to hope.

hope

noun

1. a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen

2. a feeling of trust

(Oxford English Dictionary)

As the year draws to a close, I am reminded again of the word that I spoke over my 2025 last year. It was a call to abide and rest in the shadow of the Almighty; the one who directs my steps. An act of trust, and a recognition of weakness that we are not meant to carry heavy alone, without guide or anchor. How very much, the second half of this year has been just a reminder of that.

Lately I have been challenged, to enter my spaces with an open heart, open head, and open hands. To be expectant, not what I might hope to achieve, but what God in His infinite wisdom, wants to do through me. That regardless of time, or circumstance, faith and hope in Him will lead me through the hard and narrow, the deep and the heavy. To hope for me is not just to believe again, but to also commit to the tenderness that comes with holding expectancy in wonder of all that is to come. When we think of wonder we often think of surprised admiration, but may 2026 be a year filled with the choice to have open curiosity, and to be open handed with all that I do.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

- Hebrews 10:23

Though the new year will come with more trouble and uncertainty, it is the confidence and assurance I have to know that I am not alone through it. That as I commit and submit the new year to His plans and purposes for me, I will find joy and delight in the community He has surrounded me in to nurture me and grow me into better than more I could imagine. The hope I have for the new year is not necessarily one of doe eye wonder, but a forward leaning trust, a hope that faces a darkness, with expectation, and one that holds out for the promise of resurrection power. 

So regardless of the new year comes with joy or sorrow, hope will be my anchor not of promise, but of safety and security; a continuation of obedience in a world of noise.