The Fight for Hope – Page 2

O Little Town of Bethlehem: The Loudest Quiet

My family loves to watch America’s Got Talent. You never really know what is coming up next.

AGT has the Golden Buzzer, a feature where, if a judge thinks a person or group is talented enough to go straight to the final round, they can push the literal golden buzzer to let everyone in the audience know that this group has special status. When they press it, golden confetti rains down.

There’s music and tears and much, much celebration. Everyone in that building knows when the golden buzzer is pressed. And everyone knows who was chosen.

And then, in sharp contrast, we have the little town of Bethlehem on that first Christmas, where something that had never happened…happened. God took the form of man, parted the curtain and stepped into human history.

Tthere were no cameras, no confetti, no fireworks, no parade.

In fact, it was just the opposite. No recognition. No room.

The Bible doesn’t describe what it was like for Joseph to register himself and Mary in the census. But I’m picturing long lines of people waiting, dust blowing in the hot breeze, kids pulling at their mother’s skirts. Mama, are we done yet?

When Mary and Joseph finally made it to the front of the line, I imagine the census workers checked off 2 adults and 1 child-to-be and yelled NEXT without even knowing Who this child actually was. That this child, whose presence they just checked off on a clip board, was the Messiah.

Suddenly I’m picturing the sloths at the DMV from Zootopia. Are you?

I think it is significant that Jesus came in the middle of a busy time – census, chaos, when Bethlehem was filled with people, weary people. He was lost in the crowd so to speak. He fell through the cracks. It looked as if He were insignificant.

He was born in a stable. Born in extremely poor surroundings. Even the best accommodations this world has to offer, when compared to heaven, would have been inadequate, but a messy stable?

And then there were the angels, the ones who actually grasped the significance of what Jesus left behind to come to earth as a man. They were so happy that they broke out in a glorious concert. Not in the middle of Bethlehem, not where the Jewish leaders would see it, but out in the countryside, with only a group of shepherds to witness it. And the shepherds… well, they weren’t really the right crowd to get the word out to the right people.

There were a few people who grasped what was happening. When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, Simeon and Anna knew who Jesus was because they had been waiting for Him.

Two people.

God did this amazing thing and then went about the marketing and PR all wrong.

Or did He?

I’m not the first one to think this. Jesus pushed against this idea during His entire ministry. The Jews were picturing a more aggressive Messiah, one who would take down the Romans.

But Jesus spoke to the weak, the looked down on in society – He healed those society had forgotten.

Jesus ate with sinners, talked to women, poked at the religious leaders. He chose a group of rag-tag men to be His disciples.

He did not behave right. He was doing it all wrong.

Or was He?

The greatest irony was that He came to show us what God is like and the ones who were supposed to know God didn’t recognize Him. The demons he removed from people recognized Him, but His own people didn’t really get it.

So what does this tell us, as we sit on this side of history? We who have the benefit of seeing how Christianity spread from this ragtag group of unlikely disciples to our lives today. Across the years, around the world.

At the very least, in the understatement of the year, It tells us that God’s ways of doing things are not the same as our way of doing things.

As we look closer, it also tells us that Jesus knows what it’s like to be looked over, to be misunderstood, to fall through the cracks, to not measure up to others’ expectations.

But He didn’t come to please others. He came to follow the Father’s will, to rescue the very ones who rejected Him.

And He kept His purpose always in front of Him.

The baby in the manger makes it possible for every heart to have peace with God. Every heart is important to Him, not just the ones the world deems important, not just the golden buzzer people.

He comes to those who acknowledge their need of Him. The people who know they are a mess and know they can’t fix the mess. And just when the hopelessness of that begins to sink in, that’s when He shows us that He came for our mess.

No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.

If you enjoyed this post, I know you will enjoy the devotions in my new book, In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life. Available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback. This is an affiliate link.

This post can also be found in video form on my YouTube Channel.

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus: Where Freedom is Found

What keeps you up at night?

Sometimes it’s too much caffeine for me. Sometimes it’s the anticipation of the next day.

But most of the time it’s because I’m feeling fearful or anxious about something. I rack my brain, trying to figure things out or trying to make sense of crazy circumstances.

And instead of finding solutions, I just lose sleep.

Dr. Dan Allender puts it this way in Hope When You Are Hurting, “But life is disturbing, and we struggle with what God is up to.“

Can I get an Amen on that?

How many times have you thought those very words, how many times have I said them? “God, what are you doing?” As hard as we try, there are times when we cannot figure out what God is up to.

Life is hard to figure out.

We live within layers of life, where things are happening simultaneously around us, to us, and by us, while we try to make sense of it all. When we try to figure it all out, we default to a formula where our life experiences shape our definition of who God is and whether He loves us.

Good things happening = God is good and happy with us.

Bad things happening = God is bad, weak, or mad at us.

This formula looks simple and easy to follow. But life cannot be lived through a formula. Life is complex and complicated, a mix of joy and sorrow at any given moment.

Instead of a formula, we must live by truth. This truth is a great place to start: We were not made to live in fear. The opposite of fear is trust.

Jesus came to set us free from the fears that keep us up at night. From the sin patterns that keep us feeling distant from God, We can find our rest in Him.

“He restores my soul.” (Psalm 23:3)

The word for restores that is used here means to turn away. The Lord turns our soul away. Not away from Him, but away from the things that harm our soul. He turns our soul back toward Him, where it is protected and safe.

God is constant and unchanging, while life around us swirls in chaos.

Instead of letting our life experiences shape our definition of who God is and whether He loves us, what would it look like if we let who God is and His love for us shape our definition of our life experiences? This idea is more than playing around with words. The difference between these two is the difference between hope and despair. I’ve experienced it in my own life.

The more we know Him, the more we know His tender love for us, the more we can trust His hand in our lives, even when we don’t understand what He is doing.

This life begins the process of being set free, of being released from our sins and fears, and of finding our rest in God. The process will be complete the moment we step into His presence, face to face at last.

If you enjoyed this post, I know you will enjoy the devotions in my new book, In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life. Available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback. This is an affiliate link.

This post is also available in video form on my YouTube Channel.

Joy to the World: The Plot Twist That Changed Everything

Aren’t the best stories the ones between good and evil, especially the ones where the fate of the world is on the line?

As I type these words, the Avengers movies come to mind.

Over the past few years, we’ve followed the adventures of the Avengers. As their saving the world storyline unfolded over 20 something movies, we also experienced the backstories of each Avenger. We got to know them and see the parts of their stories that revealed why they fought against evil.

And by the end of the last movie, The End Game, it became clear which Avenger would be the one to save the world.

I was not happy with the writers at the end of that movie. I didn’t want any of the good guys to die. I am a huge proponent of happily ever after.

But as I’ve rewatched the movies with the end in mind, I’ve spotted the clues, the trail of bread crumbs the writers sprinkled in one movie after another that revealed why the overall story had to end that way.

Are you ready for this?

It reminds me of the Christmas story, which is part of the ultimate battle between good and evil.

And in this storyline, Christmas was a definite plot twist.

It might seem foolish for God to step into history in the form of a newborn baby, the most vulnerable of all creatures, to go toe-to-toe with His enemy.

After all, the fate of the world, the fate of humanity, was at stake.

And yet, the clues are there, sprinkled like a trail of bread crumbs throughout the Old Testament.

The Christmas story is part of a larger story, a story that began before God said, “Let there be light.” A story that includes the Garden of Eden, the cross and resurrection. A story that is still unfolding.

The backdrop of the manger scene is the Garden of Eden. That is where our need for a Savior began.

God created this beautiful world and created man and woman in His image. As part of His image, He wove into our DNA a need for relationship, connection, belonging.

Satan did not bring an army in and confront God head-on. Instead, he slithered in and convinced Eve that the face-to-face relationship she had with God wasn’t enough. His words cast a shadow in her mind about the goodness, love, and intention of God.

Oh, how he must have celebrated as she and Adam bit into that fruit. The precious souls God created and loved had rejected Him. With that bite the beautiful world God spoke into being became enemy territory.*

And for a while it looked as though the enemy had won.

Then, at just the right time, God stepped into history.

It was the beginning of the fulfillment of his promise back in Genesis 3. It was the beginning of things being set right. The tiniest beginning of God bringing His world back to the way things are supposed to be.

The tiniest beginning that changed everything.

When we look at the first Christmas with the end in mind, we can clearly see why the Gospel is good news. Jesus came to be with us, to show us what God is like, and to do what was necessary to restore the broken relationship between God and man.

And the only response to that is JOY.

Download this free printable of Joy to the World by clicking here.

*Excerpt from In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life by Erin Ulerich

If you enjoyed this post, I know you will enjoy the devotions in my new book, In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life. Available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback. This is an affiliate link.

This post is also available in video form on my YouTube Channel.

Ready For A Little Christmas?

I love Christmas.

But sometimes the Christmas story feels distant, removed from our everyday life. The star, the stable, the wise men, feel like they belong in our childhood, or in church plays, but have no bearing in “real” life.

Every year, the Christmas season ends, the decorations are put away, and we turn our attention to the next thing. But if we pack the peace and joy and wonder of Christmas in the attic with our decorations, we have missed Christmas altogether.

It was for our after-Christmas life that Jesus came.

You know, the normal days, where we meet deadlines, work, hang out with friends. The days when we struggle to get out of bed and the days when we feel like things are coming together. All those days between the Christmas trees, decorations, and figuring out the perfect gifts to give.

My devotional book, In Unexpected Ways, was written for those days.

These devotions 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.

I wrote this book to show that there is hope, even in the middle of brokenness, to challenge the way we think about and respond to God, and to remind my readers that we were made for more than this world can ever offer.

Will you help me spread the word about my book?

I am building a launch team to get the word out about In Unexpected Ways. It will be a short launch, from July 11-August 3, but it will be filled with fun! There will be giveaways, videos, and simple Launch Team tasks (many take less than 30 seconds to complete).

ALL Launch Team members will receive exclusive access to:
✨ our Facebook group
✨ fun Launch Team giveaways
✨ a digital copy of In Unexpected Ways
✨Specially recorded audio songs

PLUS: We will be giving away FREE audiobooks for Launch Team members who share their review during launch week.

As a Launch Team member, you’re agreeing to:

Purchase a copy of In Unexpected Ways
Be present and engaged in the Launch Team Facebook group.
Spread the word on social media and in person with family and friends.
Review the book on Amazon and Goodreads during Book Release Week.

✨ The application form will close at 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, July 13th.

Click here to apply and be on the lookout for my first launch team email on Sunday!

I do hope you’ll consider joining my team. I’d love to have you!

It only took me 50 years to learn….

I had a birthday recently . A big one. To help me remember my big day, my youngest put “1/2 a century” in front of every noun – all day long. “Good morning 1/2 a century Mom. Are you enjoying your 1/2 a century breakfast?”

Wasn’t that super sweet of her?

But it got me thinking. Half a century IS a REALLY long time! In 1/2 a century I have discovered a few things that I believe will help make the next 50 a bit smoother. And I wanted to share these with you.

Mama was right. By the time I realized this important truth I had kids of my own who don’t believe this – yet. During these moments I call Mama, apologize, and listen to her laugh. With three teens in my house, there are a LOT of these moments. For a more detailed history on my childhood and the gray hairs I gave Mama, feel free to read “O Mama, I Get it Now!”
Taking care of yourself is worth the effort. Take that daily medication. Drink the water. Go on walks. Swim with your kids.
Life is FULL of doing things you don’t feel like doing. Do them anyway. It starts when we are little with picking up our toys and making our bed. Then doing things like asking for forgiveness, finishing things well, and definitely putting up our shopping carts at Walmart.
Trust your gut – don’t shush your gut. Pay attention when things don’t add up or when a situation doesn’t feel right. Those feelings are there for a reason.
If we run from the brokenness we will miss the beauty. There is not enough bubble wrap to protect us from the truth that we live in a broken world. God uses this brokenness to draw us closer to Himself. He works in the brokenness to reach parts of our heart that would otherwise remain unchanged. And He weaves beauty in the brokenness that brings peace, joy, and makes us whole. It is the biggest mystery to me, and it is something only God could do.
God is never surprised or caught off guard. When we feel like the rug has been yanked out from under us, we can rest in the truth that every single thing that happens to us is filtered through God’s loving hands. We can trust His plan for our life.
God will ask us to walk through difficult times, but He never asks us to walk through it alone. He is with us every step of the way.
Get the Breyer’s ice cream on a normal day. When I was a little girl, if Mama bought Breyer’s something special was coming up. Celebrate little things in big ways from time to time.
We are made for relationships. We are born into a web of relationships and every moment of our lives are anchored in relationships. For my birthday, my mom gave me a photo album filled with pictures of places, events, and the people involved. My first boyfriend, the ONE picture of my running career (one race), the ONE page of my pageant career (one pageant), and so many silly pictures with friends. The most important part of each picture wasn’t the location or what we were doing, it was the people in the pictures.
Nurture the friendships that refresh your soul.
If God puts someone on your mind, pick up the phone, write the letter, and reach out to them. You’ll be glad you did.
Surprise others with grace. There will be times when it is hard to love others. Those are the times when it is needed the most. There will be people who are difficult to love. Those are the people who need it the most. Showing grace when people don’t expect it gets their attention. After all, it is what God did for us. He loves us when we are at our worst, and draws us in with His kindness and grace.

I am thankful for the lessons learned and the years it took to learn them.

Now I’m going to go call Mama and hear her laugh.

We Never Wait Alone

Do you remember how much of childhood was spent waiting?

Waiting on Christmas, on your birthday, for the storm to pass so you could go swimming, waiting for your turn on the swing (Why did the person in front of us always take so long?)

Kids know about waiting.

I’m not saying kids are good at waiting. I’ve seen plenty of crossed arms, furrowed eyebrows, and impatiently tapping toes. And we can’t forget the glorious meltdowns.

When my kids were younger, I would tell them that waiting is a part of life. Even grownups have to wait. We wait for appointments, we wait in line at the grocery store, we wait for our kids to put on their shoes.

But waiting isn’t easy, is it? And not all waiting is equal.

A child waiting for Christmas knows that the day will eventually come. You will eventually reach the cashier at Walmart, no matter how many coupons the lady in front of you is holding.

But some waiting has no end in sight and no guarantee that the end will be what we want it to be. Our first response may be to nervously chew our fingernails, or eat all the chocolate, or stay really busy. But God offers us a different way. He offers two types of waiting that offer peace.

Waiting Expectantly: Psalm 27:14

The word used in this verse for wait has the idea of waiting expectantly, being alert. Don’t give up. Instead, give God time to act. It also has the idea of being twisted or stretched. This type of waiting means enduring.

This verse also tells us we don’t wait on our own and we don’t endure in our own strength. He shall strengthen your heart. He will cause you to be strong, alert, courageous, bold.

You aren’t waiting alone, and the waiting isn’t without purpose. God is working in you during the waiting to grow courage, purpose, and resolve in you.

He is with you. And in the waiting you will experience His faithfulness.

Restful Waiting: Psalm 62:5

Here the word used for wait is to grow silent, to be still.

It’s not a shut up and deal with it type of being silent. Instead, it means to cease moving, to quiet yourself, to find rest.

How can we do this? Because of where our hope is placed.

The next few verses tell us why it is safe to place our hope in God, the reasons we can rest as we wait. They describe God as a rock, a fortress, a refuge. Because of who He is we can confidently place our trust Him.

In this type of waiting we draw our strength from who God is. We lean toward Him during these times and in this quiet, resting place, He draws near to us.

You are with Him. And in the waiting you will experience His gentleness.

No matter the waiting, we never wait alone.

When Jesus Turns Things Upside Down

Jesus often said and did the unexpected.

He turned things upside down and left people perplexed.

When the rich young ruler approached Jesus, he was confident that he was in good standing with God. The prevailing thought of the day was that riches proved that God was pleased with you. Add that to his rule-keeping, and he was practically guaranteed to inherit eternal life, right?

This man was trusting in what his religious culture said about his wealth.

And then Jesus asked him to give away the very thing that his trust was wrapped up in to the poor- the very people that he was certain God was not pleased with.

In one simple conversation “Jesus exposed in that man the thing that he treasured more than he treasured God.”

Jesus turned things upside down.

Nicodemus wasn’t confident he was in good standing with God, but he knew he was on the right path. He was, after all, a respected Pharisee.

And yet something in Jesus’ teachings led him to go to Jesus in secret.

In one statement, Jesus rocked the world Nicodemus had carefully built during a lifetime of serving the Lord.

Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The despair in his response leaps off the page. How can a man be born when he is old?

Seeing the kingdom of God was the focus of Nicodemus’ entire life.

“What if Jesus had told Nicodemus,’You need to work harder and trust God more’? Nicodemus could have gone home and tried to do better. But Jesus was emptying Nicodemus of any hope he had of fixing himself.

One sentence emptied Nicodemus of all of his self-centered schemes for rightness with God.”

He spent his life seeking God, but his trust was in the seeking, not in God.

Jesus turned things upside down.

The Samaritan woman at the well knew she wasn’t favored by God. She definitely knew she didn’t have a chance of being right with God.

After all, she had messed up way too much, searching for a relationship that would make her feel loved. Everyone, including her, knew that for a fact.

And yet, when Jesus revealed that her hope in relationships would always leave her thirsty and pointed her toward Himself, she recognized her need for Him.

When Jesus turned things upside down for her, she saw that things were finally right.

Jesus turned things upside down for these three to reveal that what they were trusting in could never fully satisfy. He poked holes in their false hopes so they could see that their need of Him, the source of lasting Hope.

And He does the same for us.

Sometimes we are the young ruler trusting in social status or rule-keeping.

Other times we are Nicodemus, hoping that our service to God, our sacrifice, our theological knowledge will make us complete.

And, more often than not, we are the Samaritan woman, hoping to find love and a sense of worth through relationships.

Jesus loves us too much to let us keep searching for fulfillment in things and people. He turns things upside down so that we can see Him clearly, run to Him readily, and find what we are searching for in Him.

Words in italics are from the workbook Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically by John Snyder. Used with permission.

What Will Be Different About This Year?

How did you bring in the new year?

We brought it in very quietly, which was different.

A year ago, we joined a few other families for a celebration filled with games, food, laughter, and fireworks. We threw open the door for 2020 and welcomed it in. I chose #2020seeingclearly as my hashtag for the year and made a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish.

Then, like a snow globe in the hands of a toddler, the world, on a global and personal scale, was turned upside down and vigorously sloshed from side to side.

At first we were flustered about the intrusion, then frustrated. As it went on we became rattled, and eventually worn down. The more our world was shaken, the more we found that the things we cling to were shaken right along with us.

Trials and loss have a way of showing us what we are clinging to. If those things fail us, what are we left with?

What if we could cling to something that couldn’t be shaken, no matter how hard the snow globe is thrown?

My hashtag was more fitting than I imagined, though not for the reason I chose it. The days, months, and events of 2020 helped me see a few things very clearly.

I am not in control, but God is. Every plan can be cancelled, but the plans of the Lord never fail. His purposes stand. 2020 taught me to hold my plans loosely, and to look with eyes of faith for what God is doing.

Trusting God is the way to combat fear. Unlike things or people that we place our trust in, God will never leave or abandon us. His overall plan is to draw us closer to Himself, and He uses world events to do just that. Fear shouts in our ears, bringing chaos to a rising roar so that we cannot hear the calm, steady voice of the Lord saying I’ve got you. Trust me. Trusting God means that we stop listening to the voice of fear, and begin listening to truth.

The more I know God, the easier it is to trust Him. The way to get to know God is through His Word. The Bible is a gift from God to us where He shows us who He is and who we are in relation to Him.

He does this through story and through poetry. He lets us see people who failed Him and those who trusted Him. And we see how He responds to those people.

Through His Word we see His love for imperfect people just like us. We see how He works inside the bounds of circumstances, and how He works above the bounds of circumstances. He is not limited in any way.

As we get to know God, we see the depth of His love for us. His unfailing love for us helps us trust Him.

God’s love, trustworthiness, and character – these are the things that cannot be shaken by circumstances.

As we begin a new year, may we hold loosely to things and people, and tightly to the things that cannot be shaken. May we find solid footing as we spend time in God’s Word. May we cling to truth.

And may we give our time and energy to pouring these lasting things into the lives of those around us.

How to get started? A Prayer for 2021 is a great place to begin. It is a prayer asking God to do what only He can do and asking Him to use us as He does it. Click on the link for the printable PDF version of the image below.

What are your thoughts on 2020 and on the year ahead? What do you hope to do to make this year different?

Happy New Year, my friend!

Erin

Tea tree oil, Chocolate, and Christmas Truth

I felt like the opposite of a million bucks. Like double negative one million bucks. There would be no selfies documenting this mother/daughter shopping trip.

It was springtime and a plague had descended upon our elementary school. Lice. It makes my head itch to even type the word.

My hair, slathered in coconut oil, was tucked beneath my Prince tennis cap. I felt like a mess and I looked like a mess as I walked up and down the aisles of CVS looking for tea tree oil because I was determined to suffocate these little pests that were wreaking havoc on my schedule, my life, and, at the moment, my self-esteem.

A clerk asked if I needed help, and I quietly told her what I was looking for.

“Hey! Henry!” she yelled from the center of the store. “She’s looking for tea tree oil! Where is that?” Other customers turned toward her voice and I literally wished the ground would just swallow me up.

Instead, my daughter came around the corner holding a bag of Dove chocolates. She looked cute, coconut oil and all, her long hair pulled up in a pretty scarf. She held up the bag of Doves and smiled.

“I think we need these today.” She knows Dove is my favorite because it has messages written on the inside of the wrappers.

If there was ever a day we needed chocolate, it was this day.

We bought our tea tree oil and chocolate, got into the car, and a wall of tired hit me. I was tired of doing laundry, tired of feeling itchy, and tired of combing through everyone’s hair.

I was weary.

I took a piece of chocolate from the bag, slowly opened it and read the words on the wrapper.

Rock a bad hair day.

If there was ever a day I needed this chocolate, it was this day.

Those words were printed by a machine in a factory in Pennsylvania and wrapped around a piece of chocolate that was now sitting in my hand in Mississippi, on the worst-bad-hair-day-ever. Crazy, right?

I felt like God was saying, “I see you. I am with you. I haven’t left you to deal with this on your own.” I thought about the friends who had come over the night before to show me what lice looked like and how to treat for it.

He sent them into the middle of my itchy mess…and they came, even though they had just cleared the plague from their own homes. If I needed to talk about my weariness, they would understand and encourage me. They were with me.

And then, God saw me, walking into the store feeling the opposite of a million bucks, and He wanted to remind me that He is with me too.

I sat there, smelling like coconut oil and chocolate, and I felt loved.

**********************************************************

Have you had a time when you sensed God reaching through circumstances to remind you that He is with you? I’d love to hear about it!

The Danger of Hope

“Hope is by far one of the most dangerous commitments we make in life.”
Dr. Dan Allender, The Healing Path

Until I read this sentence in The Healing Path I’d never thought of hope as being dangerous.

I’m not really a fan of danger in any form. I’ll skip over scary parts in books. Jurassic Park is the scariest movie I’ve seen. (Once again, sorry for throwing my popcorn everywhere, but the raptors freak.me.out.) I can’t even stand the suspense of hide and seek. You can read about my hide and seek incident here.

But this quote is different. It makes me feel a bit wild and unpredictable. It makes me feel strong when I track the ways I’ve clung to hope even when darkness swirled around me.

Why is hope a dangerous commitment? Because to feel hope, we must first allow ourselves to feel the hurt that is in our lives. And that, my friend, takes courage.

During difficult times, my first response is to build a cocoon around my heart to keep from feeling the hurt. My first response is to avoid feeling pain – at any cost.

What about you? I think we all have things we use to cope with the fact that life is messy, confusing, and unpredictable. And the past 9 months have been exactly that, haven’t they?

We distract ourselves in video games, TV series, and books to keep from dealing with life. We over-do good things: stay too busy, eat and drink too much, or shop too much. We even turn to harmful things like drugs, porn, gambling, cutting, or purging to keep us preoccupied and numb. The list goes on and on and the end result is the same. We end up miserable, and we know in the deepest parts that we weren’t made to live like this.

We were made for hope. We seek hope because we were designed to experience hope. And even when it feels hard to have hope, hope is worth fighting for.

You are worth fighting for.

You have worth because you were created by God, who calls you worthy, who breathed life into your soul, who calls you beloved and precious. You are not a random bunch of cells that happened to group together and form a person. You are loved tenderly by God, who also says that you are worth fighting for.

You were so worth fighting for that Jesus left the perfection of heaven and lived in this broken world. He experienced every emotion you have experienced. He knows how you are feeling right now. And he came to be the answer for the emptiness you are trying to fill.

He came to give us hope, He came to be our hope. He came to walk beside us in every moment of this crazy, broken world.

I still won’t be volunteering to play hide and seek anytime soon, but I will keep making the dangerous commitment to hope. It is a dangerous commitment, but once we make it, we find that our courage grows.

Are you numbing out these days? Did you see something on that list that brings tears to your eyes?

You were made for more, my friend. So much more. And there is hope.
The last chapter in your situation has not been written. As dark as things seem, God can and will work in what you are facing right now.

What could your life look like if you chose hope over despair?

This is not easy, but it is so worth pushing through and choosing hope. Want to talk? I would love to connect. Feel free to message me, comment below, or email me at erinulerich@gmail.com.

“This type of hope enables us to walk bravely into the future, confident that things can be better than they are today.” Dr. Dan Allender, The Healing Path