12/31/2025
I’ve never really been a believer that January 1st is the day everything has to start fresh and new. Don’t get me wrong, I love a new year and the hope it brings. But Scripture reminds us that God’s grace is sufficient for today and that His mercies are new every single morning. That means we don’t have to wait for a calendar change to experience renewal. We get a reset daily with the Lord.
As I sit here today, soaking in the beautiful sunshine God has given us, I can’t help but reflect on this past year. And what a year it has been.
I walked through cancer. A double mastectomy closed out last year, and I was still healing as this year began. That healing almost got lost in the shuffle as we then walked through Daddy’s sickness and his passing, helping Momma find a new way to live, then discovering her illness, walking that road with her, and losing her in October.
Some would say this year has been incredibly hard. And in many ways, it has been.
But today, I want to talk about the ways it’s also been beautiful.
One of the most beautiful realizations I’ve had is this: we’ve all been healed.
I’ve been healed from cancer, and I believe with my whole heart that I still have purpose here. I’m deeply grateful for that and want to live that purpose out by praising God every chance I get for healing my body.
And Momma and Daddy have been healed too. Their healing is eternal...no more sickness or pain. And I’m so thankful for that.
There have been moments this year when I could barely get off the floor because I felt so broken. And yet, as I look back, I can clearly see the moments when the Lord carried me. He placed exactly what I needed into my life at just the right time. A scripture. A book. A person. A phone call. A text. Quiet reminders that He was there and never left my side.
I actually struggled on Christmas Eve, and again today, about going to the cemetery. I think I just wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to my parents. And while I have strong faith and know that Scripture tells us to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, I’m learning that I can say those words anytime, anywhere. I don’t have to be at the cemetery. They aren’t there. They are with Jesus and having a wonderful celebration! Oh what comfort that brings!
I’ve also learned that my heart is kind of like a house with different rooms, and grief has its own room. Sometimes I willingly walk into that room and sit with it for a while. Sometimes it’s grief over cancer and what it’s taken from me. Sometimes it’s grief over losing my parents. And sometimes… grief opens the door on its own and comes for me - unexpected, out of nowhere, harsh and sudden.
I’m learning to let it come.
Because grief needs a place to breathe just as much as joy does. It needs a place to speak as loudly sometimes as joy does. And I’ve learned that even in those raw, vulnerable moments, we can still find God. We can still worship. And we often come out of those moments changed, humbled, and touched in ways we didn’t expect.
There have been valley moments this year. But there have also been mountaintop moments. So many that I couldn’t possibly name them all. And one thing I know for sure is this: the joy I have in the Lord has remained. He loves me. He carries me. He healed me. He died for me. He saved me.
I know one day I’ll be reunited with my family. I believe with all my heart that Momma and Daddy are worshiping at the feet of Jesus in heaven, just as I try to worship at His feet here on earth.
As I go into 2026, I want to do so with fresh eyes. Watching for all the ways the Lord is going to reveal Himself to me this year. I’m learning more and more to trust Him. To trust His timing. To trust His will. One verse that has carried me since my second cancer diagnosis is Psalm 56:3, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.”
Because the world will try to speak loudly. Satan will try to discourage us, distract us, and steal our joy. Don’t let him, friend. Even in the hardest seasons, there can still be deep beauty when our eyes stay fixed on the Lord. We serve a mighty God.
I also want to say thank you.
Thank you to my husband, Alan, who is such a blessing to me. He has supported me in ways I don’t even have words for. His strength, patience, and steady love have carried me more times than he knows.
Thank you to my children, who were so patient and gracious during a year when caring for my parents sometimes pulled me away from our family. I’ve watched them grow, change, start new jobs, begin college, and remain faithful even while losing both of their grandparents. Watching God work in their lives has been one of the greatest gifts of this year.
Thank you to my sister and her sweet husband and my niece and nephews. She lifts me up when I'm down and is a constant cheerleader. In a way that only God can do, He's allowed us to grow closer through all of this than we were before. I know this is God because we were close, bonded, and united before all of this.
And thank you to all of you. Thank you for reading my words. For encouraging me to write. For showing up for me in my businesses. For praying for me, checking on me, and walking this road beside me. I love you all, and I’m deeply grateful for each of you.
I want to continue being as raw, open, and honest as I can, because I want you to know this: joy comes in the morning. And joy and sorrow, laughter and tears, heartache and celebration can all coexist at the same time. And that’s only because of the Lord.
If you’ve felt any of this this year… if you’ve experienced heartbreak or a hard road… know that God is with you. He’s beside you. He never leaves. He is growing you, just as He’s growing me. Strengthening our faith day by day.
My deepest desire is simply to grow closer to Him and to share Him with others.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:16–18
Happy Worship Wednesday, friends, and Happy New Year. ✝️
