Join Kristin Fitch as she welcomes guest Chelsea DeMatteis to explore the profound theme of living a Christ-centered life during the holiday season. Chelsea shares her insights on how to navigate the hustle and bustle of Christmas while finding joy and peace through faith. The conversation delves into the importance of surrendering our desires in order to make room for God's purpose and love in our lives. Both Kristin and Chelsea emphasize the significance of seeking Jesus in everyday moments, encouraging listeners to embrace hope and serve others. With heartfelt reflections on loss and the hope of heaven, this episode is a reminder to focus on the true meaning of Christmas and to cherish the blessings we have.

Connect with Chelsey at https://chelseydematteis.com/

Download My Free Joyful Living Devotional: https://kristinfitch.com/devotional

Ready to take your first step towards a more joyful, faith-filled life? Download our Reignite Your Passion Workbook and start living with purpose today!

Ready to work with Kristin to make a shift in your life? Click here to get started.

Ready to Reclaim Your Life? Purchase the Reclaim Your Life Masterclass: Protect Your Spirit, Space and Pace for only $47 Learn more here.  

Takeaways:

• The holiday season can feel hectic, but we can find peace by prioritizing our faith and focusing on Jesus.
• Chelsea emphasizes that everyone has a ministry, which is simply living our lives for Christ.
• When overwhelmed, taking a moment to pray can help us reset and refocus on grace.
• We must remind ourselves that we are not perfect and that our children also need grace.
• Living with less means prioritizing our relationship with Jesus over our personal desires.
• Finding the joy in serving others during the holidays can transform our experiences.

Christian women podcast, faith-filled life, Christmas encouragement, living with less, Christ-centered living, holiday stress management, motherhood and faith, finding hope in grief, spiritual growth, surrendering to God, navigating holiday gatherings, deepening faith, balancing family and faith, joy in Jesus, faith and motherhood, seeking God's presence, overcoming holiday overwhelm, biblical wisdom for women, embracing imperfection in parenting, encouragement for Christian women

Merry, Merry Christmas.

Hi everyone, it's Kristen with Faithfield Woman.

Today is Christmas Eve and I just want to wish you a blessed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with your loved ones or friends.

And I hope in this season you will find hope and love and heat and joy.

And I hope that you'll be reminded of the promise of Jesus's birth as we're celebrating that tomorrow.

And so I have a great guest interview for you today.

We are going to talk about what it means to walk in our faith and what it means to seek more of him and less of us by living a Christ centered life and why it just can bring us so much joy and peace in our lives when we do this.

Welcome to Faith Filled Woman, a podcast designed for Christian women eager to deepen their faith and shine God's light in every aspect of their lives.

Each week we'll delve into practical strategies, inspiring stories and biblical wisdom to equip you with the tools you need to navigate life's challenges and grow deeper in your faith.

From finding calm in the chaos, forming deep Christian friendships, to everyday ways to connect with God.

We'll cover it all.

Hi, I'm your host, Kristen.

I'm an encourager, a faith led entrepreneur, a mom and a wife.

Let's be encouraged in our everyday lives as we let our faith guide us, fuel us and fill us with God's incredible peace, wisdom and joy in our lives.

Hi.

Today on the podcast I would like to welcome our guests.

Chelsea Damattis.

She is an author, a speaker, a podcaster of the Living with Less podcast.

She's a mom of two and she's married.

And I can't wait for our conversation.

We are going to talk about how do we do life as you know, moms as wives, how do we do life when things aren't always going our way or if it's something like now, during the holidays, during Christmas where sometimes it feels like we're pushing against the hustle and bustle and how do we navigate through that?

How do we do it the way that God really intended for us to live?

And so I think you're going to a lot out of this and I just can't wait to share it with you right before Christmas.

So welcome to the show, Chelsea.

Thank you.

I'm so excited to be here and we were talking before you hit record just about the timing of the episode and just what God's been stirring in my heart.

So I'm so thrilled to be here.

Oh, I love it.

All right, so tell us a little Bit about you, about your, you know, backstory.

And then just what are you up to now?

What does life look like now for you?

Oh my goodness.

Well, I feel like the last 10 years have been a whirlwind.

My husband and I just celebrated 10 years of our wedding anniversary.

So a really obviously big part of my walking with Jesus has been being sanctified through marriage and the ups and downs of that.

And then we have two littles, a seven year old son and a three year old little girl.

And you know, it's funny, I'm very close with my mom and I was telling her recently, I said, am I ever going to get to the day where I can sit down with my husband when it's not 9:30 at night to have like a really in depth conversation?

And she says, yes, I promise you it's coming.

The little years with communication can be really hard.

And so I feel like that's something just personally that we've been navigating.

But again, God is using all of it to refine me and I feel like for ministry, I'm an author and a writer, obviously I've written two books, but then I also write for publications and doing podcasting and speaking, all of that.

God has been so gracious to use what I'm walking through in life to apply that to what I'm writing and what I'm talking about.

I always say I love to help women understand that they can apply God's Word to their everyday living.

That it doesn't just have to be a very high level of theology, but that we can read the Bible and go, okay, what does this look like today?

Because I truly believe if Jesus said, this is our daily bread, I will give you your daily bread, then that means anything that I'm walking through.

I have an opportunity to either draw closer to the Lord or learn something from him that I'm walking through.

And so I feel like ministry and life is so much of that at one time, especially being I just turned 33.

So I am learning and growing.

I've been walking with Jesus for 14 years and I came from a more rebellious past.

Maybe we'll get down that road here in our conversation.

But coming to Jesus in my early 20s and really growing in my faith with him through also growing as a mom and as a married woman, I feel like I've learned so much where I had to see Jesus in the midst of all of it or I would not have had hope.

I would have been like, what is happening?

What is going on?

There is so much unfolding in my life over the last decade where I just needed to see Jesus and all of it.

And so that's kind of where motherhood and marriage and ministry have all collided.

And here we are today.

So that's a little bit about me.

Oh, thanks for sharing that.

I love it.

Yeah.

I mean, I've talked about this on past episodes, but, you know, I think sometimes when some of us talk and use the word ministry, I think some people, right, might hear that and think, well, I don't actually have a ministry.

Right.

I'm just a woman, or, you know, maybe a man, but obviously it's more women centric podcast.

Like, I am a Christ follower, but I don't have a ministry.

And then I try to remind us all that actually all of us have a ministry because it's our life and it hopefully it's pointing people back to, you know, our faith and.

And to Christ.

And so, you know, I say it's the ministry of you, which is obviously really not us.

Right.

It's us pointing back right, to.

And giving the glory to God.

So, you know, try to remind people that we don't have to call it a ministry.

Like your life is a ministry.

How we're choosing to.

To show up and serve people.

And when you say that, I think of the Great Commission.

I mean, Jesus gave that to all of us, everybody that would walk with him and it's to know him and make him known.

And that is.

That is what you said.

It's living out our life is a ministry to all the people that get to see.

Yeah.

So good.

So let me ask you this.

You know, one of the things, like, you just.

You sort of touched on this when you were sharing with us, but you mentioned, you know, about this time of year, you know, and I sort of alluded to it too, but it can be very much can.

It can almost get stressful or like, oh, my gosh, there's so much to fit in.

It's.

A lot of people are asking me to go to things or be at things, do things, parties, whatever it might be, you know, gifts.

So how have you found to savor the season, to slow down and kind of experience the beauty and the joy and the hope that's coming for this season.

So last year, I remember feeling like once I hit December, I felt like our calendar was so full, and it wasn't full of things that made me cringe.

I was actually really excited for all of them.

But I thought, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna come up for air on Christmas morning.

And think what just happened the last four weeks and what I realized, what the Holy Spirit was really teaching me through that was, look at these, look at your calendar and obviously hand it over to the Lord.

Say, lord, have I overfilled this?

Have I over committed myself?

And are there some things that I maybe can take off my plate so that way I can savor the season a little bit more?

And oddly enough, sometimes when we pray that the Lord will take things off our plate, whether it be somebody else has to cancel something, maybe we wake up sick.

Like there are ways and things that happen where we do get this time carved out for us, where it's like, wow, he actually took things off my plate.

But then there's other times where we say, I feel so over committed.

What have I done, Lord, can you relieve me of this calendar?

And sometimes that answer is no.

And what I looked at last year when I was looking at my calendar, I thought, these are all opportunities.

And I don't say this to try and make it over spiritual, but truly I have the opportunity to go be the light in all these places.

I mean, I'm going to places where everyone's a believer and I'm walking into other people's homes where no one's a believer.

But I have the opportunity to be Jesus to everyone in front of me.

And so if I can look at all of these things in my calendar, all these things in my day, like today I have Christmas party for my son.

We're having a Christmas party tomorrow for all of his friends.

I get to do that.

And that's another big thing is saying, okay, I get to do those things.

And if I'm being the hands and feet of Jesus there, I'm also getting to savor that season with him.

And I was just telling you about an email that I had written, and it's all about savoring the season and all circumstances.

And what I was writing about is, especially if you're someone that's walking through something difficult, maybe you desire to be married, you desire to have children, Just those types of things that are heavy.

And we're walking into gatherings and get togethers where people are just trying to make conversation.

They might feel uncomfortable too, but they ask these questions that almost feel like pokes and prods, like they hurt.

And for me, I'm more on this other side where there's also people feeling like the pokes and prods are internal, where they're thinking, oh my gosh, I'm struggling with these things.

Nobody else is struggling with this or they're struggling with feeling like they can't do it.

All right?

When really, what does it look like to savor and really be with the Lord in this season?

And truly it's knowing that he is with me in all of those things.

He is with me.

And he reminded me last night as I was praying through this with him is so often we think we're the only one.

When you're walking into a family gathering and all you want is to have children and you know someone's going to say, well, when are you and your husband going to start having a family?

Even if they mean well, that pierces so bad and pierces your heart and you might feel so alone and think, I'm the only person like this, but I can assure you there are millions of people around the world with the same heart cry in that same moment that they are taking to Jesus.

And he reminded me of that.

This was probably seven years ago when I was really struggling with something and I shared it, whether it was on Instagram, it was somewhere, a writing piece of mine.

And I didn't give all the details, but a woman reached out because it was detailed enough to where if somebody was struggling with the same thing, they would go, me too.

And this mom who was several years ahead of me messaged me and said, I have struggled that same way on and off for the last decade.

And he reminded me of that last night where I am not the only one.

I'm never alone because Jesus is always with me.

But a lot of times we feel lonely in the fact that we only have Jesus and nobody else understands and it's just not true.

And so God has really taught me how can I savor being with him when I'm at the places, when I'm at the gatherings, or maybe when I'm dealing with turmoil inside, it's remembering that he sees me.

There are other people that feel just like me that are taking hard things to him too.

And so bringing all of that to him, I think is a way to savor this season and to be still with him.

Right now, my life is not very quiet with a three year old, three year old little girl and a seven year old little boy.

Yeah, quiet is not often.

And I've realized too that quiet with the Lord is oftentimes a heart posture and not a actual thing that I'm experiencing.

Right.

And so learning how to do that.

And again, to savor the season that I'm in, literally, but also spiritually and say, I Can quiet my heart and come before him that way.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I mean, you brought up so many good, you know, points there, examples.

And I think, you know, some of the things that I was thinking as you were saying that were, you know, it's really about shifting our mindset, right?

And saying like, I'm going to show up, giving myself, grace and others, right.

For whatever we might say or how we feel or what we're bringing into, whether it's disappointments, you know, or, or heartache this season or maybe loss, we feel lonely or lost right now, right.

If we're missing a loved one or maybe not where we want to be, you know, but it's also the letting go of any pretense, perfection or comparison.

Meaning we all know that feeling.

You go to a Christmas party and someone's amazing at doing all the things right?

It might be the food, it could be their house, the way it's so beautiful.

But it's like some of us can start to feel like, oh my gosh, like I, I just like bought the thing at the store.

But we shouldn't feel bad.

We all have different gifts and abilities.

And so it's like, that is good enough, right?

And I think that's the thing is sometimes we have to remember it's good enough.

This isn't a race or to.

This isn't a show off competition, right?

It's.

It's showing up and being present all the time.

But especially in this season, right?

Because to your point, if we're at these gatherings, if we get to be with some family or friends, it's a time to be present, to delight in that time, to, you know, hopefully encourage or lift each other up and to, you know, just celebrate this season.

And so in the best of ways.

And so, yeah, I think it's just to remind people of those things, you know, maybe just saying it in a different way from the way you, you gave the examples.

So.

Yeah, I love that.

I think it's so true.

So let me ask you this.

You have, like you said you have two young kids.

Mine are much older now, their high school and college age.

And so you just share like beyond what you did about when you have a day that just feels like there's more day than you have, like patience to get through the day.

How do you find that you can get grounded again or get re centered, you know, is it something you do, like just taking a minute to breathe, to say a little prayer?

Is it to like go in a separate room for a minute?

Like, how do you get through those days where and don't even if you don't have littles, you can have days like that.

It's just from different re for different reasons.

Right.

And so.

But how do you find that you get through days like that where it's just one of those days?

The reason I laugh is because I don't do it perfectly by any means.

Sometimes it will be a truly, especially my seven year old, like he totally gets everything now.

And I'll be in the kitchen and something will go on or like the noise truly is just too much.

And I'll go, I'm going to need a minute.

And I put my hands up and I say, I'm just going to need a minute.

I'm going to go out into the garage.

Just give me a minute.

And I'll walk out to the garage and I will close the door and I truly will stand there and I will be like, Lord Jesus, please help me, Please help me.

I realize it is going to be loud.

There are things everywhere and as it should be.

They are playing, they are excited, all of those things.

But I need to go take a minute and stand in the garage and just say, lord Jesus, help me.

And while some might listen to that and laugh and be like, oh my word, I do the same thing.

I also mean it with all sincerity of my heart.

Where what I'm hoping that my kids glean from that.

What's the saying?

Things are more caught than they are taught.

Yeah.

That as they get older, when they need a minute, they'll say instead of exploding, they'll go, I'm gonna need to go out in the garage.

Or I may need to go upstairs for just a minute.

And I've jokingly said this to my mom, that someday when Cam is getting married or Collins is getting married, I'm gonna have to tell their spouse when they say they need a minute, just give them a minute.

They really need a minute.

They'll come back and they'll be recollected.

And I think it's especially if you're someone with my personality.

So I contend I'm like 0 to 60.

So if I'm feeling a little frustrated, if I'm not feeling as prepared as I should be, like this morning I made sure I needed to be up early.

Yes.

That way I could have my ducks in a row.

So that way if my stuff was chaotic, I wasn't breathing that on my kids.

Right.

But there are days where my ducks are not in a row.

You're really loud.

It's for some reason, extra hot.

Yeah.

I zero to 60 and getting to the place now where I can say, I just need to go take a minute.

Yeah.

And I'm not a bad mom because I need to take a minute.

And I think one of the things that I would say young moms often feel because of the social media world, I'm so thankful I have really drawn away from social media.

God took me on a Sabbath, and it was wonderful.

Now I mainly only do it for my computer, so if you need.

Yeah, be off of it.

As a young mom.

Be off of it.

It is not a requirement in the Bible to be on social media.

That's correct.

But I think moms, oftentimes we get the highlight reel, especially as young moms.

And it's.

You should be loving every minute and every moment of this.

And some days it's just, oh, my gosh, it's so hard.

It is really taxing me.

I stay home and then I have my friends who are working moms.

We are all doing things where we feel dwindled down to, like, the end of our rope.

And it's being able to have the grace for yourself to say, I just need to take a minute.

And I'm not a bad mom because I need to take a minute and because I am really struggling through this day.

And it also shows us.

One thing motherhood has really shown me in this season of my life is how much my kids need a savior.

Mommy is not the savior.

Right.

He is not perfect.

And I have said this to my son over and over again where I am not perfect.

You are not perfect.

Your sister will not be perfect.

Daddy will not be perfect.

The only perfect person is Jesus.

And so we are flawed.

We will make mistakes.

But I think a lot of times as a mom, this is my first year, he's in first grade, like I said, he's seven.

Where I can't fix everything anymore.

Like, some of the things that he feels and some of the things he's walking through me, giving him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek or putting a band aid on something doesn't fix it anymore.

And so a couple months ago, I mean, I cried more on the couch over my son than I had yet in my parenting years.

And my mom was like, oh, honey, the more tears will come because as they get older, you cannot fix all the problems.

But I can go to Jesus with all of those problems.

And that's what the Lord is teaching me.

I am absolutely not their savior.

I am their mother.

And what A gift that is.

But making sure that they know Mommy is not perfect.

Jesus is perfect, and I'm not the Savior.

I will do anything in my power to save you from hardship and heartache, but there are just certain things that Mommy can't fix.

Absolutely.

I mean, it's.

It's so true.

And I think you brought up, well, many good points, but especially about social media.

But it's also, you do have to just do life with other people.

And so having a good friend or a group of good friends that you're walking through life with it, whatever season you're in, and being able to share, like, the real, real, right?

Like, oh, my gosh, I had, like, the worst day yesterday.

You know what I mean?

And, like, I maybe lost my temper for a minute or I.

Right.

Because sometimes things happen and we.

We would do it differently in hindsight, right?

Like, we'd be like, gosh, I thought I was calm.

I thought I was staying grounded.

I thought I was, you know, and then something just kind of elevates too high and you sort of, you know, might freak out about something.

And so I think just knowing that, to your point, you can have those safe conversations with other people in your life and know that, like, you're not the only one.

Like, everyone else has had similar things but to some extent happen or whatever the example is, right?

Or maybe you're struggling with your child, you know, they feel about themselves, whatever the thing might be, right?

Somebody at schools saying things to them that aren't nice, whatever it is.

Because to your point, sometimes we're not prepared yet for the thing, and so we don't know how to handle it.

Like, what do I say to them?

How do I navigate this?

And so I thought you brought up some really good points.

Let me ask you this.

So you know, two of you, the.

Your podcast is called the Living with Less podcast.

And then your devotion, one of your devotionals is called More of Him, Less of Me.

Tell us a little bit about what does it mean to live live with less and how do we put God front and center instead of ourselves?

And living with Less is all based off of John 3:30.

He must increase, I must decrease.

And then the devotional came after that, and it's titled More of Him, Less of Me, Living a Christ centered life in a Me centered world.

So it's all based off of John 3:30 and what the Lord has shown me, kind of like I said at the beginning, where I can find him in everything I can find him either drawing me closer through, like, my heart to himself, or he is teaching me something or conviction, whatever that is.

And that truly is, he must increase, I must decrease.

That is saying, I am surrendering who I am today.

I do not want to be the same person when I wake up tomorrow.

And what does that look like?

And that's going to be mountaintop moments and moments in the pit where he is the one picking me up and dusting me off and saying, let's go.

Like, we're going to keep walking forward.

We're going to keep walking forward in this.

And so I kind of, when you take a look at your life, I think there are big things that we can all see where it's okay, where am I more selfish?

What are the things that maybe are a little more vain?

What are the things materialistically that I'm putting above other things?

I think it's easy to have that high level view, to be like, yeah, I really could work on, like, these three big things.

But you'll see as you start working on those three big things, then you have the million other little things that God is going to continue to refine over and over and over again.

I just gave an example at a women's event two weekends ago where I held up a chain.

It was a chain link.

And I show them, like, this is what we all walk around with.

And some of these are sin issues, some of these are fears and worries and anxieties and burdens.

All of these things.

And oftentimes we think that our chains would be way longer than the woman sitting next to us.

When really, I think we're all pretty equal.

I think we all have a pretty equal chain.

But when you have Jesus in your life, when you're seeking him and wanting him to be truly Lord of all, when you allow him that space.

Because a lot of times we'll put our arms up and be like, no, I'm good.

Like, you can be this close.

If you're this close, you're gonna start, like, just reconstructing everything inside me, right?

But when you do that, that chain, that's really, really long.

He starts to cut those chains away.

And yes, some might come back and some might last longer than others.

That's what he's doing, that is being sanctified.

And it's funny, when we were talking about how the beginning of, like, in this fall season, that was the hardest thing I'd ever walked through as a mom.

And one thing, if you read in, oh, my goodness, is it first Thessalonians 5,23,25 is when Paul was talking about us being sanctified completely.

And I was thinking about that scripture as I was praying for my son, and it hit me.

I was like, oh, my gosh.

Sanctification is not just for a grown up.

Like, it's not just for an adult.

My children are being sanctified.

Right.

And I feel like, truly, that is the whole essence of saying, he must increase, I must decrease.

That means he is going to sanctify my life from the inside out.

Praise God.

Some of it really hurts.

Some of it is really hard.

But what I've seen on the other side of that is there are things that I struggled with for years that I would have never thought that I would have freedom from.

I just thought, oh, it's always going to come up.

And a lot of those things, I'm like, I'll think back and go, oh, my gosh, I haven't even.

I haven't even thought of that.

Like, it's been like a race to my memory bank.

But there are other things that'll go away for a while and then somehow they'll weasel their way back in.

Yeah.

And the Lord's sanctifying that and refining that.

And so living with less.

It's truly, I want to live with less of what I want in life.

And I just want my life to look like the life that Jesus wanted for me.

And I think the other reason why this means so much to me and why this little ministry that God has given me in my home, but also out in the world is coming from a more rebellious past.

Not walking with Jesus.

I know what it looks like to not walk with him faithfully, and I don't want that.

I want a life that's just with him.

Right.

So good.

Oh, I love that.

So that's.

Yeah, that's just beautiful.

And, you know, just giving that example, even about your kids, I think was.

Was great.

So since we are, you know, this is going to air, I think, Christmas Eve.

And so my question would be, you know, your newer, newest devotional, I believe, is about Advent.

Right.

It's really about hope.

So what would you just want to share with us as we literally step into Christmas, you know, very close to Christmas.

But just what message would you want to share with people, you know, just to encourage them?

So the devotional is called A Thrill of Hope, which comes from the Christmas carol, oh, Holy Night, which is my absolute favorite.

I find myself, whenever I'm humming it, I always start at A Thrill of hope.

Like, that's the part of the song I always go to.

And I lost my grandpa this past June.

It's my first real season of grief that I've walked through.

And we were so, so close.

I was the only granddaughter and the youngest of the grandkids, so we were just so tight.

We were so tight.

And losing him.

I remember thinking in those early days, I was already dreading Christmas coming because I thought, oh, my gosh, how am I going to go through my favorite time of year without one of my favorite people?

I haven't talked about this in a few minutes, in a few weeks.

That's why I'm about to cry again.

And I really wrestled with that.

And like I said, I was on this summer Sabbath that God had stirred in my heart earlier on in the spring.

Praise God for that.

And the Lord just continued to remind me that dread is not from him.

He doesn't want me to dread life without somebody.

Right.

But now.

And I should have always been living with the hope of heaven.

Let me first say that.

But now that there's somebody that I love so much in glory, it changed everything with my hope of heaven and realizing that I get to live with the hope of heaven and how that has played out, especially in this time of year.

Like, now we're here, which is kind of crazy to be like, at the time that I was so concerned about, I have missed him.

But the hope that I have, this renewed hope that came from his going and being with Jesus, has taught me so much about the heart of God, that what my grandpa gained in glory is so much better than here.

And what I am now gaining.

And my love for the Lord because of seeing him carry me is so great, too.

And how we can go through a hard thing, a hard loss, and still be drawn closer.

I mean, I completely understand how there are people that go through very traumatic things that maybe want to put their hands up to the Lord and say, I cannot believe you did this.

Yeah, that's not my story.

However, what I would say is if you allow Jesus to be the hope in whatever it is that you're walking through, you know, it's the mustard seed of faith.

Well, I think it's.

It's the mustard seed of hope.

Jesus is the mustard seed.

That's who we're putting our faith and our trust in.

And when you do that and you give him this tiny little space of your heart, he will just burst it wide open.

Yeah.

And that's what I've seen.

And so with this Devotional.

I talk a lot about his light.

I talk about, obviously a lot about hope, but just seeing Jesus in all the things that we're walking through.

And so that's the heartbeat of it.

It was dedicated to my grandpa, so if you get a copy, you'll see the dedication in there too, for him.

But living with the hope of heaven.

I actually want to read the scripture that's inside.

It's from First Corinthians 2, 9.

And.

But as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man, imagine what God has prepared for those who love him.

Yeah, that's our hope.

That's right.

And that is what gets to carry us through life.

And a friend of mine said this a couple weeks ago.

She said her pastor was giving a sermon on peace.

And he was like, peace is a person, it's Jesus.

And I love that because I was like, hope is Jesus.

Joy is Jesus.

Patience, goodness, faithfulness, it's all him.

And the thrill of hope at Christmas is Jesus.

And if I can go through all of my days ahead, all of them that are written in his book, with just the thrill of hope and hope in what he will do, because of what I know he's already done on the cross, but also in my own life, I can live with a greater joy because of that, regardless of what my circumstances look like.

Yep, absolutely.

Oh, I so agree.

Okay, so let me ask you this.

What would you, as we start wrapping up, what would you say that you just want to share with people as we, you know, we're going into, or we're going through Christmas, and then we're starting this whole another, you know, another year.

What encouragement.

We just want to give women, you know, maybe especially moms, just to encourage them in their life.

Right.

Their everyday lives.

I would say this sounds kind of silly and maybe a little bit mundane, but go looking for Jesus.

That has been something that I have just had to remind myself of and I'm telling it to my kids.

I feel like so much of my life right now is like bringing things down to the seven year old and three year old level.

But I get why Jesus said we should have a childlike faith, because I'm saying, go looking for Jesus today.

Like, where are you gonna find the Lord at?

And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I need to be preaching that to myself.

Go looking for him.

And when you are seeking him, you will find Him.

And what I mean by that is you might see an opportunity to serve somebody and be like, I Got to be the hands and feet of Jesus today.

Like, that's pretty darn cool.

Absolutely.

Or it's somebody was the hands and feet of Jesus to you.

And, you know, wow, that was Jesus.

Or a funny thing that happened a couple weeks ago.

But I know it was from the Lord.

On Wednesdays, I have a sitter come for three hours, but I needed to have something that I could obviously use to pay her.

And so I stopped getting coffee out my coffee that I would get, like, Monday through Friday so I could pay for the sitter.

And I am not kidding you.

Within the first two weeks of me doing that.

And that time is fully committed to the Lord.

Like, I only go and write.

I do not go run errands.

It is.

I park it and I write.

Right.

Okay.

And I received two gift cards to go get coffee.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Like, that's what happens when we go looking for this.

Because I knew that was totally a godwink, that it's so random and it happened right at that perfect timing that I knew it was him.

And so I would just encourage anybody.

If you go looking for him, you will find him.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I mean, I think, you know, it's.

It's much like the thing where it's what you focus on and what you look for, you're going to see and you're going to get.

Right.

So if we.

If we get stuck in patterns of.

My life is going horrible.

Oh, I'm.

I look horrible.

Like, whatever the thing is, right, that we have on repeat, we're gonna see more of those things.

Like, everyone's so mean to me.

Or everyone's whatever the.

Whatever message you might be playing in your head.

So we have to remember you.

We have to be looking for.

Where's the opportunities for us, like you said, to serve people, to show up in love and kindness.

How are people doing the same things to us?

Right.

Like you said, how is God showing up in my life?

In small ways and small miraculous ways and big miraculous ways.

I'm reading the new book by Mark Batterson right now, A Million Little Miracles.

But it is literally that, like, some people think, oh, I've never experienced a miracle.

And he's like, how can you.

Everyone, everything is a miracle.

Like, we just forget that because we've literally normalized everything.

You know, he's like, us being on a planet that the spins around us.

Like, you know, he's like, it's all miraculous.

Like, if anything went slightly off, we, of course, we would literally either be too hot or too cold.

And Die.

So his point is, like, it's that we have taken off or put on lens in front of our eyes to.

To and forget.

Everything is miraculous, right?

God is lining everything up for our good.

It doesn't mean we won't have hard things.

What it means is even in hard things, there is good and light in those things, you know, to be found.

And so, you know, but we have to stay with open heart and be looking, like you said, for.

For what God, you know, what Christ is doing in our lives.

Absolutely.

I love that.

So good.

That was so good.

I was like, that was so good over there.

Yes, Great, thanks.

Okay, so as we wrap up, let me ask you this question, and then you can share with everybody how they can connect with you and learn more about your devotionals online and your podcast.

What's fueling you up this season.

So it can be anything.

It doesn't have to be scripture.

It can be, though, you know, whatever you want.

It can literally be like naps, whatever.

Whatever it is.

Well, I was gonna say I have three.

Definitely coffee.

Yeah, it helps get me through nap time for certain.

And then obviously the last one, I just.

I have to give all credit, truly, to Jesus and to just getting to have those moments with him where I can say, I just need a minute.

I need a minute to recalibrate those 1.

Minutes to recalibrate and just ask him to help me.

Truly, it is, Lord Jesus, help me.

That is the phrase that happens in the garage.

That is when I can go, okay, I can reset.

We can reset.

I totally get it.

I mean, you know, I definitely.

And I've talked about this before, but I know the days, you know, most.

I mean, most every day, but I mean, there's always days where sometimes I'm.

Like, wow, I think I forgot to.

Do a devotional this morning or read what scripture or whatever, or have quiet time, you know, Although I do have other practices that are throughout the day, you know, to give thanks and do different things.

But the days that I remember, and like I said, it's most days, but some days, something happens.

You get off your normal schedule and.

But, you know, welcoming the Holy Spirit into my life, you know, just kind of getting centered, getting grounded into that.

The days I don't do that, I don't notice it till later in the day because, like I said, my kids are older, I don't have to do as much for them.

And I.

I'm normally a patient person, but if I get to that max level, right, I can.

I can sometimes have those Moments where I'm like, what in the world?

You know, and even taking our family.

Photo the other day, right?

So I have basically grown men, if you will.

And I even said, it's just going to be out back.

It's going to be quick.

Like, I tried to set up the tripod ahead of time.

We only took four photos together.

And then we did some of just my sons and then my husband and I.

So it was literally less than five minutes, maybe ten if you can.

The whole thing from the first person getting out of there.

It's like one of my kids is like, snipping at me and he's trying to help them.

I'll take care of it.

You know, it's just sass, right?

And.

But I'm like, what in the room?

But I was like, you know what?

I bet you I did not tell God I need you in my.

In my body today.

Because I was like, I got a little testy right in that moment because I think I wasn't expecting it.

But just when they're not even young, you.

Your children can still be mouthy sometimes, right?

Or sassy or tired or whatever it is.

And sometimes I'm prepared for that, right?

And I'm really patient, even if they say.

Because if I'm being honest, sometimes they say things that aren't very nice to me or they're snippy at this age.

And I usually have a tolerance.

I mean, like, I would just say that, you know, you need to talk nicer, and I can kind of tolerate it.

But there's times where I'm like, I feel like I've been dumped on enough, right?

Like, as the mom.

And so my point being is it really does make a difference that if we.

We show up in our day, we make time, right, for that prayer, that quiet time, even if it's only five minutes or two minutes.

And then throughout the day, like you said, just keep.

You know, I kind of have an ongoing conversation with God, if you will, you know, of giving thanks and just appreciating things and, you know, just saying, like, I'm just in so.

So much in awe of everything, right?

Just of the world, of nature, of, you know, just like you said, some kindness that somebody did might something nice.

My husband did, whatever it is.

And so I think that that's definitely the posture that we want to take into the new year.

I'm not saying it's always easy, but it is a good thing to keep striving for and working towards, I think, you know.

Totally agree.

Yes.

It's always.

There are days I keep saying, the Lord is not asking me to be perfect, he's just asking me to be faithful.

Absolutely.

I will never be perfect, but I can be faithful.

So.

Oh my gosh, so true.

I even say that about any work we do.

You probably do too podcast whatever it might be that it's like my job isn't to grow it to a certain size or this, you know, whatever I said my job is to be consistent and faithful in doing it right.

Not saying, oh, it has to be number two, or, you know, or whatever it is.

Of course it's not number two.

But, you know, I'm saying, like, my job isn't the size that it grows to.

My job is, you know, to show up and be consistent and do the work.

So I love it.

So.

Okay, Chelsea, can you tell everyone how can people learn more about your books and your podcast and connect with you if they're interested?

Yes.

So I'm on Instagram.

It's just at Chelsea Dimattis.

That's my only social media, so you can find me there.

And then my website is just chelseademattis.com and then both my books, you can get a Thrill of Hope on Amazon and then the more of Him, Less of me is a 52 week devotional.

You can get that one on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

I think Walmart carries it as well, so you can find those online.

And if you love getting encouragement, I also always love to plug this.

I write for Lifeways Journey women's magazine.

They do like a quarterly devotion that goes out and it's just really beautiful and really well done.

So and it comes out, you can get it online, but you can also get one that gets mailed to you.

So I always love to plug that because it's really encouraging.

I love it.

I love it.

Well, Merry Christmas to you.

Merry Christmas to everyone listening.

I hope you all have a just a blessed and beautiful, you know, Christmas week.

And I just want to thank you again for coming on and sharing your heart and sharing with us how you savor the season and how you show up every day and just showing us that we, you know, we want to keep leaning on Christ.

We want to keep looking for him to kind of help us through, you know, everything we're going through.

Well, thank you for having me and I hope you have a merry Christmas, too.

Thank you so much.

All right, as we wrap up today's episode, I just want to again wish you and your family Merry Christmas.

And I wanted to share this poem with you by Orin Arnold because it reminds us of what the seasons all about.

It reminds us what we should be focusing on this time of year.

Besides of course the birth of Jesus and the story of Jesus baby Jesus being born.

I just loved her Christmas gift suggestions as the top of the poem because it's a good reminder for all of us to slow down, to be grateful, to have an open heart, to remember that it's about sharing the hope and love of Jesus.

And here's what the poem says.

Christmas gift suggestions to your enemy, forgiveness to your opponent, tolerance to a friend, your heart to a customer, service to all, charity to a child, a good example into your self respect.

And I just thought that summed up today's episode in our conversation with Chelsea today so much.

Because while we will never be the Saviors, we can all strive to just be wonderful, loving, good, kind people.

So let's make sure that tomorrow we have time in our days to remember the reason for the season.

You have time to listen to scripture or go to a church service and you know, just allow ourselves to be present and feel what this season, what Christmas Day is all about.

Once again, I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Thanks again for listening to the show and if you enjoyed today's episode, we would love it if you could take a minute to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcast because it helps our show get discovered by more people.

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