It’s New Year’s Eve, another one in the books folks. 2025 will go down as one of the hardest years of my life for sure. My father’s unexpected passing and many other trials caused a tremendous amount of pain and pressure. Nevertheless, as hard as it was there were still so many blessings interwoven through it all.
This year I have seen how my wife and I have drawn closer to one another through the bond of the suffering we have endured this year and that is the first thing I could ever be grateful for. I’ve always seen her as my best friend but now she’s not just that, she’s truly my war partner. I see her as my comrade in the battle and we both received Purple Hearts.
I’ve noticed my children look to Jesus more than ever in the wake of their grandfather’s passing. In fact, my five year old daughter said just last night that she wants to put her whole hope and trust in Christ. I’ve watched my children realize that there is more to life than this physical life we live; there is eternity yet beyond it and it will be better than they could ever imagine. Every time we talk about heaven I watch their eyes get big with excitement and it fills my heart with joy.
I’ve also seen the way that this year, albeit through unwanted circumstances, the Lord allowed for me to be a better son to my mom. I’ve witnessed her truly display strength beyond measure through the end of the holiday season.
One of the other blessings this year I’ve watched unfold as if it were moves in the grandest of chess games is the adding to our family by God. In his sovereign plans I have watched him send 5 more college aged boys to our home. The ways that they and my Godson have impacted our home this year cannot be expressed in words. The joy and confidence that they’ve brought to my children cannot be measured. In a season and point in their lives where my kids needed to see other people besides their parents who love Jesus and don’t want to follow the ways of the world — God sent boys who are trying to do the same thing to show them that they aren’t alone. Boys, you know who you are — thank you.
As I close this all out though, I want to actually get to the point. As this is NYE, that means it’s the end of my yearly devotional plan and it will start again in the morning. I wanted to share my main thought and takeaway that I had this morning when reading and how it’s become my prayer point for 2026.
This mornings reading began with the downfall of Judah, and ended with the closing of John’s gospel. Overall, I think to the end of this year as a whole and I see how the Lord has taken my family and I on a wild journey. Closing this year out, I have felt dry at times and harboring pain — some would say that is to be expected while still grieving. For me, I think it’s more from the fact of having my hope in the wrong place and forgetting that Jesus is grand.
I think we can all agree that when we look at circumstances and situations we do not look at Christ himself. Judah’s fall and captivity was due to their own sin but also the sovereign hand of God with redemption on His mind from the start. I felt the Lord show me that this season was planned for us, but, I have certainly contributed to how I’ve felt lately with my poor attitude and lack of trust in God.
At the end of John’s gospel, we see Peter’s restoration amidst John’s bragging of how much Jesus loved him :-). Kidding aside, I couldn’t help but feel this warmth and gracious love come over me on the couch kind of like a blanket being thrown over you when you’re cold as I read the end of John 21. You see the way Jesus calls out to the disciples as they are fishing, giving them the massive catch of 153 fish, then you see Peter dive in to get to Jesus.
Jesus restores him, loves on him, and affirms him. What really got me is the very end, which I’ve used to spark awe in my children many times.
Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25, ESV)
Friend, as Paul tells us in Corinthians, we only see partially and incompletely. We won’t see it all until we get to heaven and even then I believe we probably still won’t be able to understand all of what God has done for us.
The truth is though, I feel that God left me with this thought for 2026: “you don’t know what I’ve been doing, but I’m doing more than you could ever know”.
See, we are on a need to know basis with God — we know the earthly ministry of Jesus to a point that the Holy Spirit divinely inspired the authors of the bible to tell us. That being said, John tells us that there was so much more done than we would ever be able to understand. For whatever reason, this sparked a moment of awe and wonder for me.
I don’t know what 2026 holds, but I do know one thing, I want to behold Jesus Christ with child-like faith and child-like trust. I encourage you, reflect on 2025 and look out to 2026 with the excitement and encouragement of a child knowing that Jesus, the Messiah who did more on earth than all the world’s books could ever tell you, is working IN YOU.
May God bless you and keep you.
BMT
The Fire & The Flood 