Carry the Peace of Christmas into the New Year Through a Purpose Filled Life

Oftentimes, it’s easier to find peace and purpose during the holidays than at other times of the year. The hustle and bustle tend to keep your mind distracted from day-to-day anxieties—although they may also give you new ones to worry about. There are so many joy-filled reminders that encourage you to look for the good of the season. Yet, these reminders seem to slip away once Christmas has passed.

However, the peace, joy, and purpose that come with the Christmas season don’t have to end with Christmas. They shouldn’t end with Christmas. The peace, joy, and purpose that seem to come so much more easily during that season are actually possible throughout the year by intentionally living a purpose filled life.

Living a purpose filled life starts with intentionally trusting God with your life.

So often, we yearn for peace, yet we search for it by pushing away the very One who can help us. Oftentimes, it’s not even on purpose. But that’s the point, isn’t it? We need to be purposeful—to be intentional with our lives. That’s what a purpose filled life seeks to do.

In our day-to-day, there are anxieties, distractions, and false expectations that keep shifting our focus from God—either completely, or in a way that gives us a skewed perspective of who He is. (I’m not talking about clinical anxiety here.)

How often do we look to Him to save us from our anxieties instead of asking if there is a greater purpose for them?

That’s not to say we can’t or shouldn’t ask God to remove challenges from our path—because we absolutely can and should. However, we also need to be open to the possibility that we need to experience certain things in order to grow in our relationship with Him.

The anxieties we feel over certain situations can be an invitation to trust Him more with whatever that thing is—even more so when it’s something completely out of our control.

When we feel out of control, we like to numb out with distractions.

These distractions tend to either delay or even intensify the anxiety or other unwelcome feelings we experience. They don’t actually serve us in any way. More unfortunately, they pull our focus away from the One who can actually help us—the One we need to trust and lean on in times of trial.

The hardest part is leaning on God when we expect Him to act in a certain way.

There are so many things that can happen in our world that make us wonder why God would allow them. It shakes our very being and our trust in the One we believe could have done something about it. It makes us wonder why we should trust Him in the little things of our own lives if He doesn’t seem to take care of the bigger things of the world.

We can’t see what God sees. And He promises that He does indeed see:

“Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.” — Matthew 10:29

In order to have true peace, our expectations of God need to shift—and we need to place our trust fully in Him.

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God’s Joy Becomes Easier with Gratitude

Gratitude provides a strong foundation for living a purpose filled life and experiencing God’s joy. It helps our minds shift from what is lacking to what is already present.

If you haven’t experienced this yet, the only way to do so is to practice it. Whenever your mind shifts toward negative thoughts or complaints, practice looking for the good. Practice seeing what there is to be thankful for, even if it seems small.

Alternatively, in the evening, you can look back at your day and write down all the good that happened—all that you are thankful for or could be thankful for.

Not only does gratitude provide perspective, but it also gives proof that our efforts are fruitful.

This is particularly true in the mundane, day-to-day work of a wife and mom. So often those days can really get to you. You start to wonder if what you’re doing is really doing anything at all. You start to wonder if it really matters. Worse, you start to wonder if you matter.

Let me tell you right now—you do matter. What you’re doing matters.

For example: “I’m thankful that my child does not have a rash because I changed his or her diaper ‘x’ times today.” Because of you, your child’s quality of life is better. We can really feel this gratitude after we’ve dealt with those stubborn rashes that won’t go away no matter how many times we change the diaper or how many creams we use. Once we’ve gotten it under control, those rash-free diaper changes bring with them murmurs of thanks.

If you’re really struggling to see the good you’ve done today, start a list. I used to call it a “to-did” list, and it was very helpful for putting everything in perspective. Just write down everything you did today, and then think about the consequences of doing those tasks versus not doing them. Then thank God for the ability to do what you accomplished.

That’s the point, isn’t it? To continually bring our gaze back to Christ.

If nothing else, the practice of gratitude provides the opportunity to continually turn our gaze back to Him who has called us to our very unique and purpose filled lives. Because that is what He has called you to—to live your life with purpose.

Gratitude helps us to live a purpose filled life by taking us out of ourselves and placing our lives in the ever-loving hands of Jesus.

The exercises in The Intentional Day Blueprint guide you through these steps and help you understand where you are right now so that you can move forward and experience peace.
Use code ADVENT2025 to get it for $10 OFF through December 5th!
–> The Intentional Day Blueprint

Your Purpose Is Where He Has Called You

In Ecclesiastes 3:1 we read, “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.”

What has God called you to right now? For most of us, it’s one of the many seasons of motherhood.

As a kid, I remember romanticizing this time of my life. I was the oldest of nine kids and couldn’t wait to have children of my own. Once I did, however, I felt jaded. The full story is too long for this post, but it left me questioning who I was and what my purpose in life truly was. I knew it was supposed to be in my vocation, but I really struggled to embrace it.

In order to live a purpose filled life, I needed a perspective shift.

Through verses like the ones above, God slowly worked on my heart. Like a mantra, I would remind myself, “This is where I’m meant to be,” and “Even in the trials, He is there.”

I had to be intentional first with my inner monologue before I could be intentional with any other area of my life. That could only happen because of my Faith.

That faith-based inner monologue then informed my outward actions.

Rhythms and routines are important to me because they truly help my household flow more easily. However, they only bring peace to my life because they are informed by my Faith. Our God is a God of order. Our days must be ordered rightly—starting with Him—in order for them to truly serve us in our current vocation.

Let’s Start with Him

Let’s look to this Advent and Christmas season with renewed hope as we seek to live a more purpose filled life. God has you right where you are for a reason, and He will see you through all your trials and rejoice with you in all of your joys.

Allow your relationship with Him to inform how you live your life. It doesn’t have to be perfect—it just needs to be intentional.

The Intentional Day Blueprint can help you do that by creating rhythms and routines structured to the unique needs of your family through faith-based perspectives.
Use discount code ADVENT2025 to get it for only $7 through December 5th!
–> The Intentional Day Blueprint