Everyday Faith Archives

It’s Okay If We Don’t Have It All Figured Out

When I drive I often become lost in thought, which tends to lead to being lost in my car. The other evening I got off on the wrong exit. No big deal, I told myself, I’ll just turn on this random road. It looks like it goes north. (Never mind that my brain thinks whatever direction I’m facing is north.)

Needless to say, this road did not take me home. Instead it took me into scary places where no one had bothered to put street lights. I was sure Big Foot was going to appear. I heard wolves howling (or they could have been chihuahuas—it didn’t matter at this point). I hit potholes the size of the Grand Canyon. I prayed relentlessly, “Help me, Jesus” because I was sure I would soon meet Him face-to-face.

Then, suddenly, I saw a stoplight. When I pulled up to it, sweaty, exhausted and grateful to be alive, I realized it was the exact same spot where I had taken the original wrong turn. I had, in effect, driven in a square right back to where I started. It had been five minutes. At this point I turned myself over to the GPS, whose voice guided me the rest of the way without further incident.

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

Once the danger had passed I thought of these words from Proverbs 3:5-6 (because everything in my life seems to turn into some sort of spiritual analogy): Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the one who will keep you on track.

It’s the “don’t depend on your own understanding” part that’s hard for me. Because sometimes I just know that I’m right, that I have it all figured out, that I’m heading “north” in whatever decision I’m making. But so often I find myself on a back road where I don’t belong, scared out of my wits and just hoping I’m not about to be abducted by aliens.

When I don’t know where I’m headed in the next moment or day or year I feel stressed and anxious and slightly guilty. I feel like I have to guess or just do my best rather than relying on something outside myself, like the GPS in my car or the Spirit of God within me. I’m in a season that feels this way. And I have been freaking out because of it. Just this morning a friend said to me, “Maybe you’re not supposed to figure this out.” My whole soul sighed in relief at those words.

So just in case you’re wired a bit like me (or love someone who is) let’s tell ourselves all over again: We don’t have to figure everything out on our own.

True confession: Living this way doesn’t feel like “north” to me yet. It feels scary and awkward and as if I’m losing control. But I’m slowly discovering it’s actually what I want and need most. Trust, not trying hard, is what leads me into peace and rest and even joy. It’s the only way home for my wandering, worrying heart.

XOXO
Holley

P.S. If you need a little dose of encouragement each morning (I know I do!), I wrote this for you.

P.P.S. Are you on Instagram? If so, I’d love to connect with you there.

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You’re invited to join the “Let’s Have Coffee” link up! Simply write a post that has the kind of encouragement you’d share with a friend over coffee and then add it here (the link up goes live at 5:30am CT every Wednesday). Don’t have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you’re reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too.

When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!

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Help for Whatever We’re Facing Today

by Holley 24 Comments

We will all face something today or tomorrow, next week or year or decade, that simply feels like it’s too much for us. When this happens to me I tend to eat chocolate in the pantry alone while I come up with a brilliant plan for how to make everything better. Yes, I’m just that spiritual.

In the past the strategy I’ve usually decided on can be summed up in six words: be good, do more, try harder. I convince myself that if I’m perfect and hustle enough and make things happen then somehow it will all turn out okay.

I went to sleep last night thinking this way. Sometime past midnight I woke up in the dark and these words came to my heart: “Not by might nor by my power but by my Spirit” (Zech. 4:6). Another translation says it this way, “You will not succeed by your own strength or by your own power. The power will come from my Spirit” (ICB).

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

When I looked up the verse this morning I noticed it ends this way: “says the Lord of heaven’s armies.” I’d been worried because I thought the battle was completely up to me. And all the while I had the Lord of heaven’s armies willing to fight on my behalf.

I don’t know what you’re facing right now. But I do know this: You don’t have to overcome it alone. The outcome doesn’t rest on our smarts or our strengths or even our circumstances. Our victory isn’t dependent on our virtue. It’s just really not about us at all.

It’s hard to have a bigger perspective when you’re eating chocolate by yourself in the pantry. But I see what I’m facing in a different way now. I am a beloved daughter of God. I am more than a conqueror. Nothing is too difficult for me because nothing is impossible for the God within me. He will do it.

The same is true for whatever you’re facing too.

God, we come to You with whatever we’re going through today. We thank You that we don’t have to face it alone. You are with us and for us. You surround us with Your love. You will take care of us. You will complete Your plans and purposes in our lives and in the lives of those we love. We choose not to rely on our strength or our own power but on Your Spirit. Amen.

XOXO

Holley

P.S. If you like this post you might love You’re Going to Be Okay. Here’s a free chapter.

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When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!

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We Don’t Have to Be Productive Today

by Holley 20 Comments

The laundry is still unfolded, the emails unanswered, the to-do list undone. I sigh and ask, “Have I been productive at all today?”

Anxiety and accusations are the only response. So I pray, “God, what lie am I believing? And what’s the truth that replaces it?” This is a new habit I’m practicing. It’s uncomfortable and hard.

Yet in that quiet moment it seems my heart hears a reassuring whisper…

Life isn’t about being productive. It’s about being purposeful.

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

I’ve often believed the lie that God’s first priority is what I can produce: a basket of neatly folded laundry, a dozen email responses, a to-do list with check marks. But the truth is there are things that matter just as much or more. Like feeding my granddaughter waffles while she giggles in her high chair, going for a walk with my husband on a blue-sky summer afternoon, brainstorming an idea that may never turn into anything.

Just because something doesn’t have tangible results doesn’t mean it doesn’t have eternal impact.

I’m no longer going to ask myself, “Have I been productive today?” Instead I’m going to ask, “Have I been purposeful?” To me that simply means living in love. Sometimes love looks like laundry and answering email and checking off what’s on my list. Those are good and worthy things. But often it looks like the exact opposite, like we’ve done “nothing” at all. And that’s okay too.

Our work doesn’t determine our worth. Our accomplishments don’t earn us God’s acceptance. Our value isn’t validated by our hustle. We are already and always loved.

Whew. I needed to remember that today. You too? Now I’ve got some laundry to do…

XOXO
Holley

P.S. If you liked this post you might love You’re Already Amazing. Want a preview of the book? Here’s a free chapter.

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Yep, You’re a World-Changer

by Holley 17 Comments

Someone recently asked me if I considered myself to be a world-changer. When I got my wits about me again I said this: “My sweet Daddy once told me, ‘I pray every day that your words will touch the heart of one woman who will touch the hearts of her family who will touch the hearts of their community who will touch the world.’”

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

I believe being a world-changer simply means touching the heart of one person at a time through whatever gifts we’ve been given right where we are today. That one person for you might be a friend, coworker, someone in your family or a stranger on the street. Your gift might be words or encouraging, organizing or baking, leading or creating spreadsheets.

Let’s never believe the myth I’m sometimes tempted to, the one that says only certain people get to be world-changers, the kind who seem to do big, extraordinary things. God alone is big and extraordinary. He uses small, ordinary people to change the world every day because that’s the only kind there are, the only kind there will ever be.

That includes you and me.

XOXO

Holley Gerth

P.S. I answered this question as part of a panel discussion at an event celebrating my friend and fellow writer Suzie Eller’s new book, The Spirit-Led Heart. You can watch a video of the whole event including the panel, worship and a powerful encouraging message from Suzie.

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Two Words that Change Everything

by Holley 24 Comments

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

I’ve been given a hard task—write down the lies/condemnation my heart hears and the truth that will set me free.

I approach this assignment on an ordinary weekday morning over a cup of coffee. I pull out my favorite journal and write Lies/Condemnation on one side and Truth on the other, and then I draw a black line right down the middle.

The first lie/condemnation comes easily, like a strong wind blowing through me…

I’m not good enough.

It’s my signature struggle, the phrase that echoes through my mind most often. When I’ve addressed it in the past I’ve tried a simple counter argument: I am good enough. This never seems to work. I can say the words but I don’t feel them in my guts and bones. They ring untrue.

On this particular morning I realize suddenly that’s because they are untrue. For me to be “good enough” by my own standards I would have to be perfect. I am not perfect. I never have been. I never will be on this side of eternity.

Shoot. I may need more coffee.

I decide to go digging around in the Word for what else I might write in the Truth column. I find this:

“When I tried to keep the law [[be good enough]], it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless.” Galatians 2:19-21

Paul is writing these words to people who have been trying to be good enough, too. He is telling them what I’ve come to see: that I will never meet the impossible standard of perfection. His answer is not to pat them on the back and tell them they’re nice people anyway. No, his response really comes down to two words…

But Jesus.

It seems in that moment the table on which my coffee mug is sitting shakes, the earth tilts sideways, my old perspective shatters. This is the truth that overcomes every word of condemnation I hear inside my heart…

I’m not good enough. But Jesus.

I fall and fail and make mistakes. But Jesus.

I didn’t get everything right today. But Jesus.

What we need is not more “self-esteem”; it’s to fully understand that our hope and identity and security rest only in our Savior, in what He did for us on the cross and through His resurrection, in who He says we are as a new creation.

I fill the lies/condemnation column of my journal. Half the page is covered in black ink by the time I’m done. Yet when I finish there are still only two words on the Truth side: But Jesus.

I know I will go back to this place in my journal. Because as long as I am on this earth storms will come and the lies and condemnation will try to swirl through my mind like tiny tornadoes. Only truth can still them. As my friend and fellow writer Sharon Jaynes says in Enough: Silencing the Lies that Steal Your Confidence, “The enemy tries to get us to focus on our flaws rather than on our faith.”

Maybe your life could use a little more peace today too. What our hearts struggle with may be different but what rescues us is the same. We are the beloved and this is our hope, our anthem, our heart-shout that rises above the wind within…

But Jesus.

XOXO
Holley Gerth

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Right now, we’re doing a special link-up series to celebrate Fiercehearted: Live Fully, Love Bravely. You’re a fiercehearted woman so I’m asking you to pour out a little love and courage with your words every Wednesday {the link-up goes live at 5:30am CST}. Simply write an encouraging blog post, especially if it’s about living fully and loving bravely, and then share it here. Don’t have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you’re reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too.

When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!

I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth!

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