Why Christian Creators Struggle With Writer's Block and How to Handle It

Ever feel like a dry season in your creative life means something's wrong between you and God? 

In this episode, Allen breaks down why writer's block doesn't actually equal spiritual disconnection — and walks through four practical moves for what to do when the ideas stop showing up. 

If you're a Christian creator who's ever judged yourself for an empty page, this one's for you.

Transcript

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (00:00)
You ever feel like the ideas just stop showing up?

No song, no painting, no next chapter.

And somewhere in the back of your mind, you start wondering if that means

stopped talking to you as well.

Now I've been there. There have been many seasons in my life when the songs, the words, or the creative bursts just weren't happening. And the dangerous thing is I started to want the inspiration more than I wanted relationship with God.

I figured that if I'm not creating, something must be totally wrong with my connection with him. So today I want to walk you through four ways to respond when inspiration runs dry. Instead of spiraling into guilt and fear, that you've lost touch with the spirit that fuels your very creativity. We'll talk about why feeling disconnected isn't a proof that you actually are disconnected, and how waiting on God's direction, instead of forcing and demanding inspiration,

might be the most spiritual move you can make as a creator.

Now just a note, we got into this conversation live with our 360 community during one of our creator checkups. So I'll reference some of their live comments that the live viewers made during the recording. But don't worry, I'll make sure to read everything so that you won't miss anything if you're just listening via audio. By the way, if you're new to the podcast, this is the God and Gigs Show. My name is Allen C. Paul. I'm the host and founder, and this is where we help you to become the creator that you were created to be.

And by the end of this episode, you're going to have a much clearer framework for what to do the next time you're staring at a blank page. And more importantly, you won't tie that to your worth or your closeness to God.

Allen C. Paul | Founder, God and Gigs (01:48)
here is where I wanted to kind of get to the meat of today's live stream, the conversation, which is what do you do when your inspiration runs dry? the struggle is.

not only can you experience creator's block but it can have an effect on your spiritual

as a matter of fact you might feel that it is a hundred percent a evidence that your spiritual life is not where it's supposed to be

Because we tend to cre to equate our spiritual connection with God with our creative output. I'm gonna say that again because I think it's super important.

I I would say that many of us think

if I'm inspired, God is speaking more, and my creative output goes up. If my creative output goes down, then God's not speaking. God's not as active in my life. And me having creators who writers block means I am now not in the will of God, not as close to God. So

Spiritual health equals creative

that's what we're exploring.

we're gonna do now is we're gonna watch a clip of a creator that I highly respect, one of the most brilliant producers of really the the 20th, 21st century, whatever. Like 30 years, I think he's been producing, maybe longer. and his name, if you don't know him, is Rodney Jerkins, also known as Dark Child. So I can't even name how many records.

He's been on pop. Mm Michael Jackson Brandy to pop up right off the top of my head. But you name it, they he has literally been the like one of the most influential producers of the last 30 years. Has to be. Maybe top three, top five, R and B, soul, hip hop, you name it. Like Dark Child has been. I I knew I was listening to him when he did a record with Natalie Wilson and SOP.

Like I just fell in love and I was my gosh, Dark Child's on the record. I was shocked because he had just worked with Michael Jackson. And that's that's that's the kind of people that we're talking about. But the reason why I feel like we gotta talk about this is because what he shared.

So what Dark Child said, number one, his firm foundation isn't God. Again, you're talking about one of the most prolific creators, producers, like ever. Like I can't think of anyone again that has done more records, more

more work with more people artists than he has. So he knows what he's talking about, all that being said. The only part of this that I start to wonder, and this is where, like I said, this is open to disagreement, is when he says, if God is your source, you shouldn't have any kind of writer's block.

And that's where I'm kind of like not sure. Cause the implication is what I just said that your spiritual health equals your creative output. So if you are connected to God, that means you are automatically going to have songs and paintings and all kinds of things flowing out of you, and there'll be no like you just got this plug into inspiration. And so

Let's say that inspiration dries up and you don't feel like I don't know what song to write. I don't know what. So again, the implication is that then God is not as active in your life. He's not speaking as much. This is why I feel like it's dangerous.

Because here's what I think when inspiration dries up, when you don't know what to write, what to paint, what to create, I feel there is a part of that, which is assuming that that's the only way that God speaks. That's the only way that I know I'm close to Him, is when I'm feeling this kind of ultimate connection. And there are many times. Jesus went into the wilderness, right? 40 days, the tempted of the devil.

We're not saying we're like Jesus in that way, but I'm just saying God will put you in a dry place. Elijah and the ravens, I can name a bunch of times when God literally led people to dry areas where there was no water, there was no instant gratification, there was no immediate feel of. I know exactly what's next. And again, I don't want to glorify suffering. I don't want to glorify.

Being dry. I don't want to glorify saying, ⁓ God wants you to suffer. Feel uninspired. Not at all. But I want to be very clear and say with Dark Child says, I don't feel that you should have any writer's block if you are connected with God. Again, this is a line, a thin line.

Okay. But then she says next, this is what I'll tell you. I don't necessarily agree with that either. Sometimes God blocks not just Satan. Whew. God, I think the block, and that maybe that's the problem. See, this is why I love the conversations. Cause I think the word block might be why we are.

Cause even the term, right? We are formed by our terms, but then our terms form us. We form our vocabulary, but then our vocabulary forms us. So when you say writers block, you instantly have equated the lack of inspiration to a obstacle, right? Are you guys following me? A block is an obstacle.

A block is a source of frustration. A block, anything you say block, it's like, okay, well, I wanted to go this direction and I can't, even though I wanted to, which means I shouldn't be feeling this way. So again, the reason why I'm being very, very, very upfront about this is because I'm not saying you should welcome blocks. Paul says, I don't, you know, I glory in my tribulations.

But that's a deep level of spiritual maturity to rejoice that you don't feel inspired. Like that's not what I'm trying to say. I am trying to say that we shouldn't automatically jump to I don't feel inspired, therefore God is not speaking. Or God is not with me is probably even better. Precious says right here, the word of God is a foundation for everything, but even Jesus rested. Our creativity can rest sometimes too, and it is not

Directly connected to spiritual disconnection. Woo, sister. Yes. Amen to that. That's all I'm gonna just say, Amen. Our our creativity can rest sometimes. See, this is why I love comments, y'all, because I couldn't say it any better. Your creativity can rest. Sabbath is a principle.

I've told members that, hey, you don't need to leave 360 just because you're not writing right now. Your identity as a creator is not stripped away because you take three years to write your next book, or you take two years to do your next painting. Or you take ⁓ you decide, okay, I'm not gonna, I'm just gonna focus on going to church, reading my Bible.

Fellowshipping with my fellow believers and going to an art museum every once in a while. Just appreciating life, appreciating art. There's a rhythm to that that I feel like we don't tap into. And I'll be I'll raise my hand because I have definitely fallen into the trap of if I'm not constantly writing or constantly keeping up with it, therefore there must be something wrong. Now.

Here's the other side, and I'm always gonna go to the other side so that you see that I'm gonna be balanced in this. There is also the benefit of consistency and showing up and writing and being creative, even when you don't feel inspired, and just doing something. So I think there is a level of understanding, rhythm.

There are times where I show up, and even though I don't feel inspired, I still do the thing. Even though I don't feel God like whispering in my ear, saying, This is your next idea, this is your next song. You don't stop, right? But there is a level of discernment. We're going deep. Discerning when is the time to press and when it's the time to pause. Okay?

Paul said, I press toward the mark. So there is a time to press, to keep going, even when you don't feel inspired,

I think part of what I felt when I wasn't songwriting as much anymore was a self-judgment. I wasn't necessarily judging God.

But I was judging myself. So there was kind of like a condemnation that I felt that I wasn't, that I should be more creative, I should be writing more, and therefore it goes to the Romans 12, right? There is therefore now no condemnation. Eight. Romans eight. There's therefore no condemnation. Right? So

Here's the thing that I feel like we need to be very honest about. Feeling the lack of inspiration can be a signal of a disconnection from God, but it's not proof of a disconnection of God. Being creatively kind of feeling like I don't know what to do next could be an invitation to get closer to Him. Is this making sense? So again, we are.

Precious says, you never know the inspiration and learning you can receive just by showing up. Connection matters for sure, coach. I love what you call you, coach. I was like, okay, I I appreciate you so much. ⁓ this is where I said it is absolutely something that, again, this is why the spiritual reset, I know God led me in this direction for a reason. Because I want to make sure that we don't lose sight of the main thing. The main thing is what is our relationship with God?

saying about where we are as creators. My relationship with God can get deeper and richer without Him immediately giving me a song to sing, a song to write, a poem to write. It can be a vehicle of connection. It can be a evidence of connection, but it is not proof of connection. So I think those key

Areas are where we can draw the distinction that when you are creatively uninspired, the first selection, the first answer can be hey, pause. Pause. Do not force it. Don't say I have to show up and write a song. Pause and then get closer to God in terms of your daily disciplines. But then the second one might be press. Maybe press in a small way. Press in terms of show up, but do the minimum.

show up but if you only have six things to do do your five minutes of like morning pages or whatever and that's it. Lower the demand on your creative output because you can't pour from an empty cup. So I want to make sure I made this practical. So pause would be one press would be two and then I would say if I need to keep the P's together I don't know if I can do the alliteration. But definitely I would say the third one.

has to be something to do with reconnect and pull out of what you already have. Pull out of your previous work. Pull out of your community. Pull out from where the well already has been full. And see if there isn't like some stuff there that you really haven't necessarily paid attention to. Because again

the pause and the in and the feeling of in lack of inspiration could be an invitation to dig into something you didn't even think of. It could be a redirection, right?

Anita says, yes, absolutely. Sometimes we have to learn something before moving forward in the next creative thing.

I'm gonna say this and then we have to go ahead 'cause this is this is so good.

We've actually interviewed this guy. his name is Bob Lodic. And he is the owner with his wife of Seed Time. Seed Time is like a financial planning of spiritual Christian financial planning. I really love his stuff.

I think it was an Instagram post. He said that manna and the children of Israel, and when God says, give us this day our daily bread, right? Manna being bread. The whole point about that scripture is he says it, and I have to research this, is that the word he uses for give us this day our daily bread doesn't appear anywhere else in scripture. And it says it literally is.

like that. It's the understanding that you don't know what's gonna show up until it shows up. I think that's powerful if we consider if we consider that maybe God is making us wait for the manna of inspiration.

Maybe God is forcing us to say, you're not going to collect any more for the day before or the day after. You're going to wait on me. And when I show up with the idea, that's when you get the manna. Give us this day our daily bread. Creators, 360 creators, I just realized what the challenge is. The challenge is for us, can we wait on the manna?

Can we, as creators, sit our busy behinds down for half a second and say, God, I don't have the idea yet. And if it doesn't come, I'm not gonna panic. I'm not going to throw my hands up, my gosh, no ideas. no, no manna. What if we say, ⁓ my Lord, when the idea is ready, when you want me to perform?

When you want me to show up, when you want me to write, the manna will be there. And if the manna doesn't look the way I thought it was going to look and it just looks like a paragraph, it's all I needed. That was my daily bread. What if we stopped saying, God, give us this day the daily bread that I expect to see, the form that I expect to see, the way that I expect the bread to look. And I said, Whatever is in front of me is the daily bread.

Whatever idea came, that's the bread. It showed up, that's it. That's what God wanted me to have. Is there discernment in that? Of course, you have to be discerning, but like that's like the the attitude that we have to take. So thinking thinking about that as as the inspiration, the breath of God, the ideas, the thought process, the poems, the art, the movie, the next the next film, the next song is the daily bread. Our creator output.

What we create from it, right? Has to come from him. But then we show up every day. Daily implies we do show up. Now I guess the difference. Like, we're not saying just quit and throw up your hands and just don't do anything. We're saying show up. But show up with the purpose of looking for the daily bread. What's the inspiration for the daily word? If it's paused, I'll pause. If it's press, I'll press. If it's pull, then I'll pull. Right? ⁓ wherever we can go to like reconnect with that, that's what we're gonna do.

watching on replay. I get it. Can't always jump in, but you did. You got here. You watched it later. You commented. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for being a part of God and good community. This is helping us all become the creators that we were created to be. All