Happy New Year!
I have spent the past week and a half on a much needed break from work. It felt slow but it went quickly, and I’m realizing “real life” begins again in just a few days. *insert scream here* I’ve scrolled social media, seen the resolutions, the dreams and wishes and hopes for 2026. I’ve seen the “year recap” reels and posts and I have truly enjoyed them! Yet, this year I just couldn’t bring myself to do one.
Believe me, I tried. I started a couple posts but each time I exited without saving. I found myself wondering how I could possibly fit 2025 into a simple recap post. Found myself wondering if I even wanted to. For the first time I was speechless. LOL My voice and my presence on social media, projected to a world of people who I don’t truly do life with did not feel meaningful enough right now. I have felt a pull to scale back and to invest where it truly counts this past year, which was my real, in- the- flesh, face- to- face relationships. A few seconds or words, or even paragraphs couldn’t truly capture what 2025 was like for me this past year.
I’m not sure where you find yourself today as you read. Maybe you can’t relate to me, and your 2025 was the good fulfillment prayers and hopes and wishes. I sincerely celebrate you! My 2025 was challenging. I was stretcheddddd (and yes, please prounounce every “d” in that word for emphasis). I was stretcheddddd, and yet I choose to call it good. I think a theme of my year was realizing that God gives good gifts that don’t always look good. There are times in life we can’t understand how our circumstances could possibly “work for good” (Romans 8:28). Yet, God is always good, and if He is good (which He is), then everything He does is good and right. This year over and over again, I learned to thank God for gifts that didn’t always look good to my human eyes. Hardship? Thank you Lord, for what you are working through this. Pain? Thank you Lord that you never waste my pain, but you make it useful. Disappointments? Thank you Lord for saving me from receiving less than what You had in mind. I certainly didn’t feel like doing this; but faith is not about how you feel and it is not and has never been about ignoring reality. It is trusting that God is able to do what seems impossible to you, even when you don’t understand. We don’t need full or perfect understanding to believe. This year I heard someone say that God is not afraid to let you see your giant. He will let you see the size and scale of your giant so that when He comes through, you will see that faith and trust in Him are never in vain. I did my best to hold onto faith this year, and as a result I found freedom to be vulnerable, and real. So yes, its 2026 but it is still winter. And honestly, I’m alright. I am embracing it and doing my best to dress well for the weather in life right now.
I guess I came here to say that if you left 2025 and the highlight of your year was that God kept you, that is enough. Being kept is a miracle. To still be standing and in your right mind and to have faith or joy or peace when all of life suggests you shouldn’t, is a wonder. It is grace. We have received what we do not deserve and could never earn, which is that where we are now tells a better story than the reality we have lived. Despite our failures, challenges, fears, opposition, hardship, we do not wear them like a banner. Instead, we wear His grace for all to see. You have won the battle of staying, and that is a win. I am so deeply thankful for my win!
My family just introduced me to a song called Jeso O Ntekane, which translates to “Jesus Is Enough.” Since I first heard it, I find myself humming or singing it in quiet moments. In a way I think it speaks to me because that’s what 2025 was about for me. I hope that’s what 2026 is about, too, and every year after that. No, all is not perfect; but I can truly say that “Jeso O Ntekane.” Every day, at all times, in every circumstance, when life or people are fair and when they are not. I can be okay even now, before I see the outcome. I even find that I do not pray as much these days for outcomes, but more for grace and for the help to be the person I need to be to receive the blessings God has for me. Mostly, for the strength to surrender to His will.
I pray a “Jesus Is Enough” paradigm would be your lens for this upcoming year and beyond. I pray that you stay in His hand. I pray that you stay in His word. I pray that you will allow yourself to be kept, and to fully surrender to His perfect design and good plans.
Stephie Mill 