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 reallyis 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.
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.
Well, it’s January. Time to move on to the next thing, right?
Nope. Nope. Nope.
I’m going to throw out something really crazy: Just because December is over doesn’t mean Christmas is over.
We have decorations that we only put out at Christmas, food that we only eat at Christmas, and music we listen to only at Christmas. So it’s easy to see why we might feel like the Christmas story is only for Christmas.
We spend December celebrating THAT Jesus came. During our other days we walk in the WHY He came.
Why DID He come?
He came to be with us in our after-December-days, in our after-the-holidays-moments, in our this-is-so-messed-up struggles.
This is important to remember because if He is with us in these days, moments, and struggles, then we are not alone.
God knew that we could not navigate life in this world on our own without being crushed by the brokenness. We need God with us, we need His power living and working in us, we need His grace, His forgiveness, His redemption.
We need Him and He is with us, in every moment, in every situation. This is Christmas in Everyday life.
What does a Christmas in Everyday Life mindset look like?
Does it mean we wear Christmas sweaters year-round? Keep our decorations up? Do something really crazy and make peanut brittle or fruit cake in April?
We could, but that’s not really what it’s about.
A Christmas in Everyday Life mindset is one that believes that “God with us” is true in every moment, every situation.
It means praying prayers that are honest like, I don’t know what to do. I need Your help. I need wisdom.
Your Word says You are with me, but I’ve never felt more alone. Please teach me how to see you in my everyday life.
The manger is empty which tells us Jesus knows what it is like to walk through this broken world. He KNOWS.
The cross is empty because Jesus broke the hold sin and death have on us. He broke the brokenness of this world and began the process of making things right.
Because of this truth, we can walk through our days looking for the ways that God is with us. Looking for His fingerprints.
The definition of a fingerprint is “A unique pattern that presents distinctive evidence of a specific person.”
In mysteries, a fingerprint at a crime scene puts the person at the scene. In the same way, when we learn to look for God’s fingerprints we will see evidence that He is with us all the time.
It is something that we have to learn to do.
God often reaches out to us through the people in our lives.
My daughter has had a rough week. One of her friends called to check on her. And another came by with a hug and a gift. Those friends and the way they love my girl are God’s fingerprints in her life. They let her know she is not alone in her rough days.
He also speaks to us through His Word. Even if it’s just for a few minutes, reading God’s Word helps us get to know God and to see His hand in our life.
2 ways to Cultivate a Christmas in Everyday Mindset
Keep one Christmas decoration out that reminds you that God is with you. I chose a large ornament that has “O Come Let Us Adore Him” in beautiful script. It is hanging where I will see it every day.
So, while the world marches on to the next thing, can we pause for a moment?
Can we ask God to help us see that He is with us?
Because if we begin to see His fingerprints in the moments of our days, we will begin to believe that we are not alone.
And when we believe that we are not alone, we will begin to live life differently – we will walk through our days with peace in our hearts and bold hope in our steps.
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.
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.
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.
*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.
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!
The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. (Isaiah 9:2)
Darkness pressed down like a heavy coat, swallowing everyone in the cave. For one minute we stood in complete darkness and silence. Even though my husband was standing right beside me, within seconds the first fearful thought popped into my head.
I am alone.
Of course, I wasn’t. I was surrounded on every side by members of our group as we toured Mammoth Cave.
But in the darkness, I felt alone. Trapped.
Within seconds scenes from every murder-mystery I’d ever seen or read came to mind. I thought about the others in the group. Who are these people? I don’t even know them. I tightened my grip on my backpack straps and distrust rose in my heart.
Thankfully the minute passed, our tour guides turned their lanterns back on, everyone laughed, breathed a sigh of relief, and we went on with the remainder of our 14-mile tour.
It took less than a minute for fear to surface when I was standing in literal darkness. And that makes me wonder:
Does fear surface in any type of darkness?
What about the people all around us who are walking in figurative darkness? Searching for fulfilment, purpose, peace, and happiness without any light. Surrounded by fear and distrust without hope of rescue. Or so they believe.
But we know that light shines in the darkness. And we know the Light of the World who came to rescue us, the One who came to be our hope.
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.
If He had come like He did on Mount Sinai; we might have turned away in fear. In Exodus, the people were told to get ready, get clean, and not to touch the mountain or they would die. In contrast, Jesus came on a dark night, in a dirty stable, and only a few knew the Light had come.
Jesus came to show us what God is like, how deeply He loves us, and how we can follow Him.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. As the Word, He brought thoughts from the innermost recesses of people’s hearts out into the light. He was gentle with those who were struggling, patient with those who didn’t even know they needed Him until He spoke to them. He challenged those who thought they had Him all figured out.
Jesus saw people living in figurative darkness and it moved him. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)
Maybe they were tossed around by fear, suspicion, and distrust. Maybe they were seeking fulfilment, purpose, and peace in things that could never deliver. Maybe they felt trapped, like they would never be free from the darkness.
And He told them Whoever follows me will have the light of life. (John 8:12)
The light of life He offers shines brighter than a tour guide’s lantern and points us to the answer our hearts were made to search for – One who loves us beyond all measure. One who is always with us. One who shines light in the darkest places of our lives.
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We celebrate the coming of the Light of the world at Christmas, but we need this truth every day of the year. Discover the themes of Christmas in everyday life through my newly released book of short devotions In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Life.
I am not sure if we, as a collective body living on planet Earth, have ever entered the Christmas season this worn down, weary, and filled with questions.
The events and months of 2020 have highlighted the truth that life is fragile, and we have precious little control over the things that matter most to us. And by highlighted, I mean surrounded by harsh flashing bulbs that light up the sky.
In the final months of a year filled with too many unprecedented events are you wondering if you can even trust God anymore?
We need the wonder of Christmas, the joy, and the peace more than ever. And, in some ways, we have never been more prepared to see it.
Could the disappointments, the grief, the uncertainty of this calendar year have us searching for something that will last?
As we sit in shadows of uncertainty, a warm glow fills the air.
Light breaks through darkness, allowing things to be clearly seen. And on that first Christmas, God stepped into history in an unexpected way to show us that He is the answer to our deepest needs.
He still answers the questions we ask in the quiet of the night:
Am I alone? Does God love me? Does God have a plan for me? Can I trust Him?
And He responds:
His Name answers Am I alone?
His Presenceanswers Does God love me?
His Purpose answers Does God have a plan for me?
And these provide the answer to the question that lies at the center of it all:
Can I trust Him?
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.
We celebrate Christmas with an eye on the climax of the entire story. We celebrate the sweet baby in the manger because He is the suffering Savior on the cross, and the risen Savior who defeated the enemy of our soul out of love for us.
If you have thought This is not the way it should be,
If you’ve worried about health, finances, or the future,
If you’ve secretly wondered if you’ve missed out on the good in life,
If you feel like you are stuck in survival mode,
This book was written with you in mind.
In Unexpected Ways: Christmas in Everyday Lifeis a compilation of devotions written during moments when my heart held more questions than answers, when I wondered if God loved me, and when I felt like nothing would ever change.
God answered the questions I was really asking by whispering truth to my heart, truth from his Word that revealed His Presence, His love, and His purpose. Truth whispered from his Word changes us more deeply than the shouts of the world ever will.
God stepped into history in an unexpected way to show us that He is the answer to our deepest needs.
He has not changed. He still works through the unexpected to draw us to Him.
And drawing us to Himself is always the purpose for the unexpected.
