When I find myself at the end of a year, I try to remember to look back…take stock…see where I have been and where Father God has taken me. Some years are full of milestones…others of sorrow…some are growth years…and some years maybe not so much. 

But every year, sometime around Fall, I try to pay attention. There will be some phrase, some word that I will hear or read repeatedly. I don’t know how this happens, but it just does. When that happens,, I put it in my memory…or write it in my journal. Most often, it becomes “my word” for the coming year.

This fall I kept hearing, “Be still”. The LORD has given me that word before. I chuckled as I kept hearing it come up, thinking that I probably didn’t get it right the last time, and now I’m repeating that year! I wondered in my heart what Father could be bringing our way that I would need to practice being still before Him.

As Fall moved through October and November I realized why I would need to practice stillness. My morning prayer time is still a time of intercession but more than ever, I am practicing stillness. I’m giving Father a place in my morning worship, more than ever before. In return, He has spoken so clearly. One particular morning when I was telling Him I had no strength or fortitude, He spoke so clearly, “I am with you.” What more could one desire?

The future lies before us with joy, hope, hardship, disappointment, anniversaries, failures, success…We cannot know what is ahead. We can plan, work, do our part, but the outcome is in Father’s hands.

One thing I say every morning as I finish my prayer time is, “Father, I thank you that you answer my prayers for our good and your Glory.” There was a time when I only half-heartedly meant that. But it is the truth in my heart now. I am confident that no matter what 2026 may bring, Father intends it for our good. 2026 is just another road.