Have you pressed your reset button for 2025? What did your life look like a year ago? What will your life look like a year from now? I was writing a study guide on aging and a new book last January. I was a wife, and now I’m a widow. I was a caregiver, but today, I’m without someone to take care of. Life without my husband was not on my radar. How do I reset my life after such a huge change?
Now, I’m wondering what God’s will is for me. Should I complete the book and study guide? If not, what does God want me to pursue? My goal for 2025 is to answer that question. What is your goal?
For the past four years, I have prayed about a word to focus on for the coming year. It is usually two words, rarely could I limit it to one. After I chose the word, I chose a scripture, a motto, and a clarifying question. I started this habit at the suggestion of one of my mentors. Since I like to please people, I went along with her suggestion. In the beginning, it felt contrived. The truth is, the words were prophetic. For 2024, my words were Gentle Wisdom. When God put these words on my heart, I couldn’t imagine how much I needed gentle wisdom caring for my husband as I watched his life scroll backwards due to his Alzheimer’s.
For 2025 I chose “Reset.” My commitment is framed and placed where I can see it every day to help me stay focused. My prayer for this year is:
2025-May God direct my path in the following
WORD OF THE YEAR
RESET
SCRIPTURE FOR THE YEAR
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19)
MOTTO FOR THE YEAR
I will receive with joy my new life and new season even in my sorrow.
CLARIFYING QUESTION:
Will I look at the future with the expectation of God’s blessings?
Jesus is the God of resets. Each time we experience a significant life change, we are called to stop, reflect, recalibrate, and reset our minds on Christ. Once done, we can move forward refreshed and renewed. Even though I went from wife to widow, God‘s ultimate purpose has not changed. The apostle Paul states our purpose clearly in Romans 12:1-3 (NIV): “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then, you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”
Whatever the reset details look like, God’s principal desire is my transformation into the image of Christ. Whether wife or widow, I am His child made in the image of Jesus and my purpose is to reflect Him.
Did you survive 2024, or did you thrive? It could be a bit of both. I survived the most challenging year of my life. My precious husband left his earthly life for his eternal one. But God answered my prayer that I could keep him home. I experienced great joy in the marriage of my youngest son. Jesus answered my prayer that Jonathan would marry a wonderful Christian woman. Through my pain, my spiritual roots went deeper and my reliance on Jesus grew stronger.
2025 will be different as I process and reset my life without Rick. I know God still has a purpose for me. My prayer is to receive with expectation all that God has planned and always remembering what He has already done.
Blessings,
Personal Parables Practices
- What area of my life does God want me to reset?
- Am I willing to let God make changes to my plans?
- Whatever unexpected events occur, will I allow God to direct me rather than me trying to direct God?
Prayer
Father of all creation, open my heart to receive with joy your plans. Reveal to me any area of my life that I need to reset. This year guide me to the path and purpose you have designed specifically for me. Amen.
Scripture for Meditation
Isaiah 43:19 NIV – See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Isaiah 42:9 NIV – Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.
James 14-15 ESV – Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
Romans 15:13 NIV – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Music for Reflection
