59 | Between What Was and What Comes Next

The days between Christmas and the new year can feel strangely disorienting.

The celebration is over.

The calendar hasn’t reset.

And there’s a quiet pressure to start planning — even when your heart isn’t ready.

In this gentle, pastoral episode of Anointed Scribe, we’re honoring the in-between space — the pause between what was and what comes next. This is not a teaching episode or a call to action. It’s an invitation to breathe, to rest without guilt, and to trust that God is present even when nothing feels clear.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why the in-between is not wasted time — but inhabited time
• How God often works in transitions throughout Scripture
• Why fogginess, fatigue, and reflection are not signs of failure
• How to release end-of-year guilt and receive grace instead

If you’re feeling unmotivated, emotionally tender, or unsure what to do next, this episode is a reminder that you don’t need to decide anything right now.

👉 Optional Next Step:

If you sense there may be something deeper underneath your exhaustion or restlessness, you’re invited to take the free What’s Keeping You Stuck? quiz. It offers gentle clarity — no pressure, no urgency.

Take the quiz.

Transcript

If you're listening to this on the day it goes live,

Christmas was yesterday.

And today sits in a strange, quiet space.

The gifts have been opened, the meals have been eaten, the conversations have slowed. But the year isn't over yet.

This week between Christmas and the year ahead often feels a little disorienting.

You're not fully resting, but you're not ready to plan either.

There's a sense that something should be happening, but nothing actually is.

And if that's how you're feeling right now, I want you to hear this clearly.

There's nothing wrong with you.

This episode isn't here to teach you something new.

It's not here to challenge you, or prepare you, or push you forward.

It's simply here to give you permission to pause today.

This is episode 59.

I'm Urcelia Teixeira, ex real estate agent turned award winning Christian fiction author.

When I wrote my first novel on a bucket list whim, I I had no idea it would spark a spiritual journey that would redefine my calling. But you know what, friend?

Self publishing wasn't easy. I got caught in the hustle, chasing rankings and sales while desperately trying to stay rooted in Christ.

Now, by God's grace, I'm building my author business his way. And now he's called me to help you do the same.

Welcome to the Anointed Scribe podcast, where faith meets business for Christian writers. Let's write, publish, and grow our author business God's way. Are you ready? Well, then, let's get started.

Hey, it's your author friend, Urcelia. And welcome to this week's episode of Anointed Scribe.

If you're new here, this is a space for Christian writers who want to learn how to build and study the author business with God at the center.

And today,

we are not talking about goals.

We are not talking about plans.

We are not talking about what comes next. We are talking about where you are right now, in this exact moment,

on this specific day,

in this sacred, awkward, beautiful in between.

Because December 26th sits in a space most of us don't know how to honour, right?

Christmas has passed, but the new year hasn't arrived yet.

The celebration is over,

but the calendar hasn't reset.

You're suspended between what was and what will be.

And culturally, we don't really know what to do with this space, do we?

We taught to rush past it, to fill it, to plan through it, to use it productively.

There's this unspoken pressure that if you're not planning, you're wasting time if you're not setting goals, you're falling behind.

If you're not already thinking about January,

you're being irresponsible.

But Scripture tells us a different story.

Throughout the Bible,

God does some of his most meaningful work between seasons,

between promise and fulfillment, between calling and clarity,

between waiting and movement.

We like arrival points,

but God often works in transitions.

And I'm learning slowly, imperfectly, that this in between week is not end empty time.

It's inhabited time.

God is present here too.

Not just in the breakthrough moments,

not just in the clarity and the direction, but here in the fog, in the pause, in the exhale.

I want to say something gently but clearly.

You do not need to decide anything this week.

You don't need to know what 2026 will look like.

You don't need to set up your goals.

You don't need a plan.

You don't need clarity.

You don't even need to feel motivated yet.

If your mind feels a little foggy,

if your motivation feels low,

if you feel oddly emotional, tired, or reflective,

if you're sitting here wondering why you just can't snap into productivity mode,

there's nothing wrong with you, friend.

It's just your mind and body coming down from the hustle high you've been on all year.

You've been running and now you've stopped and your nervous system is finally catching up.

You're in the transition phase,

and transition phases feel disorienting. By design.

In Scripture, transitions are seldom rushed.

Think about Israel. After leaving Egypt,

they weren't taken straight into the Promised Land.

They were led into the wilderness,

a place of unlearning dependence and recalibration.

Forty years in the wilderness wasn't punishment.

It was preparation.

It was the space where a slave generation became a free people,

where they learned to trust God's provision daily,

where their identity shifted from what they'd escaped to who they were becoming.

The wilderness wasn't the destination,

but it wasn't wasted time either.

Think about the disciples after the resurrection.

Jesus didn't immediately launch them into ministry.

There was a waiting period there. There was prayer.

There was gathering.

Acts 1 tells us they spent 10 days in an upper room before Pentecost.

10 days of not knowing exactly what was coming.

10 days of being together without a clear agenda.

10 days of simply waiting for what God promised.

And it was in that in between space that the Holy Spirit fell.

God did not rush the space between what was and what will be.

And neither should we.

He doesn't ask us to skip over the transition he invites us to trust him in it.

This week can also stir up guilt for us, right?

I've felt it myself these past few days.

Thoughts like I should have done more this year.

I didn't finish what I had planned.

I'm not where I thought I'd be right now. I don't feel as grateful as I should.

And maybe you're carrying some version of those thoughts too.

But here's something I want you to clearly hear.

Something I'm reminding myself of as much as I'm reminding you today.

God is not auditing your year.

He's not tallying your output.

He's not disappointed by your unfinished lists. He's not looking back on your year and shaking his head.

He's not waiting for January to love you more.

He's not waiting for you to get it together before he shows up.

He's already here.

Scripture tells us that God looks at the heart,

not the resume,

not the book sales, not the word count,

not the email list growth,

not the social media engagement, not the amount of followers or reviews. You have the heart.

And right now your heart might simply need rest.

More of Jesus,

less of the performance treadmill.

You don't need to justify that. You don't need to over spiritualize it.

You don't need to turn rest into another productivity activity.

You can receive it as grace.

And grace can't be earned, right?

So instead of doing anything this week, I want to invite you to do something else.

Something quiet.

Something that doesn't require output or answers or action steps.

I want you to sit with your thoughts, maybe with a cup of coffee, maybe on your back porch,

maybe in a quiet corner of your home and simply take stock.

Not to fix anything,

not to plan anything,

just to take notice.

You might ask yourself, without pressure to answer,

what felt heavy this year?

What felt life giving this year?

What am I still carrying that I don't need to take into the new year?

What do I want to release before I step forward?

What did I learn about myself this year? Even the hard stuff.

Where did I see God? Even in the messy moments.

You don't need to journal it. You don't need to pray eloquent prayers.

You don't need conclusions or solutions or three point action plans.

I just need you to take notice.

You just need to be present to what is.

Because God often begins his work not with answers, but with awareness,

not with clarity, but with honest acknowledgment.

He meets us where we are, not where we think we should be,

and where you are right now is enough.

Next week we'll begin talking about why we're saying things like next year will be different,

why this doesn't work, and why so many of us keep setting the same goals, the same prayers,

getting the same results.

Because if we're going to step into 2026 with real transformation instead of just another reset,

we need to understand what's actually keeping us from real change right now. That episode will be honest, it might be a little uncomfortable,

but it will invite you to think differently about how you approach the New year.

So make sure you subscribe for that.

But today is not about that. Today is about being here,

about honouring the space between Christmas and what comes next,

about giving yourself permission to simply be without needing to become.

And if at any point you feel a quiet nudge to explore what might be underneath your exhaustion or restlessness,

a reminder that I've created a short quiz called what's keeping you stuck?

The results are instant and it will reveal a few things you might not know about where you are right now.

It's there whenever you are ready.

No urgency, no pressure.

I'll leave the link for you in the show notes,

friend. You don't need to prepare for what's coming next.

God will meet you there when the time comes. He always, always does.

For now, may you rest without guilt.

May you release what was heavy and may you trust that God is just as present in the in between as he is in the breakthrough.

Maybe even more so because it's often in the waiting,

in the pause in the sacred space between what was and what will be,

that we learn to hear his voice most clearly.

Stay rooted and I'll see you in the New year friend. Before I let you go, I want you to use the send me a message link in the show notes and let me know where you need God to show up for you today so I can pray for you.

It's 100% anonymous. I can't see your name or your email or your phone number. I can't even reply to you. But I can read your request and I can pray for you.

I so I encourage you to use this feature to send me a private message to let me know what you are struggling with right now so we can come together and take this to the Lord in prayer.

And if you found today's episode helpful, please consider subscribing and leaving a review.

You know firsthand the impact this has on discovery, so please help me get this show into more listeners ears. I have a mission and I cannot do it without. Without you.

Oh, and if you want more tips outside of the show, sign up to my monthly 5 minute Mana emails. The link is in the show notes. Okay, so that's it for today's show.

Thank you for listening. And remember, for such a time as this,

you have been called to thrive as God's anointed scribe,