Hope/Encouragement Archives

We Are Imperfect…And Perfectly Loved

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We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8

We walk through the door of a room that smells of earth and dirt, fallen trees, and ancient seasons. The table is rectangular, surrounded by a rainbow of small chairs. My daughter and I are decades ahead of our fellow participants in this clay class. The others are pig-tailed and freckled, dark-headed and clad in neon tennis shoes. “Did you know it would be like this?” she asks. “Nope,” I reply. We grin.

I signed up for this class as part of my resolution to be a tourist in my hometown this year, to do things I never have before. I’d pictured fellow adults around me, a serious and substantial exercise. Instead, it’s like art class in elementary school. Already the table is messy. Already it’s clear I’m not among Picassos or Monets. I’m delighted and relieved.

We sit and the instructor points to a block of gray in front of us. “This is your clay. Today we are going to shape it into hearts.” We trace outlines on the surface with a thin stick, then dig deep. All that is not necessary or useful is stripped away. We hold the hearts in our hands, and their cool, still surfaces grow warm and alive beneath our touch.

“Now you can design them however you’d like,” the teacher says. My daughter chooses freehand. She swirls and writes. I use little presses to make polka dots and patterns. Hers will be spoon rests. Mine a set of ornaments. And I think of Jeremiah, sent by God to the potter’s house, and how this prophet watched a craftsman with the clay, “shaping it as it seemed best to him” (Jer. 18:4).

This work is intimate and personal. There is no mass production. No uniformity or conformity. It would be impossible to replicate one of these. Two little girls across from us gleefully push their hands into their pieces and I see fingerprints. If we ever wonder if God wants us to be like someone else, ever worry He’s disinterested in the details of our lives, ever fret He’s after machine-like perfection with us, then all we need to remember is that He is a Potter.

After we shape, we paint. But before this comes a disclaimer from the instructor: “When the clay goes through the fire, it will come out white.” This is beautiful and familiar to me, the way trials bring out something unexpectedly lovely and strong in us. I choose red paint and follow lines and curves, working with care. And the whole time I have this vision in my mind of what will be. I work toward that, steadily, and when the form is imperfect, when it has dents or cracks, uneven edges or inconsistencies, I am not deterred. I understand this is the nature of clay.

And I come to understand, too, this clay has but one role: to yield itself to my care. It has nothing to worry about, to fear, to strive for as long as it remains in my hands. “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). We are dirt and we are the crafts of divinity. We are dust and delight. We are in progress and already perfectly loved.

At the end of the class, I look at the places where those plain gray slabs had been. Each one now holds a new creation. Some thick-skinned. Others delicate. Pink and yellow and blue. Some decorated with ponies and others looking suspiciously like pizza slices. None of them are museum- or art-gallery worthy. But they all have this in common: each reflects their maker in some way.

And I realize, suddenly, this was always the whole purpose, the entire point. To display the vision of the Artist is what success looks like for clay.

XOXO
Holley Gerth

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This post is an excerpt from my new devotional, Hope Your Heart Needs: 52 Encouraging Reminders of How God Cares for You. It’s a little book that’s big on encouragement. Get your copy (and some extra for Christmas gifts) at your favorite place for books today and you’ll also get an exclusive, limited-time only ebook, Hope for the Holidays (get all the details here). Yay!

I’m also over at (in)courage today sharing about how you truly are making a difference. Join me?

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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!

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When Our Hearts Need Someone to Count On

by Holley 22 Comments

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

I am nine, sitting cross-legged on an elementary-school gym floor that smells vaguely like rubber soles and ketchup. My friends and I are lined up in a row waiting to go to recess or art class or the library. We’re likely wearing scrunchies in our side ponytails and neon shorts; children of the eighties. The girls nearest me lean in, grinning, and say, “We want to tell you something. We’re best friends.” I look back and forth between the two of them, confused, because just yesterday the one with the strawberry hair told me that I would always be her best friend.

I ride my bike home alone that day, forlorn, and sit at the kitchen table with a cookie in my hand and my mama across from me. These things happen, she explains gently. I nod, feeling very grown-up and wise, even in my disappointment. I will think of this again when my crush flirts with me one day and holds the hand of a long-legged athlete the next. I will feel it when the conversation with the editor at the conference seems to go so well and then the rejection letter comes in the mail. I will revisit it when the whirling crowd online is landing on my site today and taking off to another one the next like a flock of spring sparrows.

It is the nature of humans to be fickle. We put rings on each other’s fingers and then signatures on divorce papers. We are employee of the month and then find ourselves on the lay-off list. We are dear friends and then time and space and life make us drift until we’re looking back at old photos and thinking, I haven’t seen her in a while. Yet we keep searching, hoping, longing for that person who will stay. The constant who will never go away.

In these moments, it comforts me to know “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). He isn’t going to pick someone else on the playground. He isn’t going to bring us roses and then forget to call the next day. He won’t recruit us for the pet project and then neglect to invite us to the celebration party. He won’t use us up and throw us out, pull us close and then push us away, whisper in our ear and then lose our phone number. Because His love for us isn’t based on our charm; it’s rooted in His character. It doesn’t come from His emotions but instead from an eternal commitment. It isn’t dependent on what we do for Him, but what He’s already done for us.

It gets even better: Jesus also tells us, “I am making everything new!” (Rev. 21:5). Who He is doesn’t change, yet He moves and pursues in endlessly creative ways. It’s what our hearts long for, what we’re really looking for when we exchange the friendship bracelets or say the vows or sit down at the desk in a new office for the first time. We want to know we can trust, completely, the one with whom we have aligned ourselves. And yet we also want to know that doing so will lead to life and growth and adventure. We want stability and excitement, consistency and change, familiarity and novelty.

When we try to demand all of this from a human being, we always end up disappointed. But the answer isn’t to shut down our hearts, to tell ourselves we’re being unrealistic or irrational. Instead, it’s to take those desires to the One who put them there in the first place, the only One who can truly fulfill them. Jesus “is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Heb. 13:8) yet He also says. “I am making everything new!” (Rev. 21:5). Both are what we need. Both are eternally true.

XOXO
Holley Gerth

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Waffle Fries, Grace and Our Worst Moments

by Holley 17 Comments

Crumpled tissues create a fortress in front of me, flanked by medicine bottles. I’m behind them, slumped down, surrendering to sleep at last. My husband comes into the room and says something. I struggle to hear, to process through the fog. But I miss what he’s trying to express entirely. Instead, I misunderstand. I snap. Angry words. Then tears. A retreat to our bedroom. A slammed door. I’m a crazy woman, out of my mind. What am I doing? What am I saying?

I don’t trust myself to calm down or behave. So, still in my pajamas, I grab my purse and walk out the door. I back up the car and then sit in the street, unsure of where to go, what to do. I’d likely give our entire town the plague if I entered a public space, and besides, I don’t feel well enough to take another step.

Then a moment of pure southern inspiration: my vehicle begins the familiar journey to the Chick-fil-A drive-through. I get my waffle fries and a diet Dr. Pepper, effective as any prescription. I pull into the final row of the parking lot.

I call my friend and say something like, “I had an epic meltdown and I can’t calm myself down and I’m in the parking lot in my pajamas eating fries.” She tries to understand me between bites and might have stifled a giggle before she tells me this is not the end of the world and, no, I am not the worst human ever.

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

She convinces me to go home. “Sleep,” she says. “Sleep and then work it out.” I walk back through the door of my house, repentant and exhausted. I crawl under the covers and wake three hours later. I go to our living room, to the mama-bear red couch. I sit on it and wait, unsure of how to proceed. My husband comes out from his office and eyes me warily, as one might a normally docile pet who has recently taken up biting. I pat the couch to let him know it’s safe. He sits beside me and the tears come—a river, a flood. “I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m so sorry.”

Surely he’s going to reprimand me. He’s going to tell me all I’ve done wrong not just today but in all our marriage. He’s going to make me feel the shame I deserve. I am ready. I have it coming. But instead my husband looks at me, puts his arm around my shoulders, and says only, “None of us are at our best all the time.” This is it. All he offers. The end. I lean into his shoulder and I almost can’t receive it.

But then somehow I do, and I feel loved, so loved, in a deeper way than I even do in my best moments. Because in those I-have-it-all-together times, it can seem as if somehow I have earned the affection and the accolades and the acceptance. But I know, with my messed up hair and messed up words and cough-syrup stains, that I’ve got nothing to offer just then. Not a thing.

I think of Jesus and how He knows what’s true about us too—that we are not always at our best. We act as if He will be shocked and surprised and dismayed when we fail or falter. But hasn’t He known what we are capable of all along? Isn’t this why He came? And when we come to Him in that state, broken and sick, sorry and hurting, He doesn’t offer condemnation. He offers compassion. “It is finished,” He said on the cross. It is over. It is done. You are forgiven.

I hope I never end up eating waffle fries quite like that again (they taste better with ketchup than shame). And I hope you never follow my greasy-fingered example. But we are human, you see, and if we find ourselves in such a situation, at least now we know more about what to do. We’ll know we can go, right away, still in our pajamas and holding our tissues, to the God who loves us. The One who has seen us at our worst and still, always, loves us best.

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This post is an excerpt from my new devotional Hope Your Heart Needs: 52 Encouraging Reminders of How God Cares for You. It’s also featured on (in)courage’s Recommended Reads page today. See it there and find other recommendations for great books too!

If you’d like more encouragement like this, order Hope Your Heart Needs today (it would make a great Christmas gift for all the women on your list!). When you do, you’ll also get an exclusive, limited-time only, bonus ebook called Hope for the Holidays (click here for all the details on how to download your free ebook).

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If You’ve Ever Asked, “What’s My Purpose?”

by Holley 16 Comments

{my graphics are free goodies for you}

I stand at the sink, dirty pan in hand. I smell citrus in the soap, hear the warm water flow, move the brush in circles over the last bits of burnt cheese. I feel small in this space, ordinary and rooted to the ground. I have been here for a long while now, in this kitchen, on this earth, and I silently ask, What’s my purpose?

Across the street a mama or grandma might be asking the same as she changes the tenth diaper of the day. Maybe in the center of town someone is leaning her head on her desk with the door closed, just resting for a moment on that stack of spreadsheets and wondering this too.

When we ask this question and silence seems to be the answer, we often go searching. We’ll say yes to another opportunity or perhaps run away from it all. We’ll join that cool play group or volunteer at the soup kitchen on Fridays. We might jockey for the promotion or put in the long hours. My purpose is out there somewhere, we think, and one day I’ll find it.

But then the opportunity doesn’t go as planned, the giving leaves us empty, and our souls grow pale in the fluorescent light. “Something else will do it,” we say, “Surely it will be the next thing.” And on we go with our gypsy hearts.

It’s understandable, this great migration. We live in a culture that tells us the purpose of life is about us. We must find that one thing we are here to do and then all will be well; we will be whole. But when I look closer at how “purpose” is used in Scripture, there’s a different story.

The plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. (Ps. 33:11)

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. (Prov. 19:21)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Rom. 8:28)

The purposes of his heart, the Lord’s purpose, his purpose—over and over when purpose is described, it comes from God and belongs to Him. Also, purpose isn’t talked about much in terms of just individual people. It is more often spoken of as an ongoing thread that stretches through all of history and eternity. It is so much bigger than us. So when we go looking only for “our” purpose, we are disappointed. What changes everything is when we understand that a meaningful life is not just about finding our purpose but joining God’s.

If we want to be part of God’s purposes today, then we simply love Him, others, and ourselves. That means standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes can be worship. It means that another diaper changed can be an act of sacred service. It means the work project done well can be an offering. It means we don’t have to find purpose only “out there.” It can also be “right here.”

The square of earth you are standing on is the only place in all of history and the entire universe where both you and God are right now. It’s where His purposes and you, a person created by Him, come together. This is not small or inconsequential. It is beautiful and powerful. It is holy, meaningful ground.

XOXO
Holley Gerth

This post is an excerpt from my new devotional, Hope Your Heart Needs: 52 Encouraging Reminders of How God Cares for You. Look for it today at your favorite place for books, or sponsor a child through this link and Compassion will send you a free copy!

P.S. If you serve in ministry, I’d love to send you a free book as a thank-you gift! Find all the details here.

And, if you’re in the Arkansas/Oklahoma/Missouri area, I’d love to see you at the She Found Joy event on October 26th! It’s going to be a one-night mini retreat. More details here.

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Let’s Love Our Women’s Ministry Leaders

by Holley 16 Comments

October is Ministry Appreciation Month and I’ve especially been thinking of Women’s Ministry Leaders. I’ve personally been impacted by women in this role and I imagine you have too! Let’s take time to celebrate women’s ministry leaders this month. One way you can do so is by sharing the letter below on social media and tagging your women’s ministry leader…

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Dear Women’s Ministry Leader,

October is Ministry Appreciation Month and we’re thinking of you. When you come to mind, we picture a smile that welcomes others. We imagine your head nodding and tilted to the side as you listen. We hear your laugh and the way you say “amen” at the end of a prayer. We can feel the warmth of your hugs.

What you do isn’t easy, especially in today’s world. It’s a brave thing to keep your heart open, to come alongside other women, to show us what it looks like to love like Jesus. Having a soft heart in a hard world is an act of courage. Choosing connection over competition and authenticity over isolation are the kind of choices warriors make. You’re sweet, yes, and also strong—a woman who is here for such a time as this. You’re a light in the dark, a hope-bringer to the hurting, a woman who doesn’t give in or give up.

Even the mightiest among us can use encouragement now and then. So hear this from our hearts: You’re making a difference. What you do matters. You help change lives. We’re better, braver and more in love with Jesus because you said “yes” to His invitation to lead us.

We feel this way all through the year but right now seemed like the right moment to pause and put it into words you can read and remember, that you can tuck away and pull out again any time you need a reminder of what’s true.

You are loved. You are a gift. We’re so grateful for you.

XOXO
Holley Gerth

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Thank You Gift: If you’re looking for a Ministry Appreciation gift for your Women’s Ministry Leader (or any other woman who’s making a difference in your life) my new devotional Hope Your Heart Needs would be a great fit.

And if you’re a Women’s Ministry Leader at your church I’d like to personally send you a copy of Hope Your Heart Needs: 52 Encouraging Reminders of How God Cares for You, as appreciation for how you’re serving. Books will be given to the first 150 Women’s Ministry Leaders to complete this form.

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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!

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