this all about? This is crazy. And yet it has gone on to sell thousands and thousands of copies and primarily through Amazon ads. That book has really done well with Amazon ads. But I just kind of set them up as, you know, just to try it right after our book launch and, and it has taken off and I just believe it's the favor of God. But I'm telling you this because sometimes we see a result and we get disappointed and maybe there's something else God has for that. If I would have given up after the book launch, we wouldn't have seen all of the lives transformed that all of the people that have emailed me, you know, and even just all of the books that have sold in the income that has helped us just, you know, pay our bills month after month. And so in the Saturday season, are you willing to wait for what God has for you? Are you willing to wait and believe that he has something for you? And it may look different than what the world says is a success for a book launch, for a collaboration, for a marketing campaign.

But God sees you. He sees your obedience. Just like Jesus took that see step of obedience on that Friday, that Good Friday, which seemed like a really bad Friday right then there was the silence of Saturday and the victory and the miracle came on Sunday. Now our story may look different. There's a lot of ups and downs. I call it the twists and turns of life. But I encourage you to trust God in the messy middle as you start taking these steps, courageous steps of faith, you know, to initiate collaborations. Things may not look like you expected, or it may not go exactly as you hoped, but just trust that God is in control and he will continue to guide you and lead you. Stay planted by that stream of water right in alignment with him in your business meetings with God on a weekly basis. Sometimes I don't know why, but I sense God leading me to do something. It fails in the world's eyes, right? It doesn't go as I expected. I come back to God, he redirects me and something else takes off. I mean, it's just life sometimes. And God is teaching us through the trials. James 1:2 says, Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith develops steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. And I think one of the things this year I've realized I went through a lot of trials and with our business and a lot of ups and downs. And I feel like the Lord's like, Shelly, don't resist the trial. Learn from it. Let steadfastness have its full effect. Get everything you're to get out of this Saturday season, whatever you're in. Kingdom writers know that God is with you. He is developing you and your character in the midst. And the enemy ultimately will be defeated one day for good and for all. But he's already been defeated with Christ on the cross. And when you are obedient and when you are following God, he will not let you down. I shared this the other day, but I just want to share it again. That God is the light in our darkness of uncertainty and he will not let us fall. So in that uncertainty, in that Saturday season, he is our light and he will not let us fall. He knows the way. He knows how this is all going to turn out. He knows who needs your book. He knows the exact person that's waiting for for you to do that marketing campaign so that they can hear about your book. And so let me just pray for us as I close down this mini series on Kingdom marketing mindset for authors. Lord, thank you so much for all that you're doing in our lives. Thank you. That we can count it all joy when we face and meet trials of various kinds. Because we know that you're working, you are working in us. The testing of our faith produces that steadfastness that brings us to maturity and completeness and wholehearted living. And we want that Lord, and yet we resist so often these Saturday seasons. And so I pray God that you would teach us, teach me as we go through these times where it just seems like nothing is moving forward, nothing is happening, it's not going the way we thought it should go, that we will trust you that we will lean in even more to our times of prayer with you, to our business meetings with you. And Lord, that you will continue just to lead us on the path that you have for us. And we thank you for all the victories, all the miracles, all the Sundays that are coming for each kingdom writer listening right now and every person that will be impacted as a result of reading their book because they choose to take the courageous steps that will result in more people reading their book. So we thank you for this. So we thank you Lord. We pray this in Jesus powerful name. Amen. Amen. Friends, I hope that you've enjoyed this miniseries. Let me know your takeaway from today below. What kind of season are you in right now? Are you just in that first initial step of obedience? Are you in a Saturday season right now when it comes to marketing your books or what victories have you seen? I'd love to hear from you. So I will talk to you soon and thank you all for being here. Bye bye.