AS 2025 BEGINS…
As 2025 begins, I’ve been asking God what He wants me to focus on this year. I want to sit down and set goals—physically, financially, and spiritually—but every time I try, I go blank!
Reflecting on 2024, I realize there was a season when my circumstances were affecting my mood, attitude, and responses. This awareness sent me right back to my therapist’s office! I desperately wanted to make the holidays magical for my boys while also experiencing glimpses of fun and magic myself. But I found myself struggling with things completely out of my control. Trigger alert: I do not handle "out of control" well. It felt like the floor dropped out from under me, leaving me free-falling into the unknown. Have you ever been there?
This morning, as I looked in the mirror on January 1, 2025, I felt God impress something on my heart that I think might resonate with someone else, too. It was a whisper I believe was from Him: “Stop putting your identity in your circumstances.”
Wait, what? Didn’t I write a whole book on identity in 2017? Didn’t I travel the nation encouraging women to replace negative labels with who God says they are? But today, I realized something deeper: it’s not just about the words we believe about ourselves—it’s about what we allow to shape us in the midst of life’s struggles.
Starting in 2019, I faced a series of challenges—financial loss, COVID, cancer, the death of my mom, and navigating family responsibilities. Those experiences continued into 2024, and somewhere along the way, my thoughts and actions shifted. I started to believe that my season of suffering would never end. I questioned God’s purpose for my life and, honestly, I just wanted to scream.
I was numb, just trying to get through each day. My Bible reading became sparse, and I struggled to believe the words of encouragement I’d hear at church because they didn’t seem to match my reality. My battle wasn’t just external—it was an internal war. My suffering began to define me. I became frustrated, exhausted, and weighed down, with panic attacks making an unwelcome return.
But this morning, God’s whisper reminded me to take a step back and reassess where I’ve been placing my identity. Identity is what makes us unique, and yet the characteristics that made me me weren’t the positive ones in the second half of 2024. God didn’t create me to be negative, weary, or lost.
I believe in Jesus, and I believe the Bible is the ultimate truth. But if I’m going to step into 2025 differently, I need to realign my heart and habits. It’s not enough to set goals like exercising daily, drinking more water, or reading my Bible more. I need to create habits that make space for God to speak into my life again.
So here’s my first step: I’m going to schedule time each day for the One who knows me better than I know myself. I believe this will equip me to face whatever comes in 2025—not with frustration or fear, but with surrender and the peace that only God can provide.
Do you want to join me?
You don’t need a perfect plan. Just start. And don’t wait until Monday (unless it’s Monday today). Begin now. Start with 10 extra minutes in the morning. Instead of reaching for your phone, reach for your Bible. I’m starting with the book of James, but you can start wherever God leads you.
It sounds simple, but let me tell you—it’s not easy. Creating healthy habits is hard. If it weren’t, we’d all be thriving physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But I can promise you this: allowing your circumstances to define you is so much harder.
I don’t know what 2025 will bring—maybe more struggles, maybe big successes, maybe even a miracle. But whatever comes, let’s not let it define us. Let’s allow God to lead us through it.
Here’s the verse I’m memorizing this January, and I’d love for you to join me:
“Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust…” (Psalm 40:4)
Let’s make 2025 different—because we’re trusting God to guide us every step of the way.
