The Fight for Hope – Erin Ulerich

Trusting God When Things Feel Uncertain

The Virtual Reality headset was firmly in place and doing its job.

I stepped onto an elevator, and it traveled up, up, up to the highest story of a skyscraper. When the doors opened, there was a single plank of wood. The assignment was easy – take a few steps across the plank.

There was just one problem. I don’t do heights.

I looked down, which was a mistake. People, tiny as ants, hurried along the street below me.

As I tried to talk myself into stepping out of the elevator and onto the plank, I had all the physical reactions as if I was actually standing stories above a bustling city street. My heart was beating like crazy, my breathing was shallow, and my legs started aching, like they do when I’m in an actual real-life situation involving heights.

I knew I wasn’t really standing on a plank above a city street. I knew I was in a library standing on solid ground. But I threw logic out of the virtual window, got down on all fours and crawled across the plank.

Can you picture this? I crawled across the library floor in full panic mode.

What in the world? I am a capable adult, a grown woman. Why couldn’t I convince myself that I wasn’t really standing on a plank high above a city street? I let what I was experiencing override reality. It felt real, therefore it must be real.

Walking through this crazy broken world can be exactly like this. We let what we experience override what we know to be true. Things feel shaky and uncertain. We feel alone. Anxiety rises. We make decisions based on our feelings. It’s a mess.

The truth? We are not alone. We are not left on our own to figure things out. God has promised to be with us, and He keeps His promises. God is certain and steady. God is trustworthy.

Proverbs 3:5 describes this reality: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” The word for trust here is the Hebrew word batach. Batach is placing one’s full weight upon someone or something with calm assurance.

Calm assurance. I love the sound of that.

God is reliable. We can have complete confidence in Him. We can trust Him.

When we trust God in a batach kind of way we are surrendering, we are letting go of the things we cling to and placing them into the hands of God. That relationship you are holding onto? Trust Him with it. Your college kids that are running around living life all willy nilly? Trust God with the plans He has for them.

The idea of surrender can be scary.

Proverbs 3:5 isn’t telling us to give our full confidence to God without evidence. The evidence of His faithfulness is overwhelming. Because of God’s hesed, the love and devotion He has toward those in relationship with Him, He has committed to be faithful to His people. He has promised to be unwavering, to be trustworthy. He has committed to be with us, to work things for our good, to grow us in our faith, to finish the work He started in us.

God does not waver in His love and commitment to His people. People in our lives may waver, circumstances will change, but God is steady.

Like me in the VR headset, we tend to trust what is right in front of us. We put our full weight and confidence in people and circumstances, which is just as foolish as me crawling on my hands and knees on the library floor. In contrast, trusting God is never foolish. He is worthy of the full weight of our trust.

Are you feeling uncertain today as you look at what is in front of you? Are you standing on the edge of changes in your life, or looking down at a situation that you can’t see a clear way to resolve?

Take a deep breath. Ask God to show you His faithfulness in your life. Ask Him to help you trust what He is doing right now, even if you can’t see how it will turn out.

When we ask for His help, He responds. He wants you to trust Him. He wants you to live with the calm assurance that comes when we trust Him in a batach kind of way.

Psalm 13:5 says I trust in your unfailing love. I batach in your hesed. I fully surrender to your loving devotion. I place everything in my life in Your strong, loving, wise, capable hands.

People change. Circumstances change. If we place our trust in those, there is no stability. In contrast, God never changes. Never waivers in his love or commitment to His people. You can rest in that today. You can walk in confidence, in trust, with calm assurance.

This is the truth we can walk in as we live in this broken world. This is reality. No headset required.

10 Things We’ve Learned About Marriage

Last night over a romantic dinner for two Stephen confessed that he didn’t remember watching me walk down the aisle toward him at our wedding.

The things he remembered about our wedding day? Cleaning the car for our honeymoon trip, standing in the receiving line at the reception. And getting a bag of birdseed poured down his back as we ran to our car.

His memories completely skip the ENTIRE wedding ceremony. Thank goodness we have the VHS tape to prove the ceremony actually happened.

Zero points for romance, buddy. If this was a movie, he would have said something about my breathtaking beauty and knowing his life was about to change forever for the better.

But life is not a movie, is it? The 80‘s movies I watched and re-watched in high school painted a picture of romance, but after 32 years of marriage, my definition of romance has changed. The movie version of romance isn’t sustainable through the storms of life.

We got married thirty-two years ago, on a rainy Saturday in May in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

My memories of our wedding day? Spending the day with my bridesmaids, fighting tears as I walked down the aisle, saying my vows, and pinching Stephen on the arm as we walked back up the aisle because he wasn’t smiling. He should have been spilling over with joy, right?

Our memories of the day are different, and as we quickly learned, most of the ways we think about, and view life are different. But we did come up with 10 things we’ve learned about marriage over the past 32 years.

We are a team. Tackling the hard times as a team has helped us learn to work together and has helped us grow closer. We’ve learned to face life together.

Even though we are a team, we are also two separate people. We have different opinions and thoughts, and that is ok. If we try to be the same person, we will go through life as if we are running a three-legged race, and when one person falls, both will fall. There have been times when I’ve needed Stephen’s strength and times when he needed mine.

Bring secrets and sinful habits into the light where healing can happen. Our struggles affect each other. Seeking healing together has brought us closer.

Be gentle with each other. It is hard to be vulnerable, especially about struggles. Showing grace is a way of loving each other well.

We seek out ways to “speak to each other’s heart” or to find out what communicates love to the other person. I love leisurely talking over a cup of coffee while Stephen enjoys our couch dates, snuggling under a blanket watching a movie together. Stephen cooks for my annual writer’s retreat, which speaks to my heart. And I pay him in Legos, which speaks to his.

We keep short accounts. We get on each other’s nerves. We hurt each other’s feelings. If we kept a record of all the wrongs done, it would suffocate our marriage. We try to be quick to ask forgiveness and quick to forgive.

We’ve learned to work with each other’s strengths and weaknesses. God brought us together to face life together. Discovering that our strengths and weaknesses complement each other has been a game changer for us.

We play together. Sometimes we have to put a pause on the hard topics and do something fun together.

We laugh together. Life is so serious and heavy at times. Sending each other silly reels throughout the day or watching Dry Bar Comedy helps us maintain a balance.

We kiss often and kiss like we mean it. No dry “have a nice day” pecks over here. Gotta keep the sparks flying!

The foundation beneath this list is our faith. And that is so important. There have been times when we’ve both been convinced we are right on an issue, and it has taken God working in us to soften our hearts toward each other again. It is by God’s grace that this list of 10 things exists. We’d be a complete mess on our own.

I hope we have at least 32 more years to keep learning about marriage and learning how to love each other well.

Gifts for the People in Your Life

Tis the season for giving and the countdown has begun! Scroll down to find gifts for the people in your life!

The devotions of In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life were written during moments when my heart held more questions than answers. When I doubted God’s love for me, when I struggled through the murky waters of grief, when I let go of hope and discovered that the God of hope never let go of me.

Life definitely has moments when we can’t see what’s coming around the next curve. Thankfully, God is with us in every moment of every day, even during the times of uncertainly.

Order your copy here! Available in paperback. kindle, and audiobook.

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Does the writer in your life need inspiration? Gift them a ticket, or money toward a ticket, to the Space to Create Writing Retreat February 22-25, 2024

Writers from all stages of the writing journey will be in French Camp, MS February 22-24, 2024, finding clarity to move forward with their writing goals.

Our goal is to help writers walk away from this retreat knowing what they write, who they are writing to, their purpose in writing, places to showcase their writing, and how to create space in their life for writing.

Click here to find out more!

Second Chance Books

Do you believe in second chances? Me too!

I’ve found treasures in local thrift shops that deserve a second chance. Pair them with a pair of cozy socks, tea bags, or a gift card to a favorite coffee shop for the reader in your life. A perfect “happy” for only $5!

I’ve chosen a little bit of everything, from Elementary School reads, Young Adult, Christian Romance, Christian Fiction, Cozies, and a few Southern slice-of-life reads.- It’s all good clean reading!

See the complete listing of available titles here!

This year I collaborated with 34 other authors to create Life Changing Stories, a devotional filled with our real-life moments where a close relationship with Jesus was the only remedy.

Jesus never promised us a life without difficulties, but He does promise to guide us along the way, showering us with His presence, love, and peace.

No two stories in this book are the same, but the God who brought us through these stories never changes.

Available in paperback and Kindle. Get your copy here.

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Keep your valuables hidden with a vintage book safe! $10

See the complete listing of available titles here!

A Little Truth About Temptation

“Sometimes I feel close to God and I want to read the Bible and pray.” She sighed. “But sometimes I don’t. Sometimes He feels far away. What If I die when I feel far away from Him? Will I go to hell?”

It was a big question. An honest one. Maybe you’ve asked similar questions.

Let me reassure you. Once we’ve stepped into a saving relationship with Jesus, we are His and no emotion or lack of emotion can change that.

This ebb and flow is a normal experience, especially in our early years as a believer. Our relationship with the Lord fluctuates more than it is steady. There are times when we are consistent with praying and reading the Bible and there will be times when we aren’t. There will be times when we feel close to God and times when He feels far away. It’s just the way it is.

For many years I operated under the assumption that God’s love for me depended on my behavior. I thought that if I was praying and reading my Bible every day, God was pleased with me.

But if I messed up, I believed God was mad at me and let me know by causing bad things to happen. I pictured God cheering for me on the sidelines when I was doing great spiritually and being distant and disappointed when I failed. In this view there was no room for making mistakes and certainly no compassion when I fell.

And I definitely fell.

But how could I fall? Jesus conquered sin and death on the cross. I should be able to live without being bogged down by sin. Right?

He did his part, I reasoned, but I wasn’t living up to mine. I felt like I was failing at being a Christian.

The truth? Jesus did defeat sin and broke the eternal claim it had on us. He rescued us from the clutches of His enemy in the greatest rescue mission ever.

And this is where we fail to tell new believers that our rescue comes with a price. We don’t explain how salvation causes us to switch sides in a cosmic battle, or how when we accept His rescue, His enemy is now our enemy. When we step into a relationship with Jesus, our souls are safe, but the enemy will try every way to keep us from growing closer to Jesus.

He is out to get us. And he will try to distract us in any way possible. This is called temptation.

When it comes to fighting temptation, the Christian life can feel like the lyrics of a Chumbawamba song. “I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never going to keep me down.”

But after a while, we wonder what if I don’t get up again, because this is exhausting.

When it comes to living the Christian life, we don’t talk enough about the pull of temptation – the absolute war that goes on inside of us – how to get back up when we’ve fallen, and what God thinks of us along the way.

The Pull of Temptation: The Struggle is Real

Everything broken in this world goes back to Genesis Chapter 3. If you’ve ever wondered how the Garden of Eden applies to your life today, buckle up! This is where brokenness began.

Simply put, Adam and Eve chose to believe Satan’s lies instead of God’s truth, which brought sin and brokenness into every person born after them. Their son, Cain, grew angry and jealous of his brother, Able.

Just as God went looking for Adam and Eve when they were hiding from Him after they sinned, God went to Cain. And just as he asked them “Where are you?” to begin a conversation, He asked Cain “Why are you angry?” even though He knew what Cain was thinking and feeling. Cain didn’t answer, but God offered him some advice – a warning that his parents had not had.

God said to him. “Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

In her Bible study, Good News, Caroline Saunders calls this the first definition of sin. In this one verse we learn two things about sin straight from God.

Sin is out to get you. God described sin to Cain as crouching, ready to pounce. The idea is of an animal ready to pounce on its prey. Think of wildlife videos and the tension that you feel when you see the cheetah hiding in the tall grass as the gazelle herd walks peacefully by. You know what’s about to happen and it’s not good.

We must rule over it. If Genesis 4:7 is the first definition of sin, it is also the first description of what we are to do with sin. We are to rule over it. The word used for rule is mashal which means to rule, to have dominion, to have power over.

This would have been a perfect time for Cain to ask a few questions. “What do you mean?” “How do I do that?” And most importantly, “Can you help me?”

But Cain chose his own way, and instead of ruling sin, it ruled him.

God told Cain that he must rule over sin, but the truth was that Cain was powerless to rule over it on his own. He needed God’s help. Like Cain, we can’t fight sin on our own. And, like Cain, we find ourselves being ruled by it.

What should we do when we fall? Is there a way out?

Getting Back Up Again

When we give in to temptation, we expect God to deal with us the way people respond when we’ve disappointed them. But if we feel like God is disappointed in us, we will avoid Him. See how sneaky the enemy is? He tells us lies about God to keep us from running to God because he knows that we will find forgiveness in His arms.

Thankfully, Cain isn’t the only example the Bible gives us of responding to sin.

David was a man who knew God. He also knew about being ruled by sin and about getting back up again. Even though he was God’s man, he fell to some serious sins: lust, adultery, lying, murder (2 Samuel 11-12). There were consequences in David’s life due to those sins, but there was also a way back.

David wrote Psalm 51 as he repented for these sins. You see, the way to get back up is to run to God. Getting back up is found in repentance, in turning away from sin and turning back toward God. Later in his life David wrote Psalm 19. In verse 13, he is an older, wiser man as he prays these words:

Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.

David used the word mashal in this verse. He asks God to help him, in essence, asking God to rule over him. “David comes under the rule of the Lord to prevent sin from mashal-ing him. He does not want to make the same mistake Cain does.” (Steve Phillips Livingwordin3d.com)

When we give into temptation, when we fall, the way to get back up is to run to God. Running toward God does not come naturally to us. After all, we’ve broken His rules and ignored His warnings. Surely He is furious at us, or at the very least thinks that we deserve to suffer. This is exactly what the enemy wants us to think.

What God Thinks When We Fail

Remember that picture of God cheering for me on the sidelines when I was doing great and being distant when I failed? My view of God was skewed. Caroline Saunders says, “If we don’t know God, we assume he is like the world.” We assume that because the world is all we know. Thankfully, God’s response is filled with compassion and mercy.

God was never on the sidelines in my life or in yours. Jesus left heaven and jumped on that field, lived in this broken world, experienced everything you and I experience. He is on the field, in the middle of our messy lives. He is with us. And if He is with us, then we are not alone.

Hebrews 4:15-16 tells his thoughts toward us:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

These words are open arms. We can hear him saying, “I know the brokenness. I know the pull of sin. Let’s walk through this together.”

He helps us fight temptation because we can’t fight it without his help. And He draws us back in when we’ve fallen. He helps us up and He draws us back in. Every. Single. Time. And each time we get up again, we fight harder out of thankfulness, instead of an effort to earn His love. Knowing that we are not facing difficulties alone, but that God is with us, builds our faith.

That is the Christian life in this broken world. We get knocked down and He helps us up again.

But it doesn’t end there. There is a day coming when he will make all things right, and when sin will not exist. Until then, we can have courage and lean closer to our compassionate Savior, because we are not fighting alone. He is always with us.

How to Let Go to Land on Solid Ground

We live life holding on, as tight as we can. But what if life is found in the letting go? In trusting that God is who He says He is. That God will sustain us as He promises He will.

Nothing moves faster than a toddler with something he’s not supposed to have. It’s really amazing. The same child that took 25 minutes to walk from the house to the car as they stopped to look at every. single. rock. suddenly develops superhuman speed.

Can we also talk about how their little fingers morph into vice grips? Another phenomenon.

And the strength of will! Determined to hold onto their treasure no matter what. It could be a bug, it could be a Starbucks candy wrapper, but they are not letting go, no matter how we try to be the voice of reason. Even if it could hurt them. Even if the person they trust most is saying let go. At this point they use every toddler’s favorite two words.

“NO! MINE!”

Is it too early to declare nap time?

How often are we like toddlers, our figurative fingers in a vice grip, holding onto things, people, careers – even if they are harmful to us, even if those we trust most are pleading with us to let go.

A few years ago, I taught a Sunday School class about the idols in our lives. In class, the high schoolers were ready to trust God and let go of their idols. But during the week I watched as they held onto volatile relationships, as they chased after perfect grades, and found their worth in the approval of others.

I was frustrated with them until I looked at my own life. It’s hard to let go. Really hard.

In fact, it’s impossible to let go when we are in survival mode, and that is where many of us are. We won’t let go when we feel like this one thing is keeping us afloat in the chaos. We won’t let go when that feels like it will be a total free fall.

And that is scary. Not roller coaster scary, because there we have bars to hold onto and we know that ride will eventually end. I’m talking real-life scary. Scary in a “I don’t know what will happen” way.

But what if it only seems scary?

The enemy of our soul keeps us in the dark, telling us that if we let go of this one thing, we will be alone in the dark, abandoned, hopeless, lost forever. He paints the picture of a yawning abyss waiting to swallow us up. He wants to keep us trapped in the dark.

Truth is like turning on lights in the darkness and discovering that the yawning abyss isn’t even real. Truth sets us on the path to life, light, and freedom.

Unfurling our fingers and letting go is a progression. We won’t let go of that one thing until we are convinced that God will take care of us better than that one thing ever could. We won’t be convinced of that until we trust Him. And we won’t trust Him until we know Him. We can’t know Him without spending time in His Word. And His Word is where the solid ground is.

God leans toward us through His Word. In Psalm 55:22, He says cast your burden on me, and I will sustain you.

Ready for rock solid truth?

The word for cast in this verse is to throw, to fling, to hurl. In other words, to get it as far away as fast as possible.

And where are we hurling our burden, our cares? The word God uses in this verse is Yahweh, His personal name.

The personal request of handing over our burdens is made by our personal God. The God who created everything, who keeps planets spinning and molecules together, but who is also so personal that He asks us to hand over our burdens to Him.

When we throw that one thing to Him, our hand is then empty. But there’s no free fall, because in the same breath God promises to give us what we need.

How does He know what we need? Because He knows us.

Psalm 56:8 says He catches our tears. Our tears don’t run down our cheeks and disappear. The idea is that He collects them and intervenes on our behalf. He sees. He cares. He acts.

See the beautiful progression? He cares for us and will give us what we truly need for our mind, body and soul. He bends toward us. He hears our sobs, He feels our pain, He catches our tears, and He draws us in toward Himself.

The enemy wants us to believe that we are alone, abandoned, hopeless. But we are none of those things. Jesus has come to be with us, so we are never alone. He walks beside us, so we are not abandoned. He is our hope, so we are never without hope.

Now that our hands are empty, we can hold tightly onto Him and stand on solid ground.

If you enjoyed this post, you’ll find more examples of connecting with Christ in your everyday life in my devotional.

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Is the God You Know Too Small?

My daughter and I are preparing for a mission trip to Africa. Most days I am excited about the trip. Some days I feel overwhelmed. And every day I feel the need to prepare for what we will walk into.

We are going to a very hopeful place; hope is even in its name: Hope for the Fatherless.

Caring for orphans has been a recurring theme in the life of our family. Each time we step into orphan care, my view of God gets a little bigger and my view of his tenderness toward the vulnerable goes deeper.

There is a truth that I’ve learned, seemingly opposites that we must hold in a careful balance.

Our world is broken and God is at work.

Our world is so very broken. No one can argue with that. Five minutes of the evening news or a couple of clicks on any screen will break the hardest heart.

Sometimes I look at the brokenness and I forget that God is at work in this world.

I look at the brokenness and feel helpless and I assume that God feels that way too. When I focus on the brokenness my view of God is too small.

Ready for a dose of reality?

God knows this world is broken, and moment by moment He is redeeming it. He is not wringing his hands in worry. He is not wondering how to work in spite of the brokenness of our world. He plans to work through the brokenness. He plans to work through the very things we try to avoid.

God is at work and He wants us to join Him.

He calls out to us, inviting us to jump in and take part of what HE is doing in and through the brokenness.

The first step is taking our focus off of the brokenness and placing it on Him. It is in saying “I know you are working. What would you like me to do?”

The second step is to dive into His Word. To see what God says about Himself and what He says about the vulnerable in our world. His heart is so tender toward them.

Orphan care is simultaneously heart-wrenching and hopeful. And we need God’s Word to give courage to our hearts and guidance along our path.

Through orphan ministry I’ve discovered that God does not always work the way I think He should. I discovered that He is bigger than I thought, and that His ways often don’t make sense, from a human perspective.

I also discovered that He relentlessly and unexpectedly weaves beauty and redemption in the darkest places, He gives hope where circumstances look hopeless, and He continually draws people to Himself.

I’ve written a seven-day devotional that helps us see the heart of God toward the helpless. It is a helpful guide for those new to orphan care.

The Hope of the Helpless is available on Amazon. (This is an Amazon affiliate link.)

Heritage Ukraine Knows How to Pivot

Pivot is a word that pops up from time to time.

During the pandemic businesses had to pivot to stay open. Many began offering curbside pickup. Churches began streaming church services. Drive-through doctor appointments became a thing.

But what does it mean to pivot? I think it means identifying a need and changing what needs to be changed in order to supply that need.

To pivot, the goal or mission of a business or organization doesn’t change, but the way to reach that goal needs to be adjusted slightly.

Pivot.

My friends at Heritage Ukraine have been pivoting constantly for the last 100 days. Beginning February 24, they’ve had to pivot in order to care for those God has placed in their path. The ministry plans they had for the foreseeable future ended as the Russian army moved into their country.

Overnight they began meeting immediate needs. Helping families evacuate, gathering and delivering food to those who couldn’t leave, making thousands of sandwiches to give to refugees at the train station.

At a time when they would normally be planning for the weeks of summer camp at CAMP LELA, they gave away their camp supplies to those who needed it.

Slavik and Alyona and their team at Heritage Ukraine know how to pivot. And the Lord is using their flexibility and their obedience to His leading. God is working in the middle of this horrible war. He is providing.

And, as a wonderful surprise, God has opened a way for CAMP LELA to happen in July. Their Facebook post shows their excitement – Look at all the exclamation marks!

Camp LELA 2022 in Romania!

As the war began we didn’t even think of the camp for this year as Heritage is so focused on war relief around its region. However, God opened us an opportunity to do a camp in Romania for Ukrainian refugees!

Three camps will take place in the month of July! We need your help to make it possible! Click here if you would like to support camp LELA 2022 for Ukrainian refugees in Romania.

If you want a glimpse of what is happening on the ground in Odessa, if you want to see ways that God is providing things that seem impossible, if you need encouragement in your day, or want to know what you can do to get involved, follow Heritage Ukraine on Facebook or Instagram.

I designed a wallpaper for my phone to remind me to pray for my friends in Ukraine and I would love to share it with you! The original painting was done by our talented friend Miss Allie McCoy. Click on the image to download these beautiful sunflowers for your phone!

Words to Live By

These words were the last ones I said each morning as my son walked out the door for school.

They came after the “Do you have…” checklist and the “Have a great day” hug.

Remember WHO you belong to.

I said these words as he walked out of the safety of our home and into the day.

I picture them wrapping gently around him, a scarf on the good days, a forcefield on the difficult days.

When I began saying these words, he would step back into the house and wrap his arms around me. I would rest my chin on his head, squeeze extra tight, and say a quick silent prayer.

It is a sentence that carries the weight of history, his and mine. They are words that bring difficult days to mind and words that remind us that we are different people in the present.

We are different because we remember WHO we belong to.

These are words of growth. Words that we all need. Words to live by.

Sometimes we need these words because we feel alone. We weren’t made to be alone. We were made for belonging.

The Junior High years were years of growth for my boy. I picture the struggle of a seed pushing through its outer shell, inching through the dirt toward the warmth of the sun.

Years of growth can hit us at any stage of life. These are moments when we choose to push toward God’s truth or we let others sidetrack us.

It is so easy to get sidetracked when we feel alone, isn’t it?

Sometimes we need these words because we’ve pushed everyone away. We want to be free – however we define freedom – and yet we are not made for this type of freedom, or self-reliance or independence. We were made for belonging.

This was my story. Pushing all restraints away until freedom became a free fall. I was untethered, unsure of who I was because I didn’t really know WHO I belonged to. And trying to belong to anyone else doesn’t work because we weren’t made to belong to each other. We can’t carry each other like that.

But we can help each other remember WHO we belong to.

So, to the graduates in my life, to those at the beginning of a new stage, to those who need to begin again. To those who feel like you are floating along, who feel like you don’t belong. Lean in and let this truth soak in. You were made for belonging, and this is WHO you belong to.

You belong to the God who created the heavens and earth by speaking it into being. He is that powerful, and yet involved in the details of your life. He cares about you so much that not a hair can fall from your head without His permission.

You are loved:

God created and formed you out of love. He holds you in His loving and powerful hands.

He works events and circumstances for your ultimate good even when it is difficult to understand.

He rescued you from the power of sin and offers you lasting life.

You have purpose:

He has good works for you to do, and He prepares you for those works.

He invites you to participate in what He is doing in the lives of those around you and in the world at large.

Our school mornings are over, but these words still wrap gently around my boy-turned-man as he walks out of the house. He often stops, gives me a lopsided grin, looks into my eyes and says, “You remember that too, Mom.”

When he says this, I step toward him, wrapping my arms around him in a hug. He towers over me these days, resting his bearded chin on my head. I squeeze extra tight and say a quick silent prayer, thankful for the truth poured into the fabric of these few words.

Remember WHO you belong to.

I’ve created two printables to help remind you of these beautiful truths. Feel free to share with a friend!

Four Things That Are Saving My Life Right Now

A few weeks ago on her podcast, The Next Right Thing, Emily P. Freeman shared 10 things that are saving her life right now.

I loved the simple way she flipped the script. It’s easy to list the things that are driving us crazy, or the ways we are so crazy-busy. We tend to hold those things like they are a badge. It’s a little harder to look at our lives with the lens of what’s saving our life right now. But it’s encouraging and life-giving.

I began looking for those things in my current crazy season, and I want to share them with you.

The first thing that is saving my life right now is taking a few minutes after I take the kids to school to sit down with a cup of coffee and read one entry of Heart Aflame by John Calvin. These are daily readings from the writings of John Calvin on the Psalms. The book begins with January 1, but I’m being a little rebellious and started it in March. At the beginning. The devotions are less than a page long, and I write a little prayer in the space at the bottom of each page. It has been a great way to begin each day setting my mind on truth.

The second thing that is saving my life right now are green spaces. I don’t really know why but driving past green pastures and rolling hills makes me happy and peaceful.

The third thing is breaking my to do list into smaller, bite-sized pieces. I tend to get overwhelmed in the crazy-busy, and dividing tasks into smaller tasks keeps me from getting paralyzed and not getting anything done.

And the last thing that is saving my life right now is having one clean space in the house to sit in. I have piles of writing projects, end of the school year things, scrapbooks (any other Senior moms pulling out all the pictures, or is it just me?) Having one space clutter free gives me a place to start my morning (see number 1) and to have friends sit when they swing by.

Over the next few weeks this pace will morph into summer pace, which has a completely different feel. I want to keep up the practice of naming the things that are saving my life instead of focusing on the things that are keeping me busy. It helps me appreciate and savor moments of peace in the middle of the chaos.

What about you? What is saving your life right now?

Searching for God’s Fingerprints in Everyday Life

If you could be like any detective, who would it be?

Would you be Maxwell Smart from the TV series Get Smart? He had plenty of gadgets, was sometimes distracted by his gadgets, was bumbling and clueless at times, but eventually got the bad guy in the end.

Or would you prefer to be like Sherlock Holmes? Stealthy, logical, highly intelligent, a master at finding hidden clues.

If I were to choose a detective that is most like me, I would choose a certain female detective who is well known by the 4 and below age group.

Dora the Explorer.

Other than the fact that she is animated, and Hispanic, and a child, we have lots in common. We both like to sing. We both like backpacks. Neither of us can read a map. But mainly, it’s the fact that in each episode the clues are right in front of her and she still needs help from the audience.

Yep. That’s definitely me.

Last week I encouraged you to look for God’s fingerprints in your life – evidence that He is with you in every moment and in every situation.

Looking for God’s fingerprints in our everyday lives is a skill to be learned. And once we get the hang of it, we will discover, like Dora, that His fingerprints have been right in front of us all along.

Why is this important?

If we learn to see His fingerprints in the moments of our days, we will begin to believe that we are not alone. And believing that we are not alone changes the way we see life.

It’s easy to begin. We can start with a simple prayer: God, help me to see You in my everyday life. Open my eyes and help me see that I am not alone.

I created a place to list the ways you see His fingerprints in your everyday life. Writing down helps us remember. It also gives us a record to go back and look at on the days when we are discouraged or weighed down.

Where can I see His fingerprints, you might ask. Where is the evidence that He is with me?

His kindness is evident through the simple, good things that all men enjoy: the rain, the beauty of a sunrise, a stranger’s smile. Happiness, goodness, celebration.

These things are not reserved only for those who trust God, but are given to all people, even those who are enemies of God. He is patient and merciful towards those who reject Him.

2.The way He restrains evil and sin in our world. As crazy as things are, they would be even worse if He did not hold back the tide of sin and evil.

3. The way God gives all people the ability to function within a society or in community: to care for one another and to show love and compassion to each other. The fact that we understand innately that some things are good and some things are evil and harmful is evidence that He is with us.

When we acknowledge that God concerns Himself with every aspect of life we will see Him working in all aspects of our life.

God, help me to see You in my everyday life. Open my eyes and help me see that I am not alone.

I’d love to know the ways God answers this simple prayer in your life. Share about it on social media and use #Christmasineverydaylife so you can encourage others.