Holidays Archives - Holley Gerth

If the Holidays Let You Down, God Wants to Hold You Up.

You are the One who lifts my head high. Psalm 3:3

Maybe the holidays are happy for you this year. Maybe they’re hard. Most likely they’re a mix of many different kinds of moments. Here’s a little reminder that in all of them, you’re never alone…

She stands at the edge of the room and stares at the floor. All around her conversations flow and laughter pours out. In a different moment she might have had the strength to reach out. She might have been able to overcome her insecurity. She might have made the best of this situation. But not today.

Then a voice calls her name. At first she doesn’t even respond. But soon she feels a gentle hand on her chin, tilting her face toward the sound of words being spoken to her. She does what she hasn’t all day: she looks up.

And standing right before her is Someone who loves her. Someone who sought her out. Someone who wants to hear about her hard day and her heart. And suddenly she feels a bit different.

Sometimes our hearts are downcast. We don’t even have the energy to try anymore. We feel alone. And then Jesus does something that’s beyond our comprehension. He comes to us in infinite love and tenderness. He lifts our heads.

When we look down, it’s usually because we’re feeling shame, sadness, or insecurity. Jesus wants to change all of that by reaching out to touch our lives and hearts. When someone lifts up your head, it’s an invitation for eye contact. It’s a way of clearly showing, “I see you. I’m here with you. I want to connect with you.”

Jesus is looking at you and loving you. He’s reaching out His hand to cup your chin and lift your face so you can look into His eyes.

And what else happens when we lift our heads? Our perspective changes.

Right in front of you is a Savior who wants to lift your head and heal your heart. Can you feel His touch and hear His voice? Both are full of love for you. Wherever you are today, He’s with you.

XOXO,
Holley Gerth

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours! We’re grateful for you.

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For more encouragement, join me for a FREE Online Bible Study! It kicks off in January 2020. Learn more and sign up here!

This post is an excerpt from my devotional, What Your Heart Needs for the Hard Days: 52 Encouraging Truths to Hold On To. Each of the 52 devotions based on the Psalms will help weary women remember that God is faithful, we’re all in this together and there’s a good plan for our lives.

Let’s Welcome the New Year with Hope (Here’s Why We Can)

by Holley Leave a Comment

The airport is crowded this morning. As I wait for my flight I watch the parade of people. Disgruntled teenagers with caps pulled down over their eyes trailing behind determined parents. Bright-eyed couples holding hands with the honeymoon sun still on their faces. A group of grey-headed ladies in pink matching t-shirts laughing and exchanging stories while they sip coffee. I wonder about all of them. Where have they come from? Where are they going?

I realize all over again in that moment God knows the answers. He sees every detail of our lives. He’s been with us in every step we’ve ever taken. And as we welcome a new year this reassures me. Because none of us knows what’s ahead. There are certain to be blessings and moments of happiness. There will also be hard days and tears shed. Some parts of our lives will stay much the same and others, like it or not, will inevitably change.

A blond little girl in pigtails walks by with a stuffed brown bear in her arms. Seeing her reminds me of the first time I flew by myself. I was only five years old when I marched up to the ticket counter with a little red suitcase in hand to tell the amused airline employee the plane needed to come so I could go see my Grandma. My parents observed from close by and made sure every bit of the trip was in order. These days I carry a leopard print laptop bag and I’ve flown away from my comfort zone many times. But on the inside that younger self and I still have much in common. We want to know we’re safe. We’re loved.

We’re going to be okay. That’s what gives us the courage to pick up our bag and go.

Psalm 121:8 says, “The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever.” This is mysterious to me because difficult things happen, people get sick, and life doesn’t always work out the way I planned. But even if I don’t understand them fully these words offer hope because it means whatever may transpire God is still taking caring of me.

Today I’m sharing at (in)courage. Click here to continue reading the post…

And if you’d like more encouragement for the new year, you’ll find it in Hope Your Heart Needs: 52 Encouraging Reminders of How God Cares for You. Order your copy before midnight on December 31st, fill out this form, and you’ll also receive Hope for the Holidays, an exclusive, limited-time only ebook — for free!

Jesus Came, We’re Loved, Let’s Celebrate!

by Holley 4 Comments

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

I’m tempted to complicate Christmas. It’s easy to make it about what I do: about how well I can tie bows, and choose party outfits, and make small talk. About how the table is set and the ham is cooked. About how I sing in the service and take notes from the sermon with my neat purple pen.

But the angels didn’t say, “Good news! You get to try hard. You get to wear yourself out. You get to make sure you have it all together.” Instead they declared: I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you (Luke 2:10-11).

A Savior! For us!

This reminds me all over again that the heart of Christmas has always been about two things: A child in a manger and childlike faith. I can never hear it enough. Christmas isn’t about hustle; it’s about humility. It’s not about perfection; it’s about grace. It’s not about effort; it’s about extravagant love.

Yes, Jesus came. We’re loved. Let’s celebrate!

XOXO,
Holley Gerth

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Here’s a Christmas present… my new devotional Hope Your Heart Needs is half off at Barnes & Noble for a limited time!

You want the new year to be different, to beat discouragement, to truly believe you’re loved and have new strength for whatever is ahead. I understand because I’ve been there too. Writing Hope Your Heart Needs changed my life and reading it will change yours too (it also makes a great little gift). 2019 really can be better.

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Note: The last Let’s Have Coffee link-up here will be on December 25th. I’m freeing up some time and energy to work on some exciting new things for you. Sue at Welcome Heart will graciously be hosting Let’s Have Coffee starting January 2nd, and you can link up there!

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

{Want to share a word of encouragement on Twitter? Click this link and then tweet!}

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Jesus, Be the Center of Our Christmas Celebrations

by Holley 10 Comments

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

It seems every nativity set comes with a story. Maybe it’s an heirloom full of memories, a special purchase on an outing that brings back a cocoa-scented moment, a relic from childhood with beloved dust in the cracks, a gift from a friend that came in a package with a red bow on top.

I pull my nativity set from the box, releasing it from its blanket of bubble wrap. The pieces are ceramic. Pure white. The donkey is missing half an ear. It belonged to my grandmother and every year I think of her when I set it on my shelf.

She had polio at age twenty-eight and spent most of her years in a wheelchair. I loved the patterns her wheels left in the carpet, like a trail to somewhere secret and magical.

A pastor came to visit her in the hospital. He said, “Frances, this can make you bitter or better.” She would always say, with a twinkle in her eyes, “I choose better.” I run my fingers across the baby in the manger as I tell myself this story again. The Jesus in this nativity will always mean hope to me because of it.

What I love about nativities is that Jesus is unique in each one. In my nativity He is hope and to someone else He might be a reminder of peace and to you He could be comfort and joy. Oh, who He is doesn’t change. But how His love reveals itself in our lives is different in each of our hearts, each of our homes. This is beautiful to me. A kind of Christmas mystery that I will never fully understand on this spinning, broken earth.

I arrange the pieces of the nativity. I step back and smile. Then I set Jesus at the center, exactly where He should be.

When you think of Jesus, what’s a word that comes to mind like “hope” does for me?

XOXO
Holley Gerth

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Speaking of hope… my new devotional Hope Your Heart Needs is half off at Barnes & Noble for a limited time!

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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 (the link-up goes live at 5:30am CT every Wednesday, and you can view the Link-Up Guidelines 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.

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

{Want to share a word of encouragement on Twitter? Click this link and then tweet!}

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What Will You Give Yourself this Christmas? Me? The Gift of Rest…

by Holley 19 Comments

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

I recently audaciously and intentionally asked this question: “What gift am I going to give myself this Christmas?” I already have pink fuzzy socks and flannel pajama pants with hearts on them so I settled on this: Permission to rest.

What does rest look like to me? It’s the little things: a nap, a cup of tea, a few moments sitting with my husband on the couch, a cozy blanket, a “no” instead of “yes” sometimes, leftovers for dinner. And, perhaps most of all, giving the critical voice inside my head the holiday season off. I’m sending her somewhere sunny like Florida or the Caribbean or Australia. Anywhere that’s far enough away that I can’t hear her. A one-way ticket, I hope.

I used to think “rest” was selfish, but then two things happened: I read a whole lot of research that showed happier people are more giving, kind and generous. And a friend said something to me that I’ll never forget: “Sometimes rest is an act of worship.”

Both of these make good sense to me. So I’m picking “permission to rest” as a gift to myself because I know if I do then this gift will ultimately be passed on to the people I love and the Savior I serve and this weary world.

What gift will you give yourself this Christmas?

XOXO
Holley Gerth

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A gift for YOU: my new ebook, Hope for the Holidays.

This post is one of the devotions you’ll find inside the free (for a limited-time-only) ebook. I’d love to send it your way this Christmas! Click here for all the details.

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

{Want to share a word of encouragement on Twitter? Click this link and then tweet!}

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