Habits of Hope: Cultivating a Deeper Life with God

15.How a Christmas Miracle Taught Faith and Healing in 'Holy in the Moment'

• Ginger Harrington • Season 1 • Episode 15

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In this heartfelt episode of Habits of Hope, we dive into the story of a miraculous Christmas and timeless lessons on faith and healing from the book Holy in the Moment by award-winning author Ginger Harrington. Through personal backstory, thoughtful comments, and inspiring readings from Chapter One, Ginger shares how a difficult season—marked by anxiety, a health diagnosis, and unexpected challenges—culminated in a transformative Christmas experience. Discover how choosing faith in the hardest moments can lead to profound peace, healing, and hope, no matter what life throws your way.

Today's Habit of Hope: Remember that faith is a decision, not an emotion.

Read the blog version here. 

Key Takeaways:

  • Faith is a Choice, Not an Emotion: Trusting God in the moment is an active decision, even when emotions are overwhelming.
  • Now Faith for the Present Moment: Inspired by Hebrews 11:1, “now faith” invites us to lean on God for peace and strength here and now.
  • God’s Promises Bring Stability: Scripture, like Isaiah 43, reminds us that God is present in our storms and will carry us through.
  • Small Acts of Faith Are Significant: Tiny, sacred choices to trust God can have a life-changing impact.
  • Hope is Found in Every Season: The Christmas story shows that miracles and healing often happen when we least expect them.

Quotables

  • "Faith isn’t an emotion—it’s a decision. Choosing to trust God in the moment makes that moment sacred."
  • "Not every moment is good, but God is good in every moment."
  • "Now faith is for this moment. It’s about trusting God here and now, even when circumstances don’t make sense."
  • "Never discount the small, brave acts of faith that spur you to go on rather than give in."
  • "Healing isn’t just physical—it’s about letting God make you whole, spirit, soul, and body."

This episode isn’t just a Christmas story—it’s a reminder that faith, healing, and hope are available in every season. Whether you’re navigating anxiety, seeking peace, or longing for God’s presence, Ginger’s story offers practical insights and spiritual encouragement to carry you through life’s toughest moments. And the miracle

Habits of Hope Podcast is for informational and inspirational purposes only. This podcast is not a substitute for professional advice—spiritual, medical, legal, or otherwise.

Ginger Harrington (00:05.39)
Welcome.

to Habits of Hope, Cultivating a Deeper Life with God. I'm your host, Larissa, and today we have a very special episode with Ginger, who's going to share a deeply personal Christmas story of faith, hope, and trusting God through some of life's toughest challenges. Ginger, I am so excited to have you here to share this story from the first chapter of your award-winning book, Holy in the Moment, Simple Ways to Love God and Enjoy Your Life. I love this book. It has made an impact on my life.

And I am so grateful that you wrote it. And in today's episode, Ginger is going to share portions of the chapter as we discuss each section. So this is a special opportunity for a behind the scenes conversation. First, a little bit about the book, Holy in the Moment, includes Ginger's personal journey in finding help and hope for worry, people pleasing, perfectionism, discouragement, and insecurity.

And I definitely could use some help in some of those areas. Packed also with biblical insights and practical ideas to enjoy a deeper life in Christ, this book has helped thousands of women overcome fear to thrive in the freedom of holiness. Larissa, it is so fun to do this episode with you. And one of the things that I really love about this opportunity to do this together

You've been part of my writing journey and one of my biggest cheerleaders to take risks and to go for it in the writing world since day one. It's just really sweet that God's given us the opportunity to share together this story because this particular story from Holy in the Moment is a Christmas story. And for me, it really was a Christmas miracle. I call books like this legacy books where the author is sharing what God has taught over many years.

Ginger Harrington (02:03.384)
People have the opportunity in reading the book in a few hours to learn things that took me 30 years to learn. That's why I call them legacy books. And this really is my personal story in so many ways. So it's a joy to be able to share that even though it's not a Christmas book, just the way the story in my life happened, it culminated at Christmas time and God did something really, really awesome in the midst of a really hard time. So that's

is something that I think can resonate with all of us, especially during this season. The year that we moved to California is the year that I learned that faith is both a gift and a decision rather than an emotion. I'm so excited that you're sharing it as well. So Ginger, would you share some highlights from that very first part of the story? Here's the very beginning of the book. Holiness inhabits the small things.

faith for our moments simple and short. Added together, holy moments change lives and steer destinies in God's direction. But it all comes down to attitudes and choices made one moment at a time. Just as umbrellas shield us from the rain, faith protects us from the questions and doubts that flood our souls. When storm clouds gather, an umbrella is only as good as the choosing of it in the moment.

Umbrellas left forgotten in the car or the closet offer no protection from the rain and Faith left unused will not shield us from unbelief Choosing to believe God is a sacred choice Empowering us to hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil and that's from Ephesians 6 16

It's during the storms of life that faith solidifies into more than a concept. The year our family moved to California is the year I thought I was going crazy. In May of 2000, sunny skies turned dark as storm clouds let loose with a force whipping and twisting my faith inside out. How do we choose holiness on days when believing God is hard? I sat in a stark

Ginger Harrington (04:26.016)
utilitarian green doctor's office checking on lab results. The frantic nurse came in and said, no one called you. She explained to me that my thyroid test, now several months old, indicated that I had Graves' disease, a hyperthyroid autoimmune disease. Instantly, my mind snapped into high alert as I told the nurse, I'm moving across the country in three weeks. We're a military family with three small children.

I don't get to choose when or where we move and I can't be sick now. Maybe I hoped that the nurse would say something to take the problem away. Something like, you're right. This isn't a good time for you. Let's reschedule this problem for another time. Our thoughts don't always make sense. Do they? I don't have time to be sick. It didn't matter. We don't get to schedule challenges at our convenience.

I was tested and diagnosed treated with lightning speed. Just take a little pill to slow my thyroid down. Maybe this won't be too hard. I thought as Packers loaded up the moving truck, we drove 3000 miles with three young kids buckled into our overloaded green Dodge Caravan. And as the miles ticked by, I prayed everything would be okay. that was the start of

journey that led to this book. Wow and that's that's an amazing start and there's so many concepts in there and points that we can kind of hash out which this is what I love about your book because it's the same in every chapter. There's lots of nuggets so you talked about faith as a choice and is a shield and I love the umbrella.

analogy. So regarding faith as a choice, which I love that reminder, you know, we have said it in several different podcasts that having choices really makes a difference. So faith is a choice, not something that happens naturally. And, and you want to talk a little bit more about that? You know, it's in the moment where we have the opportunity to choose faith, which activates that faith, right?

Ginger Harrington (06:45.486)
thought of an umbrella left in the closet and you're caught in the rain. think that's probably happened to all of us at some point in time. And the beautiful thing about faith is we never leave it behind. It's never away from us where we can't access it. God has given us the ability and the gift to be able to believe him, to be able to trust him. Ephesians 2, 8, 9 tells us that by grace we have been saved and that

through faith that the faith is not of our own, it is a gift of God. So I just love the fact that when we're struggling with our faith, choosing to believe, choosing to trust in the moment makes that moment sacred. It brings God into that moment in another level. And I think it really has the power to be able to calm our hearts when we're feeling stressed.

Yeah, that choosing faith moment by moment, especially when emotions threaten to take over is key. Seeing faith as that shield, as that umbrella really helps. One of the things I really like that you say is faith as a gift from God that requires an active decision to receive and use. think that's so important. I hadn't really thought about faith being a gift and how then we have to actively choose to receive and hold it up.

In your story, it seems like you were constantly making that choice to believe that God was still good even when Life was tough. It wasn't about waiting for your circumstances to change because in that particular case you could wait all day and it wasn't going to change but it was about choosing to trust God in the present moment and so you talk in a chapter about the concept of now faith Faith for the present moment that really stood out to me. And so I was gonna read

that little section, because it's one of my favorite parts. But I also wanted to give you an opportunity to wrap up anything before that. I didn't know if we covered a lot of ground in just that small little section. So I want to make sure I gave you that before I moved on. Yeah, maybe just to say that at this point in the story, I was dealing with the stress of moving anybody who has moved even down the street knows that it's stressful. when you move

Ginger Harrington (09:07.566)
the other side of the country and you're moving kids and all the things and you know we've never seen our house that we were going to move into you know we were just moving into base housing so you take what you get yeah and you don't throw a fit right right yeah you take what you get and you don't throw a fit or maybe sometimes you do and you just have to get over it hebrews 11 1 now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen as i would read that

the Lord would just highlight to me that this is now faith. And so I just started calling it now faith. I'd love that this is one of your favorite sections. Why don't you read a little portion of it for us? Yeah, I love that. And I know for those of you who are watching us watching the video, you see my book with all the Post-it notes. So that's what I'm reading from. It's been my favorite. I've read through it at least three times and actually used it as a Bible study. Our group was just so grateful for all of the tidbits starting in chapter one.

This section is on page four. Now faith is for this moment. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. And as Ginger said, that's Hebrews 11.1 out of the ESV. We need now faith for all of life's moments, the good and the bad. Hope is not wishing, though we often feel like faith is nebulous as cotton candy, wisps of air held together with sugar-coated wishes.

Just have enough faith and you can conjure up whatever you want. Our misconceptions will whisper. Don't we chide ourselves to try harder? Faith doesn't come by trying harder. That's a, let me say that one more time because that's a good one. Faith doesn't come by trying harder. I've made that mistake many times and it only leads to discouragement. Have you ever been tempted to think you must act better and perform the right spiritual tricks?

as if God is only moved to work in a life if the faith is good enough? Yes, me too. That puts it all on us, doesn't it? Assurance grounds faith in reality, that which has actual existence. It is a steady minded believing with confidence, courage, and firm trust. There's nothing maybe-ish about faith. And I'll close just this small section with this. Faith is a gift from God.

Ginger Harrington (11:31.86)
not some secret power we must manufacture on our own. Faith is inseparably tied to the power and holiness of God." Wow. Every time I read, I get so excited because it's such a great reminder. So talk to us a little bit more about that now, faith, and how it helps us in the moment. Right. Well,

When we move forward in our emotions and our fears and our worries, trying to figure out what is going to happen, you know, the what if cycle that just really triggers fear, worry and anxiety. We're not in the present. We're, we're, you know, focused on what could happen and stirring ourselves up to more and more fear. And that's one of the challenges of anxiety is you get caught in this loop of your emotions.

your body chemistry and your thoughts and you want to get yourself off of it. But when you really start spiraling with anxiety, it's really hard to do that. so being able to stay focused on here and now is a really powerful way to activate your faith right now, to invite God in the moment. You know, I've been practicing this for a long time because

God never stops giving us opportunities to use our faith, right? It's a lifelong area to grow in. And I love the fact that over time, when we activate our faith and we walk in faith and trust him, then he takes us from that place of faith to the next place of faith. And our faith does grow our confidence and God gets stronger as we come to understand his character and experience.

his working in our lives. it's this beautiful combination of trusting that God is who he says he is, that he'll do what he says he's going to do, trusting in his nature and his character and the veracity of his words and then bringing that into the moment. And even when our emotions and fears are in play, being able to say, God, I trust you or being able to say, Lord,

Ginger Harrington (13:50.518)
I'm walking by faith. might not feel it right now, but I'm choosing faith. Yeah, I just was going to say, and because we're going to get to that point in the story where Christmas comes in, this is, you know, part of the story has to do with on top of everything else, we are dealing with a holiday, a big holiday, and all of us know what that's like. And so that's what I like about this. Now, faith and in the moment, because it works year round.

But at Christmas we tend to get it seems like for me I can speak for myself I get spun up more because there's more pressure There's so much more going on. So I love that we're able to talk about this at this time. that's a great point You know, I hadn't really thought about it and when you were reading it the Lord just pinged me on something Yeah, that line about faith is not wishing nebula nebula's like cotton candy. Yeah

right there is the seed of this podcast. Right? I never saw that before. I just love the way that God works in the moment and helping us make connections. that really is that statement is a seed of this podcast. And in many ways, habits of hope is like a follow on kind of the rest of the story from this book. So that's also another reason why it's really

great to be able to share the book with our readers and our listeners because and I learned so much in the process and I know that God is going to use that book and whoever reads its life. Yeah. And I love that reminder because I did get to be with you before, during and after. And though I wasn't sitting next to you while you were writing, I got to pray you through. And I know that that was not an easy season.

and I have seen the benefits, not just in my life. That's the great thing is I'm not just recommending it because you're my friend and FYI, I am in the book several times. We won't talk about that today, but I am in the book and that's fun, but it's so practical and I have gotten so many comments from people, not just those who did the Bible study with me, but also I give it as a gift and it makes a great gift and I've already got people on the brain for this season.

Ginger Harrington (16:08.726)
to give it to. So we could go on and on about that. And I love hearing just what the Lord is doing in this moment and reminding you about that seed that was planted. But let's continue with the story. At this point, you've been diagnosed with a thyroid disease just disease just weeks before moving cross country with kids. Did you want to read another section at the end of our cross country trek? We pulled into military housing. We drove slowly down the street looking for the address of our new home.

Tidy small homes faced sidewalks where children played. Is that our house? piped my kids from the back of the van. More than ready for the end of a very long journey, I felt the excitement of new beginnings. Until I saw our house. Dank yellow paint peeled in spots and weeds grew two feet tall in the cracks of the broken cement. There was a hole in the foundation with dead wood.

and uncut grass, the house had a dilapidated, musty, abandoned look. We're going to live here? Shouldn't this place be condemned? I thought. This was the moment where I went from feeling OK to the imbalance of my hormonal system tipping into a place called uncontrollable. Plunging down the steep drop of a thyroid-induced roller coaster, blood-pulsed

and adrenaline flooded my system and it was months before I felt anything close to calm. It was months before my hands stopped shaking.

Wow. And this concept is such a game changer, especially when emotions can feel so overwhelming. So Ginger, share with us how you came to understand that faith isn't about how we feel, but about choosing to believe. Yeah. I'm going to just read a little bit more because it's going to address that question and then we'll chat about it. Okay. So at this point in the game,

Ginger Harrington (18:19.864)
Fear stormed my system with a take-all vengeance, threatening to wash me away in an unrelenting flood of anxiety. Clouds gathered and my hormonal system cracked open with internal thunder. Dread plagued my days as we got settled, and I tried to care for three young children in an unfamiliar place and no support system. With my body stuck on constant go,

sleep became impossible. literally I spent the dark hours every night pacing the house wearing a thin spot in the carpet and no matter what I tried I could not turn off my racing thoughts or squelch my feelings of fear. How do you choose to believe to stand strong in faith while swirling in overwhelming uncertainties? I thought I'm going crazy.

Will I ever feel normal again? How do you choose holiness in the iron grip of fear? These are crucial moments to remember that believing God is a decision, not an emotion. So many nights I was too jittery to sleep, but I had gotten so weak that it was hard to stay standing. While the rest of the family slept, I rocked on my knees, pleading, God help me.

My heart would pound with the pulse out of control, and I longed to unzip my skin and crawl right out of myself, to be anywhere but stuck in this broken body. I didn't recognize myself anymore. Who was this frantic, fear-crazed woman taking over my life? One of the verses that I really clung to is God's promise in Isaiah 43. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.

I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they will not overflow you." These words helped me hang on moment by moment. And I learned that especially in our toughest experiences, holiness is found in each small but significant choice to trust God one more time, to inhale another breath.

Ginger Harrington (20:39.584)
and move forward with another shaky step. Never, friends, never discount the small, brave acts of faith that spur you to go on rather than to give in. The only way through was to really choose to trust God and to not let my emotions, which were screaming at me, God has abandoned you. And I can remember

being on my knees praying for hours at night and begging the Lord to take it away. I remember saying, but even if you don't, I will still trust you. I will still love you. will still trust you. I hope that you heal me. There was the sense of, am not going to let the enemy win. The only reason I was able to do that, right, is because God was giving me faith in the moment.

I wasn't manufacturing that kind of tenacity that moment by moment, because I think we all are going to experience a time in our life. may be very different than the one I experienced right here in this story, but we're all going to experience moments where we're literally just hanging on by our fingernails, making it moment by moment. And the beautiful thing is God brings us through those. And that's why that scripture was so meaningful that, you know, this promise of God

I'm going to bring you through. And for me, the waters were anxiety. I always read that passage as, know, when you pass through anxiety, when you pass through the waters, the rivers, you know, rivers are like more than just a little bit of water. Yeah. Great point. Yeah. So those are just some thoughts. What do you want to talk about with this section? Well, I really like a couple of points that you made that faith is a decision. And we talked a little bit about that and not

based on emotions, but I think that is great to repeat as well. And then how choosing truth over emotions gives us stability in uncertain times. And that's what you talked about there as well. And we don't want to invalidate emotions, right? So emotions are valid, but they don't have to define our faith. anything else on those three that really stood out for me that you'd like to share? Yeah, you know, sometimes we don't want to feel the feels. Yeah.

Ginger Harrington (23:04.91)
I, to this day, I don't like being on a roller coaster. I don't even like going down a hill in a car, you know, like when you come over the hill and your stomach kind of comes out, like, yeah. I can feel it right now. an adrenaline junkie because it takes me back to this place and it was just so absolutely miserable. Yeah. But, you know, emotions, they're so valid and I kept, you know,

almost condemning myself at the time. I'm going crazy. Why can't I get myself together? Why can't I stop being fearful? And the craziest thing was I couldn't tell you what I was afraid of. This was a prolonged season. This wasn't a week or two weeks or month. This was a couple of months that this went on and in the military community. One of the challenges of the mobility of living the military life and moving all over

the world sometimes is the continuity of medical care goes out the window. If you're in the middle of a disease process and you have to move, you don't automatically go to the next doctor. And so it really took several months for me to get in with the specialist to even be able to address what was happening to me. Right. And so that was part of it. At the time, all I could feel was I am afraid God is not stopping this.

I am so tempted to feel like God's let me down or to be angry that he's allowed this to happen to me. But you know, it, those are feelings, not truth. The truth is what God says in his word and who he is by nature. Amen. Such a great reminder. So at this point, you're trying to get settled in a new place, experiencing extreme anxiety due to your thyroid. So share with us what happens next.

six weeks later and 20 pounds lighter, I was severely sleep deprived and emotionally strung out on anxiety. I was afraid to go out and afraid to stay in. I tried not to give into fear, but I failed again and again, face planting in the muck of difficulty. God's spirit strengthened me over and over, reminding me of that Isaiah passage that by now I had memorized.

Ginger Harrington (25:29.816)
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. I was afraid of being afraid and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. I was afraid of nothing specific. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched. I was afraid of everything for I am the Lord, your God, the Holy one of Israel, your savior. And I kept thinking savior, Holy one. The Lord is my God and he is with me.

friends he is with you. Choosing holiness on our hard days it really comes down to believing God is our Savior who walks with us in all things. This is true not because it feels true. At this time fear was the only thing I could feel but to believe God's words were true I had to stop letting my emotions define and dictate my faith. One morning I remember taking the kids to school

And I pulled up to a stoplight and I just remember staring at the glowing red light and my mind went completely blank. I could not remember where I was going. Why am I here? What am I doing? And I jerked awake when my son asked mommy, are you taking us to school? I really don't know how long I was sitting at that stoplight. And that was the day that I stopped driving. I was terrified. I would cause an accident.

It's humbling and frightening to realize that your sense of sanity is as fragile as numbers on a lab report. I just wanted to be well, body, mind and spirit. And I didn't realize that I was craving holiness.

The roots of the old English word have to do with wholeness and health and wellness, as well as being set apart for God and sacred. That's really what I was wanting. I was wanting God to heal me from the inside out. When we're longing for God to put things right in us, we're really longing for holiness, the wholeness of God doing redemptive and healing work within us. Wow. That's so good.

Ginger Harrington (27:39.788)
The battle between faith and emotions are right there as you're talking about. And you wrote, to believe God's words were true, I had to stop letting my emotions dictate and define faith. This is such a crucial point. Our emotions can often lead us to feel disconnected from God, especially when we're dealing with anxiety or fear. Choosing faith in those moments can feel difficult. So how can we choose to believe God's truth in the middle?

of emotional turmoil, even when we don't feel like it. You know, I'm not going to say it's easy. Yeah, right. This is where I really think that Habits of Hope is that follow on next season and chapter of life and faith from where I was at the time period that this chapter is telling the story about. And that is we practice.

We choose it again and again and the beautiful thing about habits is it begins to become second nature and the struggle to make that choice is less and less. We more naturally go to that thing that we have repeated and done again and again. And so at first it felt really hard and like a big leap.

to trust God beyond my feelings. And now it's still a challenge, but I understand that concept that immediately when my emotions get stirred up, whatever they may be, one of the first thing I do is, Lord, I trust you with this emotion. Help me to understand what I'm believing right now. Help me to process this emotion. Help me to trust you with the thing that I'm worried about. And that's really a game changer. When you start to practice

this concept of holding on to truth and letting the truth guide your emotions back onto the rails, so to speak. Yeah. Yeah. It's such a great point. I was just thinking about this as we are faced with new realities and hard things and not knowing how to overcome. We're getting this opportunity to practice as you said, and I just had something come up in my therapy appointment yesterday.

Ginger Harrington (29:56.812)
I'm not fully understanding it. trust my therapist so that that's not the issue. I don't fully understand it. So I came home, processed a little bit, I read a little bit, I edited my notes and I'm giving myself much grace that I'm not going to have an answer. I did not get necessarily an answer yesterday or this morning, but it's a process and that's okay because God is with us in this process. And sometimes I call that wrestling, right? It depends on what word, how emotional.

We are so I'm wrestling with this concept and that's okay. We can take that to the Lord and he's so good about that. He wants us to understand. He wants me to understand what's going on and then how to move through it and learn from it. So then I can understand it better and process things better in the future. He wants us to succeed and I kind of hate to use that word because people can kind of like conjure up their own like thoughts about success. But he wants us to succeed in healing.

and understanding and growing closer to Him. He's not up there going, well, I just threw ginger a curve ball or there it goes, know, Larissa's gonna have to deal with this. He's with us. And I love that reminder that we can choose to believe God's truth in the middle of the mess. But practicing helps us do that. Such good stuff there. So as the fall progressed and you still weren't sleeping, share with us what happens next. Because we're getting to the Christmas part.

So it was a struggle to find doctors and get treated like I said before and I remember going into a dock in the box type of place because that's all I had access to it. I saw a different person every time and this time I happened to see a PA assistant and I said I have not slept more than an hour or two at night in six weeks.

I have Graves' disease. I'm really struggling with anxiety. I'm afraid to drive my car right now because I'm so sleep deprived. And that man looked at me and he said, have you tried hot milk? And you want to about unholy moments and not making good choices. Yeah. wow. my gosh. My head almost spin off my neck and I didn't say anything.

Ginger Harrington (32:17.79)
but inside I was just livid that he would have the audacity to, of course I've tried hot milk and 50,000 other remedies for sleep. So that was one of the challenges. Now we've gone through the fall and it's now December.

And my mother flew out from Tennessee to California to join us for Christmas. After the long flight from Tennessee, she was exhausted. And one of the things that, one of the things about writing a book is sometimes you condense pieces of the story so that it doesn't drag on. And I certainly hope that our listeners don't feel like we're dragging on at this point in the game. But one of the things that I didn't say, there were other challenges in play as well.

The kids were struggling to adjust to new schools. Finding the doctors was a challenge. Getting treated was a challenge. And so we're up to Christmas time and my mom is coming and all the kids were sick. My son had pneumonia. That didn't make it into the story. But you since we're unpacking the backstory and the behind the scenes, I wanted to share that before I continue.

Mom came, she was exhausted, and she hardly had any dinner, and she went straight to bed. We were a little concerned about her. Her color was a little off, and she was a woman who has tremendous energy. She had more energy than three of me. I did not get that gift from my mom. I started to get really anxious because I just sensed something was not right.

And at this point in the game, it didn't take anything to send that spiraling. My blood pressure would go up. My heart would palpitate. My hands would shake. I remember that first wave of fear going through my system. And I was just like, no, not now Lord. I can't get into fear. I have got to stay calm and we've got to figure out what's going on. That night. My mom had a stroke at the time. It just felt like the bottom dropped out.

Ginger Harrington (34:23.211)
Like what else could go wrong? Thinking, Lord, we're in the middle of a stroke here and what do you do? And some of the things that I've learned in that process is turning to God, choosing holy in the heart and choosing to believe that God is with you and that he is good, even though the situation isn't that is choosing holy in the heart and recognizing God's provision for our need is also experiencing.

holy in the hard. This is where one of the most popular quotes from the book comes. The text says, one holy choice, not every moment is good, but believe God is good in every moment. It was crazy. But as the ENTs were treating her, all of a sudden, I just felt a wave of calm washed over my body. I happened to look down at my hands. My hands had literally had tremors for the last three and a half months.

And for the first time, they were absolutely still. God's doing something to here. It was a really powerful moment. My mind was clear. My heart settled into a long forgotten peace. I write in the book that I believe that Jesus spoke to the storm in my mind and body with the divine command, peace, be still right at the time that I needed it most. No wavering, no shaking all.

grace. mom was in the hospital for a couple of days and we were so blessed that it was a fairly minor stroke. She was released from the hospital on the day of Christmas Eve. And you remember me telling you that my mom had more energy than three of me. Yeah. She was not going to miss Christmas Eve service. That's one of her favorite times of the year. The candlelight service.

I remember thinking, Mom, surely we'll just stay home tonight. She was like, no, I want to go. I am so thankful that I'm coming through this stroke as well as I am. want to be there. So we went to church that night and that Christmas Eve service, the candlelight in the church, the music, the feeling of peace. And three days later, I was still calm.

Ginger Harrington (36:44.608)
And for the first time in months, I slept through the night while my mom was in the hospital. And so I really believed that that was a Christmas miracle, both for my mom and for myself. And, you know, I was able to see that it was actually a good thing that she was with us when this happened because we lived on the other side of the country.

Tennessee, East Coast, California, West Coast. My sister lived near my mom, but my sister was legally blind and couldn't drive. She stayed with us for several months while she was recovering. And I was able to drive her to all of her appointments. Of the ways that I was able to drive her was God had calmed my whole body and my whole system and I started sleeping again. I was no longer afraid to drive. And so that was just a beautiful, beautiful thing. And going back to

that Christmas Eve service, I just worshiped the Lord and was so grateful. And it was just such a holy moment that Christmas Eve in the candlelight. And I remember, you know, when you light the candles at the end of the service and everybody sings silent night and I'm singing next to my mom, I hear her singing. I hear the voices of my children and their sweet little voices singing silent night.

Yeah, it's just such a highlight moment of the year and of the Christmas season silent night Holy night all is calm. All is bright Round yon virgin mother and child Holy infant so tender and sleep in heavenly peace And as we sang I felt like the Lord was singing that to my soul in that

I was there with my mother. All of a sudden I was finally calm. had hope. You know, when you talk about all this bright, that's about having hope and sleep and heavenly peace. You know, sometimes the Lord cracks me up. Right. Good thing he has a sense of humor. As, as that, you know, I was really like, wow, Lord, I'm living this moment.

Ginger Harrington (39:08.226)
both in terms of what we're singing and what's happening in my life. And I remember when I was writing this chapter, I was sitting right here in my office, right here at this desk, and I was trying to figure out how to finish the story. And the Lord reminded me of the words of Silent Night. As I was writing this, I just started to weep. they were tears of gratitude.

writing this chapter was very cathartic for me and it was this particular moment in the writing process was absolutely a holy moment. Wow. So Ginger, this has been so encouraging. So as we wrap up, what habit of hope do you want listeners to take away from your story today? Because there's there's so much. I think the most powerful habit of hope from this chapter is choose now faith.

no matter what's happening, no matter how you're feeling, hang on to hope moment by moment. Even if you can only decide that for the next five minutes, choose now faith. When the decision comes up again, choose now faith again. And when we choose it again and again, that's how God brings us through. And it really does strengthen our faith and bring God so actively.

into our situation. He's there regardless. when we connect more deeply with God by activating our faith and praying and trusting Him in the moment, then there are things that happen that are more powerful spiritually than if we're spiraling in fear and not choosing to trust, not activating our faith. Yeah. Amen.

people are looking for more encouragement beyond this podcast. Where can they go? What would you recommend as like next right steps? There is a free version of this chapter. Even if you don't have the opportunity to read the whole book, you can get the chapter and we'll put the link in the comments and the show notes for people to do that. This book makes a great personal read.

Ginger Harrington (41:24.046)
A lot of people will read it just a few sections at a time, almost like a devotional. There's lots and lots of just simple one line points that are very helpful. But I have a study guide or a journal discussion guide. So you can use that as a journal guide or as a discussion guide if you're reading with a friend or doing it in a small group Bible study. It is a fabulous book for small group Bible studies.

led a group through this and maybe more than once. Would you just share maybe a thought that comes to mind as to what it was like for your group going through the book? Well, it was really easy as the one leading it. Ginger kind of carries all the heavy parts of it and having discussion questions is very helpful and I love that. But also at the end of each chapter, like you were saying, there's just some simple

statements that you can wrap up each chapter with. And our group loved it. The ladies just couldn't say enough about it. I know several of them have purchased the book as gifts. I highly recommend it. Not all books translate as a Bible study. We did it in January, so that could be a great way to kick off the new year. You just made a really great point. We're talking about this particular chapter and story from the book.

Because for me, it really was a Christmas miracle. And it's a great time to share the book with our listeners. But the book is not a Christmas book. It is a Christian life book. The first section of the book is about your relationship with God, your spirit, abide, surrender, rest, loving God. And then the second chapter is your soul life, your thoughts, emotions, attitudes, listening to God, obedience.

And then the last portion of the book deals with your outward life, your relationships, friendship, parenting, your work. There's a verse in Thessalonians that talks about God making us holy and whole, spirit, soul, and body. And in fact, let me read that real quick.

Ginger Harrington (43:37.836)
May God Himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together, spirit, soul, and body. And that's 1 Thessalonians 5.23 in the message. I loved the way that the message stated that. And during that struggle with anxiety that kicks off the book, I was...

Craving I was seeking healing and wholeness. wanted God to bring back together my spirit soul and body and make it all one make it whole and healthy again We know that God's in the process of doing that in our spiritual lives But all of these parts of life with Christ that are in this book are part of how God is working in the midst of our everyday life

He's working in our thoughts, he's working in our prayers, he's working in our learning to listen to him, he's working through the attitudes that we experience, through our relationships, through our obedience. Yeah, that's so good. And then, were there at least one other Christmas-specific resource that you wanted to share? This is why we have a co-host, because I forget things, and you, my friend, do not.

So, I've two other Christmas resources. Shine, Hope to Light Your World. It's a seven-day Christmas devotional. It's a beautiful PDF. It's free. It's part of the Deeper Life collection for subscribers to my email list. So, we'll put the links for that. And then also, I have a worship challenge for December. And those are fun. They're just a short devotion, a worship challenge for that day, and a video of a song that relates to

the post so that you can stop and just worship God through the song right then and there and then go on with your day. So we'll put the links for all of those things in the show notes. And we're really glad that you guys are listening today. And I really hope that this blesses you. I texted Larissa and I told her the idea for this episode and I said, Larissa, will this sound like I'm self-promoting and just trying to market my book? Cause that's not

Ginger Harrington (45:54.242)
what I'm doing here. And you were so sweet. You were like, no. Yeah, no, I definitely didn't think that because I'm not the only one who thinks the book has been so helpful. And there's so many books out there, just like there are tons of podcasts out there. And so we need help kind of narrowing things down. And you gave our listeners taste of what you're going to get. And it has been amazing. mean, I

again have read it through completely three times plus have done it as a study and it continues to change my life. I'm glad that we got to have this discussion. It's just so fun to be on this journey with you and I'm grateful for this reminder that at Christmas, know, unfortunately life doesn't stop at Christmas, right? And we pile on this whole wonderful holiday on top of everyday life. And so I think this could really encourage someone. And so just that reminder that

there is hope and that we can choose hope at Christmas. It's been such a joy and privilege to share the behind the scenes and some of the backstory of the first chapter, the Christmas miracle and the lessons that I learned about hope, faith and healing from Holy in the Moment. One of the things that I did not add in the first chapter was what happened after Christmas.

We had had a wonderful Christmas even though my mom was still recovering from surgery. I continued sleeping. I continued to be calm. My hands weren't shaking. I had a scheduled thyroid ablation in January and it turned out to be such a blessing that my mom was still there, that her stroke was minor. She was able to get around the house and help with meals and help with the kids because here's the thing about having an ablation of your thyroid.

The first part of the procedure is an uptake test the day before where they measure how much iodine your thyroid is uptaking. It gives them a level where they can dose the radiation for you. The technician said, I don't know how in the world you are so calm. Your uptake was over 90%. Most people with an uptake that high, they look like they're strung out on cocaine. They're shaking, their eyeballs wiggle.

Ginger Harrington (48:12.268)
He said, you are so calm. can't believe it. And I smiled and I said, that's God. You should have seen me a few weeks ago. I was just a complete wreck. So that was a little piece that I didn't put in the chapter because it wasn't the point of the chapter. But in this episode, we're really highlighting that Christmas story. So I wanted you to know that that was another piece of why I know that was a miracle because there was no reasonable explanation.

why I was sleeping and why I was calm, why I had that sudden peace that stayed with me as soon as my mom had her stroke. The other part of that is they give you a radioactive pill filled with iodine so that your thyroid will uptake it and it destroys the thyroid tissue over a period of weeks. The reason why I was saying it was a good thing that my mom was there is because now I was radioactive. I had to be quarantined in my house.

I could not come out of my room for two weeks. I had to flush the toilet twice. I had to eat on paper plates. I could not be around my family or my kids. And particularly my three year old did not understand why mom was hiding out the bedroom. My mom was able to give the kids lots of attention, help with the meals and all of those things. Even though it was really hard, God was in all the details and it turned out to be a blessing.

And I want for you to think about any hard things in your life that you can see that God used them to bless you. He used them in something that was coming, that it turned out to be just what it needed to be, even though the road to get there was a hard one. If you're in the middle of a hard story, just be encouraged that God is in the details with you and he's going to bring you through.

I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Please let us know if you've enjoyed it and I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas.