2 YEAR BLOGIVERSARY: How To Beat Discouragement

When I celebrated my first blogiversary I mentioned that when running a Christian blog, discouragement is a real deal-breaker and comparison is a trap. Guys the devil really hit me hard with discouragement during this second phase of running my Christian blog. I can’t really pinpoint what was making me discourage but it was a recurrent battle. Just so you know my second year of running my Christian blog was more successful than the first. I had more visits to the blog,3-5 of my articles ranked number 1 on the google search page, I started a youtube channel and I even started posting reels etc.

Despite all these successes I still felt discouraged. This affected other areas of my life including the blog. I wasn’t blogging as consistently as before nor was I praying and studying my bible like before. I was always feeling exhausted and overwhelmed and could not meet up with all the demands of life, school and balancing it with the blog. I tried doing all that self-motivation stuff the ” social media gurus” advise but it didn’t work. Then it dawned on me that maybe if I went back to my first love, to the one who gave me the blog then I will win this battle.

The Lows Of Running My Christian Blog

I hit rock bottom when I wake up every morning feeling like a total mess. Gosh! the Joy I had to create content was no longer there. I would wake up feeling bad and then feel guilty for feeling bad. I was battling anxiety and uncertainties

Joy is a very powerful tool in the life of any believer and the devil used discouragement to try to steal my joy.

Here are some Facts about Joy :
Joy is a practice and behavior. 
It's deliberate and intentional.
It's profound, scriptural and inner feeling.
Joy is a free gift from God, it's a fruit of the Holy Spirit, with Joy you fetch from the walls of salvation
The joy that comes from God is not dependant on situations. This joy gives you strength to face life's difficulties
This joy is in Jesus!!

Do you remember David in 1 Samuel 30? So David and some of his men had gone for battle. Upon returning, they discovered that some other enemy attacked their village while they were gone. They took all their belongings, wives and children. It was a big issue, they didn’t know what to do. As the leader, David was distressed and to make matters worse they were blaming Him. But I loved What David did. He encouraged himself in the Lord.

"And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
1 Samuel 30:6 KJV"

I have come to realize that as we journey through life, We will have those days or moments when we are down, sad, with zero enthusiasm and sceptical about the future. For some this feeling sets in after a failure, an achievement, after comparing yourself to another or even after a huge success.
One of the many weapons of the devil against believers is discouragement.

How then do we handle discouragement as a blogger or a Christian youth?

• Know that discouragement is a tactic of the devil
• Identify situations/ thoughts that make you feel discouraged
• Also, know that God wants you to rejoice always so be intentional with your joy.
• Stay close to God by praying and reading the word.
• Don’t focus on the impossibilities or problems around you, keep your gaze on Jesus
• Listen to and watch edifying content
• Dance, sing, watch something funny
• Talk to someone close, someone who’s a godly friend
• Recount past victories and testimonies. God is always faithful and good
• Practice gratitude and count your blessings
• Encourage yourself in the lord ( 1 Samuel 30:1-6)

The Highs Of Running My Christian Blog(MY achievements)

Firstly I want to give God all the glory. Nothing that I have achieved in the past 36 months of blogging is by my own might or strength.It has been Jesus all along so I say a big thank you, Jesus. Thank you, my dear reader, thank you for being a part of this blog family. Below are a few of my achievements

1. I was able to clearly define my target audience and niche
2. I was able to choose the blog’s brand colours and got a new logo
3. I met some really cool and amazing people. I networked and connected with other faith content creators
4. I started a youtube channel. Currently, I have 109 subscribers and uploaded 29 videos so far.
5. The blog had 24029 visitors and more than 10K reads
6. Most of my blog posts landed on Google front page(Thanks to SEO, I’m getting better at optimizing my posts)
7. I got accepted in some affiliate programmes although I am yet to make any money from them(I still have to learn about affiliate marketing. I am not in a rush tho)
8. I sent out 85 emails and I have 62 email subscribers
9. I created a free resource library for the blog with tons of edifying content
10. My IG account is growing, currently, I have 862 followers and 385 posts
11. My Facebook page has 470 likes so far.
12. I have been receiving a lot of organic traffic lately. In all my 36 months of blogging,, I have never paid for an ad, all my traffic is purely organic.
13. The Changing the narrative(CTN21) was a huge success
14. I created over 200 designs on canva
15. Last but not least I Started posting on tic-tok too.

Do I regret starting a blog? The answer is No. I am learning a lot from blogging. It is hard work and it requires dedication. I strongly believe God is using this blog to groom me and I am grateful. It’s not always easy,sometimes I wish it was a smooth ride but I know I am not doing this alone. I want to end with this note:

“If God has called you to do something, it doesn’t mean it will always be easy but stick with Jesus and He will walk you through the process.”

Thank you, my dear esteem reader. Thank you for being here. I don’t take you for granted. God bless you

Love from me,Micheala Yema Goba(mickeygblogs.com)