Welcome to 2021! After a week off, the “Up!” daily devotional is back. And welcome to those who have newly subscribed over the past week.

In 2008 there was a College softball game. Sara Tucholsky came to the plate. She only had three hits all season. But she smashed the ball out the park. It was her first homerun—ever! 

As she started to round first, she stepped on the base in a weird way and went down hard, screaming in pain. 

People rushed to her assistance, but it was clear that she couldn’t keep running. The umpires said it would only be counted as a single because she only made it to first. 

But then something unexpected happened. A player from the other team, Mallory Holtman, approached the umpires: “Excuse me, would it be okay if I carried her around the bases and she touched each bag? Then would the home run count?” 

After checking the rulebook the umpires gave her the okay. Mallory picked up Sara and carried her around the rest of the bases, ensuring that one of her feet touched each base as she went by.

The crowd was on their feet. I can only imagine cheers and tears. Mallory carried Sara over home plate and into the arms of her celebratory teammates.*

2020 was tough, wasn’t it? We’re limping.

But here’s the thing. If we approach 2021 thinking that we’re all alone—fallen and injured, with no one to help, and that it’s only up to us—then I truly don’t think we’ll make it.

But if we know that we are carried in the arms of someone else, then we will. Well, guess what? We are! “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

Gut check: Are you trusting and resting in you and what you can do—or in what God can do?

The best way to arm yourself for an uncertain year is to trust and rest in the arms of a certain God.

By Matthew Ruttan

—Latest blog: “Proactively preparing for what could be the worst month of your life.” The title says it all. Click here to see if one of these 6 ideas could be helpful to you and your well-being. Listening option available.

–*As told in: Ace Collins, GrATTITUDE: Practicing Contagious Optimism for Positive Change (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 148-49.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.