2025 was a tough year for us here in our little corner of the world. Like the years leading up to it, it was filled with heartbreak, disappointment, and frustration. It wasn’t all bad; there were glimmers of hope and moments of joy to be had. Overall, it was defined by struggle, and also by overcoming. But no matter how strong you are, struggling for years becomes exhausting.
I know many of you have felt that same heaviness. A rocky economy, soaring inflation, lingering health issues after the pandemic, the rise in chronic diseases like Lyme and mold toxicity; so many are walking through their own fire right now.
Trials are not without their merits, however. The Bible tells us that the testing of our faith produces perseverance (James 1:2-4). Jesus tells us that He has overcome the world (John 116:33). We are to have peace in these trials. If you’re like me, that sounds just a smidge impossible some days. Yet even in the mess, I can see how much I’ve grown in ways I never could have guessed without these circumstances. These trials have exposed parts of me I never thought would see the light of day. There were mornings I hardly recognized the person looking back at me in the mirror.
But here’s the good part: once something is exposed, it can finally be changed. Those deep, buried things – thought patterns, habits, fears—were suddenly on the table, and I had to face them. I’ve learned some hard lessons through the trials of the last few years, and here are a few I plan to carry with me into 2026.
Pray from Faith, Not Anxiety
I spent much of this past year praying out of fear—small prayers whispered upward with a pit in my stomach and a growing sense that maybe God wasn’t hearing me at all. I was losing faith. When things begin to slip out of your grasp, out of your control, it’s hard not to be afraid. But God doesn’t give us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
It’s hard to pray in faith when we can’t see the end and the middle looks so dark and broken that we can’t imagine it will ever get better. It’s hard to pray in faith when it feels like every prayer has gone unanswered. But His Word tells us that He hears us, and that prayers rooted in faith do not fall on deaf ears (James 5:15-16, Matthew 21:22).
In 2026, I’m choosing to pray from a place of faith more often than I pray from fear.
Rest is Necessary
A few years ago, my husband sat me down and gently told me that I never actually rested. I was stunned. Of course I did. I slept, I sat, I scrolled, I “took breaks.” But when I gave his words some thought, I realized he was right. Even on my “rest days,” my brain was running a marathon. Doomscrolling isn’t rest. Busywork isn’t rest. Working out every day no matter how fatigued I am isn’t rest. Even learning and researching (my go-to comfort activities) weren’t rest. And it was showing up in a nervous system that was crashing, likely because I never turned it off.
The following year I tried to rest, but that rest was filled with guilt and anxiety. Guilt that I was never doing enough. Rest that was really an opportunity to sit down and continue learning and researching (yes, this is what I called rest). Rest where my nervous system was still so overstimulated that I couldn’t get into parasympathetic mode (rest and digest). It wasn’t until this year that I finally accepted that true rest is not a luxury; it’s a foundational pillar of health.
So, I set boundaries. I said no to things I didn’t have the capacity for. I carved out real rest time each week, and I left things undone. The benefits were obvious. I began to unfurl. Stress began to ease up. My nervous system started to settle as a tiny bit of resilience returned.
If you take nothing else with you into the new year, take this: learn to really, truly rest.
Almost Nothing is One Size Fits All
I’ve spent countless hours learning from people who overcame chronic illness, and the more I learn, the clearer it becomes that no one has all the answers. One person swears by carnivore, another by veganism. One promises that aggressive rest is the key; another swears by graduated exposure. And the crazy thing is many of them actually healed doing completely opposite things.
This is because we are as individual as our finger prints. There are foundational truths for all of us. Eat healthy, rest well, stay hydrated, connect with people, avoid toxins. But what that looks like will differ from person to person.
I tried animal-based for a while, convinced I needed mountains of protein. Even when it didn’t work out for me, I couldn’t stop feeling like I HAD to consume mostly protein. And for some people, that’s true. But when I finally started adding more carbs, my body responded almost instantly. I felt better. My metabolism picked up. I’ve since learned some people are more efficient fat-burners while other metabolisms prefer carbs. Despite my experience, many people thrive on animal-based diets. Why the discrepancy?
Because we’re all different. And that’s ok.
We Don’t Have the Answers
During my holistic nutritionist certification, I was taught that eating as many plants as possible is one of the pillars of gut health. But then I started reading more history, and something clicked. Historically, humans didn’t have access to dozens of plant varieties year-round. They ate what they could hunt, gather, or grow locally. And I believe God gave humanity everything needed for health from the very beginning.
I started to question everything I thought to be true about people and health. The deeper I dive into health, the more I find myself turning to God and history rather than modern influencers or trends. Modern problems sometimes require modern solutions. There’s a place for that, so I’m not against it. But I’m becoming more convinced that true, foundational health comes from living within the order God created: honoring day and night, eating what is around you, building real community, staying faithful to Him. The rest is mostly noise—modern conveniences that often create more problems than they solve.
In 2026, I’m choosing to live simpler, slower, and closer to His design.
Final Thoughts – Learning My Lesson
A friend once told me that God gives us the same lesson over and over until we learn it. That if we keep facing the same problem, it’s because He has something to teach us.
Well, I’m trying hard to learn my lesson, and I think we all should. Trials produce character. They produce faith. And even if for no other reason than my own sanity, I’m clinging to the truth that these trials must bring some good. Otherwise, they’re nothing more than useless suffering.
Here’s to a new year—and to the lessons that shape us into who God is calling us to be.
