Erin Ulerich

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.)

When Christmas is Difficult

What do we do when the most wonderful time of the year doesn’t feel so wonderful?

I have found that holidays seem to amplify daily struggles. It may be that we are busier than usual, but I think it’s also because we have expectations of happiness, peace, and perfection – standards that we don’t require our every-day lives to meet.

We have these hopes that just for a moment life will balance in perfect peace and harmony, you know, like they do in the Hallmark Christmas movies. We want our meals to look Instagram perfect, and our Christmas craft projects to make it on Pintrest, and not be a Pintrest fail.

So with all this pressure, it’s not surprising that we struggle during the holidays.

What’s your top holiday struggle?

My biggest struggle at Christmas is remembering why we are celebrating and how that connects to my every-day life.

To be honest, it gets lost under the mad dash of secret Santa presents, real presents, school programs, parties, decorating, luncheons, get-togethers, and the pressure to somehow stay in budget. (Why is there math in Christmas?)

My joy gets lost in the busyness and I have trouble remembering that Christmas really is about Jesus coming, experiencing life in this broken world, and making a way for us to be in relationship with God.

God opened the folds of time and stepped into our world as one of us. It’s unheard of. It’s mind-blowing. And yet, even as I’m writing this, it feels far away.

But far away was the last thing on Jesus’ mind.

He came to be with us.

We have an enemy that works overtime to make us feel isolated, misunderstood, abandoned. Who knows that when we feel alone and vulnerable, we are more apt to listen to his lies.

We were made for connection and intimacy, so when we feel alone it is easy for our hearts to make this false conclusion: I am not known, therefore I am not loved.

Jesus is with us, out of love for us, to draw us into relationship with Him. In Jesus we are known, loved, connected—the very things we were created to experience.

So when Christmas is difficult, breathe in deep, look at the sweet baby in the manger and speak this beautiful truth: I am loved. I am not alone.

He came for you, my friend.

The Tiny Light that Lit the World

Light broke through deepest darkness when God put on flesh and stepped into our world.

He came as a tiny light, wrapped in the most vulnerable package.

He came in a way that we could receive Him. He came so that we could know Him and know the joy of walking through life with Him.

Read more about the Light of Christmas here: Those Walking in Darkness Need the Light – Erin Ulerich

We Were Made to Hear His Voice

When our older daughter was just over a year old, she began having ear infections. We took her to the doctor for a hearing assessment. I held her on my lap in a room that had rectangular speakers on different sides of the room. She was supposed to turn toward the appropriate speaker when she heard her name being called.

“Margaret” the voice boomed through a speaker on the left side of the room. She did not respond.

“Margaret” the voice boomed again, on the right side of the room. Still, no response.

Panic welled up inside me She’s going to fail this test! I’m a horrible mother! How could I not know she couldn’t hear! Until one clear thought pushed through.

“Wait!” I yelled toward the speakers. “We call her Maggie. She doesn’t know the name Margaret.”

The test went quite smoothly after that.

We were made to hear God’s voice, but sometimes we don’t hear His voice because we don’t recognize the name He is calling us.

Beloved. Loved. Precious One. Friend.

We expect Him to use words like: Mistake. Failure. Oh, it’s you again.

Sometimes we don’t hear His voice because we haven’t really met Him.

The best introduction is His Word because that is the place where who God is and who we are can be clearly seen. His Word is more than a book. It is God’s words of, “This is who I am, this is how much I love you, and this is what I’ve made you for.”

Through His Word we find this beautiful truth.

We are made by God. We are loved by God. We were made to hear His voice so that we can know Him.

So, what does His voice sound like? When we hear His voice, we can be sure it is His when:

There is love and conviction, not condemnation and guilt.

When we keep things in the darkness, fear and shame grow and overrun us with thoughts like, “God would never forgive me.” These thoughts keep us in the darkness, away from God. These thoughts are from the enemy of our soul who wants to distort our perception of God—His character, His love, His actions. The enemy constantly throws up smoke and mirrors and keeps us off balance.

His voice is kind and constant, even when He is dealing with our sin. He will not sweep our sin under the rug or pretend that it does not matter. He will bring it out into the open to deal with it because He sees our misery.

“God doesn’t point out our sin to condemn us. God’s purpose in lovingly revealing our sin is to encourage us to acknowledge it and confess it so He can change us. The Enemy’s voice brings condemnation. You will know condemnation because it will bring guilt and offer no clear means of relief. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit brings conviction that always provides a road map out and away from a specific sin. His aim is always to lovingly steer us in the direction of His grace.” (Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When God Speaks by Priscilla Shirer)

When God speaks to us His words will not heap judgment on us. He reveals our sins to lead us to repentance, but this revelation is buffered with the hope of His grace, love, and another chance. He has already undergone the punishment for our sin once and for all on the cross.

His voice points to His character. It points us back to Himself.

“One of God’s greatest desires is to make Himself known to us and lead us into a more intimate relationship with Him… He wants us to know Him.” (Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When God Speaks by Priscilla Shirer)

The place to get to know God is in the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, His love, His desire for relationship, and His dealing with sin to restore relationship are described on every page.

If we were made to hear His voice, why don’t we? What keeps us from hearing His voice? There are three main reasons for this:

1. Noise. Our lives are noisy. Our phones ding with every email, text, and reminder. TVs are always on with some new drama (real or fiction) unfolding. There is always something to do, somewhere to go, someone to talk to.

2. Locked elbows. Deep down we are afraid to let God get too close, afraid that knowing Him might mean changing things in our lives that need changing. We say, “I want to know you,” but we keep our elbows locked and our hearts closed so that He stays at a safe distance. I’ve been there, and I’m so thankful that God was not content being on the outer edge of my life. He patiently drew me closer through His love and grace.

3. Not recognizing our name. Like Maggie’s hearing test, we miss hearing his voice because we don’t recognize the name He is tenderly calling us.

“By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me.” (Psalm 42:8)

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)

When was the last time you pictured God singing over you with joyful songs?

You bring Him joy. You bring a smile to the face of God.

His voice is not in the media storm of the day. His voice is not in the rushing news feeds on our screens. His voice, clear, constant, and quiet, is in His Word. The more we read His Word, the more clearly we will hear His voice.

-Excerpt from In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life

Jesus Is With Us in Our Joy and Pain

God’s desire from the beginning has been fellowship. To be with us.

God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Face to face. When sin entered the world, that relationship was broken, but God’s desire did not change. Throughout the Old Testament His heart cry is repeated, “I will be their God and they will be my people.”

This desire is also found in the language surrounding the reason God offers us salvation through relationship with Him, that “they will see his face.” (Revelation 22:4)

That is the goal. Connection. Intimacy. God created each one of us with the need for connection, the need to know and be known by Him.

And then he opened the folds of time and stepped into our world as one of us. Jesus, Emmanuel, which means God with us.

With us. Not watching from a distance. Not a kind but powerless force hovering around us. With us, experiencing life in this broken world.

Jesus knows the pull of this world on our heart. He experienced every emotion that we have felt or will ever feel. And he has experienced one emotion that we will never experience—abandonment by God.

We often feel alone; I am not discounting that. But the reality is that God has promised to be with us and to never forsake us. Jesus willingly experienced complete abandonment on the cross to offer us peace with God.

Why is God being with us important? What difference does it make?

We have an enemy that works overtime to make us feel isolated, misunderstood, abandoned. He knows that when we feel alone and vulnerable, we are more apt to listen to his lies. We were made for connection and intimacy, so when we feel alone it is easy for our hearts to make this false conclusion: I am not known, therefore I am not loved.

Jesus is with us, out of love for us, to draw us into relationship with Him. In Jesus we are known, loved, connected—the very things we were created to experience.

Because Jesus experienced life in our skin, He is with us in our joy and in our pain.

Pain is part of living in this broken world. We feel pain on many different levels, and we usually work hard to avoid pain on every level. We avoid it by staying busy, numbing out on Netflix, eating, not eating, drinking alcohol, shopping, working, working out … the list is endless. We want to avoid pain so much that we even take good things and twist them to keep numb instead of stopping and looking our pain in the eye.

And the main problem with all the numbing that we do is this truth: We were not made to live life numb. We were made to push through the fear, look our pain square in the eye, and live life in full.

Does that sound scary? You bet.

But we don’t do it alone.

Jesus stands with us when we face our pain. He guides us into healthy ways of living and thinking and acting. His resources are not limited, and He will provide what we need to face our pain.

Jesus stepped from the perfection of heaven into the broken chaos of this world to walk with us. Our God is with us every step of the way.

– Excerpt from In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life

We Are Not Alone in Our Battles

Jesus became one of us and was tempted in every way we are tempted. He fought the same battles waging inside of us and won. Not to gloat over us, but to say, “I know the battle. Come closer and find your strength in Me. Come and receive forgiveness. Take My hand and I will fill you with hope. Come to the throne of grace in your time of need, with confidence, to find help.”

Jesus is with us, so we are not alone. He gives us power to fight temptation, so we can say no to sin. He offers forgiveness when we fail and gives us strength to get back up on our feet and walk beside Him.

– Excerpt from In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life

Even When We Feel Helpless, We Are Not Alone

I tried to keep conversation light to mask my own worry. Anderson played a board game nearby with a friend. Maggie watched Frozen with a group of girls huddled around a tablet screen. But Ellen stayed by my side and asked the tough questions.

“Is the tornado close?” she whispered. I put my arm around her as we leaned against the wall. “It’s about 10 minutes away. You don’t have to worry. We are in a safe place. We are in the safest place we can be.”

“Will it hit us?” she asked.

“I don’t know, sweetie, but we are in a safe place if it does.”

“Mama, do people die in tornados?”

In the 25 zillion parenting books I have read, not a single book had a chapter on Speaking Truth During Tornados. I was not going to lie to my child, and yet I didn’t want to multiply her fears.

“Sometimes that happens, sweetheart. But we are in the safest place we can be right now.” I kept using the word “safe” hoping it would make her feel safe.

The wind howled. The rain pelted. And my husband walked past us, a grim look on his face. Ellen and I watched as he wrapped an extension cord around the handles of the double doors at the end of the hallway – the doors that could fly open if a tornado hit.

I felt the muscles tighten in Ellen’s little body.

“Are we going to die?” she whispered, her voice trembling in my ear.

Fear. Pure fear.

These circumstances were out of my control, and my child knew it. She immediately felt alone and helpless, and I could identify with that. It is not unusual to feel alone when we feel helpless.

God knows what it is like to live in this broken world. He knows that we will face circumstances that we can’t change or control. And He knows we need Him to remind us that we are not alone.

”Fear not, for I am with you.” (Isaiah 41:10)

His Word gives us assurance of His presence. We are not alone, because He is with us.

I did not want my child to feel alone, because we were not alone or abandoned.

The truth was that the tornado could hit. We could be injured or die. And God would still be good. He would still use it in our lives for something beautiful.

But how could I explain this to my 6-year-old who was gripped with fear, when I don’t even fully understand it myself? I have seen God bring beauty from terrible things in my life. I have seen Him work in people’s hearts through the most difficult and horrible circumstances. I don’t understand it, but I trust His hand.

I pulled Ellen into my lap, held her, and said, “I’m not sure what will happen. But I know that God will do what is best, and I trust Him.”

The tornado went over us without touching down and Ellen and I whispered prayers of thankfulness for His protection.

God did protect us that day. But even if He had allowed the tornado to hit, it wouldn’t have been because He took His hand away from us. As His children, we are secure in the palm of His hand. He is with us.

I am still not sure how to convey this complicated truth to my children. Maybe it’s enough to teach them to trust Him, because He is with us, even when we are sitting in the dark.

– Excerpt from In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life

White Water Rafting & Christmas

The sounds of rushing water grew louder as we approached the turn in the river.

I tightened my grip on the t-handle of my paddle nervously.

“Listen to my commands.” our guide reminded us.

We plunged into the raging waters.

“Forward 2!”

There was splashing water, rocks on every side, and no time to look around. My eyes were on my paddle as I listened intently for the guide’s commands.

After making it through, we raised our oars in a group high-five, adrenaline and relief coursing through us.

But there was no time to relax; our guide was already preparing us for the next set of rapids and the commands he would use. He also told us what to do if we fell out of our raft. He wanted us to be prepared, no matter what happened.

We appreciated the fact that he talked us through each rapid before we got to it. No one doubted him or questioned him. We followed his instructions.

Why did our entire raft follow our guide? Was it because he was a nice guy? Or because he made us laugh? What made us trust him to get us through all the different types of rapids on this river?

He had been down these rapids before. He knew what to do to make it through safely. And he was in the raft with us, with each rock we got stuck on, each wave that knocked us sideways. He was with us, guiding us through each moment.

And that reminds me of Christmas.

It is a perfect picture of how Jesus is with us in every moment of every day. In the calm moments before the rapid, in the middle of the chaos, and afterwards, even if we fall out of the raft. He isn’t shouting commands at us, though. We have His Words in the Bible and those words will guide us if we focus on them.

Like the guide and the rapids, Jesus walked through this world. He has experienced the things you and I are experiencing. And He did that so He could guide and encourage us in every moment of our days, right here in 2022.

Our rafting guide never had to remind us that he was with us in the raft. We were very aware of our dependency on him.

But remembering that Jesus is with us and responding to life like He is with us takes time. Our hearts are quick to forget, especially when we feel like we are in control. As we get to know God and read what He says in His Word, we become aware of our dependency on Him in the rapids and the calm.

And better yet, He is a guide that will never fail us. We can trust Him.

The Psalms are a great place to begin seeing our dependence on God. “David kept his mind so intently fixed upon the providence of God, as to be fully persuaded, that whenever any difficulty of distress should befall him, God would be always at hand to assist him.” (Martin Luther)

We can also focus on God’s care and provision for us so much that we become convinced that He is always with us and working on our behalf.

This is Christmas in everyday life.

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!